A fans perspectives

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Damn if you do, damned if you don’t

Some reading the headline might be unfamiliar with the idiom. The text definition is: “In a specific situation a person can be blamed or considered wrong no matter what he or she does.” That might be the case for Dennis Gates basketball coach at the University of Missouri. Those living outside the State of Missouri might not understand the passion behind this argument. Despite what some might tend to believe there is a basketball heritage in Missouri, its been dormant for a time.

Part of this problem has been caused by a series of not good hires and poor recruiting has led to play at a subpar level. Since the retirement of Norm Stewart there have been a series of coaches who failed to grow the basketball program or left for greener pastures, i.e., Mike Anderson comes to mind. Along comes Dennis Gates a virtual unknown and he arrives and must attempt to change the culture that existed. In the same period came the implementation of Name, Image and Likeness plus the transfer portal and plus other stuff which impacts the development of a basketball program. Gates arrived from Cleveland State and he turned the team around winning 25 games. Now into his 4th year some fans want more than we’ve seen at this time, there’s been no BIG SPLASH. This is written from the perspective of a fan of Dennis Gates I must admit that.

Missouri’s suffered by my count three ugly conference losses against LSU, Georgia and Ole Miss, teams they should have beaten. Based on this outcome the wolves have begun howling and circling around the coach. Sure it’s upsetting to lose games to teams below yours in the standings. Despite that fact this is not the place nor the time to entertain firing the coach which several have suggested. At the same time Missouri cannot continue replacing coaches unless there is a losing culture (which I don't believe exists). Oh, by the way they beat South Carolina on Saturday 78-59.

Stat of the night

I borrowed Stat of the night from veteran broadcaster Ernie Johnson, he’s long done this when Inside the NBA was on TNT. Johnson and team have moved to ABC/ESPN this season. Actually in this case it was plural not singular, “Stats of the Night.” It was Stephon Castle Saturday February 7. See you thought it was Victor Wembanyama only, he’s the foundation but there are others and Castle represents one of those valuable Spurs. In their 138-128 win over the Mavericks Castle filled the box score, the second year combo guard scored 40 points on 15-19 shooting from the floor (.789). It didn’t end there he also shot 3-5 from the three line, 7-10 from the free throw line and he added to his total with 12 rebounds and 12 assists.

NAIA basketball

NCAA Division I basketball's rise has dominated college basketball coverage in recent years by the media and fans. Although the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics or (NAIA) is occasionally acknowledged by some fans, most generally the public is unfamiliar with its annual tournament held just like the NCAA. SportsCenter but that’s about it. We should note that a championship tournament is held at the end of every season in Kansas City (MO). The tournament will be held March 19-24, 2026, at revered Municipal Auditorium the site from 1937-1974 and 2002-present.

1975-1993 the tournament was played at Kemper (now Hy-Vee) Arena also in Kansas City. The tournament was “farmed out” to several other locations but returned to the city of its origin. Last year’s champion was the College of Idaho which won its game over Oklahoma Wesleyan 93-65. In the 1960’s, ‘70’s and ‘80’s a significant number of NBA players gained their skill playing at these schools. Willis Reed, Scottie Pippen along with Dennis Rodman are just a few of the names with NBA careers who first played at the NAIA level. Below is the list of the Top 10 NAIA teams and the location of the institution. Note, there is no guarantee at this point that any of the following teams will be in Kansas City:

Grace University – Winona Lake, Indiana

Freed-Hardeman – Henderson, Tennessee

Oklahoma Wesleyean – Bartlesville, Oklahoma

Ave Maria – Ave Maria, Florida

Indiana Wesleyan – Marion, Indiana

Cumberlands – Lebanon, Tennessee

Arizona Christian – Glendale, Arizona

Nelson – Waxahachie, Texas

Langston – Langston, Oklahoma

Bethel – Mishawaka, Indiana

Success or lack of it

Young men sometimes follow in the footsteps of their father. I had a high school classmate who followed his father into the legal field as an attorney. There are cases I’m aware where the son has moved into the medical field traveling in the footprints of the father. There are other examples however those are our focus for this exercise, in other pursuits to compete successfully at the professional sports level might be even more difficult. I once read; “It’s far easier to become a neurosurgeon than to become a successful NBA player.” The landscape of full of those who attempted to play the same sport as their father. We have two examples currently, at this point we don’t know if Bronny and Bryce James will be successful playing at the NBA level.

The James brothers are not the only example just the latest. Tim Hardaway Seniors college and NBA career led him to be enshrined in the Naismith Hall of Fame, Tim Hardaway Junior will receive no such honor. Junior will retire one day from the NBA but will never come close to the career of his father. We could return to the past where we discover Marcus and Jeffery Jordan the sons of Michael, both played college basketball. Neither was able to move their game to the level of their more famous father. Hall of Fame former player Rick Barry had 5 sons, all played basketball, none of them came remotely close to the numbers produced by their more famous dad.  There are others but the matter is raised by yours truly, did the offspring take up the sport influenced by the father? We don’t have the answer to that question, however, it might be key to this discussion.