Basketball from a fans perspective

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Celebrity

Mega entertainer Taylor Swift continues to appear at games of her boyfriend Travis Kelce of the Chiefs. You might have seen or read some of the complaints from NFL fans seeing Swift on their television sets. This is different because there is a dating relationship between the two as for celebrities attending NBA games is not new. As he’s aged Jack Nicholson has not been in attendance at Laker games at the level he once did.

There is a story which cannot be confirmed, during a time out Nicholson rose from his courtside seat walked over to the opposing teams huddle. He returned to his seat but not before he told Laker coach Pat Riley what play was going to be run. It’s not only Jack, some might not be aware director Spike Lee lives in Brooklyn. Once the Nets moved to Brooklyn from New Jersey it was believed this lifelong Knicks fan would change allegiance…not so. The television cameras always manage to catch Lee as well from his courtside seats at Madison Square Garden. Producer, music mogul Jay Z once owned a percentage of the Nets, the television camera has often caught he and wife Beyonce. Entertainer Billy Crystal can often be seen at Clippers games, he once told the story when he first began in the industry he couldn’t afford tickets to the Lakers.

At that time it was much easier to purchase tickets to Clipper games, eventually he became a season ticket holder. Television cameras have often caught rapper Drake at Raptors games and Usher at Cavs games. As for Usher he’s a minority stockholder of the Cavs. The Bulls can claim a former president as a fan and he too can be seen on camera occasionally, Barack Obama. Tired of seeing Swift on your television, I have doubts it will change unless she and Kelce break up.

Summit League

Unless you live in the Midwest region of the nation the Summit League might be unfamiliar to some reading this, in addition it’s considered a mid-major conference by media standards. Based on that fact alone the conference fails to receive the media coverage of the SEC, Big XII and other large conferences. The conference no longer plays football having dropped the sport in 1984, conference members compete in all others including men’s and women’s basketball. As for the member schools below is a list of them:

South Dakota State

Oral Roberts

North Dakota State

Omaha

Denver

South Dakota

North Dakota

St. Thomas

Kansas City 

The media places Kansas City in the driver's seat to win the conference championship. The Roos are coached by veteran Marvin Menzies who's served as head coach at New Mexico State and UNLV in the past among other stops. 

Was it a mistake

The answer can vary depending on your opinion, allow a further explanation. Drafting Bronny James to the Lakers from LeBron and Savannah’s standpoint was a good thing. From the Lakers it was likely a decision made for the parents, as for most NBA officials there questions that remain on Bronny’s basketball ability. NBA fans have been much more critical in their assessment for the youngster and that’s where we begin this brief evaluation. As this is written LeBron and Bronny have appeared on the court together in a pre-season game, that issue’s been addressed for the time being.

As for yours truly I’m not upset at the Lakers for drafting Bronny however I believe it to be a miscalculation. From my reading there are components of the game Bronny is at or above average of most prospects but it ends there. Will Bronny ever be a genuine NBA prospect, on a scale of 1-10 at this point I would place him as a 6 on the high end 4 on the low. I wrote this recently and I’ve not changed my opinion, the Lakers might be the worst team for him to begin play. Unlike some unnamed teams the Lakers will be contending for a playoff berth, that will leave few opportunities for rookie Bronny to play major minutes. Although it probably will not occur Bronny needs to appear in the lineup for the South Bay Lakers over the team that plays at Crypto.com arena.

The college season

Let’s take a glance at the upcoming college season. For this purpose I will use ESPN’s Top 25 list of teams, the majority of sites are consistent which teams are placed in what order. With that said here goes:

  1.Kansas Jayhawks

  2.Bama Crimson Tide

  3.UConn Huskies

  4.Houston Cougars

  5.Gonzaga Bulldogs

  6.Baylor Bears

  7.Iowa State Cyclones

  8.Duke Blue Devils

  9.Arizona Wildcats

10.Carolina Tarheels

Did you see it, check out the list again…okay I help you just in case you didn’t spot it. 5 of the Top 25 teams all reside in the Big XII Conference Kansas, Houston (last year’s champion), Baylor, Iowa State and new member Arizona. It would appear loaded Kansas will be forced to fight their way out of the conference before even considering an NCAA championship run.