Junior college basketball
I believe this statement to be accurate; junior college basketball in the State of Kansas is among the best in the nation. California or maybe Texas might produce more junior college talent but that’s probably it. All schools in the state are members of the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference. It consists of 24 junior colleges spread throughout the state and divided into three conferences. Kansas City Kansas and Johnson County are likely the only urban conference members; the other schools are located in rural and small towns.
A long list of NBA talent embarked on their basketball careers at the junior college level. Why are they forced to attend junior colleges you ask? A number must build up their G.P.A. in order to qualify for 4-year schools while others may not have been recruited. As for others they must raise their level of play in order to compete at a Division I school. Although they didn’t play at Kansas Junior Colleges Hall of Fame players, Nate “Tiny” Archibald, Artis Gilmore, Mitch Richmond and Spencer Haywood are just a few who began NBA careers at a junior college.
She’s hired to officiate
Laura Holtkamp was hired as an NBA referee in 2014-15. Holtkamp had officiated in the
D-League the two previous years. Prior to her D-League experience she was a WNBA official for four seasons. Six years of officiating prior to her NBA hire the point Holtkamp has plenty of mileage as a basketball official. Officials are evaluated at the end of the season by the league if they don’t make the grade they are not invited back. This is written in response to a number of emails I read regarding Holtkamp and Chris Paul. I’m not intending to debate whether the call was valid or not however I intend to defend Holtkamp. A number of the complaints regarding Holtkamp were sexist in nature.
One writer even suggested “She go back to officiating in the WNBA.” How about the men, remember former referee Steve Javie once gave Rasheed Wallace a technical for “looking at him.” Back in the day Ron Garretson didn’t take any backtalk from players. Joey Crawford once ejected Tim Duncan for laughing while Duncan was seated on the bench. Are these valid examples of officials abusing their power who truly knows---what I do know they are all male officials? I’m sure there were no references to their gender when complaining about their officiating.
They call him coach
NBA basketball stood at attention when they heard the news. The Celtics hired college Coach Brad Stevens to replace the departed Doc Rivers. They said; “College coaches don’t have much success in the NBA.” We could state with conviction Larry Brown might be the only exception to that statement.” We are three years down the road and let’s check the record. The 2013-14 team finished 25-57, last season the Celtics were two games below .500 40-42. As this is written the Celtics stand 28-22 and have returned to competitive basketball once again.
By the way that college guy Stevens is still on the job and there have been no complaints as he’s established his NBA credentials. His wife told a funny story about her husband on 60 Minutes. Tracy Stevens claims; “On our third date he drove an hour and half to attend a high school basketball game.” Tracy Stevens claims she became fully aware of her future husbands love for basketball, at that time he was serving as a Butler assistant. He would become head coach at Butler in 2007 and would remain until July of 2013 when he was hired by the Celtics. Last years team reached the playoffs but was eliminated in the first round, it’s likely this is not the last time the Celtics make the playoffs with Stevens at the helm.
Have they bottomed out?
Awhile back I wrote Mizzou fans are always fearful, something dreadful is going to occur to the basketball program. Just wait and see they might say and sure enough the dreadful occurs. The Tigers are in last place in the SEC and show little signs of improvement. The dreadful, two players were arrested by the Columbia (MO) police charged with possession of drug paraphernalia. Both have been suspended and I will shocked if they remain on the team.
I believe the team has now hit rock bottom students and fans are staying away from the games in droves. In the last game you could “toss a rock at an angle and miss hitting anyone.” I believe Kim Anderson is a good guy but he might be overmatched getting the Mizzou program back on its feet. “Hindsight is always better than foresight,” Anderson should have been hired 15 years ago when he first interviewed for the head coaching position. There are plenty of coaching candidates available but who might want the Mizzou job at this point in time?
