Alex Murdy, about to deliver the dagger. (Bailey Thule photo)
This is a heady time for hoops stat heads.
Nationally, LeBron James is on his way to taking down a record which has stood almost 40 years, as he’s 400 points and some odd change from topping Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s NBA career scoring mark.
That’s huge.
Michael Jordan never got there. Neither did Kobe, or either of the Malone’s, Karl or Moses.
Abdul-Jabbar set the record April 5, 1984, in a game against the Utah Jazz played in Las Vegas — nine months before LeBron was born — bumping Wilt Chamberlain from the top spot.
With the passage of time, Wilt the Stilt is now #7 all-time, yet we still remember his dominance, and that’s aided by the fact that his name resurfaces each time someone new makes a run at the title.
Stats are ever-changing, but, when we track one player scaling the mountaintop, while taking time to remember those who breathed that same rarified air, we connect the past to the present to the future.
Or at least that’s always been my belief while writing about small town high school and middle school basketball.
No one in Coupeville has thrown down 38,000+ points, maybe.
But when we look at the mosaic painted by those who’ve scored in a Wolf varsity game, each player is worthy of their moment, however brief or extended, in the spotlight.
The CHS boys’ hoops program is in its 106th season, the Wolf girls in their 49th year, and I’ve been able to document 651 players (412 boys, 239 girls) who’ve scored.
The list ranges from Brianne King (1,549 points) to 12 players, including current sophomore Jada Heaton, who slipped a single free throw through the net.
Jada Heaton becomes one with the universe. (Bailey Thule photo)
Which is all a long way to getting around to the point of this story, which is when the occasional person tells me I focus too much on scoring stats, I hear you — I’m just not listening to you.
I appreciate rebounds, smart passes, well-set picks, and the most-exciting moment in basketball.
And yes, that’s when a player hustles back, plants their body, accepts the incoming pain, and draws an offensive charge, selling it to the ref by falling to the floor like they’ve been smacked by an in-his-prime Mike Tyson.
It’s a thing of frickin’ beauty, and something Coupeville players, girls and boys, have become very smart at achieving this season.
But points ultimately decide who wins and who loses.
Points are the one stat which we have a fighting chance to tally in a town where too many scorebooks and stat sheets ended up in the garbage can or tossed into a barn for a curious cow to munch.
Listen, I’d love to know how many rebounds Tom Sahli snagged in the ’50s, but barring time travel being perfected, I currently have a better chance of marrying Margot Robbie than I do of ever knowing that number.
I’m not holding my breath, is what I’m saying.
Especially when I’m still missing a season’s worth of Sahli’s scoring stats, thanks to the 1951-1952 season forever staying just out of my reach.
But we do what we can do, and the 2022-2023 season has been chockful of meaningful milestones to record and ramble on, and on and on, about.
Seniors Maddie Georges and Alex Murdy both cracked the 300-point club, while sophomore Lyla Stuurmans and junior Cole White recently gained entry to the 100-point club.
Friday brings Darrington to town, and with the arrival of the Loggers, there’s a chance seniors Alita Blouin (98) and Gwen Gustafson (91) hit triple digits.
And then there’s the biggie, with Logan Downes sitting just four points away from becoming the 50th Wolf boy to hit the magical 5-0-0 for their career.
Having topped 20 points in nine of 11 games, with a high of 40 against Orcas, the junior marksman has already rung up 272 of his 496 points this season.
Which means the youngest of the three Downes brothers could retire to Rio tonight and still have the best season for any CHS player, boy or girl, in the last five years.
Logan Downes has places to be. Get out of his way. (Chloe Marzocca photo)
Hunter Smith tallied 382 points in the 2017-2018 campaign, coming within shouting range of the 10th-best season by a Wolf boy — current Coupeville coach Brad Sherman’s 396 in 2002-2003.
The last CHS player to hit 400 in a season was current Norwegian pro hoops star Makana Stone, who scorched the nets for 427 in 2015-2016.
That’s sixth-best in school history, and third-best by a Wolf girl.
Across 153 seasons (so not counting 2022-2023, which is still in progress), nine Coupeville hoops stars have combined to record 10 seasons of 400+ points.
Brianne King (446 and 442) is the only two-timer, with Jeff Rhubottom (459), Pete Petrov (442), Makana Stone (427), Arik Garthwaite (423), Bill Jarrell (415), Mike Bagby (414), and Tom Sahli (409) also on the list.
But wait, David, you said 10, and that’s nine.
That’s because Jeff Stone (no relation to Makana, though both are connected by talent) rang up 644 points across 24 games during the 1969-1970 season.
You read that right, any first timers to this blog.
Leading the way for a Wolf team which went 20-4 and won the first district championship by ANY Whidbey Island basketball team, Jeff Stone scored almost 200(!) points more than any other CHS player has amassed in a single season.
He also set the school’s single-game record of 48 points against Darrington, at the biggest moment, in the game which won that title.
Even with no three-balls, and while getting pulled from the contest with a full 90 seconds to play.
48 and 644 have seemed almost untouchable for quite a long time.
Just like 38,387, which is how many points Kareem Abdul-Jabbar popped through NBA nets.
But now, as LeBron makes his own run at history, we have a new contender at the local level, as well.
Logan Downes still has a long way to go, but through 11 games, he is only 23 points off Jeff Stone’s pace.
295-272.
26.8 a night against 24.7.
He’s a contender.
Listen, the small things matter in God’s chosen sport.
Rebounds, backdoor cuts, or Katie Marti reviving the spirit of ’90s “bad girl” Jodi Christensen, exploding into the scrum, blowing up bodies and gloriously freakin’ out the visiting fans.
The team titles on the wall are the gold standard.
It’s what we talked about when Jeff Stone and his 69-70 teammates returned to the CHS gym for the 101st anniversary of Wolf boys’ basketball, reuniting with the coach, Bob Barker, who led them to glory.
But, at its core, basketball is about points, and it’s about the eternal dance as the numbers ebb and flow.
It’s why I update my career totals for CHS hoops after each game — before I write the story — and not at the end of the season, so I can watch things unfold in real time.
Mia Farris ponders the possibilities. (Bailey Thule photo)
One night, Mia Farris, just beginning to climb the chart, scores three points and passes 11 more players on the list, each name evoking a memory.
Another time out, Alex Murdy supplants his uncle, Allen Black (310-305), with Black in the stands for the game.
“I scored 39 against Concrete my senior year and you ain’t touched that yet, skippy,” is what the old school ace’s small smirk seems to say, even as his pride in his nephew also shines through.
And the dance continues, one point at a time.
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