A Fan’s View of Basketball

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Surprise, surprise

For the first time in quite a while this represents a return to a Wednesday edition of Off the Dribble. Enjoy this publication of what I hope will be continued, thanks again if you are a regular reader of this blog.

Not if…. but when

The NCAA announced there will be no expanded tournament in 2026, notice the headline. The last portion “but when.” The field will be expanded from its present number of 68 teams in the men’s and women’s tournament to an unspecified number. The motivator of course is driven by financial reward, what I am about to write is the perspective from 5-6 years ago. At that time I read the NCAA is no stable revenue source, the college football bowl games are financially profitable but nowhere near the level of the tournament.

The men’s tournament accounted for an estimated 60-70% of the NCAA’s budget. The tournament began in 1939 with 8 teams, expanded to 16 teams in 1951, and grew to 22 teams by 1953. In 1975, the field increased to 32 teams, reached 40 in 1979, and then rose to 48 the following year. In 1983, the number increased to 52 teams. The tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1985, added another team in 2001, and in 2011, the introduction of the play-in round brought the total to 68 teams. Projections indicate the tournament may further expand to either 72 or 76 teams in the not too distant future.

It's difficult to gauge your value

Reading LA Hub a dot com website the discussion centered on Laker Jarred Vanderbilt. The story focused on his “hard work and solid defensive ability at times” and the fact in his 7 year NBA career he’s only managed to play 70 games twice, it pointed to the fact he could be traded before the summer is over. This is where we begin, how do we assess the value of Vanderbilt or anyone else value to a team. I could single out Kawhi Leonard as the next example, the Clippers believed at the time they acquired Leonard they were on the road to an NBA championship.

Leonard is entering his seventh year with the team, and there has not yet been a championship win. A significant contributing factor has been Leonard's missed playing time due to injuries. Similarly, the Sixers have experienced absences from Joel Embiid and former Clipper Paul George this past season resulting in 24 wins and 58 losses—numbers lower than management expectations. There are additional cases that could be mentioned, but this will serve as a summary. Basketball is fundamentally a team sport, so it is not accurate to place all responsibility on one individual although fans may attribute poor performance to that player missing. Even the most skilled athletes cannot contribute if they are unavailable due to injuries. Injuries are an inherent part of the game, and both mental and physical challenges can affect a player's return to peak performance.

The best

Many basketball players enter the NBA from schools that typically do not have a high rate of sending athletes to the professional ranks. With that statement in mind let’s check out just a few of those names. By the way these are not in any order of ability, the first is Ja Morant, who plays for the Grizzlies. Ja’s NBA quest began at Murray State University located in Murray Kentucky about 230 miles south of Louisville. Next we have Steph Curry who matriculated at Davidson College, the school is located in Davidson North Carolina 23 miles north of Charlotte.

He’s helped place the Thunder on our minds, Jalen Williams or J-Dub as he is nicknamed. Williams played at Santa Clara in Santa Clara California we include Dame Lillard on our list, the Bucks point guard arrived in the NBA from Weber State in Ogden Utah. I am reluctant to include Jimmy Butler but will based on his start. It was Tyler Junior College in Tyler Texas where he began his collegiate career and later it was Marquette. Tyler is located 100 miles east of the Dallas-Fort Worth Metro. The last player in this exercise is C.J. McCollum who played at Lehigh University in Bethlehem Pennsylvania. McCollum holds a distinction unlike many of the others, he is the only NBA player in the leagues history every to have played at Lehigh.