Basketball from a fan’s perspective

I thought it

The Houston Cougars have appeared quite competitive their first season in the Big XII. What’s unusual not the fact they play good basketball…it’s the other thing. Since the 2015-16 season Houston has never won less than 22 games, Kelvin Sampson’s team won 33 games twice. As this is written they have won 26 games while losing only 3 and the whispers have ceased. Must I tell you the whispers that were uttered, okay lets briefly discuss the main one. “Houston is a good team, they beat up other teams in the American Athletic Conference. It’s easy to succeed in a mid-major conference, I’d like to see them in a Power 5 Conference.” You know the old saying, “Be careful what you wish for” as Houston hit the ground running in the Big XII.

Will the Houston Cougars win the regular season championship, that’s yet to be decided although the win against UCF on Wednesday evening allowed them a share of the Big XII title. Do you know I do movies, many of you might remember the 1986 movie Hoosiers? The Hickory boys team have beaten all the competition, they found themselves at the state championship. Playing in tiny gyms throughout the state the large arena for the championship overwhelmed many of them. Coach Norman Dale (Gene Hackman) had the players measure the distance from the floor to the basket, he pointed out to his team the game would be no different from previous gyms they won in. It certainly might not be that dramatic however the Houston Cougars are proving it doesn’t matter your conference affiliation. Good teams play good basketball no matter what the conference membership is.

Wemby missing

Victor Wembanyama missed Thursdays game against the Kings. He twisted his ankle in his team’s game against the Rockets on Tuesday, this appears to be a precautionary move on managements part. That’s the negative, how about the positive. Thanks to ESPN.com we had no idea this record existed to Wednesday evening. No NBA player has averaged at least 20 points, 10 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 blocked shots since the 1999-2000 season, that player was Shaquille O’Neal.

It should also be newsworthy if Wemby continues at that pace he will become the first rookie to accomplish the deed. I’ve mentioned on more than one occasion the possibility of Wemby being named Defensive Play of the Year. I continue to believe it’s a long shot occurrence however a few players including Draymond Green claim Wemby doesn’t deserve DPOY. Former NBA player Gilbert Arenas is the opposing voice, Kendrick Perkins pick another player but says “Wembanyama is a close second.” In advance of the count I believe Wemby will receive a number of votes.

My take

I’ve reported Basketball Network writers continue to report “The NBA is losing its television audience to the NFL.” An opposing view has been expressed by yours truly regarding the two articles I read. There might be one other area I contend that exists between the NBA and NFL. How about the fans, I can only use family, friends and acquaintances in my small circle. In conversations held within my circle usually this is the impression I receive. They express a casual interest regarding the NFL and they state adoration for the NBA or vice versa. I’ve long believed and I could be wrong one cannot divide their time to follow the NFL and NBA effectively, you follow one exclusively or the other.

Allow me to use myself as the example. I am a fan of the NFL Chiefs and baseball Royals, this is the difference. While I am familiar with the majority of players on both rosters I cannot make the same statement regarding other NFL or baseball teams. College basketball certainly presents its challenges for me but the NBA is far different. I believe if asked to name at least one NBA player on all 30 teams I could accomplish the task. I would fail the test (other than the Chiefs or Royals) if asked to do that for the NFL or baseball. So there you have it Basketball Network, your writers are certainly correct however it’s been a long-held belief on my part that a fan’s loyalty depends on which sport is most important to them. I can watch a high school or college basketball game without having knowledge of either team.

Slow news day

KU was able to extract revenge for their loss to Kansas State in Manhattan. Truth is they performed a beat down on the Wildcats 90-68 on their home court so you can see there was no question which was the better team. On the other hand a day or so the local news was chock full of Bill Self and how K-State’s Jerome Tang had done in his words “A drive by.” At the conclusion players and coaches lineup for a traditional handshake that’s when the incident occurred. Self indicates Tang brushed him off not fully extending a congratulatory handshake.

The television camera didn’t catch the scene and the public would have no idea of the incident. Self-decided to mention the scene in his press conference. Is there a law that states coaches must “like” one another, perhaps Tang might have been offended based on the final score. The only reason it’s being mentioned is because Self allowed the world to become aware of the incident and his media power moved it to the next level. As I indicated I took one day to listen to local sports talk radio, the afternoon drivetime guy spent 30 minutes discussing it, not the game but the failure of Tang to shake hands. As for the time spent what you read is all I listened to, he might have spent an hour on the subject.