Troy State 253, DeVry 141 | Pretty Good, Episode 12 

I was the Sports Information Director at Troy State when we played this game. My staff kept the stats. After I saw this video (briliant job, man) I called my book man, Eric McCool, who had been with me for several years and was really good, and asked if he knew how we could have missed five points? He said, "Hell, no. I didn't see that game. I kept my head down and wrote what the spotter told me." Everybody on the stats crew had a spotter. I did the play-by-play by hand on a legal pad in a shorthand I developed because I knew I couldn't type that fast. We did everything we could to prepare for this madness because we knew what to expect -- we scored 187 against them the year before and knew this game would be worse, or better, depending on how you looked at it. All I can say in our defense is, the box balanced on the first pass -- but who cares about defense? It took us about an hour to put the box together after the game because this was in the days of no computer stats - all we had were pencils, paper, hands, and eyes. There was also no internet. But ESPN had game footage that night (from us). Dan Patrick led with it. When he finished, he said, "Follow that, Keith."

The fact that you could find around 11 quotes from the illiad that could pertain to a basketball game proves how long and absolutely miserable the illiad truly is

I've probably watched this a dozen times but I always forget about "devry got a basketball ball team" and it kills me each and every time.

The Wikipedia now recognises this score and includes : " On March 13, 2017, SB Nation's Jon Bois published a video in which he argued that the correct final score of the game was Troy State 253, DeVry 141. Relying on a recording of the game posted to RU-vid, Bois counted all made baskets and arrived at 253 points for Troy State. He identified two potential scorer's errors: a Troy State dunk that went in after the horn had errantly blown that resulted in a return of the ball to Troy State, and an attempted three-point basket that ended with the ball lodged between the backboard and rim.[8]"

Devry: loses by 119 (112) points Their players after the game: "Hell yeah"

If you go to edit on the wikipedia of the score there is a note that reads: "DO NOT CHANGE THE FINAL SCORE TO 253-141. That is not the official score, and the NCAA doesn't recognize it as such. Just because some guy at SB Nation claims he saw two buckets miscounted does NOT make it official. Any edits to the final score on this article will be reverted immediately without question." That is pretty funny.

Shout out to Clayton Jones, who played all 40 minutes for Devry.

Devry lost by over 100 points still scored almost 150 and was excited to be part of history. This is one of the coolest things to ever happen in sports and does not get talked about nearly enough

devry got a basketball ball team

The part where the Troy guy says that DeVry wanted them to get the record and were having fun with it may be one of the best shows of good sportsmanship I've ever seen on DeVry's part.

Imagine being a Devry student and coming in late to watch the game and seeing Troy 38 - Devry 134 and being like "woah guys we're crushing them, nice!" And then being told no no no Troy have 238

3 years later, a realization dawned on me. If the pace Troy State scored during this game was somehow achieved by an NBA team during a 48 minute game, the score would go over 300 points. Bonkers.

>Discovers First recorded Dab >Becomes Editor in Chief. Living The Dream.

Finally... A defensive scheme that James Harden can fit in to

Did DeVry practice 3 days or 4 days a week? Or......3.5?

"you can't call the gods on toll free numbers" -Jon Bois, 2017

Looking at the Wikipedia page for this game, there is now a small paragraph mentioning this video. Congrats Jon, you made it to Wikipedia fame.

29:57 the headline reads: "It's not a misprint!" oh if only they knew.....

people have been surprised the devry players "gave up" or whatever but the cooperation of the devry team was absolutely vital to troy actually reaching their score, just as John pointed out. Devry didn't lose by any means, really; both teams had to play absolutely out of their minds to reach these heights. When that one player said both teams were sharing in the glory he was completely right.

What if I told you... the score of the highest scoring basketball game of all time... Was wrong? John Bois presents: 30 for 30

I was not expecting to have a philosophical experience when watching a video bout the highest scoring men's basketball game ever, but life's pretty strange like that.

I am not the least bit interested in basketball. I know the basic rules and stuff, but the game never interested me. But the connections to mythology, the editing, the use of music: this is one of the top ten videos I have ever seen, and I have seen a lot of videos in my 5 years on this website.

This video has a creepy education-like vibe to it, especially with the chapter intermissions. It makes it feel like it's on Public Access TV but it makes the video like, a thousand times better to me for some reason.

I have no clue why, but I cried watching this video.

I actually realized something. I don't think this game would be as tiring for the players as one might initially think, even with 7 players on DeVry's team. In a normal basketball game, most players on the court are used in every possession both on offense and on defense. Thus, every player must keep moving, stay involved, AND sprint both up and down the floor for offense and defense. In a game like this, usually only one or two guys are involved per play. So if you rotated the person taking the ball up the court and scoring, then the other guys would actually get to basically stand on the court and rest for the next minute or two, since they aren't playing defense. I think this is how the ridiculous breakneck pace was kept throughout the entire game.

Jon Bois is a straight up genius

My man was using quotes from homer because it relates to troy, and he found a quote with "inner court" and "outer court" in it. Amazing.

The most impressive part is the fact that the scorers departed so far off course and yet SOMEHOW they managed to get the correct score for DeVry

Homeric works about for-profit colleges

Saddam Hussein's Summer Palace in Iraq had a direct view of the ruins of Babylon. Like really, less than 200 feet away. America's favorite Arab boy-toy could wake up in the morning, brush his teeth, drink a cup of coffee, and look out the window to what was *once* a 3-millennia-old city, which was, for hundreds of years, the most populous, most important, and most powerful place on earth. What Saddam *was* looking at was a pile of rocks and some clay walls. The most architecturally impressive sight in Babylon presently is an oil pipeline, built in the last 50 years, cutting through an outer wall, completely disregarding all archaeological conservation. As a world leader, I imagine Saddam could only reflect upon his nation's, and indeed all nation's, inevitable downfall and obliteration in the face of time's ultimate ambivalence to order, history, and legacy. I feel like he must've skipped his breakfast a lot. But in this fact, and in this video, we can indeed find solace. By my shitty, non-Jon-Bois calculations, there have been roughly 150,000 regulation NBA games, and the number of college basketball games rounding a full million. Of all of these games, two were picked by Jon Bois specifically for the way they broke the game. These two videos are focused on 0.0001% of all games, yet they will be seen by multiples of thousands more people than have seen at least half of these individual games in person. Always, it is much more interesting to find out what went wrong than what went right. History isn't built on the things that go correctly, but rather things that go horribly. Historians around the world talk of Babylon, even though it is utterly sundered. It is regarded as one of the most important sites in human history. Painters, philosophers, and generally any intellectual has at least once given thought to the city. Certainly less people have thought about Damascus than Babylon, even though Damascus is possibly twice as old, and was never lost to time. As Cato the Elder once said, "After I'm dead, I'd rather have people ask why I have no monument than why I have one."

Honestly, this is the most proud I've ever been to be a DeVry graduate.

I have scored many basketball games, and this game is hell on earth for a scorer! I agree with Jon, it 's incredible that they were only off by 5 points.

This, well this is good content.

The reporting and Jon's discovery of the scoring error would make this a good video in itself, but what makes this great is Jon's choice of music and the strange but utterly fitting use of Iliad quotes and references to the Tower of Babel. No one mixes sports and philosophy quite like Jon Bois, he's a master of crafting a genre of video that, as far as I can tell, he created. Basically I just want ESPN to somehow ignore his status at SBNation and give him the reins to direct an episode in their next 30-for-30 run. Tell me that wouldn't be one of the best episodes ever.

“1,000 sledgehammers falling out of a thundercloud” is my favorite Jon Bois quote

this is Oscar award winning quality, Jon. Pretty good

You forgot the fact that it took 7 people to put together the box score, which took an hour to complete. The fact that it took multiple people that long to complete a box score is amazing in itself. Another great video Jon, keep it up.

Roses are red I hate when people scream DeVry got a basketball ball team

It's nice that he doesn't denigrate the scorers for messing up the official score but rather commends them for getting so close in the fastest 40 minutes in sports history.

The video we need, but don't deserve

Greatest series on RU-vid

If both teams in basketball just worked together they could score so many more points

This game reminded me of some post I saw that said "if the teams worked together they could score so many more points"

God bless you, Kip Smithers.

I go to Troy University (formerly Troy State), and this game is talked about to this day still! It's a shame they are going to tear down the old Sartain Hall where the game happened, so much history is in that little gym.

I’ve watched this about 1-2 years ago, and each time I go to 29:54, I just let the video sink in. It makes you feel high and emotional, for some reason. It’s something that Jon does in his work and I admire him for that.

That intro is a masterpiece in itself. It previews the descent into madness.

This reminds me of when I used to create conferences of teams in NCAA Football on the Gamecube, Xbox 360 and PS3 that wouldn't normally exist. The DeVry Vikings were always at war with the rival ITT Tech Sharks.

Wait.. So their website says "more than 55 locations". Their rough number of locations wasn't even rounded to something ending in a zero, they rounded down to 55 from 60. WHO DOES THAT?

I went to DeVry from 2000-2003. I got my degree and had a really good experience there. Somehow I stumbled across this video not long after it came out about 5 years ago (it’s now 2022). Not long after I left a lucrative career to start my own business. Not long after starting the business I, as I assume many entrepreneurs do, went through some very tough times and I wasn’t sure if I would make it. Many nights I would wake up and worry about if I would make it or if I had made the biggest mistake of my life. I found comfort and, usually, sleep by listening to a Jon Bois video, specifically this one. It helped my brain get out of the rut it was in at 3 am. I remember one time specifically waking up slightly in the final few minutes when the final song was playing. I just about wept in my half awake, stressed, sleep deprived state at the beauty and genius of this production. Things turned a corner and are going much better now. I watched this again today and was brought back to those sleepless nights. I don’t miss that, but I was struck again at the comfort this production was to me.

Jon this is your magnum opus. Truly, nothing like this has ever been seen before nor will ever be seen again.

Jon puts so much time and effort into these and they are amazing

Another pretty good feature of this series: Finding the first dab over 20 years before it became popular.

Jon, you captured it! A MASTERPIECE in insane, unbridaled, furious fun. The players hugging at the end, the ominous retro DeVry commercial announcer rambling on and on gives this a historic touch to an otherwise silly yet phenomenal night. It was more than just another game. It was a test of human limits... and that screwy scoreboard's too.

The simple fact that the coach of one program could mail blank VHS tapes to the coach of another program with the expectation of someone actually taking the time to put the game film on the blank tapes and send them back, and reliably count on that as an end result.

What is this damned brilliance? I don't know anything about basketball, I'm not american and I've never seen a basketball game in my life, nor a DeVry commercial. But I can understand an art performance made by two teams in silent, respectful, sportsmanlike coalition, not competing against one another, but competing against history and obscurity. After 17776 I was starving for more of your content and I've found amazing stuff, if not better. Jon Bois you're amazing. I wonder what kind of content you'd do if you weren't into sports.

This is the only good video on RU-vid

this is an incredibly well made, produced, and scripted video but nothing in it can top the pure comedy that is the phrase "devry got a basketball ball team"

The ending of this video is so beautiful and poetic. I rewatch all these Pretty Good and Chart Party episodes every few months or so and marvel at how much thought, research, creativity, and knowledge go into each and every one. It's so so wonderfully done, truly a work of art in my opinion.

Jon, never learn to balance your audio. Makes it soo much better.

I have NEVER seem a comment section this unanimously positive! No smack talk, no politics. If all he ever did was inspire this one comment section of goodness that's PRETTY GOOD!!!!! But ya, like everyone else here I am a fan/ borderline fanboy. Great work. P

The 2024 NBA All-Star Game just beat the combined score of this game (211-186, 397).

I come back to this video pretty regularly. The filmmaking, the edits of deVry commercials with the movies about Troy, and the game itself combine to make one of the greatest surrealist videos I’ve ever seen. Aside from the Mariners doc, I consider this to be Jon’s magnum opus. Amazing.

This is hands down the best series on youtube

hearing jon say "devry got a basketball ball team" near-deadpan is the single funniest thing in any pretty good or chart party

consistently, the worst part of ever jon bois video for me is when I realize it's ending and I'm not ready to go yet.

This man is the Tower of Babel of SB Nation.

You're the greatest American humorist active today, and every time I consume any of your content I ponder on how god damned criminal it is that so few people have seen what I have seen and laughed as hard as I have laughed. I don't give a shit about sports, man. Nothing is more boring to me other than church, but every single episode of pretty good has made me care, sit back, and stop to breathe.

jon has a talent for making anything seem cry inducing glorious

As a contractor journalist for the Courier-Journal, I covered Troy State at Bellarmine in the 1990s. Troy would come down court on a 3-on-1 fast break and shoot a 3-pointer. Or even 1 on 0. Their coach was like a southern circus promoter who during the post game interview pronounced his opponent “Buh-LAR-mine.” It was a memorable assignment.

there is something really somber about this piece. probably my favorite thing jon has done. i have come back to it so many times. anyway thanks jon

So this is why you don't put forth as much content as you used to. The burden of this knowledge is too great for any one man. Thank you, Jon.

Jon Bois is the poet laureate of my generation.

SOME MIGHT SAY THIS IS THE GREATEST VIDEO OF ALL TIME

The game must have taken a tremendous amount of effort from everyone. Jon highlights the players and scorers, but think about how enthusiastic the commentator sounded during all the clips, and during every clip we hear cheers and clapping from the crowd. Everyone was so invested in the game which was essentially a joke, it must have been an unreal atmosphere.

The rewatch value in these videos is incredible.

Regardless of the scoring, regardless of the fact that I don’t really care about Basketball, seeing the players so happy for each other at the end was amazing. To see them hugging, shaking hands, being so upbeat at the sheer craziness of what they just did, it makes me happy to see them happy. And I never would have found it without this video. Thanks, Jon. That was Pretty Good 👍

I got an ad for devry while watching this 😭

I've seen a bunch of Jon's stuff, but this is the first time I'm seeing Pretty Good. Fantastic. So I go to the playlist to start from the beginning, and discover this was the last one made?!

And now Troy is in the NCAA tourney. What a time to be alive.

this is my favorite youtube video

Devry got a basketball ball team had me rolling and I don’t know why 😂😂😂

"You can't call the gods on toll-free numbers" Why does this series have all the rawest lines?

This is the best video I've ever seen in my life.

This has my vote for the best episode of Pretty Good, which is probably the best sports related series on youtube. So this may be the best sports video on youtube. I think it probably has my vote for the best video on youtube, period.

I find myself gravitating towards this video over and over again. It's just so well documented, so well narrated and edited, I feel compelled to go through this journey every now and then. Please Jon, make more videos on your own channel. Please.

This is my 3rd or 4th time watching this. It still gives me goosebumps.

This might be my favorite video on RU-vid. Ever. I'm serious. This is like you took everything good about video essays and NPR radio labs and put it in the context of sports

Once Troy scored 200 points they entered the fumble dimension

I have been binging on Jon Bois and SB Nation videos for several hours now and I am so glad I found these channels (subbed to both now btw). I'm not even a fan of baseball/NFL nor a huge follower of basketball but the research and creativity in each of these videos puts this up there with the best of RU-vid - but this video in particular is a masterpiece. It's so good I'm interrupting my binge to make this comment. The inter-disciplinary nature of moving from history to stats to art to literature to film and all points in between is staggering and above it all its explained in such a way that not only is it highly entertaining and informative but almost affirming - it feels like this was so much bigger than a basketball game, it feels like this was an event that should be held up high in the annals of human history as something to which we all should aspire to in our respective walks of life. Which I appreciate so much as a common theme in all the 'Pretty Good' series of videos - it isn't just a simple appraisal and shoutout to intriguing events but also a closer inspection of everything that makes it so great and so vitally relatable to every kind of person. This is sports transcended and I never thought that number crunching would bring me to this point of reflection. Statistics and Metaphysics - you have done something wondrous Jon Bois. If it were possible, I wish this video were eligible for an Emmy or an Oscar - both as a recognition of the amazing work it is and also so that more people can watch this and gain that inspiration - to know that sport teaches you everything you need to know to live your life the right way, that content and message can go hand in hand and be absolutely kick-ass and supremely touching simultaneously. This is beyond 'Pretty Good'. This belongs on the Olympus of Online Content - "some great thing that shall be told among men hereafter.” (The Iliad, Book XXII)

Masterpiece video. Jon finds treasures and exposes in four or five dimesions just how divine they really are. Not to mention fantastic cinematography.

How do u not have infinite subscribers

the final chapter of this story is one of the greatest endings to a video on this entire website. i almost cried over a damn ball game

Closed captioning was somehow on when I clicked on this; the ways that this machine interprets "DeVry" is fascinating and beautiful

The framing device of The Iliad is so perfect. Glad we got this by one of teams being 'the Trojans"

Devry is literally a real life fumble dimension team.

This series provides the most accurate description of sports that I can possibly fathom. Sports are a psychedelic drug, with many normal trips, but also anomalous absurdities that commit to our memories better than anything else. We can examine the normal moments with short order attention span, but the exceptions heighten our curiosity and wonder obsessively. We fall in love with sport because of the physical marvel, or natural talent, but when we dive into the numbers, statistics, or other points of difference, things that separate elite from average, the obsession drives us further. Further to looking at a harmless basketball game with a ridiculous score, that anomaly becomes another trip. Instead of hovering in the middle, we are at the border of what's considered possible for a sport. But maybe not. Maybe not at the border at all, maybe instead a post-border that attempts to extend the possibilities, but the ambition is too far. The tower cannot hold, but that one girder remains at that post-border upright toward the heavens, acknowledging the existence of the exception. I love this.

This is the real-life basketball example of "imagine how much they could score if both teams worked together." They did. And it was mind-boggling.

This is an absolute masterpiece

I would buy these on Blu Ray.