Basketball from a fan’s perspective

Good Mizzou news 

It’s certainly been doom and gloom in Columbia especially around the basketball program. I’ve discussed the season and how disappointed Mizzou Nation was in its outcome. So what occurs, how about the transfer portal, it opened this past Sunday and apparently Dennis Gates was able to attract one of the top prospects in the portal. His name, Jacob Crews and he is arriving from the University of Tennessee at Martin. Crews is a 6-8 guard and registered 19.1 ppg along with 41% shooting from three, can he help? That is an unknown for now but hopefully based on his shooting it is believed Crews can blend his game with the holdovers and newcomers arriving in August.

On paper Mizzou should be improved, arriving in the fall will be the number four recruiting class in the nation. Shocker of all shockers for me and maybe you as well, Mizzou managed to finish ahead of traditional powers North Carolina, Texas and Kansas in attracting talent to Columbia. Notice I said on paper Mizzou should be improved, you and I know basketball games are not played on paper. There is work to do in order to improve Mizzou’s position in the SEC for 2024-25, I believe it can be done. Despite this appearing to begin as a negative that is not the case, this member of Mizzou Nation is looking forward to next season and an improved finish with the arrival of the freshman class. Two Mizzou players left in the portal so there should be two additional roster positions open so standby for add-ons. It feels good to write something positive regarding the basketball program after such a challenging season.

Timmy 

I’ve read a number of complaints about coach Pop and Victor Wembanyama. The majority stated a belief Pop might be too old to coach this budding talent. Well based on what I read apparently that is not the case, note the headline. The coach in discussing Wemby compared him to Tim Duncan, we know Wemby is yet to reach the level (and may never) of Duncan. Timmy as Shaq loved to refer to him was one of those generational talents. How good was Timmy, consider this comparison.

Someone I read stated this fact, “Magic Johnson was a great player but he never won anything after Kareem retired.” I could make the same statement regarding the Spurs. The record of the post-Duncan Spurs is only average, fact is the last NBA championship was won in 2014, Duncan retired two years later. The nickname that stands out for me was Mr. Fundamental, Duncan’s game was for lack of another word fundamentally sound. It might be the hope of Pop and Wemby he one day approaches Tim Duncan status. Duncan was not demonstrative Wemby appears somewhat opposite. He said Rudy Gobert deserves to be named DPOY this season, “Next season it’s no longer his turn.” Has Wemby said loudly I’m here now, see ME!

Replacing a legend

A number reading this might disagree with the tag legend on a few of the names. I say anytime you coach one team 15 years you become a legend, that is the case for many of the names below. How about this to consider…you become the first to head the program after the legend retires. Few remember the name of the coach that replaced UCLA’s John Wooden or Kentucky’s Adolph Rupp. Let’s check the names out and the replacement, Gene Keady Purdue. From 1980-2005 Keady patrolled the sidelines for the Boilermakers, he won nearly 500 games in that time period.

Filling the gigantic shoes left by Keady has been Matt Painter, there is no NCAA Championship on his resume however his teams have won 413 games prior to the present. Indiana’s Bobby Knight was a volcano as a coach, prepare yourself for an explosion. Knight coached the Hoosiers from 1971-2000 winning 662 games and an NCAA Championship. Since that time up to the present there have been 6 head coaches at the school. Mike Davis replaced Knight and managed to win 115 games but he was gone…Davis resigned after 6 seasons. Phog Allen the legend, the arena in Lawrence Kansas is named in his honor. Allen coached the Jayhawks from 1919-1956 winning 590 games one NCAA Championship and two Helms Championships. Dick Harp was hired after Allen and held the job from 1956-1964, Harp was a successful coach but resigned after the 1964 season.

Besides him there have been only 4 other coaches which details the stability of the Kansas basketball program. There are certainly other long tenure coaches, John Chaney at Temple, Jim Calhoun UConn, Duke’s Coach K. I wanted to provide a brief list, there are many more other legends. As for John Wooden at UCLA it was Gene Bartow who arrived from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Joe B. Hall succeeded Adolph Rupp, he managed to win an NCAA Championship in 1978.

The ABA was never superior

I have no idea the age of the individual, the headline is what he wrote on the ABA fan website. Many can forward to claim he was not correct, I now add my name to the list. At the time the league began play in 1967 I’m unsure if all these moves occurred at the same time but let’s say they did. The ABA brought in the 3-point basket (they didn’t originate it), the Slam Dunk Championship at the All-Star Game and other stuff the NBA failed to implement. Over the years of its existence the talent level began to even out, an increasing number of collegiate talent headed for the ABA over the NBA.

In my view even with the increasing talent infusion it never came close to that of the NBA. As for the 3-point basket, it was introduced to the world by Abe Saperstein Globetrotters owner and the man behind formation of the short-lived American Basketball league (1961-1962). I understand the passion, this website was founded by individuals who love the ABA. I thought the league was great in the number of players it developed. This includes allowing a Connie Hawkins and Roger Brown to play despite the damage inflicted by the NBA on them.