There is a distinction between lack of talent and lack of effort!
-------Larry Laker

Unfortunate news
I certainly don’t want to be the harbinger of bad news however this is not good. The ESPN NBA page read; “Durant out 4-6 months”. This becomes one more continuing epidemic of injuries beseting the Thunder this season. Russell Westbrook continues his scoring and assist run without capable teammates they might not advance far in the playoffs. Serge Ibaka is also on the sidelines with an injury, although he’s In action now we are aware of the series of injuries Westbrook has suffered. This downturn for the Thunder is too bad they are not a favorite of mine however I hate they may be unable to compete due to injury.

Friday
Today is the day of news surprises, first up was the Kevin Durant injury update. Later it became the Steve Lavin story as it was announced he was stepping down. I haven’t followed St. John’s basketball closely enough so I am unable to offer any insight. I will simply repeat the news release by the school indicating Lavin and the school decided to part ways after five seasons.

Saturday
Coaching change continued into the next day. Saturday evening we received word Texas had relieved Rick Barnes after 17 years at the helm. This was not news in a true sense; Texas was to contend for the Big 12 Championship in 2014-15 but underachieved once again.  Barnes team made the Field of 68 however they were quickly eliminated.  The agreement to terminate his services might be based on available talent in Texas.  I believe there are vast amounts of basketball talent in the state, in addition plenty of money for a basketball budget. Here is the issue for me, Texas would like to think it belongs in the same conversation with Duke, North Carolina and Kansas and I don‘t think so.  Consider this any discussion of the aforementioned schools athletics our first first thought is basketball. As for Texas its fall football and spring football. Basketball is popular in the state and at Texas University but certainly not on the level of a Duke, North Carolina and Kansas.

Officiating 101
Early on I realized the difficulty with officiating basketball; in fact it might be the most difficult of all sports to officiate. I checked out the last two minutes of the Kentucky-Notre Dame game over and over again. Did the officials make the correct call on the out of bounds play? How about the block/charge call, was the ND player “sliding over”? The “bad” Mark Cuban makes an appearance in this account because his player was hurt during a game. As I’ve often stated I don’t want to see any player injured but it does occur. The Mavs Monta Ellis was injured recently and forced Cuban to tweet; “It's criminal how Monta doesn't get calls Pushed.Hit in face.Hit on arm.Im tired of turning in calls.Fans need to post video to wake NBA up.” I didn’t see the play so unlike Kentucky-Notre Dame maybe Cuban is correct although I doubt if he‘s 100% correct. I believe it’s safe to state NBA, college and high school officials don’t have vendettas against players, coaches or teams. It will never occur but I would to suggest Cuban try officiating a middle school or high school game. I believe he’d discover the difficulty in making every call a correct one.

The assist
Pistons guard Reggie Jackson had a monster game recently, 23 points and 20 assists. Before he went down with an injury in January Brandon Jennings had a 20 point 20 assist game. Those games caused me to wonder; who might hold the single game record for assists? Surprise, surprise it’s not Magic Johnson or John Stockton two names you might be familiar with.

It’s not Isiah Thomas either who lead the Pistons Bad Boy teams for several years. Time’s up its Scott Skiles whose served as head coach at several NBA stops; this former player holds the single game record with 30 assists while he was a member of the Magic. Occupying the second, third and fourth place is retired Jazz point guard John Stockton with 28, 27 and 26 assists. As for Magic he’s up there but not as high as we might have first believed. Magic had two 24 assist games during his Laker career.

basketball-reference.com

I’m guilty too
The sport world pays far too much attention on Division I basketball. I took time on Saturday to view the Division II Championship between Florida Southern 35-1 and Indiana (of Pennsylvania) 31-6. The key reason we attend or see more D-I games 80-90% of NBA players arrive in the league via a D-I program. ESPN, Fox Sports, YES, NESN and the other sports networks blowup our television sets with Division I games.  Unless we have a championship match such as today the Division II basketball is virtually ignored by the networks. I’m unsure how much coverage is provided locally. I give you example Mizzou’s main campus is 150 miles from Kansas City and the main campus of Kansas is a little under 50 miles.

Division II Rockhurst University is about 15 minute’s drive time from my home, I have no idea of their won-loss record. The media focus in Kansas City is on “the big-time” programs as it might be in other portions of the country. Unless you a student or affiliated with a Division II program you probably have no idea what’s going on. For those who might be unfamiliar with Kansas City the University of Missouri-Kansas City is located across Troost Ave from Rockhurst. Division I UMKC has operated for a number of years with a
television-radio package. As for Rockhurst on the other side of the street live streaming of the games is available. The game was won by Florida Southern 77-62, the trophy would sit beside the 1981 championship trophy.