Basketball from a fans perspective

Get back to winning

A win on Saturday afternoon will go a long way toward righting the ship in Columbia. The Mizzou Tigers are on a 3-game losing streak, without checking the record my thought of last season maybe 2 games in a row occurred. No disrespect intended but Central Arkansas arrives with a losing record. What exactly is the problem for Mizzou to date?  The key rebounding the ball, Mizzou remains ineffective on the boards, failing to properly box out the opposition leads to second and sometimes third shots by opposing teams. Being unable to rebound the ball is a recipe for defeat.

As I mentioned previously although Nick Honor at the point is familiar with the Dennis Gates offense he’s managed to come up short, Honor was much more effective last season over this one so far. After a swift start Noah Carter has practically disappeared from the action while others are also M.I.A. Included in the count of missing are Danny Stephens, Connor Vanover, Caleb Grill and John Tonje. I’m quite sure more was expected by Gates as all arrived in the transfer portal in the off season. Second to the rebound issue is the offense/defense, I’m unsure which to cover first. Let’s check the offense first, Sean East II has been the man. If East fails to score so does the Mizzou offense. There are several glimmers of hope, Tamar Bates who played at Indiana has been a legitimate scoring threat, I could also cite freshman Anthony Robinson II for his scoring and defense.

Aidan Shaw, who I thought would have a breakout year has played mostly up and down. As for the defense I’m really unsure where to begin, the pressing style defense exhibited for much of the time last season has disappeared for Mizzou to date. SEC teams last season might have been unprepared, at this point Mizzou cannot sneak up on anyone. If this appears to be a surrender account that is not the case, in truth I don’t expect this team to duplicate last season. You might remember it was 25 wins plus 2 NCAA Tournament games, that will not occur in 2024. NOTE: Mizzou with a game winner 92-59.

Bits n Pieces

There are more basketball analyst working than we can count on our fingers and toes. After completing accounts on both the NBA and college basketball the oldest guys working have been covered in this blog previously. In the NBA, its Hubie Brown who turned 90 years of age September 25, college basketball has Bill Raftery who had his birthday number 80 last April. Why are they still working when they could easily be retired, without direct knowledge, I believe its love. Yes, basketball has been an integral part of the life of Brown and Raftery for over 70+ years, simply stated they love it.

This has occurred in the NFL and NBA too, we made a mistake. League officials a day or so later admitting game officials made an error. I believe most of us understand this fact, we have human beings on the floor. They are going to miss plays, I just said they are human. The question for me and maybe you. What good does it do to admit an error occurred, do you intend to replay that portion of the game? I can only think of one occasion when a controversial ending was overturned and replayed. It occurred in baseball with the infamous pine tar game between the Yankees and the Royals. This was a 1983 game between the teams, the Yankee win was overturned and the game from the 7th inning was replayed giving the victory to the Royals.

What might have been, I’m watching Michael Porter Jr. in action for the Nuggets. All I can think is the injury season at Mizzou where he was unable to demonstrate his talent. If I remember when he arrived on campus he was projected as a number one or two NBA draft pick. His back injury ended all that although the Nuggets could foresee the budding talent. Porter Jr. slipped all the way down to number 14 in the 2018 draft and the Nuggets quickly snapped him up. They could afford to allow him to sit out and rehab completely, the Nuggets now view the wait a worthy one. Just think Porter Jr. could have been the foundation for Mizzou success but it wasn’t to be.

New ownership

The Wolves are playing my Lakers under new ownership on Saturday evening, well that statement is not totally correct allow a further explanation. Sometime ago owner Glen Taylor sold a major portion of the Wolves to A-Rod and his business partner Marc Lore. The A-Rod/Lore team was to eventually purchase the majority share of the team, that time has come. The sale concluded December 31, 2023, according to reports former majority owner Taylor will retain 20% ownership in the Wolves. I was unfamiliar with Lore so I conducted a quick Google search on him. He’s an entrepreneur, businessman and investor, Lore is the founder, Chairman and CEO of the Wonder Group. A-Rod requires no introduction, most sports fans are familiar with him or at least his name. A-Rod is a former major league baseball player for the Mariners, Rangers and Yankees. Thus the “new” ownership group of the Minnesota Wolves NBA franchise begins full scale operation January 1, 2024.

Amazing  

His birth name is Anthony Jerome Webb but he’s better known as Spud. Born in Dallas Texas he played his college basketball at Midland Community College and North Carolina State from 1981 to 1985. Despite being 5-foot 6 (or 7) Webb was drafted in the 4th round of the 1985 draft by the Pistons. Although drafting Webb the Pistons would later release him. Naturally his stature would indicate there wasn’t a great deal of interest by other NBA teams, he once scored 32 points leading the Hawks to a win over the Nuggets. 1986 was the year of Spud Webb, he would enter the NBA All-Star dunk contest where his fame would last to the present day.

Understand this, his teammates including Dominque Wilkins a participant had no idea Webb had such leaping ability, Webb would go on to win the event and have a 13-year career playing for various NBA teams. After he retired from play he was hired as president of basketball operations for the G-League team in Frisco Texas. As for his nickname, how did he acquire it? A visitor to the hospital at the time of his birth in 1963 indicated Webb’s head resembled that of the Sputnik satellite, eventually Sputnik was shortened to Spud. What makes Webb’s Slam Dunk win so interesting is he might be the only winner who did not have the ability to palm the basketball. Spud Webb all 5 foot 6 and 133 pounds with a 46-inch vertical, he was the winner of the 1986 NBA Slam Dunk Championship.