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Basketball from a fans perspective

Bits n Pieces

There will be additional monetary help forthcoming for Maui fire relief. Michigan State will host the University of Tennessee on October 20, near the end of the month October 29 the University of Hawaii will play St. Mary’s, both being exhibition games. I’m unsure if I might have missed other scheduled games, these plus the others mentioned earlier are the only ones I have uncovered to date.

You know my prime complaint, guys from this era or those recently retired. They undertake an effort to compare themselves and others to those who played in the ‘60’s and ‘70’s. For once we have players who competed at the same time, Shaq versus Divac. Vlade Divac was drafted by the Lakers, he was traded in order for them to acquire Kobe Bryant.  “Shaq wasn’t talented. He was just strong” were the words of Divac in describing Shaquille O’Neal. You be the judge, read the piece in basketballnetwork.com dated August 30.

Its September 1, NBA training camps open in about 3 weeks. Christian Wood sits by the phone waiting on a telephone call or text message from his agent. Wood is no closer to signing with an NBA team than he was in July. I’ve mentioned on several occasions money is keeping the Lakers at distance. The Heat and Kings are also interested but they are yet to make a move as well. It is highly likely Wood will not sit out the season, the only question is who signs him. At this point your guess is as good as mine.

I can’t see you from here anyway, it’s clear to us you have mighty deep pockets. Come on raise your hand if you were the individual who purchased the Victor Wembanyama rookie card. News reports indicate the card was sold at auction for $67,333 and this next part should be interesting. Wemby is not in a Spurs jersey…he’s in his Metropolitans 92 jersey. The card is personally autographed, because I don’t have permission I cannot provide you a photo however if you are curious it is online. By the way Wemby is yet to set foot on an NBA court and this is certainly news.

College basketball arenas

I’ve written about the magnificent basketball palaces most of which are in NBA cities. As for colleges and universities across the nation over the years there have been a number of new arenas. To use the term coined they are state of the art, but what about the others? There are many old venues still in use today. Despite the age these old arenas have been renovated over the years, in addition this list should not be considered complete.

The oldest arena on our list opened in 1925 which makes it nearly 100 years old. The arena still in use that is the newest listed is Cameron Indoor Stadium on the campus at Duke University. The home of Duke basketball saw its first game played in Cameron in 1940 which makes it 83 years old. Who are the others and where are they located, please note the arena name followed by the university along with seating capacity and the year opened? I’m quite sure a number of these will surprise you they certainly did me.

Devlin Fieldhouse-Tulane University

4,100-1931

McAlister Fieldhouse-The Citadel

6,000-1939

Lavietes Pavilion-Harvard University

2,000-1926

Williams Arena-University of Minnesota

14,600-1928

Rose Hill Gymnasium-Fordham University

3,200-1925

Cameron Indoor-Duke University

9,000-1940

Alaska Airlines Arena at Hec Edmundson Pavilion-University of Washington

10,000-1927

Payne Whitney Gym-Yale University

2,800-1932

The Palestra-University of Pennsylvania, St. Joseph’s University

8,000-1927

Hinkle Fieldhouse-Butler University

9,000-1928

Ben Simmons

If we looked at Simmons numbers from last season they appear good. I make that statement considering he played 42 games, 33 of which he was the starter. As for the numbers 57% shooting from the floor, 6 rebounds and 6 assists, certainly decent numbers but. That shooting probably was mostly dunks and lay ups, there were no 3-point baskets made. Simmons indicates he had a herniated disk last season and probably shouldn’t have played at all. After a summer of exercises and workouts Simmons pronounced himself ready for the 2023-24 season.

I remember first reading about this Australian prospect, he decided in favor of LSU over a host of colleges. Every LSU game available that season I watched, imagine I thought a much bigger “Magic Johnson” at the point standing 6 foot 10 and 240 pounds. I soon discovered while enrolled at LSU Simmons had no distance shot. I’m unsure if Simmons was able to shoot consistently from over 15 feet. This shooting issue would follow him into the NBA when drafted by the Sixers. Then came the trade, a move to the Nets proved disastrous as he practically never played. Games I saw opposing teams began to dare Simmons to shot from distance, generally it worked because he just plain quit shooting. Is Simmons ready to play this season?