Basketball from a fans perspective

NFL versus NBA
A number of you might remember Caron Butler, Butler retired in 2014 from the Kings after a 14-year NBA career.  He played for a number of NBA teams leaving the game with a 14.1 ppg effort. Prior to college at UConn Butler played his high school ball in Racine Wisconsin.  Butler competed against another high school prospect he claims today his competitor was good enough to have played in the NBA.  That athlete chooses football over basketball and will go down in history as one of the Cowboy’s greatest quarterback, his name Tony Romo.  We must take Butler’s account to be true that Romo could have played in the NBA.

2 + 2 = 5 
No the correct answer is 4 however sometimes we use obscure information as a basis for formulating an opinion.  Mike DeCoursy covers college basketball for The Sporting News for several years I’d say most instances I find him opinionated but insightful.  This issue I’m going to detail I would love to question at length.  One of the local sports talk radio programs contacts him once a week to discuss the state of college basketball.  I’m going to paraphrase his statement but will attempt to detail his view as closely as possible.  The local hosts ask him about Mizzou bringing Michael Porter Jr. on board.  Jr.’s talent aside DeCoursy said he hoped Mizzou fans would not be too upset if this prospect doesn’t increase the number of wins significantly.    

If your team (Mizzou) loses 20 games three seasons in a row I don’t believe fans will be expecting an SEC Championship next March.  DeCoursy laid down the hammer, he named Johnny Jones (LSU), Mark Gottfried (North Carolina State) and Lorenzo Romar (Washington) all fired despite the teams containing “high” profile players on the roster.  I wonder if DeCoursy considered the talent surrounding these high profile athletes might not have been enough to turn the programs around. That fact might be the key forcing the athletic department to terminate their relationship with the coach.  It should also be taken into consideration these coaches had been on the job a significant amount of time.  In the case of Jones it was 5 years, Gottfried 6 and Romar 15.  

Re-alignment
The decision which school to replace Wichita State might be decided by the time this is read. Valparaiso, Belmont, UMKC and Omaha appear to be the front runners.  Would any of the aforementioned schools have an advantage?  Under father/son combo of Homer and now Bryce Drew Valpo has been a continuing winner.  

Over the last 12 years Belmont has been a consistent winner earning numerous trips to the NCAA Tournament.  UMKC and Omaha would provide the conference something it currently lacks with the departure of Wichita State.  Both schools would provide the Valley with the urban presence it lacks now with the departure of Wichita State.  Naturally my preference would be UMKC however the school must indicate an interest and the conference must make the decision.    

Clear the air  
Now and again I believe it’s appropriate to re-state an objective.  I admit teaser headlines are often used in Words eye view, my hope is you will read the story.  Opinions expressed are my beliefs that don’t make my view the only one.  You might disagree with something I’ve written and that’s okay.  I’m not going to provide you my account of an issue for effect.  Far too often those in the media especially the electronic version “work” a story to provoke you to tweet or email a rebuttal. For me that’s unnecessary not saying I’m right but simply stating formulate your own opinion.  My hope in a number of instances is to tweak your brain to say; “I didn’t know that” or “that’s a view I hadn’t considered.”  

I’m just a fan who loves basketball one who was cut from his 4th grade team but continued an affair with the bouncing ball.  I’m not going to provide an assessment of a player especially a rookie I’ve never seen play.  I can listen to anyone discussion of basketball the problem for me is when you talk from a perspective “I’ve talked to X and he said.”  That’s okay except in the instance Stephen A. Smith once made a statement about Kevin Durant.  Durant’s response was classic, “I didn’t talk to Stephen A. Smith, nobody in my family talked to Stephen A. Smith etc. etc.”  Once the story began circulating Smith hit the ceiling, for the first time ever I heard a member of the media threaten a player on the television airwaves, bad, very bad.  Don’t become the story which occurred with Smith.