Rambler?
What is a Rambler I
thought, the nickname for the Loyola of Chicago basketball team? According to Dictionary.com there are three
definitions.
1. A person, animal, or thing that rambles.
2. Ranch house
3. Any of several climbing roses having clusters
of small flowers
Maybe I can add my
own definition, “a defensive minded gritty team which forces its will upon the
opposition.” This unknown team came from
a relatively unknown conference the Missouri Valley, the conference is not one
of the Power Five conferences in the nation.
I’m reminded of the scene in the movie Hoosiers. Small town Hickory High School was to play a
larger enrollment urban school in the state tournament. Coach Dale (Gene Hackman) believing his team
might be overwhelmed had them measure the distance of the lane and the floor to
the basket. The basket is still 10 feet
off the floor whether its Manhattan Kansas or Chicago Illinois. Kansas State made a valiant run toward the
end but had too much ground to make up.
Final score Loyola Chicago Ramblers 78 Kansas State Wildcats 62, the Ramblers punched their ticket for the Final Four.
The explanation
They haven’t said it
directly but hinted loudly, these I believe are the thoughts of several
female readers. “Why don’t you include coverage
of the WNBA and women’s college and high school basketball in Words eye view?” First, it has nothing to do with play! Girls and women can play the game in fact
there are aspects that might be superior to that of boys and men…. particularly
the fundamentals.
I don’t follow women’s
basketball as closely as I do that of the men and boys. At the same time, I certainly know the names
without having to research them, UConn Women and Coach Geno Auriemma, the late
Pat Summit and Tennessee, Rebecca Lobo and Lisa Leslie. There are others I may have slighted by not
mentioning their name, this was certainly not on purpose. Going forward I will make an effort to
include stories of interest which involve the women’s game.
Injuries
We’ve heard the
following statement since we first began following sports; “Injuries are part
of the game” or something similar.
That’s certainly a fact however when it possibly affects a championship
that’s disturbing, especially to key members.
Steph Curry missed six games and the first one back he’s injured (MCL
sprain). As this is written there is no
indication if surgery is required or how soon he returns. In Boston Kyrie Irving is preparing for
“minimally invasive” surgery on his left knee, in the manner of Curry we have
no idea when he returns to action. So,
there you have it, two vital members of two playoff bound teams suffering
injury. Hopefully both will return in
time to become contributors to the effort of their teams to secure an NBA championship.
He declares for the draft
As teams are
eliminated from the NCAA Tournament one by one athletes have announced their intention to play in the NBA rather than return to
college. The latest to toss his hat into
the ring is Texas A&M forward Robert Williams. Sophomore Williams is a 6-foot 10-inch 240
pound forward, in any event the mock sites are familiar with him. NBADraft.net
list him number 17 on their site while Tankathon.com has him listed as number 13.
