Basketball from a fans perspective

Playoff basketball

I cannot do justice in print to playoff basketball, so look for coverage in other sources plus reporting by the usual suspects. The only exception might be the dramatic ending of Game 1 of Celtics-Nets. The Celtics won a dramatic 115-114 on a Jason Tatum layup with probably 0.2 on the clock. Even more interesting Tatum scored the basket over Kyrie Irving, the game Irving registered was outstanding. The mercurial point guard scored 39 points a reported 18 in the 4^th quarter. The non-basketball incident will be covered; Irving claims he was “called out of his name” all game long by Celtic fans. That was the basis for Irving giving fans “the bird” throughout the game.

The coach

One of the websites I peruse featured a photo of the late John Chaney. This Hall of Fame coach spent the bulk of his time at Temple University in Philadelphia. His teams would earn an NCAA invite 17 of the 24 years he was at the helm. It’s reported his players loved him despite his spartan approach to the game. You play for this coach you practiced hard and played defense, as for training it was a story to itself. Practice was scheduled at 6:00 a.m., Chaney claimed he did this for one reason. He wanted to ensure his players were in bed at least by midnight and not attending parties to 2 and 3:00 a.m. in the morning, evidently this practice routine worked. John Chaney another name from the rich past of basketball you should be familiar with.

Headed for the NBA 

Kansas guard Ochai Agbaji has gone from a relative unknown prospect to a possible NBA lottery pick. One mock site nbadraft.net projects him as the 12^th pick in the first round of the 2022 draft. Another site, nbadraftroom.com list him as the number 21^st pick. Movement of NBA teams is fluid as this is written so there is no attempt to detail what city the talented guard might land. In addition, it is possible Agbaji could drop, or his stock could rise prior to the draft.

It should also be of note this in not written with any forecast of NBA stardom. This is pretty much assured Agbaji will play in the association somewhere. We’ve told the story on several occasions; at Oak Park High School in Kansas City Missouri, he wasn’t a highly touted player. On the other hand, he could have been a late bloomer or lastly, he worked his rear end off to increase his skill at the game. At 6 foot 5 ½ and 214 pounds Agbaji has an NBA body and should be able to adapt. It might not be the 10^th pick but expect to hear his name at the June draft, Agbaji is a keeper.

Pure fantasy

Attempting to write this account caused hesitation on my part, I had no desire to build an audience for Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty offered by the cable channel HBO. Often if you complain about a subject it tends to draw an even larger audience. The series has been renewed for next season, so this account fails to impact it one way or another. Since the debut we’ve heard nothing but complaints about it from those who lived it. If it were just one individual, you might tend to believe it might be suspect. In this instance we have multiple complaints from some who were there and at least one media member. The first voice was Magic Johnson who said “It would have been nice if they talked to someone who was there” or something similar.

From Kareem Abdul Jabbar in a podcast interview said, “I watched half the first episode and it’s ridiculous, I don’t want to talk about it.” Wait there is more, Claire Rothman who is now age 93 also made a comment on the series. Rothman would later become president and general manager of the Forum former Laker home. It’s reported she saw the script for the first episode and was not pleased with her portrayal. We close with veteran Boston sportswriter Bob Ryan and his comment. He said the depiction of Jerry West is “reprehensible”, Ryan’s words not mine. My chief complaint, there are at least two generations who never witnessed the Showtime Lakers. They will watch this series and believe it to be fact, the writer has taken some events that can be documented while others are portions of his imagination. See it and form your own judgment, I watched the first four episodes and that was it for me.

Are we ready?

Basketball at UMKC has been an afterthought by most residents of Kansas City. For the most part they are fans of the Jayhawks another number the Mizzou Tigers as their favorites and there exists a sprinkling of NBA fans. Part of the problem UMKC has not done much to place themselves in the mind of even its student body until now. The University of Missouri Kansas City began life as an NAIA institution. At the time the decision was made to move to Division I there was a hope. That hope, the school could duplicate the basketball success of many other urban universities across the nation. We looked at UCLA, Memphis State, Cincinnati and DePaul at an earlier time period.

Except for a few seasons winning for UMKC did not occur at the level hoped then along comes Billy Donlon. Donlon had spent most of his career as an assistant at several stops but 2010-2016 saw him serve as head coach at Wright State. The first season under Donlon the Roos (Kangaroos) finished with a surprising 16-14 record. The second season saw Donlon's team slip to an 11-13 record. Although UMKC failed to earn a postseason berth, the 19-12 record registered showed promise for the future. We have no idea who returns, who leaves however we know Billy Donlon will have his Roos prepared for battle. If I could make one suggestion, the school should consider changing its mascot. I realize kangaroos have been trained to box but come on.... we can do better.