Bits n Pieces
My spastic Mizzou Tigers cannot keep going outside the confines of Mizzou Arena. They lost another “winnable game” against Texas A&M 70-68. For A&M fans don’t get your shorts in a bind your team won the game, I didn’t say Mizzou was a superior team. I simply was trying to point out Mizzou could have just as easily won the game. One thing for sure home cooking works, they demolished Ole Miss 98-79 after losing to them last month 64-49.

My intent was to profile Andrew Wiggin’s game. I discovered his Huntington Prep (W.Va.) team had beaten Marietta College (OH) junior varsity. How does a “high school” schedule a game against a college team even if it’s the schools freshman? As for Wiggins the number one prospect in the Class of 2013. He dropped in 57 points and grabbed 13 rebounds, the Marietta team can send thanks to Sports Illustrated. Earlier in the week they wrote a rather uncomplimentary story on Wiggins.

Is he returning to Ohio to play ball? Greg Oden played one season at Ohio State and then several injury plauged years in Portland. The Blazers finally gave up and released this former number one draft pick.  Oden's been recuperating anticipating a return to the NBA at a future date.  Early stories circulated indicating he would possibly sign with the Heat but a new team has been added to the mix.  Reports indicate Oden will possibly sign with the Cavs.

Sometimes I question the logic of people.  ESPN’s Chris Palmer first tweets; “LeBron is 28. He could win 7 MVPs“He follows that tweet with; “Kobe has one MVP. Yeah, OK.” What’s this all about? Okay Palmer LeBron will end his career with more MVP’s. I’d bet money if I were a betting person, Kobe will have more NBA Championships rings end the end.

This could have occurred with a Lakers-Clippers series I’m unsure. Broadcaster Mike Tirico performed double duty yesterday; he announced the afternoon game on ABC which featured the Knicks and Clippers. Tirico rode the subway from Manhattan to Brooklyn, he then announced the evening ESPN Nets-Spurs from Barclays Center.

Texas Twins
Houston metro twins Andrew and Aaron Harrison Class of 2013 prospects committed to Kentucky in October. Aaron a shooting guard is 6-5 and 205 pounds, his twin Andrew is a 6-5 and 210 pounds point guard. There is another Texas Twin combination in the Class of 2014 Derrick and Erick Neal. The Neal’s are from Dallas, there is a key difference in the twins other than age, class and city. The difference is their size; the Neal twins are 5-9 and weigh a wiry 140 pounds. The Neal twins are smooth, quick and have crossover moves that might cause an NBA player difficulty. The issue of course is their height and weight; surely they will gain in both areas over the next two years. Unlike the Harrison twins both Neal twins have point guard bodies and it might be difficult for them to attend the same college. You should still keep an eye out for these two because they are magicians with the basketball.

Now I’m worried
The injury bug rather than team play has now become my concern regarding this years Laker team. Over the years I could probably count on one hand the number of major injuries during championship runs. This Laker team has sustained injury after injury after injury after another injury. At the beginning of the season it was Steve Nash injured in pre-season and out until mid-December. Jordan Hill begins making an impact and he too goes down with an injury. In Hill‘s case we won‘t see him until next year, season ending surgery. In the same game Dwight Howard injured his shoulder, since his initial injury Howard’s been in and out of the lineup. Pau Gasol has been dealing with planter fascias season long. It now appears Pau is out a minimum of six weeks with this injury. I almost overlooked back-up point guard Steve Blake who was also absent for an extended period. As the old adage goes; “injuries are part of the game.” There is no method to prevent them from occurring.

He’s an enigma to most of us
We don’t know much about Coach Gregg Popovich. The only time he is really newsworthy is when he sends key players home for rest or when his team wins an NBA Championship. Pop has coached the Spurs since 1996 however he seems to prefer the background. For reasons not fully explained the media focuses on a select number of basketball coaches, Pop is not in that number. You know who they are; Phil Jackson, John Calapiri, Doc Rivers and others. During interviews Pop often sounds as though he’d rather be doing something else. This Indiana native has led the Spurs to four NBA Championships; they have always been a perennial Western Conference contender during his time at the helm. Critics point out it’s easy to win with David Robinson and Tim Duncan as the anchors of your team. I want to attribute this quote to the former Maryland Coach “Lefty” Driesell, I think he said it. Someone questioned UCLA winning all those NCAA championships; they stated it was due to their superior talent. Driesell agreed to a point but made this statement which I’ll paraphrase, “its great to have basketball talent but you must know how to coach that great talent as well.” I think the Spurs Gregg Popovich wears that statement quite well.