Basketball from a fans perspective

The Big O  
The 1961-62 NBA season Oscar Robertson was 30.8 ppg, 12.5 rebounds and 11.4 assists for 79 games.  He shot .478 from the floor, 80% from the free-throw line.  Career numbers 25.7 ppg, 7.5 rebounds and 9.5 assists.  26,710 points, 7,804 rebounds and 9,887 assists. As for the 3-point basket it was not adopted by the NBA until the 1979-80 season.

The NFL
The 2016 Super Bowl was played February 7 it’s officially the last football of the season.  Hold on there buckaroo not so quick, just because we are not playing the game doesn‘t mean it doesn‘t dominate conversation.  Example during portions the NFL was a topic of discussion on ESPN’s Mike & Mike later on The Dan Patrick Show on NBCSN.  This was continued on ESPN’s First Take and likely the rest of the day.

Where am I going with this rant to my favorite topic basketball in all its incantations?  I’ve mentioned over and over an acquaintance questioned why I was writing about basketball 12 months of the year.  The last NFL game was played over a month ago and we are still talking about football.  I don’t dislike the NFL however it’s not my sport, I certainly wouldn’t consider myself an expert on basketball by any stretch of the imagination.  With that said you; “Dance with the one that brung ya.”    

The calendar has turned
It’s now March and you know what that involves, wild and crazy college basketball for the next month.  I guess it can‘t really be any wilder than it has to date, they don’t call it “March Madness” for nothing.

Were does he stand?
One of the local sports stations posed the question; “Where does Bill Self rank with other coaches.”  Self has been one of the most successful college coaches in recent memory however there is a question.  In his 13 years at the helm his Kansas teams have won 30 or more games 6 times, his winning percentage as this is written is 373-82 (.820) in the Big 12 its 173-39 (.816).  Outstanding numbers except that is the upside, out of that sterling record the 2008 NCAA Championship is it there are no multiple championships to date.

Coach K. at Duke is several years ahead of Self in the length of time he’s coached; there are five NCAA Championships on his resume.  Roy Williams at North Carolina has two.  Rick Pitino, John Calipari, Tom Izzo and Tubby Smith all have one championship.  A number of former coaches also won a single championship.  As for the others the NCAA win total is listed behind their name:

John Wooden 10---UCLA
Adolph Rupp four---Kentucky
Bobby Knight three---Indiana
Jim Calhoun three---UConn
Henry Iba two--- Oklahoma State
Denny Crum two---Louisville

This will sound as if it’s I hate Bill Self but that is not the case.  The intent is to point out given time and wins his name is likely to be a better fit when discussing the legion of great coaches.