Basketball from a fan’s perspective

He’s the other guy

This was mentioned previously, Ja Morant and Zion Williamson played on the same AAU team for a time.  Morant was an unnoticed talent in high school and was thrilled when Murray State offered him a scholarship.  His mom could not believe it, she asks an assistant coach, “Is this a four-year scholarship?”  The coach said, “Yes, it is but he won’t be here four years.”  Morant had a good freshman year, in his sophomore year he blew up. 

Morant’s 44-inch vertical dunks became a nightly feature on SportsCenter and YouTube. With family at his side he decided to try his skill at the next level…the NBA.  Morant was on his way to Rookie of the Year beating out his former AAU teammate Zion Williamson.  It might be mentioned Williamson was sidelined for a major portion of the early season.  The stoppage of play through 59 games saw Morant with nearly 18 points and 7 assists a game for the Grizzlies. 

Quadrable-double

Triple-doubles first came to our attention at the time Magic Johnson arrived in the NBA.  It is a feat not easily accomplished double figures in three stat lines, how about double figures in four categories in the same game?  Hakeem Olajuwon accomplished the feat twice in one month, Nate Thurmond was the first but was later followed by others listed below.  The only question with so many records lost perhaps theses five might have not been the only ones.

Nate Thurmond Oct 1974-22 pts, 14 rebs, 13 assts and 12 blk shots

Alvin Robertson Feb 1986-20 pts, 11 rebs, 10 assts and 10 steals

Hakeem Olajuwon Mar 3, 1990-29 pts, 18 rebs, 10 assts and 11 blk shots

Hakeem Olajuwon Mar 29, 1990-18 pts, 16 rebs, 10 assts and 11 blk shots

David Robinson Feb 1994-34 pts, 10 rebs, 10 assts and 10 blk shots

He’s got a job 

You remember Mo Williams, don’t you?  He was a guard who spent 13 years in the NBA playing for several NBA teams.  After retirement he would become an assistant coach at Cal State Northridge, this week Williams was named head coach at Alabama State in Montgomery.  The former NBA guard has his work cut out for him, it will take a period of time to raise the level of play. 

Recruiting

Checking Mizzou’s roster, we discover the 2021-22 is the season.  As things stand currently, 6 newcomers must be added.  Recruiting talented athletes is important for Mizzou or any other Division I school.  Several programs such as Duke, Kentucky, Kansas, and others have an international presence.  Talent often finds its way to these campuses based on the coach, the history of a winning program and other intangibles. 

There are other programs that sit in the family room of prospects and “sell” themselves, educational opportunities, and other promises.  Several coaches at non-power 5 conferences have experienced winning over a long period.  We could look at Villanova’s Jay Wright or Wichita State’s Gregg Marshall as examples of coaches who continue to turn out winning teams year after year.  Everyone is not equipped to coach at the D-I level, we have witnessed several assistants or head coaches at D-II programs ill equipped.  The key of course is time, a coach must be given adequate time to instill his program.