Bits n Pieces

It's been suggested the Utah Jazz and New Orleans Hornets swap team names. Utah is the beehive state, i.e. hornets. I've never visited Salt Lake City so I could be in error with this next statement, I can't imagine much jazz played in Salt Lake City. They will not swap names all they need to do is check out the Lakers. The Lakers never changed their team name when they moved from "the land of 10,000 lakes." Other than the Pacific Ocean I don't think there are any large bodies of water around Southern California.

Just in case you can't be in Chicago for the McDonald's game ESPN will telecast it at 9:30 p.m. ET., game date is March 28. One other high school All-Star game of note--the Jordan Brand Classic will be held in Charlotte North Carolina April 14. Same with this game If you can't check it in person ESPN will telecast it at 7:00 p.m. ET.

Jeremy Lin has continued to develop his game but two problems are evident. The Knicks are in a stretch playing better teams and the results are not positive as before. Carmelo Anthony's return has not aided the Knicks much, they lost last Friday to the Bucks their fourth loss in a row. Lin had a decent game, 20 points with 13 assists however he turned the ball over 5 times. The downward slide continued yesterday against Philly. Stoudemire only scored 9 points in the game, Anthony led the way with 22 points.  Lin scored 14 with 7 assists but 6 turnovers.

Jason Whitlock never allows the truth to interfere with a story he's writing. So it is with the story he wrote last week, this is a quote from his Fox Sports column. "Kobe is a scorer. Period. He can’t touch Michael Jordan as a defender. Kobe is not in the same zip code as Magic and Bird as a creator and teammate-elevator." Now for the facts and not something from the land of Whitlock's imagination. This is proof of at least one fact, Kobe
plays defense.  As I pointed out it's not a requirement to like or even approve of Kobe but at least tell the truth with the actual facts.  My count says Kobe's made the 1st or 2nd All-Defensive team 11 years Mr. Whitlock.

All-Defensive 1st team
2000 2003 2004 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011
All-Defensive 2nd team
2001 2002

Wataru Misaka

Most of your are probably not familiar with the name in the title. With Lin-sanity at a frantic pace I thought it might be worthwhile to visit the past. The first Asian to play in the NBA played in 1947, his name was Wataru "Wat" Misaka. Misaka is a Japanese American born in Ogden Utah, he played for the University of Utah and led them to the 1944 NCAA and 1947 NIT Championship. Misaka was a 5-7 150 pound point guard, he was drafted by the New York Knicks in 1947 at the time the team was a member of the Basketball Association of American. Misaka played a brief three games during the 1947-48 season, he was released he says because the Knicks had too many guards. Misaka is still alive and at the age of 88 is fully aware of "Lin-sanity." (portions Wikipedia)

Basketball recruiting

Hopefully you remember the story on Nerlens Noel, he was reclassified and is now in the high school Class of 2012. I never received an explanation why he was to graduate in 2013 and now it's 2012. This 6-10 215 pound center from Boston displaced Shabazz Muhammad as the number one athlete in the Class. I've seen video of him but no game action, if he replaced Muhammad as number one he's got to have game. A few schools with offers on the table include UConn, Georgetown, Florida, Kentucky and North Carolina. In addition Syracuse and Providence are also in the mix, it might appear UConn has the inside track. If health issues force Jim Calhoun to retire the series of events might change. I could see Georgetown with the specter of Ewing, Mourning and Mutombo in it's history. In a related story the NCAA has contacted schools indicating there are concerns over Shabazz Muhammad's amateur status. Details are spelled out in a story on CBSport.com and probably other websites. (Jeff Goodman and Gary Parrish CBSports.com College Basketball Insiders)

Never heard of him

Often where you chose to play has a bearing on a players visibility, few of you are probably familiar with Scott Machado from Iona. This 6-1 180 pound point guard leads the nation in assists at 10.1 per game, in addition he's averaging 13.1 points from the floor on .478 field goal percentage. The projections are nbadraft.net he'll be the 58th player in the second round. The other site draftexpress.com has Machado projected as the 40th player in the second round. Are you listening Jim Buss, here is your point guard for the future!

Imagine this

Mizzou beat Texas in the semifinals of the Big XII tournament Friday evening. Mizzou won the game 81-67 and Marcus Denmon was 0-10 from the floor and 2 points. You asked how they won their 29th game with little production from Denmon, well the usual suspects had outstanding games. We begin with Ricardo Ratliffe who grabbed 14 rebounds and scored 18 points. "Mr. Smooth" that's my new name for Kim English, he was 9-10 from the floor and 23 points. Flip Pressey only had 4 assists because he was to busy tossing in 23 points of his own. Next up for Mizzou, the championship final against Baylor. Mizzou did not disappoint against Baylor, final Mizzou 90 Baylor 75. The Tigers were led by the walking wounded, Marcus Denmon with 15 points on a bad ankle. "Mr. Smooth" Kim English led the way with a high game of 19 points. The two totaled 34 points, where might the balance of Mizzou's scoring come from? Well Ratliffe had 15, Flip Pressey scored 15 (with 8 assists) Michael Dixon tossed in 17.  Brother Matt had 5 points and reserve Steve Moore 4 and a rim-rocking dunk near the end of the game.