Basketball from a fan perspective

Growth spurt! ---One year over a summer during middle school I grew an amazing 3 inches.  I thought I was on my way to 6 foot something.  Needless to say I never made it, turned out I was well short of even reaching 6 feet in height.  As for Anthony Davis his situation was quite different, his growth spurt was significant.  Unlike Kareem or Shaq who were giants in middle school it took AD a little longer to reach his maximum height.  At the end of his freshmen year of high school AD stood 6 feet, at the end of his sophomore year it was 6 foot 4.  By his junior year of high school, he stood 6 feet 8 inches today he is 6 foot 10 and a rock solid 253 pounds.  Despite his stature AD has range out to the 3-point line thanks to his days of play as a 6-foot point guard.  His time playing at guard led him to acquire more than adequate passing skills for a 6-foot 10 athlete. 

Two things---The scouting website for basketball and football prospects does not begin and end with Rivals.com.  The site is probably one of the premier places to search out for high school talent however it is not the only one.  That was number one, number two this is early October the information forthcoming is likely to change over the next several months. 

With items one and two out of the way let us discuss the subject at hand, which school is the recruiting leader for Class of 2021 prospects?  Surprise its Florida State, now we know long-time Coach Leonard Hamilton can recruit but to be sitting at the top is interesting.  Are there other surprises, how about Memphis at 6 and DePaul at 8?  Mizzou at 29 ahead of schools like Georgetown, Syracuse, and Kentucky...did I say Kentucky?   

The NBA Champion---This has nothing to do with teams rather colleges.  Which school would believe has produced the most NBA talent?  In this instance we are discussing a storied career or a single game, drafted or undrafted.  This will surprise some and cause others to stick out their chest, drum roll please:

Kentucky-107

UCLA-97

North Carolina-90

Duke-83

Kansas-72

Indiana-66

Louisville-58

Notre Dame-56

Arizona-56

St. John’s-52

Are you surprised at the school’s or perhaps the number of athletes coming out of each school into the NBA?

We are on---The latest report has the college basketball season beginning next month in November.  As this is written there are no plans for Midnight Magic at any college in the nation in October.  The start date will be Wednesday November 25 the day prior to Thanksgiving.  As for the schedule that is liquid currently based on covid, several college football teams had to scramble to revise their schedule.  We imagine a similar situation might exist with college basketball too, this is a wait and see story.   

“Is he Larry Bird or Magic Johnson?” ---That was the comment by a broadcaster during a game while discussing Luka Doncic’s NBA game.  Don’t you think this might be better if he is the best version of Luka Doncic?  The comparison to Bird and Johnson is not fair in a sense but that’s what we tend to do at times.  We utilize the standards set by past greats as a barometer of the talent and skill of the newcomer.  The young man had an outstanding rookie season (ROY), his sophomore year has been even better.   

The season is complete the Mavs made the playoffs but were eliminated.  Doncic’s numbers exceeded those of his rookie season.  Doncic is the principal reason the Mavs earned a playoff berth this season.  The sky is the limit for Doncic, he needs help and owner Mark Cuban is likely to do the best job he can of building the Mavs into a perineal playoff contender.  Could there be an NBA Championship in the Mavs future?  each school into the NBA?