Basketball from a fans perspective
Monday, Wednesday, Friday, October through May published daily
Home and home series
The Columbia Tribune is reporting the University of Central Florida and Mizzou will begin a home and home series between the two schools. The first game will be played in Orlando this winter with the date yet to be confirmed, next season Mizzou will host in Columbia. 7-6 Tacko Fall will face off against 6-10 Michael Porter Jr. at least once this season which should be noteworthy.
I’d be careful if I were you
Are you planning a Vegas style bet or just one with several friends? You base your wager on words expressed by Stephen A. Smith on his ESPN program First Take. Part of the problem Smith’s been wrong more than right as was pointed out previously. Beginning with the 2011 NBA Championship through 2016 Smith has picked the wrong team each and every time.
In defense of Smith some might say “He’s (Smith) really brave he’s set himself apart by choosing to pick a winner something many of us are afraid to do.” I could agree with the statement except Smith has always painted himself as an NBA expert. Don’t you think an expert should be able to pick at least one maybe two winners in that time frame? For the 2017 NBA Championship beginning on Thursday Smith’s picked the Warriors, should Dub fans be worried? I don’t know about them however I would be concerned.
Conspiracy stories
I cannot speak for the world I can’t even speak for America. I can make this statement with conviction; there are many here who believe in conspiracies. Most of these stories are quite serious however others cause us to sometimes laugh out loud. You‘ve heard some of the theories; alien autopsy at Area 51, the moon landing was faked, secret societies control the world are just a few of the hundreds. Yahoo Sports wrote a story “17 Myths about the NBA you Shouldn’t Believe.” Without reading the article are there stories regarding the NBA you believe despite no evidence? Write them down; discuss them with your friends.
Sometimes……
You hear stories which are just that----stories. Is this worth the time, well I’m gonna take the time. This is the argument, “the draft lottery serves no purpose only the Spurs, Cavs, and Warriors have a legitimate chance of winning an NBA Championship. Players in the lottery every year still don’t improve.”
I believe that view is overstated, there is much more to a team competing besides the lottery. Competing teams must be able to assemble adequate talent around those lottery picks. A front office able to sign quality free-agents in addition adding to the roster by trades than proves beneficial. Finally the last part is having a coach capable of coaching at a playoff level. The lottery is a stop-gap; you must improve in all the area mentioned in order to truly compete.
It’s nice but means little
USA Today released its pre-season Top 25 list last week. The list contains the usual suspects except the team they selected at 24. Get this the number 24 won a grand total of 8 games all of last season yet were placed with the best of the best for the 2017-18 season. Myron Medcalf of ESPN did the same, his pre-season Top 25 had Mizzou at number 25. Mizzou is in some rarified air and yet to bounce a basketball or attempt a shot yet. The tribute is no longer shocking (to me at least) I half-way expected it, am I comfortable with the status accorded Mizzou? Although it’s nice the key to success is winning on the basketball court not in the newspaper.
