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Basketball from a fans perspective

Brothers

The Thompson twins became the latest brothers drafted into the NBA in June 2023. Amen was made the number 4 pick by the Rockets while Asur was number 5 pick by the Pistons. These two become the latest brothers to join an exclusive club and one even smaller, twins in the NBA. There are far too many to list all the names so I’m going to provide the names of those I believe might be more familiar to you:

Pau and Marc Gasol

Brook and Robin Lopez

Marcus and Markieff Morris

Mason and Miles Plumlee

Horace and Harvey Grant

Jon, Brent and Drew Barry

Bernard and Albert King

Bret and Mark Price

Taylor and Blake Griffin

Charles and Dudley Bradley

Depending on your age some of the names might not be as familiar as others. At the same time the career of each might have been limited however each brother earned a roster spot on an NBA team. With the number of players arriving in the NBA every season this certainly indicates a degree of talent. In addition as stated above this list should not be considered complete as the list contains a great deal more players.

It slipped me

I really lost track of time, I believe most of us were aware the Big XII Conference was due to add 4 teams the date had slipped my mine. It was July 1, 2023, the Big XII became a 14-team conference. Added were the University of Cincinnati, Brigham Young, the University of Central Florida and the University of Houston. At the end of the 2023-24 season it will become a 12-team conference once again. Oklahoma and Texas will depart the conference for the SEC.

At this point most are unsure whether the conference remains at that number. Rumors continue to circulate there might be a Pac-12 team or teams added. Sidebar here, one of the chief reasons Mizzou is in the SEC today is due to revenue and the University of Texas, revenue was not being shared by conference teams equally. At that time Texas was receiving a larger percentage of revenue than other Big XII schools. They were benefices of the Longhorn Network and other revenue generating streams. Consider the fact after these issues were raised after time Texas decides to depart the Big XII.  

28-year-old rookie

The headline is misleading, at 28 years old Connie Hawkins probably had played on more basketball courts than most his age. Why and how he came into the NBA is a story in itself because he was banned for life without a trial. I’ve written this previously, this tragedy was a monumental miscarriage of justice for Hawkins. I continue to believe the series of events utilized against him would never occur in this age. A legal entity would appear and take on the case challenging the NBA's ruling but that unfolds later. Hawk was a Brooklyn (NY) legend at Boys High School before he entered college at the University of Iowa in 1960.

He was banned from playing college basketball without ever playing for Iowa, at the time larger enrollment schools had freshman and varsity teams and this issue occurred during Hawk’s freshman year. News of the point-shaving scandal broke that year and among the individuals named in the probe was Connie Hawkins. Hawk was never arrested nor indicted yet he was found guilty in the court of public opinion. He was guilty in a sense, he was acquainted with the chief fixer of the point shaving scandal. It’s been several years since I read the book but memory says Hawk borrowed or was loaned an amount of money.

Hawk repaid the money yet he would be haunted for years by this act. Without due process he was expelled from school and Hawk along with several others was banned from ever playing in the NBA. I cannot do justice to his story so this is my suggestion for the complete history. Author Dave Wolf wrote Foul The Connie Hawkins Story published in 1972. He played for the Pittsburg Rens in the ABL and when that league folded he began play with the Globetrotters and later came back to the Rens this time in the ABA. Years later he would began play for the Phoenix Suns as a 28-year-old rookie. The attorneys for Hawk were forced to file suit against the NBA in order for him to play. It should also be of note Connie Hawkins was enshrined in the Naismith Hall of Fame in 1992. After his retirement Hawk returned to the Phoenix area working some of that time for the Suns organization, he died in 2017 at the age of 75.

It’s going to occur

Discussions are conducted with the intention of expanding the NCAA Tournament. Currently we have 68 teams playing for the national championship but the question is how many is too many? An informal poll of college coaches finds them divided on the subject. According to information I discovered the tournament expanded to 16 teams in 1951 which says it must have really been a small field. In 1975 the number of participating schools increased to 32. It was raised to 40 teams in 1979 and then 48 in 1980, then in 1985 the total would be enlarged to 64. The present total of 68 came about in 2001, four additional teams were invited raising the field to its present number.

The basis for the headline is simple, I once read it but don’t remember the exact figure. The NCAA earns somewhere in the neighborhood of 65-70% of its annual budget from the tournament alone. Do you believe the NCAA is going to allow this discussion to simply go away? The continued increase in participating teams has affected the National Invitation Tournament significantly. This Madison Square Garden event has dwindled in popularity due to the NCAA Tournaments increasing number of teams. One coach thought the 2001 increase should be utilized simply adding 4 teams, my gut reaction. That certainly sounds good but I believe the number will be significantly higher, how high? One of the coaches mentioned 96, if that’s the case why not just increase the field to 100 teams?