A fans perspective 

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What if I told you…

In the middle of the nation lies one of the most successful basketball programs in the nation. No, I am not referring to Kansas basketball although this school is in a state sharing a border with Kansas. I will save you from guessing, its Creighton University located in Omaha Nebraska. The late Bob Gibson legendary Cardinals pitcher was a student here at one time, he even played on the basketball team although it was baseball which led to his inclusion in the hall of fame. The school of course is Creighton University and it’s men’s basketball program has been a continuous winner throughout the ages. One of the reasons it remains somewhat hidden it’s deemed a mid-major school, power 5 conference schools receive the greater amount of coverage.

For years, the school was a member of the Missouri Valley Conference, the 2013-14 school year saw Creighton move into the Big East Conference. Creighton will soon begin its 106  year of competitive basketball first fielding a team in 1911-12 as an independent. Under a succession of coaches the school has won 1,705 games while losing 1081 for a .612 percentage. Despite the brilliant record Creighton is barely mentioned when a discussion of all-time programs is undertaken. What is even more interesting the school has more wins than current powerhouse teams such as Auburn, Iowa State and others. Head coach Greg McDermott has been at the helm since 2010 and has registered 350 wins versus 171 losses a .672 percentage. Next time you hold a discussion with your buddies regarding successful college basketball programs please don’t omit Creighton, the Blue Jays are a dynamite basketball program.

Oscar Schmidt

His name is one few remember or maybe are familiar with, Schmidt is 67 years old now and his days playing basketball are long over. While he played the game it was at a high skill level scoring nearly 50,000 points during his career. He stood 6-foot 9 and 243 pounds, Schimdt played both forward positions, for those unfamiliar might ask the question…”How come we don’t know him?” His home country is Brazil and his point total was accumulated in the Olympics and a long, long professional career for a number of teams. His professional career lasted from 1974 to 2003 playing for a number of pro teams in his native Brazil, Spain and Italy. Schmidt never played in the NBA but over the years the questions always remained could he? This from AI regarding the question:

“Drafted but declined: The New Jersey Nets drafted Schmidt in the sixth round of the 1984 NBA draft, and he attended their training camp. Despite performing well, he declined their offer for a full-time contract. Reasons for declining: National team priority: The most significant reason was that signing with an NBA team would have meant he could no longer represent Brazil in international competitions due to the FIBA rules at the time. Financial and respect concerns: The NBA contract was considerably less money than he was making in Italy, and he was offended by his low draft position, feeling it showed a lack of respect for his talent. Alternative choice: Schmidt chose to remain an amateur so he could continue to play for the Brazilian national team, becoming an international icon. He is now recognized as one of the greatest players to have never played in the NBA.” In 2013 Schmidt was enshrined in the Naismith Hall of Fame, in addition he’s also in the FIBA and Italian Basketball Hall of Fame. So that’s the brief story of Oscar Schmidt who chose a basketball career other than in the NBA.

No, not yet

A dot com site selected a starting five of all time Laker players and I took exception to it. The starters were Magic Johnson at one guard and Kobe Bryant the other, they selected two centers Kareem Abdul Jabbar and Shaquille O’ Neal. Lastly they chose LeBron James at forward. This will surprise some because I don’t believe LeBron or Shaq belongs on this team, I say that with this explanation. Lifetime to me entails spending the bulk or significant career in Purple and Gold. Considering the fact ‘Big Game’ James Worthy is excluded from this list makes no sense. A closer look finds lifetime Lakers Magic and Kobe, they never played for any team besides the Lakers.

Next up there is Kareem who spent the first 6 years with the Bucks who drafted him. He was a Laker for the next 14 years on several championship teams. Next up Shaquille O’ Neal, he completed 8 years with the Lakers and 4 of them ended with NBA championships however he moved from team to team disqualifying him from my all-time team. Finally we finish with LeBron James the NBA all-time leading scorer. No argument he should be applauded for his stellar career however similar to Shaq the Lakers become his 4th team if we count him playing for the Cavs twice. Some of you reading this will decide I’m being too tough on Shaq and LeBron. Your probably saying “no one spends an entire NBA career with one team!” Guess what, I’m going to agree with you but despite that statement of truth they are excluded from my team.

KenPom

In a manner similar to many of you I pay attention to the Top 25 ranking for men’s college basketball. For me most of them are “beauty contests” in a manner of speaking, although I check them out the source for me is KenPom. KenPom takes in a bunch of stats before awarding a position to a particular team. During the season, a team can move up or down in a manner of other polls however there are 9 different rating systems utilized in order to rank a team. With that said allow me to look ahead of the season.

They have Houston ranked number one and Florida number two, this is interesting in that both competed for the 2025 NCAA championship with Florida the winner. It’s clear to me from this ranking KenPom believes Houston remains a viable and competitive team in 2025-26. At three is Purdue, other polls place them at number one, Kentucky and UConn come in at four and five. This should be of note, in the Big XII KenPom has 6 other schools ranked higher than Kansas (21). Houston as mentioned previously, Texas Tech at 12 and Iowa State 13 plus Arizona, Baylor and BYU ranked 15, 17 and 18. In the SEC they have 7 schools ranked ahead of Mizzou at 28. At the bottom of the poll, Arkansas Pine Bluff at 364 and Mississippi Valley State ranked at 365. In conclusion space and time will not allow me to list all the Division I schools however it’s of interest. 

Have you heard this

The naysayers have been around since the beginning of time, they generally want to inform us how our interpretation of a “thing” is incorrect. Oftentimes they utilize a bit of history without providing all the facts. Naturally without the complete story you are left to believe them, I site the Spurs Victor Wembanyama. I’ve read where some claim due to Wemby’s height his career might not be very long, they cite Ralph Sampson as the example. For those who might be unfamiliar with Sampson he’d played his college basketball at the University of Virginia and was National Player of the year three times.

Sampson was made the number one pick in the 1983 NBA draft by the Rockets. Up to that time period we’d never seen a player of his stature (7-foot 4) who was so agile and able to play the game in the same manner as a small forward. It was not unusual for him to snatch the rebound off the board and dribble the length of the court for a dunk or layup, Sampson’s career was cut short but it certainly wasn’t due to his inability to play the game at a high level. Knee and back injuries cut short what could have been so much more despite the brief time he played. Check out the YouTube video below to see an athlete the same height of Wemby play the game in the same manner. Despite Sampson’s shorten career he would be enshrined in the Naismith and College Basketball Hall of Fame.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVjl0QRkLoI