Basketball from a fans perspective

“Six one way; half a dozen the other”

There is symbolism in the above headline, road mileage from the Columbia campus of Mizzou to Kansas City is 126 miles.  St. Louis is much closer only 125 miles separate the two.  This account is prompted by an article I read in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, “How important it is for Mizzou to recruit in St. Louis.”  It got me to thinking, is high school basketball talent on the east side of the state superior to that on the west side?  Because I live on the west side of the state it’s difficult for me to admit it.  Talent on the St. Louis side of the state must be superior although I was reluctant to admit it at one time.    

For several reasons some known, and some unknown Mizzou’s had a lukewarm relationship with St. Louis metro basketball talent.  At the time Vashon’s Jimmy McKinney arrived in 2002 he became the first St. Louis talent to play for Mizzou in ages.  The talent being produced always seem to be more interested in playing somewhere other than Mizzou.  Bradley Beal comes to mind although many successful college basketball players were enrolled at St. Louis metro schools.  The article went on to point out with Cuonzo Martin at Mizzou now the issue of playing at Mizzou is changing.  

This is noteworthy

Thankaton.com’s latest mock draft is interesting, what’s so interesting you say?  The site has Mizzou’s Michael Porter Jr. as the third pick in their 2018 mock draft and Mizzou’s Jontay Porter as the number 21 pick.  This is certainly no predictor of the future; two brothers possibly being drafted in the same year.        

Don’t you just love it?

The Jayhawks made a liar out of me yesterday, a day ago I wrote they were streaking toward another Big 12 championship beating up the other guys.  Well those other guys dressed as Oklahoma Sooners rose up and smacked those Kansas Jayhawks in the mouth.  I wonder what the local sports talk guy will have to say on Wednesday. 

He talked a great deal of smack about Trae Young saying he was taking bad shots and turning the ball over in the previous two games.  Tuesday evening was a completely different story, Young shot .778 from the floor scoring 26 points but also dishing out 9 assists.  He led the way to an 85-80 win.  Trae Young is vying to be the first ever Division I athlete to lead in scoring and assists in the same year. 

A short take

In connection with the above, fans are totally amazing at times with their views of the game, I’m listening to comments the morning after.  A tweet read: “I’ve lost all respect for Lon Kruger” (Oklahoma coach).  The reference was Kruger employing Hack a Shaq on Kansas big man Udoka Azubuike.  Azubuike a poor free-throw shooter might have lost the game at the line with his missed shots. 

On the other side of the court Kansas Coach Bill Self was criticized for not taking Azubuike out of the game once he realized the strategy.  Self said after the game an NBA person once told him and I paraphrase his comment: “You take a player out of a game in a critical situation you are conceding to the other team your player is a poor free-throw shooter.”  I don’t know perhaps close games always cause fans to second guess the coach…. what do you think?

You can stop reading this if you choose

This is written Wednesday after the Chiefs lost their playoff game on Sunday.  The two sports talk radio stations here remained dominated with talk of the game.  The hosts are planning the composition of next season’s Chiefs team.  They have accomplished this task despite the fact the NFL draft is yet to be held, the Chiefs have signed not one free-agent or made a trade.  You ask the question what is the purpose of this account, once upon a time an NFL fan asked me “why don’t you write about something other than basketball once the season is over?” 

The point they attempted to make was true however in this part of the country 80% to 90% of sports talk radio is Chiefs and Royals there are other sports to cover.  Several college and NBA fans have expressed appreciation for Words eye view being published 12 months of the year.  They are not complimenting my prose or opinion just one fact, they can read about basketball at any point and time during a calendar year.  In conclusion if you enjoy reading about basketball please continue to do just that, if you choose some other sport to follow in the off-season that's okay as well.