A fans perspective

Published Monday, Wednesday, Friday-Sunday

Soft versus Easy

This is going to be short and not a great deal of detail. A debate exists among fans and college basketball coaches as well. This will allow you an explanation of the headline, Kansas basketball has a national maybe worldwide view among fans. This early season after playing 5 games Kansas has won only 3 of them…they have 2 losses against North Carolina and on Tuesday night Duke. Both North Carolina and Duke are listed on everyone’s list of Top 25 teams. Contrast their record with the team across State Line Road the University of Missouri. After playing 6 the Tigers have a sparkling record won-loss record having won all however the record could be misleading.

The wins are legitimate however the competition might be in question. Of the games won by Missouri the only game that might be considered tough is against Big 10 Minnesota but that win occurred on Missouri’s home court. There are two schools of thought on constructing a non-conference schedule and we’ll explore both. One scenario says this; “You schedule several tough opponents, although your overall won-loss record might not be sparkling you have prepared your team to face its conference schedule.” That’s one perspective; another argument is that regularly playing against decent, but not top-tier, opponents helps a team get used to winning. As we end this exercise allow me to state this fact, I hope you have an answer to this dilemma, I certainly don’t. I can state this fact, there are clearly benefits in both instances of scheduling, there are additional factors missing from this simple approach to conference play.

“The elephant in the room”

Several reading the headline might be somewhat confused, from AI Overview, “The elephant in the room” is an idiom for an obvious, significant problem or controversial issue that everyone is aware of but deliberately avoids discussing.” Well I’m about to burst a bubble, the one that proclaimed the Los Angeles Clippers potential NBA champions prior to the season start. The Clippers made a number of moves in the off season which could lead them to the promised land of a championship. A collection of veteran players would make the roster the oldest average age in the NBA. As this is written Monday morning the team has won but 4 games while losing 9. If the playoffs would begin on Tuesday they would be headed for an off season vacation, what’s transpired to date?

Kawhi Leonard is missing once again, Lawrence Frank president of basketball operations. “It wasn’t just an ankle sprain, Kawhi also had a significant sprain in his foot as well. When he sprained his ankle, it kind of triggered a mechanism in his foot.” Exactly what is Frank saying, will he return next week…in two weeks or is there any timetable? It’s not Leonard alone, 40-year old Chris Paul has not been able to gain playing time. Bradley Beal is now out for the season with a hip fracture, finally we arrive with center Brook Lopez. Thus far the numbers for Lopez are down across the board although it should be noted he is playing reserve minutes versus starting with the Bucks. There are positives, James Harden along with John Collins and Ivica Zubac are producing consistent numbers. Based on this start even with a return of Leonard this Clippers team could earn a playoff berth, an NBA championship is another story. To compound the issue the Clippers will be unable to acquire future help in the NBA draft over the next several years as they are still suffering from the effects of the SGA-Paul George trade.

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There are several

Voices of reason is my reference for them, they are those who cover college basketball without all the hyperbole of you know who. There first name that comes to mind is that of Jay Bilas of ESPN, he played basketball for Duke and later moved into the role of journalist. I have always found him to be insightful and informative whenever he discusses the college or NBA game for that matter. Unlike Bilas this ESPN journalist does just that, he can be found writing about the college game on ESPN.com’s college basketball page he is Myron Medcalf, in addition to a podcast he is interviewed on local sports talk radio with his analysis of the game.

 This is not just an ESPN thing, CBS has a number of columnist I read and on occasion listen to them on the radio, they are Garry Parrish, Matt Norlander and Kyle Boone. From a television perspective CBS also has analyst Clark Kellogg, himself a former basketball player. Health issues has kept ESPN’s Dick Vitale mostly sidelined the last two seasons, Dickey V. is always insightful and enthusiastic about the college game. I love his nicknames for certain aspects of the game, “Diaper Dandy” his term for a freshman player and “PTP” i.e., prime time player. Finally in closing his description of a team’s Big Man is “Aircraft Carrier. Vitale is 86 years old but he’s got company, Bill Raffertery who’s been a color analyst for several networks, he can be seen and heard primarily covering games for CBS, Rafferty is 82 years old. Those are but a few analyst and journalist who cover the college game exceptionally well in my opinion.

Dominos

Mark Cuban sold his majority share in the Dallas Mavericks in November 2023, Patrick Dumont would become the team’s NBA governor. Nico Harrison president of basketball operations and general manager would report directly to Dumont. That was then, in February 2025 Harrison contacted the Los Angeles Lakers general manager Rod Pelinka. He said essentially, “How’d you like to add Luka Doncic to your team?” The trade was made and all hell broke loose in Dallas as fans demanded Harrison be fired and later came the NBA draft. In June, the Mavs with the top pick chose Duke’s Cooper Flagg and this move appeared to placate fans for a time.

The 2025-26 season starts and the Mavs begin the season poorly despite the fact of Flagg being placed in the lineup. On November 11 Harrison was relieved of his duties as general manager. “The team’s poor performance early in the season, combined with the aftermath of the Luka Doncic trade was the basis of Harrison’s termination.” Mark Cuban who relieved himself of majority ownership of the Mavs over a year ago has returned. This is the portion of the story we cannot make an intelligent judgement until more detail is available. With Cuban in place will he be responsible for returning the team to the level of play owners and fans expect. Just like a stack of dominos, the departure of Cuban back in 2023 may have been the first domino to fall.