Basketball from a fans perspective

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Continuing to break new ground

The NBA unlike other professional sports continues to level the field in all forms of hiring. This extends from the league offices down to individual teams in the league. Once again, the NBA and the Milwaukee Bucks broke new ground with this latest news. Wednesday the Milwaukee Bucks announced the hiring of Lisa Byington as its play-by-play television announcer. The announcement indicated Byington had done play-by-play for an NCAA Tournament men’s game last spring. Rest assured she hired based on the belief in her ability and not a single game; we have no idea the quality of her broadcast skills however the Bucks must have believed in her ability in the broadcast field. Congratulations to Lisa Byington in this new endeavor upcoming.

Calipari does it again

On September 7 Coach Cal and Kentucky received a verbal commitment from Shaedon Sharpe 5-star prospect and Rivals number one prospect in the Class of 2022. Sharpe is a 6-foot 4-inch shooting guard and attends Glendale Christian Academy in Glendale Arizona. This past Wednesday came more good news of another commitment, this from Chris Livingston 6-foot 7-inch small forward who is a 5-star prospect and Rivals number 8 prospect in the Class of 2022. 

Livingston attends Oak Hill Academy in Virginia. I wrote earlier the 2020-21 down season was a glitch for Kentucky basketball. The crop of first-year students beginning play in the fall plus these and others next year can we say Kentucky might be in a good place? An update the third 5-star prospect was omitted, that would be Skyy Clark. Clark is a 6-foot 2-inch point guard and hails from Nashville, his commit dates back to last October.   

Membership

As mentioned previously the invitation to join the Big XII Conference is now official for BYU, Houston UCF and Cincinnati, the next question what are the anticipated dates play will begin? The times discussed here are subject to change based on an early buy out, but it appears BYU will be first, they will join the Big XII for the 2023-24 season. The commissioner indicates the other three schools will join no later than July 1, 2024.

BYU is the exception being an Independent Houston, UCF and Cincinnati belong to the American Athletic Conference, what occurs here? Reports are circulating the AAC is looking toward adding schools to replace the three moving to the Big XII. The schools mentioned are strictly speculation at this point, two stand out over other names, they are Alabama-Birmingham and Texas-San Antonio. The domino effect of Texas and   Oklahoma has caused quite a bit of movement among conferences across the nation.

The Admiral  

Spurs center David Robinson retired in 2003, if you unfamiliar with him that’s easy to understand. Despite a Naismith and FIBA Hall of Fame enshrinement he’s usually not included in a discussion of all-time great NBA centers. His background, the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis, how did he arrive in the NBA from a service academy might be a question? The military service academies have provided more than a few NFL players however the NBA has been a far different story. The issue might be simply a height matter, 6-foot 7 inches is the maximum height of a military officer.

That was the case with Robinson at the time he qualified for and entered Annapolis. No way could anyone have predicted he would grow to 7-foot one over the next 4 years, his height would prevent him from serving aboard a nuclear submarine. The military service commitment for the academy graduate was reduced, and Robinson began play for the NBA Spurs as a 24-year-old newcomer. He would play until 2003 and was a 2-time NBA Champion and NBA MVP in 1995. The honors mentioned are just a few The Admiral earned during a brilliant amateur and professional career. Although he’s been retired for some years, he is a name from the NBA’s past you should know.

Bet you didn’t know this?

Move over Michael Jordan, there’s someone with more NBA Championship rings than you. If you guessed Bill Russell, you are correct however that’s not the individual we are discussing. If you thought it might be Magic Johnson that’s incorrect too, besides the fact his total is 5 NBA Championships. This ring holder played in MJ’s era and was a teammate at one time. No, it’s not Scottie Pippen, Horace Grant or any other former Bulls player. It is…. drum roll please…Steve Kerr.

The count begins, Kerr was on the 3-peat Bulls team so that’s three rings. Later he would head to San Antonio as a player and won two more rings with the Spurs, are you keeping count? As head coach of the Golden State Warriors Kerr has won three additional rings for a total of 8 NBA Championship rings. Okay so Kerr didn’t win all his rings as a player it doesn’t really matter, they still represent him being a member of two NBA Championship teams (Bulls & Spurs) as a player and three as Warriors coach.