A fans perspectives

Published Sunday, Monday, Wednesday, Friday & Saturday

I can’t be sure

Bleacher Report.com projected an individual the Los Angeles Lakers might draft in June. You might have read an account containing a list of Big Men I indicated the Lakers should consider. That story aside the prospect of adding Karim Lopez being the Laker pick in the first round provides a great deal of excitement for me over the Big Man list for several reasons. Lopez is young (18-years old), despite his youth he’s got 2 plus seasons of international basketball experience in Spain and with the New Zealand Breakers of the NBL. Although he stands 6-foot 8 several draft sites list Lopez as a shooting guard/small forward. Drafting a player from Mexico with the immense Hispanic population of Southern California would be a marketing coup for the Lakers.

Next question, can he play skillfully at the NBA level, I have no idea, I can only depend on scouting reports. Offensive skill is important however it’s the other stuff I look at…check this out from a scouting report. “Defensively, Lopez sets himself apart. He competes with effort and awareness, using his size, length, and anticipation to defend multiple positions. He rotates well, contests shots effectively, and takes pride in doing the little things that impact winning. While he’s athletic, coordinated, and skilled, Lopez can look a bit mechanical at times, moving more like a modern four than a true wing. He’s somewhat of a positional tweener right now, but that versatility could easily be looked at as a strength depending on the perspective.” I omitted the offensive portion of his scouting report on purpose because what you just read are keys to success what I believe are required in the NBA. It’s quite a ways to the June draft but I’m hoping the Lakers have an opportunity to draft Lopez.

Flying beneath the radar

A significant number of college and university programs across the nation are relatively unknown, every season come tournament time they always receive an invitation. Among that small grouping of relative unknowns is Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska. Despite winning over the generations many consider Creighton a mid-major program, in 2013-14 they moved to the Big East Conference so can we say goodbye to the mid-major tag? Creighton has played competitive basketball for 106 seasons going back to 1911-12 the first year the program existed. From that point to 1927-28 they would move to the Missouri Valley Conference remaining until the 1948-49 season when they became an independent program again. In 1976-77 the school returned to the MO Valley where they remained until recently.

There is no intent to spoil any of the school’s past coaches but the focus is on the two most recent Gregg Altman and Doug McDermott. Under Altman (1994-2010) the level of play began on an upward trend as Creighton once again won 20 plus games annually. In 2010 the University of Oregon would hire Altman were he’s remained since. His replacement would be McDermott who’s continued the winning ways of the program. Some might question the why, “the school’s never won an NCAA championship.” While that statement might be true there are a number of others we could uncover that have never won either. “They don’t produce NBA players,” again a misleading statement by many, must a program produce NBA talent to be successful? In my view not so, a pattern of successful winning basketball over the years is the key requirement over producing NBA talent.

For Americans

Allow me to state upfront I remain an advocate of good basketball play, I have no qualms regarding the players country of origin. I am reading accounts claiming “We (United States) are no longer developing basketball talent.” They are looking at last season’s MVP Shai-Gilgeous Alexander (Canada), also included in the discussion is the perennial NBA MVP, Nikola ‘Joker’ Jokic (Serbia). Number 77 Luka the Don was NBA gold earlier, his trade to the Lakers has only increased the number of eyes on him. Look friends, we have an American game (invented by a Canadian) many believe is ours alone. The game is not ours exclusively because of the efforts of former commissioner David Stern and others. Over the past several decades the game has been exported world-wide, is there any reason to believe other nations would not adopt the game we love.

I would venture to say if you travel the streets of any suburban neighborhood you will see basketball hoops in driveways. In inner city parks especially during the summer basketball play continues unabated. There is no crystal ball that designates “he’s going to be a star” however the future of American players continues. As this is written Cooper Flagg and Kon Knueppel are battling one another to determine who will be the 2026 NBA Rookie of the Year. Flagg grew up in Maine while Knueppel is from Wisconsin however behind them are several potential talents. Due to his parents being foreign born some will dispute BYU’s AJ Dybansta in this count, he was born in Boston. Then we have Darryn Peterson Kansas freshman guard, he too is a budding talent. The game continues to develop talent in Paris France and Paris Texas, also Athens Greece and Athens Georgia. Wherever it played basketball continues to grow internationally and world-wide.

Best in Missouri

If you asked fans in Missouri the question; “What’s the best college basketball team in the state?” I would bet money 98% of them would say the University of Missouri or Mizzou. In some years that might be the case but not this season, the best is the St. Louis Billikens, after today’s 82-58 victory over LaSalle they have 23 wins versus only 1 loss. Although they are rated the number 19 team in the nation practically nobody is aware of their outstanding record even folks in Missouri. Part of the problem is their conference affiliation, SLU is a member of the Atlantic 10 Conference and has been since 2005. From 1995-2005 the Billikens competed in Conference USA, there were other conferences but let’s focus on the coach and his team.

Josh Schertz is the head coach, hired from Indiana State in 2024 he led the team to a 19-15 record in his first season. At Indiana State he led the losing Sycamores to a 32 win season and the NIT in his last year there. It was Division II Lincoln Memorial in Tennessee his journey began as a head coach. From 2008-2021 his teams won 337 games losing only 69. As for the Billiken players they are more than Robbie Avila although he might be the most well known name, he transferred from Indiana State following his coach. I would be shocked if they fail to receive an NCAA invitation. Just in case you wondered what a Billiken was, this from AI Overview. “The Billiken is a mythical, “good-luck” figure, often depicted as a smiling, pointy-headed creature, representing “the thing as it ought to be.”