Basketball from a fans perspective
Help is on the way
Several years ago I bowled against a real fun loving guy. He was an unpaid comic making his teammates and the opposition laugh with jokes and stories. Whenever it was his turn to bowl he'd head to the rack for his bowling ball and proclaim; "Help is on the way." That might be the case for Kansas basketball, the help could be 6-11 260 pound Udoka Azubuike. He attends high school in Jacksonville (FL) but is originally from Nigeria. He's rated the number 27 player and a 5-star prospect in the Class of 2016.
The program has suffered from a lack of rebounding and defense thus far. 6-9 Cheick Diallo has started slowly part of it NCAA mandated the other adjusting to big time basketball. I'd stated previously it was be a mistake for Diallo to leave early so hopefully he want repeat the mistake of Josh Selby and Cliff Alexander. He continues the trend of African big man at the school, Joel Embiid from Cameroon and Diallo from Mali. Added to this list from the continent will be Azubuike.
Bits n Pieces
This may have occurred in the past I don't remember. We are introduced to a prospect via social network. His name is Robert Bobroczky; he's from Romania and stands 7-6 at age 15. He plays for U16 Stella Azzurra Roma an amateur team based in Rome. He appears extremely skinny and certainly will require coaching if he is expected to play at the next level Euro or the NBA.
Revenist history where you mention a sports occurance that wouda, shouda couda occur. An example just last month December 2015 a Celtic fan came up to me and said; "If Kendrick Perkins hadn't got hurt we would have won." I thought for a moment "He's referring to the 2010 NBA Championship between the Lakers and Celtics that was played six years ago." I thought "why bring this up now?" I hope I've never revisited a sports moment in my life and moaned because my favorite team lost a game or series.
There were few questions regarding Greg Oden at the time he left Ohio State. NBA stardom was predicted by many in fact a writer compared him to the Legendary Bill Russell. An assortment of injuries have prevented him from reaching the level many predicted for Oden. He's now playing basketball in China and by all accounts his play appears outstanding. Maybe the NBA is no longer in his future but maybe a long pro career will exist in China. Stephon Marbury was certainly able to re-invent himself and is a basketball icon.
Kristaps Porzingis stands 7-3 and weighs 240 pounds; as this is written his weight could become an issue. Reports are the long NBA season has caused him to lose pounds, not unusual for a rookie adjusting to NBA life. His parents are in the U.S. and his mom fixes him a large breakfast every morning to maintain his weight.
Dual of the Titans
The SEC-Big 12 challenge has a different twist this year, number one Oklahoma (17-2) is matched against un-ranked LSU (13-7). There is more to the story of these teams facing one another, in my opinion the top two players in the nation will face off in this game. They will not guard one another except on switches because they play different positions. Buddy Hield is a 6-4 shooting guard on Oklahoma's team while the 6-10 Ben Simmons is a forward for LSU. Both players are prime candidates for college player of the year. This is written ahead of the game we can only hope it lives up to the game we hope. Here's to both players not getting in foul trouble and playing major minutes.
Not yet
The Warriors are doing a number on the rest of the NBA. It's yet undetermined if the all time win record will be tied or even broken. I hate to use another sport but they remind me of the 2015 Royals. There was not quit in the Royals many times they came back from a deficient to win a game, this effort was culminated in a World Series win. As for the 76ers they were ahead of the Warriors with seconds left in the game. Ball inbound passed to Harrison Barnes in the right corner. He takes a 3-point shot which swishes the net game over---Warriors 108 76ers 105. It's now February can they maintain the pace one and avoid injuries two.
