Basketball from a fans perspective
The
The Grizzles Mike Conley attended THE Ohio State University so did the Lakers D’Angelo Russell. I wondered at what point THE was added as a portion of the schools name so I decided to conduct research. It turns out officials wanted to ensure there was no confusing the initials with other schools. There is OSU (Oregon State University) and then another OSU (Oklahoma State University). Ohio State is also OSU without THE upfront, there is a story here I’m just not sure.
A much earlier basketball war
Anytime we hold discussions regarding basketball wars we automatically think of the NBA-ABA. An all out effort to sign players occurred between the new ABA and older established NBA in the 1970’s. The “war” was over talent and it often landed with the team with the deepest pockets. The NBA was established in 1949 however that was actually a merger between two competing leagues.
The Basketball Association of American had begun play in 1946 as example this league contained the Boston Celtics and New York Knicks. The National Basketball League was founded in 1937 and began play in the 1937-38 season. The Minneapolis Lakers and the Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons (Detroit) were NBL teams.
The BAA operated in larger cities while NBL teams were often located in smaller towns and cities across the nation. Basketball in the ‘40’s didn’t have the impact of today’s society because a ground breaking event hardly created a ripple at the time. Due to a shortage of players during World War II the Toledo (OH) Jim White Chevrolets and Chicago Studebakers of the NBL filled their rosters with black players.
Baseball the more popular sport was to see Jackie Robinson integrate major league baseball in 1947. His entrance into baseball created more news headlines than the earlier arrival of blacks into professional basketball. As for the war on August 3rd 1949 after a three-year battle for players the two leagues merged to become the National Basketball Association.
New guy
Brad Underwood is a name unknown to most of us; he’s been named head coach of the Oklahoma State Cowboys. Underwood replaces Travis Ford ask to leave after nine years on the job. We have no idea of Underwood’s recruiting ability however we know he can coach winning basketball. Prior to the start of the NCAA Tournament I checked the field of teams and noticed Stephen F. Austin made the cut once again. I checked Underwood’s bio and discovered several noteworthy pieces of information.
He played his college ball at Kansas State, Underwood served as a head coach at two community colleges prior to beginning service as an assistant at three D-1 schools. He was hired at Stephen F. Austin in 2013 replacing the long-time coach who left for another coaching position. Underwood’s overall record at SFA was 89-14 and his teams only lost one conference game in that time. His conference record 18-0, 17-1 and 18-0 in his three years at the helm. We must wait and see but this would appear a good hire for Oklahoma State.
Other coaching news
It’s now been confirmed long-time Pitt coach Jamie Dixon is headed to Texas Christian University. Dixon is replacing Trent Johnson who was fired. Dixon played his college ball at TCU. As for his coaching record at Pitt his team’s qualified for the NCAA Tournament 11 out of the 13 years he was head man. Pitt was his first head coaching job however he leaves with a 328-123 record (.727) and 148-81 (.638) in the conference. We might not see immediate results but it appears the Big 12 is raising the bar in the coaching hires of Underwood and Dixon.
