Rock Chalk Jayhawk

Several thousand Kansas fans are upset with the results of Saturday's Big XII tourney final. They thought they would play Mizzou for the title win and then be announced as a 1 seed on Sunday. Fortunately (unfortunately for them) you must play the game before you can be declared a winner. "They can't take our trophy to the SEC, we must do all in our power to prevent that from happening!" I'm going to be fair to them, much more they have been to most Mizzou fans. This years KU team was really very good, Bill Self had to revamp the entire team and they still won the regular season championship. I've given them their due, how about doing the same for Mizzou? I told a friend yesterday "if I had told you last September Mizzou would win 30 games you'd have me committed for a mental health evaluation." He laughed and said you are correct but this is what occurred, seven players succeeded because they believed in their coach and trusted him. They played basketball with a chip on their shoulder, they didn't lose the chip after two losses to K-State and one each to Oklahoma State and KU. The chip was knocked off but they picked it up placed it on their shoulder again and said "we're ready." I forgot "Mr. Smooth" Kim English was named the tourneys most outstanding player. ESPN/coaches poll, Mizzou number 3, Kansas number 6, one more occurrence to dishearten fans of the mighty Jayhawks.

Bizarro World

This story is real close to a bizarro world moment! How likely do think two NBA players with fractured noses at the same time, you think maybe 70% to 80% probability? How about the possibility of two players wearing protective masks at the same time, that would most likely be lower 60% to 70%. How about the two playing in the same city? You say that's an astronomical conclusion and could never happen, hold on a moment it's already occurred. As most of you are aware Kobe Bryant has worn a plastic-like protective mask since he fractured his nose in the All-Star game. Sunday night I turned on NBA League Pass to check out the
Clippers-Warriors game, I was quite surprised to see Chris Paul attaching a mask similar to Kobe's on his face. Paul had suffered the same fate as Kobe, he'd fractured his nose in the Clippers previous game against the Spurs. So there you have it, two Los Angeles players with fractured noises and playing the game with protective masks.

Another honor

"The Atlanta Tipoff Club today announced that Shabazz Muhammad, the still-undecided No. 1 overall ranked boy’s player in the Class of 2012 from Bishop Gorman High School in Las Vegas, Nev., is the 2012 Naismith High School Boy’s Player of the Year." Kansas folks thinks he'd headed to Lawrence. I would bet it ain't gonna happen! If it does I certainly will be surprised. One other note, the Atlanta Tipoff Club continues to recognize Muhammad as the number one player in the Class of 2012. (Slamoline.com)

They have a problem too

Friends have continued to pester me with questions, "what's wrong with the Lakers?" I've responded as honestly as I can but have held my secondary thought to myself. Why are they not questioning me on the defending NBA champs the Mavs? The defending champs are not the Lakers, it's the Mavs remember them? I'm more sure I could respond to a Laker question than one regarding the Mavs. Missing from last years team are Jose Barea, Tyson Chandler and Caron Butler. Butler was injured and contributed little toward the championship run, he's now playing for the Clippers. The Mavs added Lamar Odom but he's been M.I.A. off and on this season. As this is written (Tuesday) the Mavs are 24-20 and in 7th place in the Western Conference, they will make the playoffs as a 7th seed. If they continue to slid I cannot envision what Mark Cuban might do, can you? A defending NBA championship team not even making the playoffs the following year!

See you in Brooklyn

Several weeks back I mentioned Barclays Center had a $1 billion dollar price tag attached to it. Recouping them $1 billion spent it would be safe to assume you'd schedule as many events as possible. In addition to the NBA the arena will serve as host for the Legends Classic and Winter Hoops. November 19-20 the Legends Classic will be held, Georgetown, Indiana, UCLA and Georgia will be the participating schools. December 15th Michigan will play West Virginia in the first Brooklyn Winter Hoops Festival at Barclays. As you can see building management is filling up dates as we inch closer to completion of the building. This next story is really bizarre, New York's Finest (police) have been "fighting" over responsibility at the arena. "The 78th Precinct will be responsible for maintaining order at Barclays despite the fact the arena sits inside the 88th Precinct's jurisdiction." Figure that one out if you care to. (New York Post)

That's terrible

After some reluctance on my part I discovered Rickey Rubio can play in the NBA. I hate it whenever a player is injured and is forced to the sidelines, that's the case with Rubio. We know injuries are part of the game but still don't like to lose a player in this manner and in this instance he's lost for the balance of the year with a torn ACL, he sustained the injury last Friday in the Wolves-Laker game. In addition he will miss representing Spain in the Olympics this year. Rubio's offense was a work in progress at 10.6 points a game, as for his assists that was totally different story. He was averaging 8.2 assists which placed him 5th among the NBA's point guards. Hopefully Rubio heals successfully and is back on the court next season.