Running up the score is not unsportsmanlike

(BYU Photo/Meagan Larsen)


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PROVO — BYU freshman Jake Toolson broke an unwritten rule Wednesday. He shot a 3-pointer with two seconds remaining with his team up 50.

That may look like a typo or sound like my typical hyperbole, but BYU was literally up 50 points when Toolson hit his fifth 3-pointer of the game.

“I was feeling it,” said Toolson. “I knew we were at 98 (points), I knew I was behind the line and I just let it fly.”

“Young guys will learn,” said BYU basketball coach Dave Rose with the clear implication that he’ll never shoot that shot again.

It would be easy to pile on in mock outrage about a player hitting a last-second and unnecessary 3-pointer, but, being upset about that shot is ridiculous. The last 30 points BYU scored in the 101-48 win over Southern Virginia were “technically” unnecessary.

#box

Why do people care about the final shot, in the final seconds of a blowout?

How does that shot show poor sportsmanship, while a shot with a 47-point-lead is just fine?

I have no problem with a team playing its guts out for the entire duration of the game. The idea of easing up in the final 10 seconds is so arbitrary and subjective that it seems silly.

I fully support real sportsmanship. I love a handshake at the beginning and end of a game. I love when a player makes an incredible shot and the opposing player pats him on the backside and says, "nice shot."

Conversely, I hate players who taunt, curse and use inappropriate sign language. I also hate players who score touchdowns and run to the middle of the star at AT&T Stadium and raise their arms to the sky, but I digress. That is showing poor sportsmanship; making baskets is not.

To give a little context on how this basket was made, Southern Virginia was still playing the possession. In fact, when true freshman Ryan Andrus threw the ball to true freshman Jake Toolson, it was because Andrus was being hounded by Southern Virginia’s Michael Neufville. Toolson caught the ball and spun out of the way of Aarun Rumbaugh who went for the steal. It was only after that series of events that Toolson stepped up and made the 3-pointer. He’d also passed up a wide open 3 earlier in the possession.

He was happy that he made the shot, which is fine. His teammates were happy for him and congratulated him on the sidelines, which is fine. Toolson didn’t shout down the opposing team nor did his teammates storm the court and bury him in a 14-man mosh pit. He made a shot. That’s it.

The problem is not with the players playing well, but with the scheduling of such an inferior opponent.

Rose wasn’t playing Tyler Haws or Chase Fischer in the final moments (they played a combined 33 minutes). He was playing four freshmen and a junior transfer who scored his first points at BYU Wednesday.

Rose was playing his end-of-the-bench guys. They just happened to play well.

No player scored over 15 points and seven were in double figures.

Anger over this shot is false indignation, at worst, and unnecessary offense, at best.

“You want to play to the end and you want your guys to be really competitive,” said Rose.

Mission accomplished.

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