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It was an old fashion beat down

You have the ending planned out in your mind, the only problem the finale is nowhere what was hoped or even expected. That was the case Saturday afternoon into the early evening, the Kansas Jayhawks did a number on Mizzou. I thought or rather believed going into the game Mizzou had a good chance at winning, I was unprepared for what was to occur. Mizzou’s team shooting above 50% for the first 9 games was at 33% at a point. Not only that the Jayhawks had backdoor cut after backdoor cut resulting in easy layups. It seemed all game long Mizzou was a step slow in every area. Far too many times a KU player would miss, and the ball would be tipped in on a second or third attempt.  The final score read KU 95 Mizzou 67 now Mizzou must prepare for a Saturday morning game against UCF on the road. The very ugly loss is in the rear-view mirror, no requirement to dwell on it, time to move on. UCF will have played two games Tarleton State and Ole Miss before facing Mizzou on the weekend.

One of the difficulties for me is to separate the boo-birds. I’ve read a number of email complaints about Gates and Mizzou basketball, I’m unsure if they are from fans of the program or KU gloating over the victory. One thing for sure I intend to “ride” with the coach and this Mizzou program until I discover there is an issue. Other than game outcome the only question for me and others is why Isiaih Mosley is sitting. This from the coach, ‘I anticipate Isiaih helping us without a doubt…The transition he’s going through, he’s gonna get to the other side of it and he’s gonna help us win ball games and I’m excited about it…. Everyone’s transition is different. He’ll help us without a doubt.’ (Saturday Down South, Ethan Stone Dec 10, 2022) That statement is not clear, there is an apparent problem which must be too delicate to discuss with the public. What is missing in the game against KU was a consistent scorer. Check out these numbers Mosley registered at Missouri State last season. He shot at a 20.4 point per game clip 50% from the floor and 43% from 3pt. So he’s a proven scorer, hopefully whatever the issues he will work them out soon. 

Paul Silas

We received the sad news on Sunday, long-time former NBA coach Paul Silas had passed away at the age of 79. Most probably remember him as LeBron’s first NBA coach at Cleveland. The Cavs were just one of a number of NBA teams he coached over his career. Silas moved into the coaching ranks after an NBA playing career with 5 teams, he was a three-time NBA champion 2 with the Celtics and 1 with the Sonics. Silas was enshrined in the College Basketball Hall of Fame in 2017 based on his All-American play while at Creighton University. His son Stephen Silas is the current head coach of the Rockets. Paul Silas a name to remember R.I.P. 

Wow

I can understand Steve Ballmer wanting out of Staples Center i.e. Crypto.com Arena. Almost everything is a reminder the arena is the Lakers building. Remember back to the time Doc Rivers was coach of the Clippers. Rivers went through this procedure where he had the arena maintenance crew cover the Lakers championship and banners of retired Lakers covered whenever the arena was home for the Clippers. Check the numbers below just in the one building

                        Lakers              Clippers

Win pct             .680                  .415

Playoff app         41                      16

Finals app          19                        0

Titles                  12                        0

As I attempted to indicate two teams cannot successfully share the same arena. In football certainly possible with teams only playing once a week. Two baseball teams could play in the same stadium although that too might cause a problem. As for the Clippers new home Intuit Dome construction appears on schedule and the arena will open in the fall of the 2024 NBA season.

Is this fair

With the change in schools (Memphis to Eastern Michigan) I made a commitment to follow Emoni Bates. As you are aware he hardly played last season and then an injury sidelined him, from there it was a return home and EMU. The problem for me I’m unsure how to make a judgement on his play since EMU is not particularly good. On Sunday they were losers against Niagara 67-60, Bates scored but 13 points however he didn’t shoot much.

He was a decent 50% from the floor and didn’t take a 3pt shot. As for the season his numbers look good, 44.2% from the floor, 41.7% from 3pt and 69% from the free throw line. Bates is scoring at 20.1 points a game, I have ESPN+ so I will be able to continue monitoring his games. The question for me and you is it worth the effort continuing to issue reports on his play based on the poor play of his team. I can close with this additional report, at least two NBA mock drafts list the 6 foot 9 Bates as a second-round pick in 2023. The only question remaining, will he leave EMU for the NBA?