A Fan’s View of Basketball

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“They suck all the oxygen out of the room” 

Local media’s focus on Kansas basketball is disheartening for some. I get it, the basketball program in Lawrence Kansas has been very successful for generations. The arrival of Bill Self in 2003 continued the winning tradition which has created the problem. The difficulty for me and others is the Kansas City sports media, it doesn’t matter if it’s television, sports talk radio, print or podcast, they are the real culprits. Why isn’t there room for a bit more coverage of Mizzou basketball is beyond me.

For most locals remembering back to the time of coach Norm Stewart is the Jurassic period. His teams never won an NCAA championship as Kansas has but the teams were competitive. Unlike the Kansas program which has seen few coaching changes Mizzou went through a period after Stewart. In some instances it was simply the case of the wrong guy was hired to fill the position, naturally this impacted winning and far worst the recruiting effort. Notice early on I said “Kansas City sports media” because it’s my understanding this issue doesn’t exist in St. Louis and other eastern portions of the state. I have been a vocal advocate of Dennis Gates because the change he’s brought about are quite evident. Mizzou basketball recruits with several of the notable high profile programs across the nation including Kansas.

It’s a shame, I believe unless Mizzou wins an NCAA championship the Kansas City media will continue to provide superficial coverage of the program. If you’ve grown tired of me complaining about this issue that’s understandable, I have grown tired myself. In closing I’d bet money if you questioned a college basketball fan in any part of the nation and asked them which team had the better record last year 95% would claim it’s Kansas. That’s untrue, not by much but Mizzou finished with a 22-12 record while Kansas was 21-13.

He’s a voice of the NBA

Kevin Harlan does it all i.e., sports broadcasting, the NFL, college football and basketball plus the NBA. Those are the main sports he’s covered however mixed in with those have been other sporting ventures. As for the story at hand in June 2024 the NBA negotiated a new television contract, this contract would no longer include TNT. The voice of Harlan is one we have grown accustomed to hearing anytime TNT broadcast the NBA, what would occur? Would the world no longer hear during a broadcast, “LeBron James with no regard for human life.”

During a Nuggets-Wolves game, the following play was called by Harlan: “That’s intercepted. Murray, good if it goes…Got it! Got! Got! A big-time three!” This illustrates the energetic style of announcing that has become closely associated with this veteran play by play guy. Contrary to some expectations regarding his retirement, Harlan will continue his broadcasting career. Amazon Prime becoming one of the NBA broadcast partners has confirmed that Harlan has signed on as one of the announcers for NBA telecasts on Prime. His distinctly recognizable voice, which has featured in numerous NBA broadcasts, will remain a presence in the league’s media coverage moving forward. I should mention this in closing, although he wasn’t born in the Kansas City metro Harlan and family have resided in the area for several years.    

He chose baseball over basketball 

Baseball fans are aware of the talent of the late Tony Gwynn, from 1982-2001 he was one of the games' all-time great hitters. He spent his entire career as a member of the San Diego Padres where he was a 15 time All-Star and even more impressive. Gwynn was an 8 time National League batting champion, he compiled a lifetime .338 batting average is proof. We certainly could make the contention to other athletes who might have had a pro career in another sport, his would have been basketball.

While enrolled at San Diego State Gwyn a point guard set several school records in basketball. After all this time he still holds several of the school’s records. Gwynn holds the all-time record for career assists (590), single season (221). He averaged 5.5 assists during his time and in his junior year had an outstanding 8.2 assists a game. In the 1981 draft Gwynn was chosen by the San Diego (Los Angeles) Clippers and San Diego Padres. He signed with the Padres and the rest is a Hall of Fame record. To my knowledge he and Dave Winfield are the only two professional athletes to be drafted in more than one sport.   

He's even taller than Wemby

We have debated the last three seasons the height of Spurs center Victor Wembanyama. He is either 7-foot 3, 7-foot 4 or maybe 7-foot 5, despite Wemby’s huge measurements there are a few taller basketball players. One of those names was mentioned last season and then left our attention, his name is Oliver Rioux. He’s continued to grow and according to the University of Florida he’s now 7-foot 9. The reason why we lost track of Rioux last season because technically he didn’t play, this Canadian youngster was red shirted as a freshman. This little tidbit is worth sharing, Rioux put on pads and a helmet and worked out with the school’s football team.

The portion that caught my eye, it was reported despite his height (and 305 pounds) he failed to block a single field goal attempt. Football aside we should expect to see him play limited minutes this upcoming season for the Gators. We’ve had a fascination with extremely tall projects, some of you might remember Tacko Fall who played at UCF. Fall’s reported height is 7-foot 6, although he wasn’t drafted the Celtics signed him and he played for their G-League affiliate. He even made the Celtics roster for a time, in addition he played for the Cavs and their G-League affiliate. He’s also played in Australia and is presently in China, as we can see there is a difference in tall and Wemby tall.