You gotta love a documentary on a bunch of guys who are notorious for sucking. Sucking at basketball, anyway. When it comes to science, however, they dunk all over anyone able to hold a beaker.
Located in Pasadena, California, Caltech is annually considered one of the top five academic institutions in the world with 31 Nobel Prize winners on its faculty. It’s a zombie feast waiting to happen as brains are in great abundance. Basketball skizzillz, however, not so much. That doesn’t stop Caltech from having their own basketball team, though, and like Wilt Chamberlain fumbling through “Conan the Destroyer,” these boys fumble their basketball all over the court…so badly that the team is in the middle of a 21 year losing streak with over 240 consecutive conference losses. Whoever said nerds can’t play basketball may have been right. Maybe.
With “Quantum Hoops,” filmmaker Rick Greenwald takes us through Caltech’s competitive history where only the academically elite have been allowed to roam its halls. So you figure that for a school in such high regard, the students would be ashamed of their notorious losing streak, what with crowd members laughing at their dunk styles. But in talking with some of the players, they enjoy playing simply to let off some steam. Having locked themselves away in a lab for hours unend, hitting the court for a little ballin’ is a welcome release.
Well, that was generally the attitude until the film ultimately brings us to the team’s last game right before all of the school’s NCAA teams are supposed to be done away with. This is Caltech’s last shot at breaking their losing streak and determination kicks in, making for one helluva game. I’m not a basketball fan in the slightest, but I will admit to being wrapped up in the tension of this incredibly rousing finale. After watching this inspiring documentary, I’m sure you’ll feel the same way.
