Allow me to state this up front I had an uneasy feeling regarding Mizzou's journey to Stillwater Oklahoma. After the teams outstanding effort against Baylor I felt this might be a "trap" game. Sure enough that's what it turned out to be, Mizzou was on the losing end of a 79-72 contest but it's a little more than the score. Mizzou never put up the stop sign on the Cowboys. They allowed the Cowboys to out shoot, out rebound and out hustle them. I liked the comment made by Coach Haith, he said "we got their best effort tonight, they didn't get our best!" No excuses, Oklahoma State certainly didn't play like a .500 team.
Is Andrew Bynum the best big man in today's NBA? Shaquille O' Neal claims he is! We might ask "why Bynum over Dwight Howard?" His response "Bynum has a variety of post moves that Howard can't match." For the immediate time being the Laker offense will continue to flow through Kobe, in all probability and will remain so until he retires. If we just looked at the numbers Dwight Howard would be the clear winner. There is a difference between the two and it has nothing to do with the fact that Howard is 6-11 and Bynum is 7-0. The Magic offense flows through Howard, Laker offense continues to flow through Bryant. Bynum's numbers this season read 16.5 points, 13.9 rebounds and almost 2 blocks a game. Although Bynum has struggled at the free-throw line recently he exceeds Howard in this area 53% versus 44%. Over the course of their careers Bynum is 68% and Howard 59%. I like Bynum but I'm not ready to declare him the best yet. We could produce a superior center if we could clone the best of each of these existing NBA centers. We'd clone the defensive skills of Tyson Chandler, the warp speed and exuberance of Jaokim Noah and the offensive expertise of David Lee.
Kentucky's John Calipari recruits for the right now, his teams always seem to be stocked with NBA players. Remember the 2010 draft three of his players were drafted in the first round. I once read (undocumented) former coach Tubby Smith begin to carefully pick and chose recruits, no more McDonald All-American types if he could help it. Smith won an NCAA Championship at Kentucky but was asked to leave. Smith's teams were less and less successful on the court due to his recruiting efforts. On the other hand the one n done players don't appear to phase Coach Cal. This is not an indictment of Calipari it's his method of recruiting. Despite what Anthony Davis might state I will be in total shock if he remains at Kentucky for his sophomore year. His game against Arkansas is the prime reason, I hope you have an opportunity to see freshman this outstanding freshman play. Most mock NBA drafts have him listed number one or two in the 2012 draft. His game against Arkansas was nothing short of spectacular. He scored 27 points on 10 of 12 from the floor. Davis was 7 of 8 from the free throw line, grabbed 14 rebounds along with 7 blocked shots. Davis was key to the Wildcats thumping Arkansas 86-63. If he does leave there is no need to feel sorry for Calipari, he's signed a Kansas City metro kid. 6-10 Willie Cauley is on his way to Lexington in August, can Cauley play big time basketball only time will tell. Some kids are talented enough to not skip a beat elevating their game to the collegiate level while other struggle.
Depending on your age the name Nate Thurmond might not be familiar to most of you. Thurmond is enshrined in the Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield (MA). This 6-11 225 pound center spent the majority of his career with the San Francisco /Golden State Warriors. From 1963-1974 he played for the Warriors, 1974-1976 he spent with the Bulls. He finally concluded his career in 1976-1977 while a member of the Cavs. On October 18, 1974 against the Hawks Thurmond recorded a quadruple-double. Check out these numbers, 22 points, 14 rebounds, 13 assists and 12 blocked shots. Over the course of his career Thurmond scored 14,437 points and pulled down 14,464 rebounds. A 15.0 per game average in both categories. Few players have pulled down more rebounds than they scored. (Wikipedia)
The teams not very good
Nick Fasulo MSNBC wrote a piece titled "Seven good players who are great reasons to watch bad teams." It caused me to pause a moment and think the majority of time we are force feed a study diet of Carolina and Duke basketball. ESPN, Fox Sports and CBS generally telecast best teams, we don't have the opportunity to see the below radar teams. In this instance I could find no fault with networks, their desire is to televise the best teams to maximize their audience. With purpose they fill their broadcast time with high profile teams. I read Fasulo's piece and he is correct there are numerous good players on bad teams. One of the players he profiled is playing at Rice University, as this is written Rice is 10-8 two games above .500. Arsalan Kazemi is a 6-8 225 pound small forward, from Estahan Iran. Whether he Kazemi ever plays in the NBA is still a question, DraftExpress.com list him as their number 20 pick in the second round of the 2013 mock draft. Rice University is located in Houston Texas.
I'm a little unsure now if the December 19th game between Davidson and Kansas was an actual upset. Prior to the game perhaps many of the Kansas faithful figured this school 's mascot was the "Mildcats" after all it's Davidson. Well understand this Davidson is currently 14-4, 8-0 in the Southern Conference. Davidson is another school the media titles "mid-major," I hate that term because it's misleading. It smacks you in the in the face stating "were a smaller school in a smaller conference" therefore we are not as good as you are." Davidson proved that mindset is totally bogus. Need I remind the KU faithful of Northern Iowa another mid-major.
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