I’m having a hard time deciding how to process the record set by Grinnell point guard David Arseneault. He was credited with 34 assists in the Pioneers’ 151-112 blowout of North Central (Minn.), a team barely in Division III and 1-5 against a schedule consisting primarily of bible schools and members of the UMAC, probably the worst conference in D-III.

If this were at all achieved within the normal framework of a basketball game, I’d be thrilled and you wouldn’t be reading this blog. But as you may have read on the front page, Arseneault played 38 minutes, perhaps the norm for a top-notch point guard but nowhere near normal for a System player. Here’s how much coach Dave Arseneault played his son through the first seven games: 17 minutes, 22, 19, 21, 20, 23, with 27 minutes in the most recent contest before Saturday.

Then there’s what was said afterward:

“Coming into the game we had a game plan looking to get John Grotberg a lot of points, and maybe me getting the assists record in the process while also getting Keith Chamberlain some points,” Arseneault explained. “Everything went well. At halftime we looked at the situation and said we’ll give it a further shot, and everything turned out.”

Is that what basketball is reduced to? Trying to get someone a record? Taking advantage of a bad team to get your name in the record books?

I’m not sure this is so much better than what Lincoln did to Ohio State-Marion last December, scoring 201 points.

At least those numbers are on the scoreboard, for everyone to see. Assists are a matter of rulebook interpretation, and trust me, awarding of assists vary widely.

“They were keeping track on the bench,” he said. “Sometimes when a group came on the court they’d tell me how close I was.”

And then he stayed on the floor after assist No. 27. And 28, etc. That’s what bothers me — we make a mockery of the record book, push a great performance by Robert James of Kean on March 11, 1989, onto history’s recycle bin.

March is a great time to set a record. You know it has to be in a meaningful performance, in a game that means everything.

Not a game where the goal is to run up as big a stat line as possible.