I know I'm a little late with this, but I almost fell out of my chair laughing this week, once I had a chance to see the final exam that Jim Harrick Jr. gave his students at the University of Georgia in his Coaching Principles and Strategies of Basketball. Among the questions?
5. How many halves are in a college basketball game?
A) 1; B) 2; C) 3; D) 4.
6. How many quarters are in a high school basketball game?
A) 1; B) 2; C) 3; D) 4.
8. How many points does a 3-point field goal account for in a Basketball Game?
A) 1; B) 2; C) 3; D) 4.
19. If you go on to become a huge coaching success, to whom will you tribute (sic) the credit?
A) Mike Krzyzewski; B) Bobby Knight; C) John Wooden; D) Jim Harrick Jr.
20. In your opinion, who is the best Division I assistant coach in the country?
A) Ron Jursa (sic); B) John Pelphrey; C) Jim Harrick Jr.; D) Steve Wojciechowski
Of course, that's only 1/4 of the exam. If you're scoring at home, the answers to 19 and 20 are supposed to be D and C respectively. And while you're scoring at home, you might count up all the students across the country, all of us who teach them, all of the family members who have helped those students get there, and then every person in the country whose tax money (rightfully) goes to support those students. Because that's the number of people that should be outraged and offended that bullshit like this still goes on. Wow. I'm sure that no school is perfect, but that's plain shameful.
I don't disagree with courses like those--as someone who's a dabbler, I'm fully aware that there are actual strategies and principles to basketball that could indeed be studied, and even challengingly so. But if you're going to give everyone an A, why mock the entire process with an exam with those kinds of dumbass questions? Is there anyone who would look at a question asking how many points a 3-point shot is worth, and be fooled into thinking that the course actually ever met (much less taught anything)? C'mon.
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