Basketball from a fan’s perspective

I ain’t no hater

Some of my Jayhawk friends will read this and say, “He’s a Mizzou guy, what should we expect?” The recent A/P Top 25 ranking was a little strange from my perspective and I pointed it out on social media. I received this response from a non-partisan basketball fan, “Kansas basketball is overrated ALMOST every year… sometimes they get it right.” On Monday I pointed to the fact Kansas lost a weekend game to number 23 Iowa State.

Should Kansas have dropped in the polls, of course they should but it was only one position they remained in the Top 10…why? Iowa State and Texas Tech sit ahead of Kansas in the Big XII standings yet in the polls sit behind Kansas. I once termed this a “beauty contest” because the winner is not confirmed until the first Monday in April. The A/P Top 25, the Coaches poll and others grab our attention, we pay little if any thoughtfulness to the Basketball Power Index (BPI) or other barometers to determine the strength of a team. In any event beginning now I will try and refrain from mentioning any of the more well-known Top 25 polls due to their inaccuracy.

This is the curse (maybe)

Lack of success has caused the NFL Patriots to drop significantly, I could make the same statement to a degree for the Cowboys. Who’s supplanted these two teams for some…the Kansas City Chiefs. A negative survey of teams over the last 90 days on X (Twitter) identifies the Chiefs as the “most disliked team in the NFL.” My response is simple, “They hate us cause they ain’t us.” For unknown or unexplained reasoning we sometimes appear to hate success, teams be they college, NBA, NFL or baseball. You win the majority of time and haters are going to come out of the woodworks. The Lakers this season certainly haven’t played near the level most fans expected, despite that fact there remain plenty of haters.

Our desire is for success on the field or court however only to a point. We can applaud a Bucks team in winning an NBA championship in 2021 their first since 1971, there is a vast amount of space between the years. I’m looking at my Lakers in basketball but I might contend in some circles that the same hatred exists for the Celtics. That’s what occurs when a team wins 17 NBA championships, for me personally its different. I would be remiss if I failed to mention those college basketball programs we hate. You know the names need I remind you, Kansas, Kentucky, Duke and North Carolina. At one time UCLA was in the mix however not in recent years. So there you have it a brief synopsis not scientific by any means why we hate sports success. I will end with, “They hate us cause they ain’t us.”

A racial issue or something else?

We know the impact Bill Russell made in the NBA while playing for the Celtics. Do you realize history might have turned out differently if the trading partner had kept things as they were? There are a bunch of moving parts to this story so bear with me while I attempt to provide details for you. Our story begins in St. Louis Missouri, local guy Ed McCauley had been an outstanding player at St. Louis University High School, later he would enroll at St. Louis University. McCauley’s SLU team was quite good thanks in part to him, they were able to win the 1948 NIT and from that point it was a return to “home.”

McCauley’s hometown St. Louis Bombers made him a territorial pick choosing him in the 1949 NBA draft. The chief issue back then as mentioned a number of times a few NBA franchises were attendance losers, the Bombers were one of them. It’s difficult to believe but the college game was more popular at the time over the NBA. In any event the Bombers would cease operations and their players placed in a dispersal draft, the Celtics then chose McCauley. He played outstanding basketball from 1950-1956 and then the Russell factor impacts the history. Bill Russell led the University of San Francisco to consecutive NCAA championships; he was certain to be the top pick in the 1956 draft. Due to their poor record the Hawks had the pick, what would you suppose they do? Returning to that time we must mention the civil rights movement was in its elementary phase, Missouri and St. Louis was not a great period for a black man. Let’s just say there were areas of the nation more beneficial for black citizens to live in than Missouri. Keep in mind several NBA teams had black players on their roster by this time however for the Hawks it was a different matter.

The Hawks, after drafting Russell decided in favor of trading his rights to the Celtics for McCauley and Cliff Hagen both white players. The ever-shrewd Red Auerbach anticipated the potential of a lineup featuring the defensive minded shot-blocking Russell. The Hawks would go on to win the 1958 NBA championship but that was it, we know the history of Celtic success, 11 NBA championships with Russell leading the way on the defensive side. Neither the Hawks nor Celtics had the ability to peer into the future however the question still lingers after all this time, was the Russell decision a racial issue or something else?

Are they for real

This is written weeks prior to your reading, is this version of the Thunder ready to compete for a championship? The question is certainly valid based on their play in the 2023-24 NBA season. As this is written they have the best won-loss record in the Western Conference. This might be the best Thunder team since 2012, that was the year the Thunder played for the NBA championship. That Thunder team had youngsters Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and James Harden leading the way.

They lost the NBA championship to the LeBron led Heat 4 games to 1. This version also has a point guard leader, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. He is assisted by Josh Giddey who’s moved to shooting guard along with Jalen Williams and Luguentz Dort, rookie Chet Holmgren has been a valuable addition. The Thunder finished the season two games below .500 last season but are winning at an incredible pace this season. What occurs going forward, do they have what it takes to win a championship? That question will remain unanswered at least until June 2024.