Ben Woodside: The undersized, overlooked scoring machine

Ben Woodside in your face.

You see the scrawny looking kid with the ball in the picture to the right? Looks pretty average for a basketball player, right? In fact, he could probably pass for the point guard on your old JV basketball team - only a lot better.

This is North Dakota State guard Ben Woodside, possibly the most potent scorer in college basketball. At a measly 5-foot-11, 185 lbs. (soaking wet), he's an inspiration for all undersized, overlooked basketball players.

Woodside recently grabbed the nation's attention when he scored 60 points in a 112-111 triple overtime loss to Stephen F. Austin. He became the first player in eight years to drop 60 in a game. (The last being ASU's Eddie House.)

What's even more impressive is how Woodside scored the 60. For 31 minutes, he had a fairly average game, scoring just 11 points as his team trailed by 19. But then Woodside stepped into his phone booth and put on a cape.

In the last nine minutes of regulation, the guard scored 22 points and tied up the game. Then in the first overtime he scored 7 points, adding 9 more in the second overtime and 11 in the third.

Nobody on Stephen F. Austin could cover him. Four opposing players tried tried to guard Woodside. Two fouled out, one had to sit out with a concussion and the last defender was a freshman who just tried to contain Woodside. All to no avail. After the game Stephen F. Austin head coach Danny Kaspar could only smile and say, "All I know is I don't want to see anything like that again."

Woodside shot 35 free throws, making 30 of them, which tied a single-game record set by Pete Maravich.

And this wasn't a complete aberration for the pride of Albert Lea, Minnesota. On the season, Woodside averages 26.9 points and 7.6 assists per game.

I'm not knocking the accomplishments of a Tyler Hansbrough or a Hasheem Thabeet, but they look like the type of guys who would dominate a college basketball game for a team like UNC or UConn. Everyone can see by their size how physically gifted they are. Even a players like Davidson's Stephen Curry or UCLA's Darren Collison, who are not physically imposing, maintain a genetic superiority that the average basketball player can only dream about. (My dad never played in the NBA or competed in the Olympics. Did yours?)

Woodside is special for the opposite reason. He's an average-looking baller at a small-time DI program. But he's putting up big-time numbers. And that's an inspiration for all of us who love basketball but were always a step too slow, an inch too short and a shot too late.

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