At least the winning team didn't score in the shutout team's basket.....
I saw the story on the news last night, and quite honestly, I got a very "fake, artificial, reactionary" vibe watching it. According to the story, fans of the winning team cheered each and every bucket down to the last seconds of the game. Seemed to me the apology/press release, issued by the school administration, not the team, was a damage control reaction to the media and other backlash. I would not chalk this example up as one of the "inspiring" examples of GP in sports, no matter how "sorry" school officials claimed to be after the fact.
All that being said, I don't think you can compare what goes on at any sporting event
where the score is 100% certain all the time to an event where the winner of the match, due to uncertain penalties and nebulous "realtime" scoring, is in much doubt. Asking a team to "play nice" on the field and sandbag it to "help" struggling teams is not productive, if that is indeed the intent of G14. Asking a team to "play nice" off the field by helping the struggling team learn how to improve their design, build, and programming skills makes all the difference in the world.
"Leveling the playing field" by bulldozing the buildings that serve as a city's best "architecture" down to ground level is not progress. "Filling in the gaps" by having the architects build new architecture on the city's vacant lots is.
And if G14 isn't primarily designed to have an "inspirational" correction to the game,
as has been posited but never confirmed, then as a strategic aspect, I don't think it will carry much of a "fear factor" in teams' match planning. Because 4-2 or 4-0 are valid penalizable G14 scores, there's too much "noise" in the certainty of the in-match scores and penalties to justify daintily limiting your offensive output. This will be especially true in the eliminations, where blowouts will be rare and teams will score first, ask questions later.
In the end, regardless of the intent of the rule, which seems to often be the source of any passionate debate, moreso than its effect on the game, I don't believe it will have a big impact on how teams strategize, and
this is how I expect to proceed this year.