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I spent a long time working on HOOPWAR. Weeks went into the formula before I even ran a single team through the calculation. The transfer into a Game Score took a little less time.
It took Nate Wolters all of 40 minutes to break it.
Remember when we said that Bucknell's Mike Muscala had the best game score we had seen, when he scored a 94 against Marist? That is true no longer.
Nate Wolters' Game Score against IPFW: 105.1.
Yes, the South Dakota State guard was worth more than a single win over 40 minutes during his 53-point performance. If you take that single game and project it over the entire season -- because Wolters is that good that he might actually be able to sustain this for that long -- he would be worth 32 win over 30 games.
He broke it, all of it. Excel is on fire.
I think we need to marvel at just how good he was in the game:
- He had ZERO fouls in 40 minutes. I didn't think that was possible.
- He found the time to make three assists. I can't be sure why; they must have come in the first half.
- He outscored the Mastodons in the second half. Ummm, yeah.
- He scored more points in 40 minutes than 13 entire teams scored Thursday night. That list includes Clemson, Elon, Oregon and Colorado (the last two in the same game). McNeese State and Sam Houston were tied at 53, when they went into overtime, so maybe add two more if your are feeling generous.
- His coach called it a team win. The rest of the team shot just 32 percent. And then there is that Game Score.
- Wolters' previous career high in 3-pointers made? Five, in the opener this season against Alabama. He almost doubled that with nine. Dagger.
- Keep in mind that the single-game scoring record in college is 72 points. If Wolters hadn't slacked off for the first 30 minutes, who knows what would have happened?