Basketball from a fan perspective

Published Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday

The 2020 NBA Draft--- The NBA Draft will be held tonight virtually, who goes number one is on the mind of fans and the athletes.  If could be that player has already received the word, he will be the top choice.  2020 is such a mystery as who goes number one, we might have an idea however for the first time we can state with certainty the pick fails to qualify as a sure thing. 

The Lakers will not be participating unless they manage to arrange a 2^nd round trade, their pick (28) went to the Thunder in exchange for Dennis Schroder.  This draft will be historic for several reasons but chief among them, this will be the latest time of the year it’s been held in NBA history.  Who goes number one, best guess…LaMelo Ball?  Despite this news I'm not exactly sure he remains with the Wolves with the first pick, oh well enjoy the virtual drama tonight I certainly will.   

The game is on again---Annually Mizzou and Illinois face off prior to conference play in St. Louis at the Enterprise Center.  Although the game is played in Missouri the city is considered a neutral site since it's not played on the campus of either university, as for the road miles that's a different story.  Columbia is about 40 miles nearer to St. Louis than Champaign-Urbana where the Illinois campus is located.  In an event the game became an early casualty of COVID-19 as it was first cancelled.  But wait there is more, on Wednesday November 11 it was announced the game would be played after all.   

A coin flip on November 12 would determine if the game would be played on the Mizzou or Illinois campus.  On the following day, the Tigers were announced as winners of the coin flip and Columbia will be the site of the match to be held December 12.  As this is written there is no indication of ticket sales or student/fan attendance.  Best guess, Columbia would appear to be operating in a similar manner to others around the nation with limited seating in the arena.  The game should be interesting for more than just Braggin’ Rights, Illinois basketball is a pre-season Top 25 team.  Mizzou is expected to be improved over last season so it should prove exciting. 

He’s on the move--- Chris Paul is the highest or 2^nd highest paid player in the NBA, we are unsure without research.  Due to the fact NBA trades must balance many were unsure if the reports were accurate that Paul was traded.  On Monday, the trade was announced, Paul along with a guy we never heard of was traded to the Suns.  The Thunder will receive Ricky Rubio, Kelly Obure, Ty Jerome, Jalen Lecque and the 2022 first round pick of the Suns.  Paul healthy will aid the Suns earn a playoff berth something the team has been unable to accomplish over the last 10 years.  This trade will allow another Western Conference team to contend in the west.  Not one single team will have a cakewalk now, the Warriors return to playoff form and the Suns will compete too.     

A story--- Several years ago I discovered the son of an acquaintance was quite good in basketball.  Later I would read in the newspaper the son received a basketball scholarship to a mid-major school, naturally I wanted to keep up with the progression of his son.  I had an opportunity to ask him one day, how’s your son doing.  He indicated a transfer was in the works and ended the conversation by stating, “That coach is crazy.”  His response caught me completely off guard with nothing to say other than “Oh.” 

I don’t know the father well; I only know the son through the father.  There was no method for me to check on the coach he ran a winning program.  I’ve shared that story with only two other persons until now.  That coach was Gregg Marshall who formerly coached Wichita State, after reports of abuse was levied at the coach the school began an investigation.  Tuesday Marshall resigned, you can read the details of the charges on a number of news sites, I wanted to provide you a portion of what I knew years ago but had no ability to verify if the story was true.