Jack Taylor and 138 Points!

By now you should know that Grinnell College men's basketball player, Jack Taylor '15, made national headlines this past week when he scored an NCAA-record 138 points in a single game.  Since that Tuesday night, there's been plenty of buzz on campus and Grinnell has been seen or mentioned on ESPN, The New York Times and Sports Illustrated just to name a few.

Check out the video above which aired on ESPN last night during SportsCenter.

Also, perhaps one of the best pieces from this story came from Forbes, where the author claims that scoring 138 points in a basketball game isn't even Taylor's greatest feat:

However, more impressive than Taylor’s unprecedented sports achievement is the institution of higher learning that he attends. The sophomore guard, and National Honor Society member, attends Grinnell College in Grinnell, Iowa.

I visited Grinnell a few years ago and was immediately smitten. The school sits on 120 acres of bucolic Iowa countryside. When you dream of fresh, clean, and pastoral collegiate environments, think of Grinnell.  One can easily see how such a lovely, free-spirited locale gave rise to innovations both inside (Grinnell launched the nation’s first political science department) and outside the classroom.

But, for an education columnist like me, there’s a bigger story. At Grinnell College students are expected to be both physical and service athletes. Moreover, academic standards aren’t lowered to attract top athletic talent.