Basketball from a fans perspective
The barber shop
A visit to the barber shop during basketball season always promotes a candid “State of the Basketball Universe Discussion.” An example might be this past Saturday morning. Naturally the NCAA tourney was a prime topic, I’m not sure what occurred before I arrived however I mentioned to my barber Buddy Hield played his high school ball in Wichita. I went on to say Bill Self allowed him to “escape” to Oklahoma. The response from my barber; “Hield is not the kind of player Self recruits" he didn’t elaborate any further. Barber #2 chimed in with his view of LSU’s Ben Simmons; “He’s playing exactly like (Andrew) Wiggins did when he was at Kansas.”
Barber #2 again; “LeBron James is in the middle of the season and he’s talking about playing with somebody else other than his present teammates.” Then talk focused on the recent Baylor-Harvard match. This is me; “Scott Drew certainly can recruit I’m not sure how good an X and O guy he is.” Patron #1; “Yes his teams always come up a little short.” It’s not just basketball and sports we discussed the recent Kansas City Star contest on the best chicken restaurants in the metro. That’s just a brief synopsis of the many barber shop conversations held today. We didn’t solve any issues but the talk was certainly interesting.
Quit beggin’
The outcome of the Kansas-Villanova game was different than most expected. The Wildcats managed to slip past the Jayhawks 64-59. I didn’t witness the game so it’s probably unfair of me to just look at the numbers. After reading numerous letters of complaint about the officiating especially a foul on Devonte Graham of Kansas I decided to conduct a little research. I was unable to locate video of the “questionable foul” however I will continue to search. As for the numbers they are; Field goal shooting Kansas 46% Villanova 40%. The 3-point shooting Kansas 27.3% Villanova 22.2 rebounds Kansas 32 Villanova 28. The rubber hit’s the road here; Turnovers Kansas 16 Villanova 9, free-throw percentage Kansas 63.6% Villanova 94.7% and finally steals Kansas 5 Villanova 11.
I will conclude with the crucial turnover Frank Mason contributed at a point Kansas was down one point with seconds remaining in the game. Did I mention not one Kansas player emerging from the bench scored, 0 points from the Kansas bench. I’m reminded years ago when I was in a bowling league I missed a strike I should have made, after the wiggling pin refused to fall I tried body English leaning to one side in order to get the pin to fall. A guy on the competing team told me; “Quit beggin.” Kansas fans quit beggin’ your team lost the game because they failed at several points to put the Wildcats away. I refuse to believe one foul call legitimate or not is going to change the outcome of a 40 minute basketball game.
Mid-major
The term mid-major came into usage in 1977 it was coined by the then head basketball coach of Catholic University. The Big 10, Big 12, PAC-12, ACC and SEC he used the term the “Power Five” conferences the balance of schools he considered “mid-major“. Many of us believed the term was based on student enrollment. It had nothing to do with student enrollment in fact a number of the Power Five conferences (Notre Dame & Northwestern) have student enrollment below that of mid-majors New Mexico State or Missouri State. I’m reminded of the movie Hoosiers, the scene where the Hickory team first walked into Butler Field house.
The Hickory team appeared amazed at the size of the building having played in small high school gyms. Coach Dale (Gene Hackman) had Buddy measure the height of the basket from the floor? They discovered the basket was the same height in their tiny Hickory gym as it was in massive Butlerfield house. A number of players who made there way to the NBA could have played at any Power Five school. Ask Blazer Damian Lillard (Weber State) or the Spurs Kahwi Leonard (San Diego State) the question. We could include the Nuggets Kenneth Faried; “The Manimal” honed his basketball skills at Morehead State or the Bulls Jimmy Butler (Marquette).
