Failure™ Magazine

Quirkiest Basketball Failures I

Part one of a three-part series.

Written by Failure magazine staff   Filed under Sports

February 23, 2008: The New Jersey Institute of Technology’s men’s basketball team completes a 0-29 season with a 76-50 loss to Utah Valley State, setting an NCAA record for losses in a winless season. The Division I Highlanders finish the year with more turnovers (577) than field goals (550).

February 7, 1990: Lisa Leslie, a 6-5 senior center at Morningside High School (Inglewood, California), scores 101 points during the first half of a game against South Torrence High as her team opens up a 77-point lead. Demoralized, South Torrence quits and goes home at halftime, denying Leslie—a future WNBA star—the chance to break Cheryl Miller’s national prep record of 105 points. “I asked the coach ... if they would let me score three more baskets,” says Leslie after-the-fact. “He asked his team and they said no.”

February 19, 2008: The Dallas Mavericks sign Keith Van Horn, 32, to a $4.3 million contract in order to facilitate a trade with the New Jersey Nets. The Mavericks and Nets need Van Horn (whose contract pays him $75,439 per day) to make the eight-player trade conform to NBA salary requirements. Never mind that Van Horn had not played in the league since the 2005-06 season and was only eligible to be traded because he “forgot” to file his retirement papers two years earlier.

January 9, 1996: The expansion Toronto Raptors set an NBA record by failing to convert a single free-throw (0-for-3) during a 92-91 loss to the Charlotte Hornets.

April 8, 2001: New Jersey Nets mascot Sly the Silver Fox dislocates his right knee as he celebrates his fictional fourth birthday during a television timeout.

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