Basketball from a fan’s perspective

Bad news in Beantown

Celtic fans more than any others won’t appreciate this piece of information in the least bit.  Rising Celtic star Jayson Tatum was asked to name his all-time starting five.  The Bulls Michael Jordan earned a spot on his team, the other four Tatum named were LAKERS!  Those he named were Kareem Abdul Jabbar, Magic Johnson, Kobe Bryant and LeBron James.  Imagine that no Larry Bird, no Kevin McHale no Bill Russell no Celtic at all.  On the other hand, Tatum is only 22-years old, he’s just a kid what does he know?

Depends on your location

I’ve screamed, complained loudly about this issue in the past.  For those reading my ramblings for the first time it’s simple.  Kansas City and St. Louis are about the same distance from Columbia home of the University of Missouri.  It’s 124 miles from Columbia to St. Louis and Kansas City to Columbia is 125 miles.  Kansas City Missouri is less than 50 miles from Lawrence Kansas home of the Kansas Jayhawks. 

KU being so nearby drives this Mizzou fan nuts, the media in Kansas City is enamored with anything Kansas.  Either they don’t care, or local news organizations are primed with Kansas journalism graduates.  We don’t have St. Louis sports coverage here, but the St. Louis sports page is available on-line.  The Post-Dispatch is my primary source for Mizzou coverage and my hometown newspaper the Kansas City Star is in second place. 

Limited movement

Western Illinois hired Rob Jeter as its head basketball coach Jeter was an assistant at Minnesota for two seasons.  Tarleton State moves from Division II up to Division I, this Texas school hired former Kentucky head coach Billy Gillespie.  As you are aware Gillespie has a checkered past partially unrelated to X’s and O’s.  Clayton Bates a Western Michigan assistant will take over the program as head coach   announced by the athletic director. 

Below is a brief portion of AD Kathy Beauregard’s statement.  "I decided to change leadership of our program days before the COVID-19 crisis emerged.  A comprehensive national search in this time of anxiety, despite exceedingly strong national interest in the position, just didn't sit well with me.”     

As for the NBA we are unsure if the season is complete as this is written.  The Cavs have a new coach in J.B. Bickerstaff, he replaces John Beilein but that’s about it for the NBA.  We can only speculate if the coronavirus is responsible for the lack of hiring especially at the collegiate level.  I counted four schools still lacking head coaches, based on the comment by Western Michigan’s AD the virus might indeed be the holdup in filling the jobs.      

Not surprising

The NCAA ruled athletes participating in spring sports be granted an additional year of eligibility.  Several folks (including me) hoped winter sports particularly basketball be included in the mandate.  This would allow seniors (Kansas and others) to compete for an NCAA championship.  In the decision winter sports was excluded, and the decision boiled down to this fact. 

The NCAA concluded the college basketball season was complete except for the tournament.  For the first time since 1938 there will be no national champion in basketball, and this is a throwback in a sense.  You might remember up till 2013 the NCAA football champion was not decided by play, there were seasons two teams were given this honor.  Could it occur in basketball with the 2020 championship, that question is yet to be answered.