Basketball from a fans perspective

Meanwhile….

Be careful what you ask for March Madness is down to 16 schools and guess what? All of the remaining schools belong to Power 5 Conference Schools. There is no West Coast Athletic Conference, Mo Valley, Mountain West representative or any other school from what might be considered a mid-major conference. What’s most interesting “You did it to yourself.” As an example Houston, Cincinnati and UCF are now members of the Big XII, it wasn’t always that way. 

These schools and others were considered mid-majors, that phrase no longer exists for them. The Big XII now consists of 16 teams and the commissioner continues to express interest in expansion, here that Memphis? The Big 10 as well may continue to expand although that’s not set in stone. If there is a complaint about the lack of a “Cinderella Team” in the NCAA Tournament who do we point the finger at?

If you are a baseball historian the name of the late Bob Gibson is known to you. Gibson was a Hall of Fame pitcher for the St. Louis Cardinals, Gibson had numerous 20 game winning seasons. I bet you didn’t know he attended Creighton University on a basketball scholarship, he would also play baseball while there. Gibson’s junior year would see him average 22 points a game and Jesuit third team All American. 

In the 1950’s schools affiliated with the Catholic church would name those outstanding players who attended Catholic institutions All Americans. It wasn’t just a college game, Gibson played for the Globetrotters for a brief period and the Cardinals, he finally gave up the Globetrotters and basketball for the Cardinals. Might the 6 foot 2 Gibson been able to play in the 1957 NBA, that’s an unknown? Based on his athletic aptitude I believe it might have been possible.

Keenan (you don’t know him) read the account I wrote on Kawhi Leonard and published on Tuesday. This is what he conveyed to me. He said, “Kawhi was ballin’ with that Raptors team, with the Spurs it was a different story.” The 2014 NBA Champion Spurs had Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili, Tony Parker plus Kawhi Leonard and several quality reserve players. Those Spurs had plenty of playoff experience plus championships under their belt. 

Kawhi was a key component but not what he would be in 2019 for the Raptors. That Raptors roster contained Fred VanVleet, Kyle Lowry, Serge Ibaka and a roster who played at a high skill level but certainly could not be compared to the Spurs roster. So despite what you read on Tuesday I’m retracting a portion of it, the 2019 Raptors needed Kawhi much more than the 2014 Spurs did. Kawhi was it for the Raptors, with the Spurs he was an ingredient to a championship team.

You cannot pick and choose

A while back you read a piece on my disagreement with a Gilbert Arenas take. It was his contention Wemby could not be the new face of the NBA based on playing for the Spurs. I voiced my view however there is another prospect to consider based on Adam Silver. In his news conference in Paris the commissioner mentioned the name of Cooper Flagg and him possibly becoming that face. At this point Flagg is not in the NBA but I wondered, I’m asking the question is there a requirement for someone to be anointed “The Face of the NBA?”

Well it might be somewhat necessary for a variety of reasons. It didn’t always exist however we are in a highly visual age I believe, people are influenced by what is in front of them. This didn’t exist at one time, I attribute a substantial portion of NBA growth to the visual, allow me to explain. The NBA always contained star players, name them Russell, Chamberlain, West, Cousy and Baylor but they were small potatoes compared to the future explosion. First it’s my belief it was Magic-Bird, it certainly aided the cause both had contended for the NCAA Championship. In the NBA they would play for two storied franchises the Lakers and Celtics. Of course meeting in the Finals every year kept both literally in our faces.

Next up was Michael Jordan and his Bulls, the teams were outstanding but it was MJ who would become the face of the league. Somehow maybe it was due to the Lakers-Celtics influence Isiah Thomas and no Piston was awarded “Face of the NBA.” Soon Kobe Bryant would be anointed with that same honor, at some point the distinction became a shared thing between LeBron James and Steph Curry where its remained over the last few years. As time passes on these two there is a requirement for a new face, who will it become?

I ain’t mad at nobody

This is aimed at college basketball coaches, I'm not as familiar with college football however there are several of them this rant fits too. College basketball coaches have been riding the gravy train for years with many of them earning 7 figure salaries, this was accomplished by the blood, sweat and sometimes tears of their basketball team. The coach and his family were able to afford the best things in life, they ate at the best restaurants while many of the players were eating at McDonald's or in the dorm eating Ramen Noodles.

Some players received extra money under the table from boosters and alumni however the majority existed on little income. Heaven forbid the NCAA uncovered an athlete had received “Illegal funds.” At one time there were rules in place prohibiting work except during the summer. Now that the tables have been reversed some of the coaches are crying in their beer. Anytime there are human beings involved in anything it’s going to be imperfect, that is the case for NIL and the transfer portal. Fix the system, don’t get in front of the television camera complaining about what’s wrong with the game. Afterall you were a contributing factor in much of what we see in today’s college game. Consider this, we never heard a single coach back in the day claiming, "They are paying me too much money."