Basketball from a fan’s perspective

Roy Williams

After 33 years coaching Roy Williams decided it was time for him to retire.  He was a relative unknown name when Kansas University hired him in 1988, the announcement brought this response, “Roy Who.”  Roy won 418 games (.805) while at Kansas, his teams earned an NCAA invite everyone of his 15 years apart from 1988-89 his first season at the helm.  Roy could walk on water with Kansas fans until he decided to leave for Chapel Hill.  I believe to this day not a single Kansas fan understood the gravity of coaching at your alma mater.  Roy Williams who graduated from North Carolina interned as a coach under Dean Smith had an easy decision. 

He returned home, his teams would go on to win 3 NCAA Championships which probably upset Kansas fans further, as pointed out Roy’s teams won a bunch of games but never an NCAA Championship.  To this day older Kansas fans probably have Roy Williams and former Mizzou coach Norm Stewart on the same level which ain’t good.  This coach has been enshrined in both the Naismith and College Basketball Hall of Fame.  The handwriting was probably on the wall his last two seasons were average, that will not work in North Carolina.  In addition, the holdover from an NCAA investigation, those who dislike him, or the program believed the NCAA simply slapped him and the school on the wrist.  The good with the bad and I happen to believe the good he accomplished over the course of his 33 years coaching is the barometer we should utilize.   

This is a revelation

In other coaching news the University of Kansas announced Bill Self would be awarded essentially a life-time contract.  This is certainly shocking news considering the NCAA is yet to rule on the improprieties they indicate occurred with the Kansas basketball program.  We might ask a few questions, was this done to keep Self from jumping ship so to speak?  The North Carolina program is one of the most prestigious in the nation and is among the Blue Blood programs. 

Was this move undertaken by the administration facing sanctions to sneer at the NCAA?    Perhaps the university wants alumni, students and fans across the nation to designate a vote of confidence in Self.  In addition to a possible college job somewhere this move will squash all the “Bill Self is headed to the NBA” conversation.  All in all, this is a highly unusual Friday move in college basketball ahead of Saturday's NCAA semifinals.   

Bits n Pieces

To this point it appears veteran JJ Redick is the only player upset over his move.  Redick figured he was going to be moved and said as much prior to the trade deadline.  When he looked up his landing spot was Dallas which is not the destination he expected.  Redick claims he ask the Pelicans front office for a location close to his family in Brooklyn.  There are 1,369.92 air miles between Dallas and Brooklyn which was his promised destination. 

Someone must clue me in, what occurred to the Celtics?  We look up at the end of March and discover they are hovering around the .500 mark.  Unless the bottom drops out completely, they should earn a playoff berth, they certainly don’t appear to be the same Celtics we witnessed play 3-4 years back.  Is it injuries, the Sixers and Net re-tooled or something else?  We have no idea however it’s best to believe Boston fans might not be particularly pleased with Brad Stevens or Danny Ainge. 

Let’s wait on this one, several sites are reporting the Lakers are going to buy out Marc Gasol.  They have come to this conclusion based on the free agent signing of Andre Drummond.  Laker Nation certainly expects Drummond to play major minutes but wait there is more.  Gasol’s game has slowed but remains valuable for his passing skills, free throwing and 3-point shooting.  No, I hope the keep him on the roster through the length of his contract which is only 1-year anyway. 

Transfer portal is the word of the day for us, athletes including basketball players have changed schools since the beginning of time.  Point guard Johnny Jones decides to leave State U and transfers to Podunk A&M for a variety of reasons.  The difference with the transfer portal is the huge number of players moving, the last figure I read indicated there were well over 100 players changing schools.