Published Daily  

Basketball from a fans perspective

Down goes Frazier, down goes Frazier

Google it if you wish, the headline is the audio of the late Howard Cosell describing the heavyweight boxing match between Joe Frazier and George Foreman. That was January 1973 and involved boxing and this is January 2023 and a basketball blog. Now for the subject at hand, one by one those undefeated Division I teams would lose their first game. Early in the week it was Purdue losing to Rutgers and there remained but a single team with 0 losses.

The University of New Mexico Lobos, Tuesday evening would see them lose their match against Fresno State after 14 wins in a row 71-67. Now I hope no one believed there was any chance of a team going through the season with no losses. We must return to 1976 and the Indiana Hoosiers, that team won the NCAA Tourney and finished the season with a 31-0 record. Nearest to that team was the Kentucky Wildcats of 2014-15 season. That team went into the tournament undefeated but lost in the NCAA semifinals against Wisconsin 71-64, the Wildcats finished with a 38-1 record.

What in the Wide, Wide World of Sports is going on    

I cannot keep up with the constant breaking news, the individual and team scoring binge in the NBA has been uncanny. Just as soon as I report on one player another has an outstanding game almost immediately there is another. The player this time is Giannis Antekounmpo once again, in his recent game against the Wizards this is what he accomplished. He shot 61% from the floor scoring 55 points along with 10 rebounds and 7 assists. Because this is written a day ahead of publication its likely an unknown individual will have another monster game. In the same vein of Antekounmpo’s game and others I am most likely to report it the following day.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0VNHe5fq30

Fell out of bed and bumped his head 

Depending on your age the name Jason Williams might be unfamiliar to some of you, as for Kobe Bryant that’s a different matter. Williams drafted by the Kings was nicknamed “White Chocolate” a reference to the fact he was a white player with Magic Johnson skills on the court. Williams experienced a 13-year NBA career, he ended it with a scoring average of 10.5 points and 5.9 assists a game. Recently I have avoided being drawn into those “He’s better than _______” for a single reason.

There is no effective method for validating anyone’s perspective on a subject even mine. Williams went on the record claiming “Kobe Bryant is not in my list of all-time Laker greats.” You might have read the Lakers Williams referenced I was unable to determine who might  have been in his Top 5. On reading his comment my first thought, he must have fell out of bed and bumped his head. I have no desire to remove anyone from a list of all-time Lakers but come on J-Will. Kobe’s 33,000 plus scoring total should be enough alone for him to be included in any Top Five list. We might ask the question of J-Will, are you trying to remain compelling on social media or something else?

Too many moving parts

Sometimes a story I believe is important cannot be covered in the detail I believe is required. That is the case here and the basis is simple, there are far too many issues (and questions) to adequately do justice to the pro and con of the story. Much as I’d like to discuss the issue in detail space and time fails to allow this, I make a decision to conduct a cursory look. That is the case here, a 21-member committee comprised of university administrators at work over the past few months presented a 22-page document to the NCAA. This document proposes changes affecting athletic programs for each school.

In truth I’ve not delved into any portion of the recommendations except for the one standout. There is a suggestion the NCAA Tournament in March be increased from 68 to as much as 90 teams. Far too many moving parts for this issue to be addressed in the detail required. Let’s just say it’s my belief this issue revolves strictly around money. The conference season has become less and less important over the last several years. If this recommendation is adopted, it might be lessened even more. That’s my quick assessment without a great deal of research on the matter…what do you think?

I’ll take the blame, it’s my fault

You might remember, this past Monday I wrote how well the Pelicans were playing. I attributed a portion of this to Zion Williamson being in the lineup for an extended period. I put in writing, “Over his last 10 games Zion is averaging 31 points a game and certainly the Pelicans and the fan base hope he can continue at or near this same level for the season.” On Tuesday evening the front office announced an injury to guess who? Williamson would be sidelined at least three weeks with a strained hamstring. Okay Pelican Nation I’ll take the blame, it’s my fault. I could have decided to write about someone other than Zion Williamson and all would be right in the world, I hope my writing doesn’t equal the dreaded SI jinks