Basketball from a fans perspective

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It’s been a while

There is no reason to provide the date, I will simply state it’s been a while since Mizzou won a game in the conference. You remember last season they lost every single conference game, no excuses offered. As with most of Mizzou Nation I was extremely disappointed but not to the extent of firing the coach. I read many of your letters, after playing in the NCAA in his first season a number of you wanted Dennis Gates gone in his second season, I was not one of them.

Tuesday evening the change Mizzou Nation wanted arrived in the form of a win. Playing in Mizzou Arena the Black and Gold Tigers turned in an 83-67 victory over the Purple and Gold Tigers. The leader in scoring for Mizzou was guard Tamar Bates with 20 points. He shot 66.7% from the floor as well as from the three line, in addition there were 8 rebounds and 3 steals. Although the spotlight is on Bates it was a team victory. One area of concern rebounding was addressed as well, Mizzou outrebounded LSU. On Saturday afternoon Mizzou will face Vanderbilt in Columbia.   

Is this necessary? 

The NBA is aware what a talent Victor Wembanyama is in his sophomore year. Is he alone the basis for a new arena being planned for San Antonio, apparently that is the case? I cannot called a halt to anything from my home in Kansas City, despite that fact questions will be raised by me. We are in a different age, cities are building baseball, football and basketball arenas in the downtown portion. Once upon a time with a few exceptions, downtown portions of large urban centers were abandon for suburbia, all that’s change now. Frost Bank Arena is located about 3 miles from downtown San Antonio.

Frost Bank (AT&T) Arena was opened in 2002, in April that would make it 23 years old, that certainly is not brand-new but replacing a building after a short space of time is mind boggling. I could think of all types of issues which might cause a team to desire a new building this is not one of them. In fairness to the Spurs it is my understanding unlike Kansas City and its desire for a new baseball stadium ownership has not pushed the project. The stadium opened in 1973 making it 52 years old. Apparently the Spurs have no issue with this project since it appears they had no part in bringing it to the citizens of San Antonio and Bexar County. I believe in progress when it serves a purpose, I’m not sure that is the case here.

“The truth…you can’t handle the truth!”

Sorry, I had to use the Jack Nicholson line one more time, in this instance it’s for members of Jayhawk Nation. Bill Self hasn’t forgotten how to coach, however, the landscape around him has changed. Once upon a time the best basketball prospects in the nation and internationally headed for Lawrence Kansas. That is no longer the case and as proof I offer this tidbit of information. I utilized Rivals.com as my source and a look at the Class of 2025 top prospects. There are 150 names on the list, as this is written KU has signed two and two others list the school as a possible choice. Do you see what I am attempting to point out, at the max there are liable to be 4 players arriving in Lawrence next fall.

Of course if these are outstanding players it becomes a slam dunk but what if it isn’t? Are you telling me 145 or so kids desire to play somewhere other than Lawrence Kansas? As I indicated previously who would have dared to believe BYU would snag the top high school prospect in the nation when Kansas was after him. That would be the case for AJ Dybantsa, now we could take into consideration he’s attending prep school in Utah. Mark Pope departed for Kentucky last April so he might have laid the groundwork however it was 43-year old Kevin Young who took over BYU’s program and apparently he’s made a connection with Dybantsa. If you are a fan of Kansas basketball or Bill Self don’t worry, the sky is not falling. Continue to support your Jayhawks but don’t expect them to be the dominant program that once was able to recruit prospects on Bill Self, Kansas basketball and Allen Fieldhouse mystique.   

Youth will be served 

The eyes of NBA front offices are focused on Cooper Flagg of Duke. Everything points to him being the top NBA pick in 2025 if he declares for the draft. As often occurs our focus has been somewhat misdirected. Recently at the time Mizzou played Illinois I had an opportunity to see Kasparas Jakucionis in action, he’s listed as a 2025 NBA mock draft pick. Jakucionis is a 6 foot 6 200 pound combo guard from Lithuania and boy can he shoot, store his name in your memory bank.

The next two prospects play for Rutgers, they are 6 foot 6 combo guard Dylan Harper and 6 foot 9 small forward Ace Bailey. Also possibly in the mix as a high draft pick is Egor Demin a 6 foot 9 shooting guard at BYU, home is Moscow Russia. Jeremiah Fears a 6 foot 3 point guard out of Oklahoma might be one of the reasons his school has a sparkling 13-0 record to date. This is really bizarre, you want to know why Dalton Knecht was considered “old” at 23 years of age? This upcoming NBA draft is liable to be loaded with freshman again, nbadraftnet’s Top 10 prospects list contains 9 freshman and one international player.