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Basketball from a fans perspective

Are the Huskies on the move? 

The UConn Huskies and coach Dan Hurley are sitting on top of the world, on April 23, 2023, the Huskies beat San Diego State 76-59 in the NCAA Championship game winning it all. Over the summer several schools announced a change in conference affiliation while others were rumored news…UConn was one of them. It was reported UConn was mentioned being added to the Big XII Conference. Let’s do a quick history check, for me when I consider the Big East it’s always been basketball despite the fact there are other sports played.

UConn was one of the original members at the time the Big East Conference first began play in 1979. In 2013 the school left for the American Athletic Conference, 2020 saw the Huskies return to the Big East. This return allowed the Huskies to compete against many of the schools they faced back in the 1980’s. The top of the Big East contains a number of outstanding basketball teams over history. Marquette, Xavier, Creighton and even Providence along with Villanova have a rich basketball history. Has the Big XII become the “go-to” conference for schools wanting to enhance their profile? I certainly am in no position to answer the question, I along with others will wait and see if UConn decides to move at some date in the future.    

Bits n Pieces

On Sunday Lithuania beat Team USA in the FIBA World Games 110-104, what I hoped wouldn’t occur finally did. Although the game was on ESPN2 there was no method for me to provide details for you other than rudimentary. It’s possible those with cable systems other than Spectrum or if you have satellite you saw more than me. Perhaps I can lean on your view of the game to determine what occurred. Stop now Larry Laker you are just being cynical again. I mentioned this previously basketball…i.e. good basketball is no longer played exclusively in the U.S. This from coach Steve Keer, “Lithuania just punched us in the mouth.”

How about this bit of trivia I came across this on the ESPN.com site and thought it was interesting. JaVale McGee might be the only NBA player whose mom played in the WNBA so that’s one. How about this part, news reports indicate JaVale intends to sign with the Kings. Mother Pamela McGee was drafted and played for the Sacramento Monarchs and there is this. Mother and son will have played for Sacramento, Los Angeles and Team USA. 

Time zone is more important than region, I checked several conferences prior to the recent moves. Team play has prevailed in more than one time zone for a number of years. We could look at the Big XII, its mostly a Central Time Zone conference but then there’s West Virginia. West Virginia has been a member of the conference since 2012 and is in the Eastern Time Zone. The Big 10 has been a mixture of Eastern and Central Time Zone teams, here’s another example. Illinois games are Central Time but Maryland games are Eastern. Hopefully this exercise makes sense, in essence a number of rivalries have been eliminated with conference realignment however there never was a time zone issue.

He ain’t no Austin Reaves

We are reading reports indicating the Lakers are seeking to add Trae Young to the roster. This member of Laker Nation says no way, it’s definitely not a personality or talent issue. “I’m him” has been the rallying cry of Austin Reaves and I believe in it. I am quite sure there are elements of the game Young brings to the table Reaves lacks. On the other hand I’ve seen enough of Young to realize he’s got essentials missing in his game that Reaves possesses. We are on the cusp with Reaves I believe, hopefully he will continue to develop his game.

As for Young I believe he’s peaked, I hope that’s not meant to say he can’t play just the opposite. In my view there is probably little Young might be able to accomplish at this stage to improve his game. Then on the other hand I’m just a writer of basketball, what do I really know about assessing talent or even potential? Well allow me to back up, I’ve had a few misses but there are also players I spotted early…want an example? The Sixers Joel Embiid comes to mind first, seeing him at Kansas as a raw freshman. At the time Embiid was the second-string center, once he entered the game his talent potential was quite evident to me. The balance of the Embiid story is history there are portions yet to be written.