Quantum Hoops
Encyclopedia
Quantum Hoops is a 2007
2007 in film
This is a list of major films released in 2007.-Top grossing films:Please note that following the tradition of the English-language film industry, these are the top grossing films that were first released in the USA in 2007...

 documentary film
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...

, directed by Rick Greenwald, that follows the California Institute of Technology
California Institute of Technology
The California Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Pasadena, California, United States. Caltech has six academic divisions with strong emphases on science and engineering...

's basketball
College basketball
College basketball most often refers to the USA basketball competitive governance structure established by the National Collegiate Athletic Association . Basketball in the NCAA is divided into three divisions: Division I, Division II and Division III....

 team—the Caltech Beavers—in their attempts to end a 21-year losing streak during the final week of the 2006
2006 in basketball
Tournaments include international , professional and amateur and collegiate levels.-International:*2006 FIBA World Championship:**Gold medal: Spain**Silver medal: Greece**Bronze medal: USA**MVP: Pau Gasol, Spain**All-tournament team:...

 basketball season.

The documentary premiered on January 26, 2007 at the 2007 Santa Barbara International Film Festival
Santa Barbara International Film Festival
The Santa Barbara International Film Festival is a film festival and non-profit organization, established in 1985, that showcases independent American and international films. The SBIFF line-up includes 20 world premieres and 11 U.S. premieres, with newly expanded 11-day festival...

, where it won a Top 10 Audience Choice Award. It first screened in theatres on November 2, 2007 in Pasadena, California
Pasadena, California
Pasadena is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Although famous for hosting the annual Rose Bowl football game and Tournament of Roses Parade, Pasadena is the home to many scientific and cultural institutions, including the California Institute of Technology , the Jet...

, and featured at the 30th Denver Film Festival
Denver Film Festival
The Denver Film Festival is held in November, primarily in the Tivoli Union on the Auraria Campus and the new Denver Film Center/Colfax, in Denver Colorado...

 on November 8.

Background

As a college in NCAA Division III, the California Institute of Technology
California Institute of Technology
The California Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Pasadena, California, United States. Caltech has six academic divisions with strong emphases on science and engineering...

 (Caltech) does not award athletic scholarship
Athletic scholarship
An athletic scholarship is a form of scholarship to attend a college or university awarded to an individual based predominantly on his or her ability to play in a sport...

s. While known for its high quality of faculty and research, it is small by comparison with other colleges, with just 2,200 total students and fewer than 900 undergraduates (it must be noted here that the NCAA
National Collegiate Athletic Association
The National Collegiate Athletic Association is a semi-voluntary association of 1,281 institutions, conferences, organizations and individuals that organizes the athletic programs of many colleges and universities in the United States...

 generally restricts athletic eligibility to undergraduates). The school has a modest annual athletic budget of $
United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....

1.1 million. It is therefore at a concerted disadvantage in college sports, being more academically minded than most colleges. Peter Roby, director of Northeastern University's Center for the Study of Sport in Society, said "It is a tribute to their unwillingness to compromise their [academic] standards that they have endured for as long as they have". The basketball team was a product of what one writer described as "perhaps the worst college basketball program ever."

The Caltech men's basketball team, the Beavers, compete in the NCAA Division III and the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference
Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference
The Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference is a college athletic conference that operates in the NCAA's Division III. The conference was founded in 1915 and it consists of twelve small private schools which are located in Southern California and organized into nine athletic programs...

. Since their previous victory in 1985, the Beavers had not won a conference game in 21 years—a 259-game losing streak (the streak ended at 310 games when the team won a conference game against Occidental on February 22, 2011). The team had not won an NCAA Division III game for 11 years, and had not won any game—league or non-league—for 60 games.

Summary

Quantum Hoops has the tagline "Before they change the world, they need to win ONE game". None of the 5 seniors on the team had any high school basketball experience. However, in 2006 their margins of defeat have been narrowing (from an average of 60 points per game to an average of 29 points per game), and the team hopes the improvements they have made will climax in the shattering of their losing streak with the victory of the season's final conference game. Featuring numerous interviews with ex-players, now mainly scientists and "computer geeks", the movie discusses the history of Caltech sports and attempts to identify the reasons behind the team's poor record. The final 20 minutes of the movie cover their attempt to win against Whittier College
Whittier College
Whittier College is a private liberal arts college in Whittier, California. As of January 2009, the college has approximately 1540 enrolled students.-Overview:...

. On January 6, 2007, the Beavers broke their losing streak in NCAA Division III play: coached by Roy Dow
Roy Dow
Roy Dow was the head coach of men's basketball at the California Institute of Technology. He coached at Caltech for six years.Dow is now the head coach of the women's team at the California Lutheran University.- External links :* - References :...

, they beat Bard College
Bard College
Bard College, founded in 1860 as "St. Stephen's College", is a small four-year liberal arts college located in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York.-Location:...

 81-52 to achieve their first victory since 1996. The Caltech Beavers broke their 26-year losing streak in conference
Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference
The Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference is a college athletic conference that operates in the NCAA's Division III. The conference was founded in 1915 and it consists of twelve small private schools which are located in Southern California and organized into nine athletic programs...

 play by defeating Occidental College
Occidental College
Occidental College is a private, coeducational liberal arts college located in the Eagle Rock neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. Founded in 1887, Occidental College, or "Oxy" as it is called by students and alumni, is one of the oldest liberal arts colleges on the West Coast...

 46-45 on February 22, 2011.

Reception

In North America, critical reviews of Quantum Hoops were broadly positive. On Rottentomatoes.com
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...

, it has an 80% approval rating from listed critics, and a rating of 100% from its "cream of the crop". The movie was reviewed by The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...

, which called it the "cutest thing", and a movie that "chronicl[es] the handful of ups and many, many downs in the history of a team remembered less for its athletic prowess (or even competence) than for once including the father of modern computational fluid dynamics
Computational fluid dynamics
Computational fluid dynamics, usually abbreviated as CFD, is a branch of fluid mechanics that uses numerical methods and algorithms to solve and analyze problems that involve fluid flows. Computers are used to perform the calculations required to simulate the interaction of liquids and gases with...

." Time
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...

magazine called it "strangely inspiring," and Sports Illustrated
Sports Illustrated
Sports Illustrated is an American sports media company owned by media conglomerate Time Warner. Its self titled magazine has over 3.5 million subscribers and is read by 23 million adults each week, including over 18 million men. It was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the...

—although criticising the movie for lacking a "sense of urgency"—said the movie succeeds because "it's hard not to feel for the players".

DVD release

The Region 1 DVD was released on July 1, 2008. It contained two commentary tracks, one a technical commentary from director Rick Greenwald, and the second featuring Greenwald and head Caltech coach Roy Dow. A short half-hour documentary on the Caltech women's basketball team is also included.

New film

Disney and Ben Stiller
Ben Stiller
Benjamin Edward "Ben" Stiller is an American comedian, actor, writer, film director, and producer. He is the son of veteran comedians and actors Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara....

's production company, Red Hour Films, are developing a comedy film based on the events portrayed in Quantum Hoops. Moneyball
Moneyball (film)
Moneyball is a 2011 biographical sports drama film directed by Bennett Miller and distributed by Columbia Pictures. The film is based on Michael Lewis' 2003 book of the same name, an account of the Oakland Athletics baseball team's 2002 season and their general manager Billy Beane's attempts to...

screenwriter Stan Chervin will write the script and Greenwald will executive-produce the film.

External links

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