Griffin Lentsch Shoots, Scores, Scores and Scores

Grinnell College is a small liberal arts school in east central Iowa. Its men’s basketball team is a scoring machine. If Grinnell doesn’t put up at least 100 points against its opponent, it’s a bad night for this Division III school.

Well, Grinnell scored 145 points last Saturday, but the amazing stat is Griffin Lentsch tallied 89 of them. Lentsch earned the third best single game scoring total ever across all divisions.

Skeptics can say this guy plays Division III and isn’t going against the likes of Duke, North Carolina or Kentucky. But I don’t care what division it is: grade school, junior high AAU, junior college, Division I or III, 89 is a boat load of points.

I imagine Lentsch’s hand and shoulder were a bit sore after the game. However, he would probably gladly take residence in the training room again for a similar performance.

But now Lentsch has some pressure. He scored that many points in an early season game. What is he going to do for an on core? He has almost all of the season left. And how will he keep that monstrous scoring average?

A Different Kind of College Football

As most of us wait for the college football bowl season to begin in a couple weeks, there is still college football being played. This is championship time in the divisions other than Division I.

Case-in-point is Saturday’s Division III championship game involving Wisconsin-Whitewater and Mount Union (Ohio). A little research tells me these schools ARE Division III football. The schools are playing each other for the sixth straight time in the championship game. Both enter with 14-0 records. Whitewater won last season.

I will admit I don’t usually follow Division III. Yes, I do remember each year seeing this game in the TV listings and maybe watching a few plays. But I was in Whitewater recently and I decided to check this club out a bit.

It doesn’t take a genius to soon figure out that they take football seriously at Wisconsin-Whitewater. I strolled into a new athletic building and the first thing I saw was football trophies and special footballs. It was impressive. This was big time like something you would see at a Division I school.

Then I strolled out to see the football field on a brisk, Wisconsin day. I actually walked around the thing. Another impressive sight. The turf looked perfect. I felt it. It was field turf. The end zones were painted in purple—school colors. It looked like a great place to watch a football game.

These folks have an attitude—a championship attitude. They expect to play in the championship game. And they hope for their third national championship Saturday.

I think I’ll tune in.