Basketball from a fans perspective   

Published Monday through Friday

My hope was….

Mizzou would play a good game, but my hope was dashed early. The Fighting Illini got off to a fast start and managed a double-digit lead over the Tigers by the middle part of the first half. In fact, the Tigers good shooting plus steals and turnovers saw the Illinois lead reduced to but 6 points and then it occurred Illinois went on another hot streak before the half. In the second half of the game Illinois raced out to an unsurmountable lead, final score read Illinois 88 Mizzou 63. The numbers detail the usual pattern for Mizzou shooting a poor 36.5% from the floor and 26.1% from the 3-line. The only area Mizzou won was at the free-throw line shooting 84.6% to 66.7% for Illinois.

Illinois would shoot a sizzling 48% from 3 which is outstanding, Mizzou plays reasonably good defense although the box score might convince you otherwise. IF Mizzou could manage to shoot better from the floor the bad numbers we are seeing might go away. Mizzou was led by guard Jaron Coleman with 16 points followed by forward Kobe Brown with 13. I’m unsure of the clear-cut answer but this team must shoot the basketball better. The first-year students are adjusting to Division I play as for Coleman, Amari Davis and Ronnie DeGray II transferred from other programs. They proved they could score at their earlier school it’s now time to prove you can score for Mizzou. Is the glass half full or half empty, it really depends on one’s perspective?

Climate Pledge Arena

In Seattle Washington, the city has a brand new-old arena in use for the expansion NHL Kraken and Seattle Seahawks men’s basketball team. Recently the Gonzaga Bulldogs journeyed over from Spokane to Seattle to play Alabama. Our view is obscure viewing a game on television, this is a reference to seeing the completed work. As for the new-old phrase the building opened back in 1962 and has undergone name changes over that period.

In addition to name changes the arena has undergone a re-build never seen in the past. The iconic roof line an architectural original still exists but everything else in the arena is new. Climate Pledge is a new arena with the environment the priority. Ice for Kraken games comes from rainwater and heating and cooling is provided by solar, so the environment was prime consideration before this re-build. As for the basketball game Alabama took down Gonzaga but prior to the start the analyst made this statement, “Bring back the Sonics.”

The other Kentucky school

Anytime we say Kentucky basketball the mind focuses on the University of Kentucky Wildcats in Lexington. Okay, with that said how about the other school? Western Kentucky found in Bowling Green has the second most wins by a college team in the State of Kentucky behind that other school. Like Kansas-Wichita State the wins for Western Kentucky hold few games against the University of Kentucky. Truth is the game on Wednesday night was the first for the two schools since 2001 and they are only separated by 160 road miles.

Whatever the reason the schools never play one another except on Wednesday. A benefit game for Kentucky tornado victims was schedule and was the basis for the two schools to meet. The game saw the University of Kentucky beating Western Kentucky 95-60. Kentucky forward Oscar Tshiebwe scored 14 points and snatched down 28 rebounds for the winners. It makes us wonder if residents of the state would like to see the schools play a home and home series every season. You might wonder who is this Tshiebwe guy? He hails from the Democratic Republic of the Congo and is a 6-foot 9 255 pound forward. He spent a season at West Virginia before transferring to Kentucky.

Best NBA team to never win it all

That would be the 1977 Sixers, in the finals that year they were matched against Bill Walton’s Blazers. Keep in mind numbers of fans contend that Sixer team was the best to never win an NBA Championship. The Sixers would win in 1983 beating my Lakers but that’s another story…this is about 1977. The heavily favored Sixers would lose that series to the Blazers four games to two. As for the 1977 team from Julius “Dr.J.” Erving to the last player off the bench this team was loaded with talent. They were high scoring and had a strong defensive presence, this team had it all---all apart from a championship.

The starting lineup for this team was Dr. J. at small forward, George McGinnis power forward; center was manned by Caldwell Jones. Jones was backed by Harvey Catchings (WNBA Tamika’s father) and the late Darryl Dawkins. Henry Bibby was at the point and former coach and ESPN analyst Doug Collins was the shooting guard; reserves were Joe Bryant (Kobe’s dad) and Lloyd B. Free, later he would become World B. The Blazers defeated this talented collection of talent four games to two for one simple reason, the Sixers to a man probably believed their superior talent would overwhelm the Blazers. One more unusual occurrence, can you imagine not covering the championship trophy presentation? CBS which had the broadcast believed it was more important to supply coverage of the Kemper Open Golf Tournament, nothing similar would occur in this day but that was 1977.

Bits n Pieces 

The calendar is about ready to turn over to a new month and a new year. With January 2022 conference play will begin all over the nation. Despite the fact there will be competition for the conference crown it might not be as important as it once was. Practically every conference in the country plays a post-season tournament. Post-season tournament results might allow a team with a poor record to earn a spot in the NCAA tournament.

The signage is up inside and outside the arena, it is officially Crypto.com Arena. Never in my life have I heard of such a strange sounding name for an arena or stadium. We discussed the history of corporations paying to place their name on the front of buildings. Names can be corporate and still flow, Great Western Forum, FedEx Arena, or American Airlines Arena as examples. $700 million worth of naming rights goes much further than my pedestrian complaint. I don’t really care, as I wrote down earlier, I will continue to refer to it as Staples Center, Crypto.com Arena does not flow easily off the tongue.

I like Karl-Anthony Towns game always have, this goes back to his high school days in New Jersey and on to the University of Kentucky. Drafted by the Wolves he’s a proven talent over the length of his brief NBA career. How good is he, probably not at the level he might believe? Towns said and I quote, “I’m the greatest big man shooter of all time!” for him to make such a bold statement requires a look back. Who is Towns discounting in this diatribe? Is he referring to jump shooters only such as Patrick Ewing or Dirk Nowitzki, perhaps it’s traditional post players like Kareem Abdul Jabbar or Hakeem Olajuwon?