CHANGE
Change
is not always comforting, in this instance it won’t be a terrible
adjustment. Beginning May 1 Words eye view will return to its
original format. It will again be a
Monday-Wednesday-Friday publication. The
fact is once the college basketball season closes out there is less and less
information available. The desire always
has been for Words to reflect the
full spectrum of basketball, no college basketball leaves a void in our continued coverage. Thank you for continuing to read this labor of love.
This explains it all
Mizzou fans
hoped (in vain) Michael Porter Jr. would return for his sophomore year,
consider this fact. According to Forbes the 2017 3rd pick in the NBA draft
signed a 2-year contract for $12M dollars plus, the 5th pick was $10M dollars plus.
One mock site has MPJ at 3 the other at 5. Unlike other pro sports team NBA
contracts are guaranteed, he gets paid if he's cut in training camp (not likely
but you get the point). The rookie salary range for 2018 will increase however
at this point the amount is not clear. I
believe we can conclude why the decision to leave Mizzou was made by MPJ.
I’m used to corporate or
company names…. but
In
the day of corporate or company names on sports arenas and stadiums we become accustom
to the change however there are exceptions.
Staples Center, TD Garden, Spectrum Center or Quicken Loans Arena are
just a few of the names attached to NBA arenas across the nation, have we reached a cutoff point? The point being the name is too long (see
below) or just doesn’t flow easily. In
Milwaukee the NBA Bucks have a corporate name on their arena opening in fall
2018. $4 million for 25 years is the
agreement between the Bucks and its partner for the Gruber Law Offices’ One
Call, That’s All Basketball Arena, or One Call, That’s All Basketball. Thanks, but no thanks Milwaukee Bucks I will never, ever attach that long-drawn out name to this arena. It will be known to be as "Bucks Arena."
NCAA results
I
was unable to see either game but did get the final score.
Michigan
69 Loyola Chicago 57
Villanova
95 Kansas 79
The
college basketball season is down to two teams, Villanova and Michigan. I cannot pick a number I’ll just say
Villanova should be the 2018 Men’s NCAA Champions. See if I’m correct on Monday evening. CORRECTION: I believe I might have given the impression Notre Dame was the Women’s champion, not true. They upset UConn in the semi-finals, they played Mississippi State on Sunday evening for the NCAA championship.
He’s blind?
Charles
Barkley can be quite funny at times, he sent video congratulations to Maurice
Cheeks and his election to the Naismith Hall of Fame. “Maurice was blind in one eye,” (I’m watching
my television trying to figure out where he’s going with this story). "He (Cheeks) would come down the court but only see Dr. J. on one wing, he NEVER saw me on the other wing."
Are we at that point?
The
NBA season is winding down and the playoffs will soon begin. The streak of LeBron James has been unbelievable, through Cleveland, Miami and back to Cleveland
again. I believe its seven or eight
consecutive NBA finals appearances, will 2018 find him in the finals once
again? LeBron in action looks better
this season than ever but there is a problem.
He’s clearly been the same leader however his supporting cast was quite
adequate until the 2017-18 season. The
wholesale roster moves at the trade deadline provided us insight into this
edition of the Cavs, for a variety of reasons this roster just didn’t jell
apparently.
Rodney
Hood has limited playoff experience, but Jordan Clarkson and Larry Nance Jr.
have 0 playoff appearances. It appears
Kevin Love will return shortly and that certainly should aid the depth of the
Cavs. Sorry Cavs fans I stated it once
before and I’m affirming my prior view the Cavs are good enough for the
playoffs. The question do they have
enough to get past the Raptors, Celtics and Pacers? They will not be required to play all three
of those teams however as this is written the Cavs are in 3rd place
behind those teams in the order noted. The Cavs are 13-8 since the All-Star break which is certainly noteworthy but could indicate a playoff problem.
