This was funny to me
The Wizards of Washington have played under
that name since 1997. From 1963 through 1997
they were the Bullets first in Baltimore and later when the team moved to
Maryland and finally to the District of Columbia. I held a discussion with a young man on
Thursday and our discussion centered on July 30 when the NBA restarts. In discussing several teams B.J. said “The
Bullets”, realizing how it sounded he said, “they will always be the Bullets to
me.” For your information, this
youngster is 27 or 28, this means he was 4 or 5 years old when the name change
occurred. He must really be a student of the NBA to come up with that statement, LOL.
While we are cleaning house
The USA Today headline read; “It’s time for Ol
Miss to drop the Rebels nickname.” Turns out the Mississippi school is not the only one, a western school, UNLV has the same
issue. The Las Vegas school has long been
nicknamed the Rebels too. The choice in team
nicknames are quite different. Ol Miss is
a reference to the Civil War and the Confederacy. Many of those who fought for the south were
termed rebels
because they took up arms against the
established government.
UNLV’s nickname is a different story, UNLV
claims their nickname originated from a battle to separate themselves from the
University of Nevada at Reno nicknamed the Wolf Pack. We have the Stanford Indians becoming the
Cardinal and on the east coast the St. John Redmen became the Storm. In both instances team names were considered
out of place in an enlightened time. It
is time to relinquish all the names that shine a negative light on a people or
period.
Is he a “dinosaur”?
Dinosaur’s or least their bones only exist in
natural history museums today. On the
other hand, we have not seen Godzilla for a while, just joking. They reflect the past the same as the NBA Big
Man. Recently the ESPN NBA page
contained video of Tacko Fall sinking a 3-point shot. That is all well and good, but does it serve
his NBA development? We read a scouting
report regarding a 2020 prospect.
The scout said, “If this was ___years ago he
would be a lottery pick.” We know the
story; this scout was reflecting much of the thought process of today. Emphasis on small ball particularly the 3-point
shot has lessened the need of the traditional Big Man in today’s NBA. We asked
the question from several friends and acquaintances and the message from fans
was interesting. If you missed their
view check “What he said” featured in the ______ date of Words eye view.
The Undefeated
Since the advent of the NCAA Tournament in 1939
there have been few undefeated teams.
This is research information, there have only been 7 teams to complete
the season with no losses. In addition,
four of those undefeated represented one university, UCLA. Several exceptionally good teams have come on
the scene over the years. Many played
well into the season without a loss.
The Ohio State Buckeyes lost in the finals in
the 1960-61 season finishing 27-1. In the
2014-15 season, the Kentucky Wildcats finished 30-1. Kentucky suffered the lone loss in the Final
Four of the NCAA Tournament. The last
undefeated NCAA Champion occurred a generation ago, the 1975-76 Indiana
Hoosiers. Without additional research it
appears Ohio State and Kentucky are the only undefeated teams to play deep into
the tournament. As for the 7 undefeated teams they are:
1955-56 University of San Francisco 29-0
1956-57 North Carolina 32-0
1956-57 North Carolina 32-0
1963-64 UCLA 30-0
1966-67 UCLA 30-0
1971-72 UCLA 30-0
1972-73 UCLA 30-0
1975-76 Indiana 32-0
