Basketball from a fans perspective   

Published Monday through Friday

Turnovers

This list might surprise some, we discuss turnovers but generally have no idea of the NBA league leaders. Below are the front-runners in turnovers through games played up to March 7. Some of the names might surprise while others you might have guessed, check it out and see what you think.

Russell Westbrook 250

Trae Young 237

James Harden 226

Luka Doncic 222

Julius Randle 220

Independent Accountability Resolution Process

The headline, say it with me: “This is quite a mouthful, what does it define?” The NCAA feeling the heat from athletic departments, alumni and fans decided to hand over complex cases to an independent group for a verdict. A component of this body is titled “The Complex Case Unit” which appears to be the decider in difficult cases. This body of unknown folks is reported to dispense recommendations for punishment of improprieties. Why are we covering this story on the dawn of the NCAA Tournament, its good you asked? Yesterday on local sports radio Gary Parrish of CBS Sports interviewed made a bold statement. Parrish indicated he didn’t believe this group would announce a decision against Bill Self and Kansas basketball this close to the tournament.

This is interesting, within hours of listening to the Parrish statement The Complex Case Unit sent LSU a notice of allegations for its basketball and football teams, LSU was one of several schools including Kansas that fell into this special category. These charges for the Louisiana school go back in time to 2019, this was near the same time Kansas basketball was reported to have been cited. We are faced with a question, what’s the difference between LSU and Kansas basketball? Kansas basketball is a “cash cow” for the NCAA, you think they would dare make such an announcement at this point. It’s okay for LSU but not for Bill Self and Kansas basketball. Fans of the Kansas program will not appreciate this account however I would point out there is no overstatement. The facts are there, look them up for your satisfaction.

The second season

Playoff basketball in the NBA has sometimes been referred as “The second season.” Those adopting that view state they believe the regular season is the tune up for the NBA Championship. We could make the same statement regarding college basketball. Many have suggested their belief the NCAA Championship is more important than conference play. That statement might be a little misleading, consider this fact. Unless a college team plays reasonably well, they won’t qualify for the NCAA Tournament. On the other hand, that same below .500 team wins its conference playoff and then BAM, its NCAA bound as its destination.

That picture might be a reach because rarely does that occur although it’s certainly possible. 68 colleges and universities across the nation will soon compete for the national championship. This is a single elimination event; you play and win or go home no matter your regular season record. On Monday April 4^th, the 2022 champion will be crowned. UCLA has the most championship wins with 11, the most recent champion was last season’s Baylor Bears. What is interesting Baylor lost 4 starters from that team and a key player this season. Despite that fact it’s possible they could repeat as champions, “Let’s get ready to Rumble” as Michael Buffer might say.

Is this offspring an NBA prospect?

Over the last several weeks and months we’ve read much about Bronny James son of LeBron. The father has gone on record numerous times indicating “I want to play on the same team with my son.” There is no argument in this corner about LeBron desiring to play basketball with his son, this question is Bronny a legitimate NBA prospect? An NBA GM who was not identified indicates “Bronny is a second-round draft choice.” That’s not a terrible thing, it says you might get drafted however there is a downside. There is no guarantee, sometimes second round prospects are passed over. Bronny is a junior with one more year of high school, was the assessment based on the present or 2-3 years from now? That answer wasn’t clear, so I decided to poll co-workers asking them the question.

All three informed me they believed Bronny was a legitimate prospect. As for the writer I will simply adopt a wait and see and there are reasons. I ain’t hatin’ on Bronny however there are far too many sons who attempted to follow their fathers into the NBA. Most of the offspring gained NBA careers but none reached or topped the level of the father. The only son who surpassed his father is the late Kobe Bryant who scored 33,000 points and averaged 25 points a game during his brilliant career. We mention the name Rick Barry also in the Hall of Fame, 3 of 4 of his offspring managed an NBA career…none came close to their father. I hope this doesn’t appear to disparage Bronny its just to point out the difficulty of following in the father’s footsteps.