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Meanwhile….

I would guess there might be nothing hotter in the universe than a meteor, then again maybe the Spurs might exceed that of a meteor. Check this out, entering February the Spurs had 32 wins and 16 losses. After March 28, the record reads 56 wins versus 18 losses, in February and up till the end of March they had 34 wins and only 2 losses. I’m unsure if there is anything in existence sizzling at the rate of the Spurs during February and March 28. Have we seen this youthful team “grow up” right in front of our eyes?   

The arrival of April there comes two dates that many Americans hate to see, April 15 which is Tax Day for most in the nation. This from AI Overview: “For the 2026 college basketball season, the NCAA transfer portal opens on April 7, 2026 (the day after the national championship) and remains open for a 15-day window, closing on April 21, 2026.” Friends the only reason I’m treating the transfer portal as a negative college teams never know what they are going to receive in return. The transfer portal is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you are going to get until the basketball season begins.

Someone had to lose

While the NCAA Tournament captures everyone's attention, those in the Kansas City metro area were perhaps especially invested. Iowa played Illinois—a matchup between neighboring states—but for two people, it was about more than just basketball. As for the players I’m unsure if Keaton Wagler and Bennett Stirtz had played against one another in the past, perhaps they might have played on the same AAU team at a point. Wagler is from Shawnee Kansas while Stirtz hails from Liberty Missouri, for those unfamiliar with the lay of the land both cities are part of the Kansas City metro. These two are certainly not the first area players in the tournament however this might have been the first instance of metro players opposing one another.

The final score read Illinois 71 Iowa 59 however both teams and individual players battled to determine a winner, halftime saw Iowa hold a slight lead 32-28. The second half of the game would prove far different as Illinois playing an inside game outscored Iowa 43-27. In a losing effort Liberty’s Stirtz led for his Hawkeyes with 24 points, Wagler led the Fighting Illini with 25 points. The nation witnessed outstanding play by both teams, the only problem….someone had to lose. Keep in mind basketball remains a team sport and certainly both teams benefited from teamwork. It just so happens that the play of Illinois including Wagler especially in the second half of the game proved to be more beneficial to the win than the Iowa effort.    

Yes, I’m bothered

The NFL plays 18 regular season games, in baseball its 162. I don’t follow the NHL or MSL so I’m unsure of the number, of course in the NBA its 82 games. We continued to hear the word “tanking” i.e., NBA teams losing games on purpose. Trust me I have grown tired of hearing discussions regarding this matter. In the old days perhaps illness, injury or the end of long road trip might have prevented a team from giving the maximum effort.

Despite was I just laid out I believe without offering any proof a number of NBA teams didn’t lose games on purpose. This is the stupidity of this issue, teams are reported to better position themselves for the draft. Okay if that is the case how come the same teams are bottom feeders every single solitary season. It would seem if they drafted anywhere from pick number one through ten every season they would improve in the standings which is often missing. In any event the commissioner indicated there is yet another proposal to hinder teams from tanking. I will end this rant here….if the league must place rules in place to prevent losing they have a real problem.   

ROTY

It’s occurred twice in NBA history, instead of a single individual four athletes were named NBA Rookie of the Year. The 1970-71 season saw Dave Cowens of the Celtics and Blazer Geoff Petrie being named co-rookies of the year. The end of the 1994-95 NBA season the vote named Grant Hill Pistons and Jason Kidd of the Mavs saw the two sharing honors. I am guessing all these years later those voting believed the separation between the contestants was too close to name one over the other. Based on that fact they decided to name four athletes the best rookies for each of those seasons.

I believe we are at that point once again, prior to the beginning of the 2025-26 season many in the media were contending Cooper Flagg of the Mavs was a generational player. The ROY trophy was about to have Flagg’s name inscribed, but at some point during the season the Hornets Kon Knueppel said hold on there a minute. Probably the most interesting aspect of this account is the fact that the two were college teammates at Duke. The makeup of both teams is different, in my view the Hornets accompaniment to Knueppel is better than those surrounding Flagg. If we check the stats alone the two Dukee’s are really inches apart from one another. As I indicated while most believed “star” was written behind Flagg’s name its clear Knueppel dropped out of the sky on us, we shall see how this eventually plays out.