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Is the 1,000-point basketball player, 100-win wrestler a big deal? Area coaches weigh in
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- Is the 1,000-point basketball player, 100-win wrestler a big deal? Area coaches weigh in
With so many high school basketball games and wrestling matches in a season, things have gotten a bit watered down in terms of what is elite these days.
At least, that's what the USA Today Network set off to find out with one question in mind: Is 1,000 points in hoops or 100 wins in wrestling for the four-year letterwinner as big a deal as it used to be?
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Here's what we found out:
Chad Hazard scored 1,000 points as a player at Barberton. As the Magics coach, he thinks the days of 1,000 points scorers have become too common.
Our rational for looking into the 1,000-point scorer, 100-win wrestler
Now that you've returned to the screen or picked the paper back up off the floor, let's explain.
With the advent of social media, timelines get bombarded with congratulations on 1,000 points or 100 wins.
It's a great accomplishment. If you reach that number in three years, it's an even more incredible accomplishment.
All of it should be celebrated.
In an effort not to sound like the old man shouting at the clouds, we set off to find out what the new mark was for each with a simple theory: It used to be much harder to hit the aforementioned achievements.
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Girls basketball cuts off at 2,200 as well and has 33 names on its page .
Wrestling shows 180 career wins to be the minimum to make the records page and has 88 names on it .
Breaking down the accomplishment by the numbers
Nic Skonieczny opens his first postseason as the head coach of St. Vincent-St. Mary this weekend.
If you're very good, you play four years of varsity basketball. That means, without injury, you'll play 92 regular games. If your team is worth its salt, you'll play three postseason games, making it an even 100 games.
That means you need to score 250 points per season or 10 points per game.
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That's 2.5 points a quarter or 1.25 buckets in eight minutes, which seems attainable.
The absence of the three-sport athlete has also meant less numbers and has eliminated junior varsity teams in some schools.
"To score a 1,000 in the 1980s and '90s, it was really hard," said Barberton boys coach Chad Hazard , who was also a 1,000-point scorer for the Magics. "You didn't play as a freshman. I think, right now, the level has fallen. Let's be honest. You see a lot of guys play as freshmen now. I still think of it as an achievement. Is it the same as it was back then? Heavens, no.
"We're playing 15 more games, and that's not even including those games you play as a freshman. It's still an achievement, but it's not what it was."
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In wrestling, it's watered down with pool tournaments and super duals ensuring six matches a day or even 12 matches in a weekend.
In a given season, many teams wrestle close to or more than 50 matches.
That means 25-25 for four years gets you 100 wins.
"I think nowadays with all these pool tournaments where you can have five or six matches in a day, you're going away from the duals," St. Vincent-St. Mary coach Nic Skonieczny said . "We're going to these tournaments where you get 10 matches in two days.
"I don't think 100 wins is as big a deal as before. When I see it on Facebook, I think 150 or 200 is the new benchmark. The 100 wins, that's old school."
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The wrinkle in the 1,000-point, 100-win high school accomplishment
Highland coach Tanner Houska calls out instructions against Barberton during the game at Barberton High School on Friday Jan. 12, 2024.
As always, there are many angles to look at things.
"I think for high school it's probably a good benchmark in terms of standard," said Highland boys coach Tanner Houska , who also scored 1,000 points for the Hornets. "For guys that have played three or four years, you're seeing guys go flying past that mark with the 3-point line and the increased numbers of games played, but 1,000 points is still a big accomplishment. There are more people that can throw in 1,000 nowadays."
The other rub is that the level of competition can and should be factored in.
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Some coaches load up their schedules in an effort to make the shock value of the tournament easier.
That makes things even harder in terms of reaching those numbers.
"It's pretty rare to have a kid score a 1,000 at Hoban," Knights boys coach TK Griffith . "It's a nice metric to celebrate. My brain isn't wired to think about that. To me, why not celebrate when someone gets past a threshold?"
Wrestling teams such Perry, Wadsworth or Brecksville don't duck a soul. If they're not at the Ironman, they're at Beast of the East, Powerade or competing in Oklahoma. The Bees host a killer tournament as well after Christmas.
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"If you come from a schedule like ours or one on a national level, it's worthy," Perry coach Brent McBurney said. "You're starting to see a lot of guys get 150. I think that can be the new standard because you can't hold all the schools to our standard. We compete against national teams the entire first month of the season."
The bottom line is 1,000 points and 100 wins are still big numbers
STVM basketball coach Dru Joyce watches from the sideline during the second half at Walsh Jesuit on Dec. 13, 2022.
Canton McKinley boys basketball coach Sean Weatherspoon pointed out 1,000 points is still 1,000 points and 100 wins is 100 wins. The number of games shouldn't matter.
St. Vincent-St. Mary boys basketball coach Dru Joyce II knows greatness and knows what the numbers mean.
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"We've only added two games to the season, so you still have to do a lot of things to get it done unless you're the only guy on the team scoring," he said. "I don't think it's lost its luster. Over four years, you're guaranteed 92 games with maybe seven extra games. That's still over 10 points a game. That's not an easy accomplishment."
Added Wadsworth wrestling coach Mike Wenge r: "I think it's a big deal, but I don't think it's the same as it used to be. I don't mind when you're at a tournament and they announce a kid won his 100th match."
Contact Brad Bournival at bbournival@gannett.com and follow him on Twitter at @bbournival
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: The 1,000-point scorer, 100-win wrestler isn't the feat it used to be
