Words eye view

Basketball from a fan perspective

Quintuple doubles

We are familiar with triple doubles, a few NBA players of the past have quadrable doubles on their resume, how about a quintuple double (5)?  This is where Harvey Pollack becomes part of this account, we can be sure the late Mr. Pollack picked up a basketball at some point in his life.  We’ll cover Mr. Pollack’s role in this story shortly, one more record Wilt Chamberlain may have accomplished.  Notice we state he may have achieved although it cannot be officially proven. 

On March 18, 1968 in a 158-128 win for his Sixers over the Lakers Wilt accomplished a feat which certainly will never be duplicated.  Chamberlain would score 53 points along with 32 rebounds 14 assists 11 steals and 24 blocks, he shot 82.8% from the floor.  As mentioned previously the NBA did not officially begin tracking steals and blocked shots until the 1973-74 season.  Harvey Pollack served a variety of roles in his 69 years associated with the NBA, one of these roles was tracking NBA statistics. 

With that said we have a choice; we can trust Pollack’s dedication to the game or not.  It’s reported the Chamberlain numbers comes from his tracking.  Many today attempt to negate the play of NBA players of the past, stop a moment, and consider this fact.  The athletes today might be better conditioned however back then fewer NBA players meant only the best were able to earn a roster spot.  Note for the record there were 14 NBA teams at the time of Chamberlain’s record setting evening. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvey_Pollack

9 & 12 

The Mizzou Tigers did it, the team’s win on Saturday versus Alabama has led them to rarified air.  Monday’s AP and Coaches poll places Mizzou in 10^th place among the nation’s college basketball teams.  For those who might be led to believe they are not a Top 10 team Mizzou Nation says prove they are not.  Although Mizzou doesn’t score a great deal (74.8 a game) they play tough defense, apart from Jeremiah Tilmon they don’t block a great number of shots either. 

A crucial blocked shot by Mitchell Smith was key to the victory over Alabama with 4.1 seconds remaining in the game.  As for the 9 years in the title, that represents the last time Mizzou was a Top 10 team, December 24, 2012.  MIZ ZOU, MIZ ZOU!  If you read the Sunday morning edition of Words eye view it was stated Kansas would be dropped from the Top 25 for the first time in 12 years. 

The Jayhawks began their run February 2, 2009 and it lasted until Monday February 8, 2021.  There is an upside to this down year for Kansas basketball, tournament specialists assert the Jayhawks have enough quality wins to earn a berth in the NCAA Tournament.  So, you can see for Kansas it’s a down year but unlike many of their blue blood cousins (Duke, North Carolina, and Kentucky) who will likely miss the tournament Kansas will play in Indianapolis.   

How did I miss this guy?

Last season in a playoff game Laker coach Frank Vogel inserted rookie Talen Horton-Tucker in the lineup.  In the short pre-season leading up to the season start we noticed the second-year man was featured in a variety of roles.  Once the regular season started coach again indicated he wanted to find more time for Horton-Tucker on the floor.  What’s good for Horton-Tucker might be bad for veteran Wesley Matthews, the minutes have been switched.  At this point we have no idea if this plan will continue throughout the balance of the season. 

The 6-foot 4-inch shooting guard was inserted into the lineup against the Nuggets on Thursday.  In 22 minutes, he would score 17 points shooting 66.7% from the floor (50% from 3) with 3 steals and only 1 turnover.  Is this going to be our expectation every game effort by Horton-Tucker, we have no clue at this point but Laker Nation can hope?  This we do know the Lakers are sold on this 20-year-old with the gigantic wingspan.  I don’t live in Iowa however I’m smack in the middle of Big 12 country; how did I miss this guy?  I don’t ever remember even hearing his name the brief period he played at Iowa State.

We should have figured

This might not be correct all the time but does appear to occur quite often.  An undefeated team such as Drake will usually drop its first game against a losing team, we offer as proof the game played on Sunday.  The Drake Bulldogs of the Missouri Valley Conference went in to the game with a sparkling 18-0 record, in addition they were the 25th rated team in the nation.  Someone forget to inform the Valp Crusaders who came into the game with a 6-12 record.  Playing at home Valparaiso defeated Drake 74-57 leaving Drake with a still exceptionally good 18-1 record.