The NCAA Champion is crowned
I’m not trying to fool you, we do have a champion. The NCAA Division II champion is the University of Central Missouri. In a tightly fought contest Central Missouri overcame a tough West Liberty team 84-77. This is the second NCAA Championship for the Warrensburg (MO) school having won it in 1984.
Gatorade Player of the Year
Karl Towns Jr. was recently named Gatorade High School basketball player of the year, Andrew Wiggins won the award last year. J.R. Reed who later played at North Carolina was the first honoree in 1987. Alonzo Mourning a 1988 winner presented the award to Towns Jr. Kobe Bryant, Kevin Love and Dwight Howard have also won the award. LeBron James was the most recent two time winner being honored in 2002 and 2003. The 6-11 235 pound New Jersey native is headed to Kentucky and will play for John Calipari.
I could be wrong
After I re-read a portion of Friday’s Words I wanted to inform NFL fans I don’t hate the game. In fact at one time in my life I followed the NFL to the same degree I do with basketball today. Mark Cuban and I could both be wrong about the future of the NFL. The NFL stance at times reminds me of the Hans Christian Anderson fairy tale “The Emperor has no clothes.” If you can’t see a problem you just might have one. Closing this I read this in The Sporting News, the account pointed out 14 NFL players arrested in 2014 for a variety of charges ranging from domestic abuse to DUI to drug possession. I hope those who insist the NBA is full of malcontents read this.
The best move for all concerned
I withhold writing on rumors based on the usual reasons---they don’t pan out or they are just gossip. This move if it should occur might work out best for all parties concerned; Mike D’Antoni resigns at the end of the season and takes the Marshall University job. Marshall is his alma mater and according to the rumor mill the school has often reached out to him over the years. D’Antoni’s only coached at the pro level so a college position would be quite different.
If this story were to occur it would reduce some of the embarrassment facing Jim Buss. After all Buss was responsible for hiring both Mike Brown and Mike D’Antoni. "Son, your ego is writing checks your body can’t cash!" The quote is from the movie Top Gun and the commanding officer for Tom (Maverick) Cruise is being chewed out for not landing his aircraft when he had an earlier opportunity. The ego easily fits Jim Buss and the “body(s)” represent those of Coaches Brown and D’Antoni.
No one is happy
The above title is a little misleading a further explanation follows. Mavs owner Mark Cuban says “elite prospects would be better off playing in the NBA D-League than one year at an NCAA institution." True a number of players have arrived in the NBA from the D-League; an athlete can certainly sharpen his skills while receiving pay. Despite that positive it’s been my belief for a number of years the league has never accomplished what was intended. It was designed for high school prospects to play professionally, what’s most interesting at this point we could probably count on one hand the number of athletes who chose the NBA-D League over college.
Cuban is claiming a prospect would receive more one-on-one training in the NBA-D League over what he’d receive in college. I cannot dispute his claim however I question why haven’t more high school players chosen this route? The only study required is the team playbook and you get paid too. According to the information I uncovered the NBA-D League has three payment tiers; $25,500, $19,000 and $13,000. The salaries are low however to a high school kid working at McDonald’s the salary might rival that of Warren Buffett. If the NBA-D League cannot attract prospects with pay how Cuban state can it’s better than college?
“We have blinders on”
I’m not a horse person so forgive me if the next portion of my statement is incorrect. For a city boy I was told early on the “thing” around a horse’s neck contains a device which prevents a horse from seeing on their sides, they are supposed to only see the direction they are headed. Why does this exist I have no idea and since I don’t know I am unable to offer an explanation. The TWC Sports Channel in Kansas City runs a program titled RockChalkTV. Prior to last weeks loss one of the trio of hosts pointed out how “inaccurate Seth Davis of CBS Sports had been in his predictions over the years.” I have no desire to check if the local guy was correct or incorrect on Davis. This I do know, many in the Kansas City media have blinders on when it comes to Kansas basketball.
