Basketball from a fans perspective

Can you say coach?
Ron Artest, the new and improved version has turned into a good citizen. After a number of bumps in the road notably the ”Malice in the Palace” he settled down on and off the court.  The 6-7 small forward was one of the keys to the 2010 NBA Championship the last the Lakers won.  Artest left once but would return to the Lakers where he resides at present.  The August roster contains 17 names and a team can only carry 15.  It would appear the youthful Lakers no longer have a need for the veteran Artest.  The sentimental side of me says I hope they could sign him as a coach if he no longer has any opportunity to play.

Philly basketball
Basketball has a rich tradition in urban environments.  Nowhere is there more a clear example than the City of Philadelphia.  Philadelphia has always been fertile ground for growing talent and the college game.  The Big 5 is not a conference however it’s a collection of colleges whom Philadelphia is home. They are the University of Pennsylvania, La Salle University, Saint Joseph’s, Temple University and Villanova. The Philadelphia Warriors came into existence in 1946 as a member in the Basketball Association of America.  In 1949 the Warriors moved into what would become the National Basketball Association.  The City of Brotherly Love served as home until April 1962 when they packed their bags and headed for San Francisco.

This hot bed of basketball would be without a basketball team--but wait there is more.  It’s difficult to imagine now however the NBA did not have the footprint it does now.  It was considered a minor league in comparison to major league baseball and the National Football League.  The Syracuse Nationals began play in the National Basketball League in 1946, in the late ‘40’s they would move into the NBA were they would remain in Syracuse until 1963.  The Nationals or Nats would move to Philadelphia in 1963 and be re-born as the 76ers.  Once this move occurred the NBA had moved from its last “small” city, the league would be viewed in the same manner of the other professional sports.  

Rivalry renewed
The first sentence in the story jumped off the page at me.  “Syracuse will honor the late Dwayne “Pearl” Washington when the Orange renewed their rivalry with Georgetown at the Carrier Dome in December.”  Honoring the former Syracuse great was not the surprise the renewal of a long standing series.  These two long time rivals are no longer conference foes, several years ago Syracuse moved to the ACC while Georgetown remained a member of the Big East Conference.  The conference landscape has endured numerous changes over the years old rivals no longer facing one another.  

A number of these rivals managed to schedule one another in conference play all except one.  For unexplained reasons Kansas continues to go it’s on way and refuses to schedule Mizzou.  It’s not just Mizzou Kansas refuses to play in-state Wichita State.  It might have been beneficial to for the Lawrence (KS) school to play last season as Wichita State suffered a down year.  We know the result two years ago when they faced one another in the NCAA Tournament.  I get it there is no benefit for Kansas however the possibility of losing might be the prevailing belief by the Jayhawk faithful.

Post-season tournaments
Basketball tournament play is almost always exciting; a pool of teams competes to win its championship.  The one most familiar to us is the NCAA Division I Tournament in early April.  This is the largest attended tournament and produces the most television revenue of them all.  Although it might be the largest in a number of areas it wasn’t the first.  That honor belongs to the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics or NAIA.  

The NAIA is comprised of schools with enrollments ranging from as little as 500 up to 4,000 students.  The NAIA first held its championship tournament in 1937, as for the Division I tournament it began play in 1939.  Division I teams who fail to qualify for the Division I tourney are usually invited to the The National Invitation Tournament. It’s held in Madison Square Garden New York City and was first played in 1938.  NCAA Division II is relatively new by comparison to the other tournaments; the date of this tournaments inception is 1957.