Ex-NBA'er Brian Scalabrine claims he ran a 4:45 mile as a Soph in College

I saw Ricardo Ratliffe run 4:56, and they weren't exactly training for it. Granted, he played in the Mike Anderson system, so the team was pretty well conditioned. Dude was 6'8" 250 or so. I'd buy Scalabrine running 4:45 if he trained for it.

High school freshmen with no physical skills run 4:45. You honestly think an NBA player couldn't, provided he had some aerobic base? I'd bet Iverson could have run under 4:20 in his playing days. Rip Hamilton too.

I was never a great runner. Just a mid-pack jv runner type of guy and I ran 17:15 5K and 35 flat 10K, but never broke 5 mins for the mile.

Did you play in the nba?

train-ride home wrote:

I was never a great runner. Just a mid-pack jv runner type of guy and I ran 17:15 5K and 35 flat 10K, but never broke 5 mins for the mile.

We had a kid at my high school run one season of xc as conditioning for basketball, and he wasn't shaped at all like a runner -- 6'5" or so, and really burly, more like a football player -- and I personally watched him run 5:28 on the track a few months later with the basketball team. He made it look easy, despite wearing bball shoes and looking like a defensive lineman. I'll bit and say an NBA-bound young guy in good shape, given the conditioning, could break 5.

Doubt he can go 4:45 but he can hoop. Love that he took on regular dudes who thought they could beat him https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pOw8aC78LoU

Is there still Presidential Physical Fitness Test elementary school through tenth grade in PE class? My high school's head XC and T&F coach was also a PE instructor. Early April he had PE class race 600m on track. It was a good way to scout talent for track & field. I am certain many of you have seen boy high school basketball players race sub-99 seconds 600m in PE class. If one can race 600m sub-99 seconds, one call race sub-5 one mile.

I agree. When I was a decathlete doing only sprint training (so about 8 to 10mpw), I was 6-1 195 pounds and ran 4:26 for the 1500, so about equivalent to his 4:45. In high school, I ran 4:32 1600 off of distance training, so I wasn't exactly some huge distance talent.

So I completely believe there are guys in the NBA, NFL, etc who could run 445. Most of them do a lot of running in their off season, mostly of the sprint training variety, but it still works the aerobic system to some extent.

I also believe there are guys in those leagues who could only run about 6 minutes in peak condition, with most of them falling somewhere in between.

Let me inform about Brian Scalabrine. He is god. He does whatever he wants. If he felt like it he cold have ran 3:45 in mile, in flip flops, while drinking whiskey, and fighting off the demons of he'll. Why? because brian Scalabrine is our omnipotent creator. He holds your life in his handle like a little glass bird. He knows all that once was and all that will be. Brian Scalabrine still remembers creating you. He knows you, and lives you like your his child (because you are). All hail our glorious lors, may every generation song his praises into eternity.

It's very likely Scalabrine ran a 4:45 mile. It's okay guys, he was a professional basketball player.

I have a hard time believing he ran a 4:45. Allen Iverson in his prime, perhaps.

I think the decathlon is the greatest analog, and you see only a handful of decathletes go under a 4:45 equivalent for the 1500m. Those guys are working on sprint endurance and logging 10 miles per week. I don't think basketball training translates as well.

Do I think there are some NBA players who could do it? Yes, undoubtedly. He just doesn't seem to be one of them.

So, I played soccer at a D-I college. Not a national power, by any means, but a scholarship program that occasionally makes the national tourney. A very fit group of guys.

We had a preseason mile and there were standards that had to be met. I honestly forget what they were, but they were ambitious.

We did it on the track.

It was 1400 meters.

None of the guys on the team really got it. The coaches said "Start here" and then "Finish Here" and then they gave you your "Mile Time". The newspaper showed up some years, reported it as a mile time-trial, gave accolades.

Still, almost no one broke 5 minutes, certainly not someone Scalabrine's size.

B.S. is living up to his initials here.

Just a fishing tale.

Sub-5 one mile obviously is not the only necessary skill for soccer but appears to be a necessary skill as an observer. A high school XC competitor from a school in my conference was a soccer player who also raced XC. He only raced big meets. He was a sub-17 5K guy. Two of my high school track & field teammates were fall soccer players, both sub-5 1600m guys.

megahorse wrote:

High school freshmen with no physical skills run 4:45. You honestly think an NBA player couldn't, provided he had some aerobic base? I'd bet Iverson could have run under 4:20 in his playing days. Rip Hamilton too.

High school freshmen with strong natural ability run 4:45. There I fixed it for you.

And I think you are confusing shorter NBA players, which need way more athletic ability to excel, with those in the top 0.1% in height and really only need average athletic ability.

ironside wrote:

Sub-5 one mile obviously is not the only necessary skill for soccer but appears to be a necessary skill as an observer. A high school XC competitor from a school in my conference was a soccer player who also raced XC. He only raced big meets. He was a sub-17 5K guy. Two of my high school track & field teammates were fall soccer players, both sub-5 1600m guys.

Nobody's disputing that athletes could get down to sub-5 if they ran track...It's about a big basketball player doing it without specific training.

Tallish runner wrote:

sheltered wrote:

Spencer Hawes, a 7 footer I believe broke 5:20 in a conditioning test while a freshman at University of Washington. It caught my attention when it was reported. I thought that was pretty good for a big guy.

I'm actually serious with this question. I'm 6'3, was a pretty good college runner, and people (usually girls) say "you're fast because you have long legs." I feel that's kind of ridiculous, but if you took a one-foot human vs ten-foot human, the ten-footer could certainly move faster. So why should it be impressive when a 7-footer runs 5:20 when I could break 4:20, yet no one finds me running 4:20 as impressive as someone 9 inches shorter (5'6) running 3:20? Is it because someone 7 feet tall is just gangly AF and we're not used to seeing someone like that run? What is the "height handicap" for someone 7 feet, or my height?

I think you just trolled yourself, if that's even possible. Definitely need to start a thread about this.

An error is made often on LetsRun. Error is assuming one is a male. I assumed the D1 soccer player is male. I re-read it. The second definition of "guy" is unisex. That D1 soccer team with sans sub-5 one milers must be a D1 women soccer team.

Fakenewsisallnews wrote:

I took gym classes in high school, which had a lot of the top soccer and basketball players in them along with me. I was the fastest miler at 440 and the next best were two soccer players at 5 flat. There were other soccer and basketball players running around 530 and my high school had a real good soccer team. The top track guy always wins the mile TT unless a guy like Iverson shows up.

You had me at "I took gym classes in high school..."

He's Lying wrote:

4:45 ain't that fast normally, but at 6'9" 230, it is pretty god damn fast.

I don't buy it for the same reason I don't buy most unverifiable claims from non-running, most of then lie.

It is a normal BMI. Why should his size have anything to do with it? I find it hard to believe somebody with that BMI could run 4:10, but 4:45 seems definitely possible for a gifted athlete who has spent the summer building fitness in preparation for a sport that requires almost continuous movement for 20 minutes at a time.

I ran faster with a high BMI, but I was only 6'1", so is it the height that you find unbelievable?

Woot wrote:

megahorse wrote:

High school freshmen with no physical skills run 4:45. You honestly think an NBA player couldn't, provided he had some aerobic base? I'd bet Iverson could have run under 4:20 in his playing days. Rip Hamilton too.

High school freshmen with strong natural ability run 4:45. There I fixed it for you.

And I think you are confusing shorter NBA players, which need way more athletic ability to excel, with those in the top 0.1% in height and really only need average athletic ability.

Thanks for cutting off the first part of my post. Ricardo Ratliffe, 6-8 250, ran 4:56. I watched it. I have no doubts Scalabrine could run 4:45. High school freshmen with strong natural ability run 4:30 or better. A high school freshman with passable athleticism and a lean build runs 4:45. If Scalabrine ran 4 miles a day for, say, 3 months leading up to the time trial, on top of his basketball training, you don't think he would have the aerobic power to run 4:45?