So, We See That — Greatness

HOW DOES ONE MEASURE GREATNESS ON THE BASKETBALL COURT?

Any number of factors could be utilized through various reasoning to qualify a great player, including skills, production, wins and even charisma.

Basketball Digest used to list a statistic referred to as the 100 club featuring NBA players, who had achieved triple digits in points, rebounds, assists, steals and blocked shots over the course of an 82 game regular season.

Philadelphia forward, Julius “Dr. J” Erving, a perennial All-Star known for his high-flying aerial assaults on the basket, was the one player, who consistently achieved that level of all-around contributions to his team’s success.

When measuring by 100 points, Wilt Chamberlain scored that many in one game and there are many pro-ballers, who regularly achieve the feat in as few as two or three games but on the high school level in a structured offense against a stacked halfcourt defense, scoring 100 points is not as easy as one might think.

In the other statistics it’s even tougher to reach 100. Rebounds come the hard way by battling for the ball, just ask Charles Barkley — the shortest man ever, at 6-foot-4, to lead the league in rebounding against 7-footers. Those, who want to rack up assists, better be unselfish, a.k.a. Earvin “Magic” Johnson, and the statistic is helped by having teammates, who put the ball in the hoop when dished to.

Recording big time numbers in blocked shots and steals are what I call “desire statistics.” A player must have the “want to,” the desire to consistently prevent opponents from scoring. There are those gifted with quickness or leaping or long arms and the physical tools will generate some statistics but to be consistently shutting down people takes desire.

Let’s examine the career statistics of Justyne Huber, a 6-foot forward, who played four outstanding seasons at Prairie Grove and named to the Arkansas High School Coaches Association West All-Star team. Using a formula to convert the 100 Club into a 34-game high school season, we find the most comparable number is 41.

For her freshman season, Huber recorded 263 points, 73