Bits n Pieces
When will Russell Westbrook grow up? The guy is an extremely talented athlete. That’s the upside; the downside Westbrook’s head is going to explode similar to a cartoon if he doesn’t tone down a bit.

I hope Mizzou learns to win on the road, I offer no excuses losing to teams that appear below you on a talent level. I’m sure Ole Miss and LSU fans will take exception to my statement. You notice I said appear below your talent level. Ole Miss and LSU won the game so I guess they are superior teams.

Check out Deron William’s $15.8 million dollar Manhattan penthouse. I don’t own the photos so I can’t provide a link however you can locate them on a couple of different websites.

Is it the P.J. Carlesimo factor or Avery Johnson is no longer on the scene? The Nets have certainly played much better basketball since Johnson was replaced. As for Carlesimo everyone deserves another opportunity. After being fired at Golden State and Oklahoma City many thought his head coaching days were in the rear view mirror.

A heavyweight championship bout, that’s my description of the Indiana-Michigan game. The teams traded blow after blow all evening long. Michigan finally succumbed 81-73 in this highly contested game.

Local talk shows are ripe with stories of Kansas basketball. A radio host even proclaimed “Bill Self a better coach than Roy Williams.” I’m unsure if I can sign off on that declaration, this radio host has probably come to this conclusion because Williams never won an NCAA Championship while at Kansas despite the talent he recruited.    

Who’s the best?
It’s difficult to decide the best freshman player in the nation. As I wrote recently folks in this area are tuned in to Ben McLemore at Kansas. The Fox Sports website list McLemore as a sophomore which is the case but he’s a red-shirt freshman. With that issue aside let’s check out his numbers. This 6-5 195 guard is shooting .510 from the floor and 16.4 points per game, 2.1 assists and 5.4 rebounds. Next up 6-6 225 pound guard-forward Shabazz Muhammad of UCLA.

Looking strictly at the numbers Muhammad is shooting .472 from the floor, 18.2 points per game, 0.8 assists and 4.9 rebounds a game. The Running Rebels of UNLV have a talent in Anthony Bennett, he‘s a 6-8 240 pound forward. Bennett is shooting .554 from the floor with 18.5 points per game, 1.1 assists and 8.7 rebounds. The last freshman to check out is Kentucky’s Nerlens Noel. Noel arrived with limited on campus with limited offensive skills as evident by his 10.7 point per game average. This 228 pound 6-10 forward is rebounding at a 9.7 per game clip. He makes up for his lack of offense with defense and shot-blocking. The down side all four athletes names are listed on several mock draft sites.

I waited for a final summation
Once upon a time I was employed by an individual who hired both his sons and a cousin to work there as well. There might have been more family members, those I mentioned were the only individuals I was familiar with. As a single proprietor it was his business who was employed, the staff might not have agreed but had no input. Unlike this business owner the NBA Players Association is a different story, it’s a union given the task of negotiating matters for NBA athletes. I love my family but if I were in Billy Hunter’s position I would never ever think of hiring relatives. Think about this a moment, just the hint of impropriety might occur.

An audit of the financial matters by an outside agency determined no illegal activity had occurred but stated “Hunter hiring family members had harmed the union. The report cited numerous conflicts of interests.” To bring everyone up to speed Hunter hired his daughter and daughter-in-law to the staff of the players association. In addition the association utilized the financial institution where his son is employed. The situation has partially been corrected; Hunter will soon terminate his daughter and daughter-in-law from their position. Additionally no future business matters will be directed to the firm where his son is employed. The next step is for Hunter to resign, anytime an individual involved in financial matters conducts business in a questionable manner its time to go. The audit indicated no improprieties but questions would continue to resonate in the future. After I’d completed this story the NBAPA placed Hunter on indefinite leave.

“Were number one--were number one"
How many times have we heard students, fans and alums yell that chant? I have no idea without research how long it’s been utilized. As this is written we have a dilemma with the men‘s division one basketball poll---which team is actually number one? The Associated Press poll which reflects media members has Michigan at number one. The USA Today Coaches Poll list Kansas on its poll as number one. Until one team loses or we begin post-season play both teams are number one? Consider the previous AP Poll; Duke was one, Michigan two and Kansas three. How could Kansas eclipse Michigan when both teams won their previous weeks games? As for the USA Today poll Kansas was two and Michigan three, when Duke lost Kansas moved up to the top spot.  After this past weekend I'm sure no local talk here about Kansas being number one.