Basketball from a fan’s perspective

Omaha

Omaha Nebraska is less than 200 miles from Kansas City, this city of nearly 500,000 souls is also home to outstanding Creighton University basketball.  Both statements might surprise, the fact Omaha has such a large population and Creighton basketball is outstanding.  One publication looked at the 2020-21 season and placed Creighton as one of the number 1 seeds in their bracket. 

That’s outstanding considering the university is considered a mid-major, Gonzaga is there too.  This focus however is on Creighton basketball, although the season ended abruptly the BlueJays finished 24-7 overall and 13-5 in the Big East Conference and first place.  Head coach Gregg McDermott’s been serving at Creighton since 2010.  McDermott’s had only one losing season since his hiring, we can look forward to continuing outstanding play by BlueJay basketball. 

Just in case

A previously unknown name popped up on nbadraftroom.net.  Jay Scrubb is his name and your next question might be “who is Jay Scrubb?” Home for the youngster is Louisville Kentucky, he’s a 6-foot 6-inch 220-pound shooting guard.  The mock site list him as the potential number 29 pick in the first round of the NBA draft.  Should be chosen in that position would land him with the Lakers.  Whether this scenario plays out in this matter is certainly unknown.

As for Scrubb he played at John A. Logan College a community college located in Carterville Illinois, the schools about 125 miles east of St. Louis.  Scrubb’s scoring numbers look good although we must take into consideration these are junior college numbers.  If an athlete appears to have any NBA talent, he will be “discovered” no matter where he might play his basketball.  Instead of returning home to Louisville and playing for the Cardinals it’s off to the NBA for Scrubb. 

On the east side

My home is about 2 miles from State Line Road, the street divides Missouri from Kansas.  A popular restaurant lies on the Kansas side not too far from my home, once we sat in that restaurant eating and I pointed out a difference to a youngster.  “You see that Goodyear Store, it’s in Missouri and we are in Kansas.”  He got a shocked look on his face and I’m unsure what he was thinking.  Where am I going with this account, the other day the St. Louis Post Dispatch wrote an article on a former Mizzou basketball player. 

Although I live in Missouri on the west side of the state on the east side (St. Louis) are several stories regarding Mizzou sports.  In Kansas City Missouri our sports news is dominated by coverage of Kansas sports.  If it were just basketball I could understand, much as I hate to admit it Kansas basketball has been more successful and has a larger national and international footprint.  Despite this it would be nice if the Kansas City Star (in MO) and the local television stations all of which are in Missouri except one would offer balance coverage.  Okay the rant is now over, you can go on to the next story. 

How about the Rockets

I’ve concluded an All-Time NBA team might contain a player who’s played on more than one team.  That is the case for the Rockets, in this instance they have three Rick Barry, Moses Malone, Clyde Drexler and Elvin Hayes.  They earn roster positions on the Warriors team:

Rick Barry

Hakeem Olajuwon

Moses Malone

Clyde Drexler

Tracy McGrady

Honorable mention

Calvin Murphy

James Harden

Yao Ming

Elvin Haye
Steve Francis