Basketball from a fans perspective   

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Anthony Black

Unless you follow high school basketball across the nation or live in the Dallas-Fort Worth metro Anthony Black might be a name unknown to you. Allow a brief explanation, Black is a 6-foot 7 185-pound point guard in his senior year of high school. He may be playing for Duncanville or maybe not based on an upcoming court decision. This is the family dynamics; Black says he considers the Duncanville coach his stepfather. This past year the family moved from Coppell to Duncanville, with the move Black transferred to Duncanville and that is where the problem surfaced. Questions regarding the move saw the youngster bench early in the high school season.   

The athletic association says it’s investigating the purpose regarding the move, was this made strictly for athletic reasons is their question? Black spent the early part of the season on the Duncanville bench but would see action later. As for the athletic association the body will decide in February a course of future activity for Black and Duncanville basketball. Should Black be ruled ineligible not only could he not finish the season Duncanville would be forced to forfeit all the games he would have played. As for his future beyond Duncanville, ESPN.com rates Black a 5-star prospect and he’s got several offers currently. Among just a few schools interested in him playing for them are Alabama, Arizona, Auburn, Duke plus Texas and Oklahoma State. I will attempt to provide a follow up to this story in February.

There are doubts

What do you think about Aikansh Chaudhary’s piece in Fadeaway World.com? He wrote “Chet Holmgren Has A Chance To Be The First White American To Be Drafted No. 1 Overall Since 1977.” In 1977 the Bucks made Indiana's Kent Benson the top pick in the draft that year. As for Holmgren the Gonzaga freshman appears to have made the adjustment from HS basketball to Division I basketball. As this is written these are the numbers put up thus far for Holmgren, 13.6 points, 8.5 rebounds along with 61.8% shooting from the floor. Those are good numbers except for a 7-foot power forward can we say they are only average or maybe slightly below? We expect more from an athlete projected to be the top draft choice in 2022 or any year for that matter.

Holmgren must improve those numbers exponentially if he is expected to be the top draft pick in 2022. At this stage there is serious doubt Holmgren would be the top pick. Understand, no one is questioning his ability he is certainly talented. Now for the last part, that issue Chaudhary raised in his account, is a players race important as it relates to the NBA. We have seen perhaps the most level field of all professional sports as it relates to race in the NBA. In addition, we’ve witnessed all races, creeds and colors fail being drafted in the top slot, Kent Benson was just one of them. He didn’t fail because he was white, he failed because he wasn’t a quality NBA player despite displaying skills at the collegiate level. As for Holmgren, currently the numbers don’t justify him being the top pick in 2022 in my view and it has nothing to do with race.

Best of the Best

ESPN rated the Top 25 high school basketball teams in the nation. At the top of their list was not Oak Hill, Montverde or IMG Academy. The top team week ending January 24 was Sunrise Christian Academy in Bel Aire, Kansas located in metro Wichita. The school was founded in 1983, it began as a grade school emphasizing academic excellence and Biblical teaching. The school’s website provides us no date when basketball was first introduced.

The school’s produced a number of athletes who went on to attend Division I programs across the nation. Two names of note the Kings Buddy Hield played at Sunrise prior to the University of Oklahoma, Ron Baker first began play at Sunrise prior to play for Wichita State. The school has brought a number of international players to the school and its basketball court. Don’t be surprised in the future to continue hearing the name Sunrise Christian Academy as it relates to talented high school basketball players.

Future NBA Big Men

Recently we wrote of a throwback game between Purdue and Illinois. The game was only given that title because for the first time in recent memory two 7-foot centers were matched against one another. The game featured Zack Edy 7-foot 4 295-pound Purdue center and Illinois’s 7-foot 285-pound Kofi Cockburn. Surely a Big Man battle has occurred in the recent past, but this was unique in more than one instance. Neither of these athletes was shooting from the 3-line, this has been the evolving process of today’s basketball. Big Men drifting out and shooting from distance. Question, what if Kareem Abdul Jabbar had come along in the present age?

A 7-foot talent with a hook shot which couldn’t be blocked i.e., skyhook. Would a coach attempt to develop his talent or relegate him to a secondary role? There are 7-foot centers who certainly could be titled “projects”, despite being in the NBA for two years 7-foot 6 Tacko Fall is just that. We could also add the name of Jamarion Sharp 7-foot 5 Western Kentucky center as a possibility too. The question of a Big Man offense remains unanswered for now it would appear. If we look about there are numerous instances of circles, what was once popular and innovated falls out of favor but returns later. Fashion might be at the top of this list but so too might be Big Man play, it could become prominent again. Don’t misunderstand this account coaches are not searching for the next Kareem or Wilt however one day in the not to distance future Big Man play will become important once again.