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Basketball from a fans perspective

Sunday news

Were you satisfied with Selection Sunday, 68 schools across the nation were waiting some anxiously Kennesaw State in Kennesaw Georgia earns a tournament berth for the first time in the school’s history. It’s been a while for Howard University an HBCU school, it was 1992 the last point in time the Bison played in the tournament. The general consensus among many in the media Texas should have been a number one seed over Purdue, the explanation Texas had more Quad 1 wins over those registered by Purdue.

Kansas City Sports talk radio there will be plenty of wailing for two reasons, Kansas will be in Fort Worth instead of Kansas City. There was radio talk locally the Big XII could have 9 out of the 10 teams selected. It didn’t work out in that manner on Selection Sunday, the conference had 7 teams. Were there teams not invited, this usually occurs every season should 2023 be any different? We can now work on our brackets and hope our supervisors understand. Production will be limited at work over the next few weeks as many are sneaking a peak at games. There will be others checking periodically to see if they are still in the running to win it all.

Football and basketball 

Bud Grant the longtime former coach of the Vikings died on Saturday at the age of 95. As an NFL player he is associated with the NFL Eagles and the CFL Winnipeg Blue Bombers. Once his playing career was over, he became a coach first with the Blue Bombers, but he more closely associated with the Vikings. Grant coached the Vikings from 1967-1983 and again in the 1985 season. Grant was one of those athletes who managed to play in the NFL and NBA. In 1950 he was drafted by the NFL Eagles and the Lakers then located in Minneapolis. He made the Lakers his choice because they were local, and he preferred to remain in the area. His bio indicates after two seasons Grant decided in favor of the Eagles and ended his NBA career. This salute to Bud Grant former NFL coach and at one time played in the NBA.

Great player…Great coach

We’ve discussed this issue in the past, former players become head coaches. As an example Steve Kerr was an okay player in the NBA. As Warriors coach he’s managed an outstanding run, without looking it up I have no idea how many championships his team’s won. Much earlier Phil Jackson was a reserve player for the Knicks but a championship winning coach for the Bulls and later Lakers. Those are but two examples off the top of my head, on the other hand we have the opposite role. Patrick Ewing was a NCAA Champion for Georgetown, although the Knicks never won a championship, he was a key to many deep playoff runs by the team. Similar to Chiefs offensive coordinator coach Eric Bieniemy Ewing suffered too.

He was unable to find an NBA team willing to hire him. Ewing certainly appeared qualified with several NBA stops as an assistant and finally it occurred. It wouldn’t be the NBA, but his alma mater Georgetown would hire him as head coach. March 9, 2023, it all came to an end, after 5 losing seasons, the school decided to make a change. His best season was the 19-14 record registered in his second year. It’s really too bad but maybe we must come to the conclusion Ewing is not head coaching material. I hope this doesn’t appear I’m piling on Ewing after all one of my favorites Magic Johnson was terrible. Magic was unable to make “Magic” on the court as a head coach. Optimistically Ewing will get an additional opportunity one day, I hope.

Bits n Pieces 

Jazz vocalist Sade recorded a tune several years ago titled Smooth Operator. There are plenty of smooth operators in the NBA, the ball appears to be part of their body as they move up and down the basketball court. One of the first smooth operators that comes to mind for me is Kyrie Irving of the Mavs. He dips, does a spin move and has been known to “break a few ankles” as he moves around on the court. We could also make the same statement about Laker guard D’Angelo Russell; he too is a smooth operator as is Steph Curry of the Warriors. Those mentioned and others often give us the impression the ball is attached to their hand. If my explanation is not clear take this into consideration, Shaq (and others) their skill is physical.

Chris who might be the question, remember back in January when UT announced Chris Beard had been fired? This over a domestic incident arrest with his fiancé, it was said at the time the school should begin a search for a head coach to replace him. Associate head coach Rodney Terry would take over as interim coach. On Saturday Terry’s Longhorn team beat the Kansas Jayhawks 76-56 and became winners of the Big XII Tournament, his team has beaten Kansas twice in an 8-day span. Terry managed to lead the Longhorns through the Beard turmoil and keeping them in the Top 25. I believe it might be a good idea to hold on to Terry at least for a while.

My unofficial count says at least 8 college basketball coaches have been fired or resigned as this is written. The only replacement name heard to date is Rick Pitino however you realize that continues the trend of recycled coaches. I have nothing but my words, but I’d like to see a number of these schools do a Dennis Gates or Jerome Tang hire. Gates was an established head coach and successful although many were not impressed because it was Cleveland State considered a mid-major school. As for Tang he’d been a long-time associate head coach at Baylor, he was likely waiting for an opportunity to become a head coach somewhere.

I know absolutely nothing about the Utah State Aggies, I can only look at the numbers.

Scoring Mizzou 79.5 Utah State 78.6  

Rebounds Mizzou 30.3 Utah State 35.

Assists Mizzou 16.2 Utah State 16.9

Points Allowed Mizzou 74.6 Utah State 69.7