Scattershot thoughts
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Saturday’s Hawkeye 10 Conference wrestling tournament in the Creston High School gymnasium produced one of the most electric crowds I’ve seen at a high school sporting event in a while.
Things really began to pick up about midway through junior 113-pounder Kruz Adamson’s semifinal match against state-rated Chris Hopkins of Harlan.
As the two went back and forth, you could just sense that the match was going to come down right to the wire.
Little did I, or probably anyone else for that matter, know it was going to end like it did.
Even though the gym held fans from nine other schools in addition to the Creston/Orient-Macksburg fans, when Adamson was assessed his one-point penalty for a figure four lock on Hopkins’ head, the entire gym seemed to let out a collective groan.
Just 1.9 seconds.
That’s all that was left.
And that’s all Adamson needed, even if he needed every bit of those 1.9 seconds.
Completing one of the wildest comebacks I’ve seen, Adamson was able to get a single leg takedown with just 1.9 seconds left to win by one point, making up for inadvertently going Ric Flair on Hopkins with the figure four.
When it happened, I was sitting right in the middle of the Creston/O-M cheering section, seated next to my dad and brother, and next to Adamson’s uncle.
When Adamson secured the takedown, the response was deafening. Adamson sat on the mat with a look of disbelief on his face. Head coach Darrell Frain, who just seconds before had thrown his program to the mat and began picking up Adamson’s belongings, all of a sudden pumped his fist and let out a cheer.
At the conclusion of the match, Adamson’s uncle joked that he was going to have to go walk around and let his blood pressure come back to earth.
I suspect he wasn’t the only one who needed to calm back down after that match.
•••
Twice over the past week and a half, I’ve seen a college crowd rush the court following a big win.
I was in attendance at one (Drake vs. Creighton) and watched the other game on television (Saint Louis vs. Butler).
I think rushing the court is great, and fully support it. But, I think there are some general rules that should be followed when doing it, instead of doing it for every game that the crowd sees as a “big win.”
When the Drake Bulldogs defeated No. 17 Creighton on Jan. 23, I was fine with the crowd rushing the court for that win.
It was the Bulldogs’ first win over a ranked opponent since they beat Butler in the magical 2007-08 season in the BracketBuster game.
Plus, the Bulldogs were big underdogs.
When my alma mater Saint Louis defeated No. 9 Butler on Thursday night, 75-58, fans rushed the court.
It marked SLU’s first win over a top-10 team since the 2003 season.
So go ahead and rush the court, right?
Not so fast. SLU was a 2.5-point favorite against Butler.
Rushing the court after beating a team you are favored against makes no sense.
In my opinion, rushing the court should be saved for wins over ranked teams (preferably top-10) who you are big underdogs against, or for championship games.
But hey, maybe that’s just me.
•••
The other night as Larry Peterson and I sat in the office working, somehow the name “Pistol” Pete Maravich got brought up.
I don’t even remember what Larry said to make me mention his name, but it brought up an amazing stat I had read about him just the day before.
Maravich, who is the all-time leading scorer in NCAA history with 3,667 points for his career and an average of 44.2 points per game for more than a point per minute for his career, amassed those totals with two major factors making his scoring lower than it actually could have been.
First, at that time, freshmen could not play at the varsity level. So, Maravich’s totals came in only three years.
Secondly, Maravich played college ball before the 3-point line came into play.
Known for his long-range shooting and crafty ballhandling and passes, Maravich could have scored so much more if the 3-point line was in effect.
Which leads me to the stat I saw.
Former LSU head coach Dale Brown went back and used game film to chart every single shot Maravich took in his career.
Brown calculated that with the NCAA 3-point line of 19 feet, 9 inches, if it had been in effect, Maravich would have averaged 13 3-pointers per game, lifting his career scoring average to 57 points per game.
It must have been a real treat to watch Maravich play.
•••
I’m predicting a 28-23 San Francisco win over Baltimore. My dad predicted a 27-24 San Francisco win.
•••
Contact the writer:
Twitter: @scottvicker
Email: svicker@crestonnews.com
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