Basketball
from a fan’s perspective
Wally Pipp
Unless you are well versed in baseball trivia the name Wally
Pipp probably is an unknown. The story
that’s circulated much of my life I’ve discovered was pure fiction. The fiction, Pipp had a headache and
asked the Yankee manager for the day off.
He was replaced by Lou Gehrig who would go on to play 2,130 consecutive
games at first base for the Yankees. The
truth, Pipp and several starters were in a batting slump, the manager
decided to replace several regulars in the lineup including Pipp, Gehrig was
one of the replacements.
Where am I going with this story, we might have a similar
situation with the Mizzou Tigers.
Starting guard Mark Smith suffered a lower back injury which caused him
to miss a succession of games, the coach inserted reserve guard Xavier
Pinson. Pinson’s been the key to Mizzou
winning 3 out of the last 4 games played scoring a total of 93 points. His 28-point game was a key to beating number
11 Auburn, he followed that up with 32-points in the win over Ole Miss on
Tuesday evening. Once Smith is healthy
will the coach bench Pinson in favor of Smith?
That question will not be answered until the return.
Location, location,
location
Nightly the sports news we receive in Kansas City about Big
12 basketball is generally focused on Kansas.
What’s most interesting Baylor not Kansas is in first place, but
you wouldn’t believe it viewing the Kansas City sports news? Baylor’s hold on first place is tenuous, they
are only in first place by a single game.
The two combatants meet this coming Saturday in Waco, they could be tied
with a Kansas win or Baylor could close the day with a two-game lead.
The only conference loss thus far experienced by Kansas came
at the hands of you guessed it…the Baylor Bears. Geography plays a role here, although we are
on the Missouri side Lawrence Kansas is less than 50 miles from most KC
addresses. Depending on your location Waco
is about 112 miles from the Dallas Fort Worth metro so we must imagine the news
in Texas is slanted more toward Baylor. Just in case you are interested the
University of Missouri-Columbia is about 150 miles from KC.
Black History moment
Associate head coach B.J. Bickerstaff takes over as the head
coach of the Cavs with the departure of John Beilein. We have no idea at this point if African
American Bickerstaff remains as head coach, this we do know. There was no requirement for an NFL type Rooney
Rule for him to be hired, the NBA has long been the clear winner in hiring and
advancement of minorities and women.
We travel back in time to the late John McClendon hired by the
Cleveland Pipers of the American Basketball League in 1962 after successfully
guiding HBCU Tennessee State to three consecutive NAIA championships. Four years later Red Auerbach stepped down as
head coach of the NBA Celtics replaced by the legendary center Bill Russell. At the collegiate level Illinois State gave
the coaching reins to Will Robinson in 1970 thus becoming the first black head
coach at the Division I level.
Which one, which
one
As you are aware the Lakers surrendered a hefty number of
draft choices in the Anthony Davis trade.
One site indicated the Lakers had no 2020 picks; another claims they
have no second-round pick. We are going
to assume at least a portion of the information is incorrect. Another source claims the Lakers have their first-round
pick but no second round, we’ll go with that for now. In the 2020 draft four mock sites have the
Lakers choosing these four.
Udoka Azuibuke 6-foot 11-inch 280-pound Kansas center
Cassius Winston 6-foot 1 inch 185-pound point guard Michigan
State
Cassius Stanley 6-foot 6-inch 193-pound shooting guard/forward
Duke
Scottie Lewis 6-foot 5-inch 185-pound shooting guard
Considering the fact Laker Nation, you are sitting in with
Rob Pelinka and Frank Vogel, which player do you recommend?
