A basketball fans outlook

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Wolverine pride

By now I really cannot add much to what you don’t already know, the final score of the championship game for Division I basketball was the Michigan Wolverines 69 UConn Huskies 63. I believed Michigan would win however the outcome actually surprised me. I thought the score would be a much wider margin, the shooting left much to be desired. UConn as a team shot a sizzling 31% from the floor, for Michigan it was slightly better at 38%.

Although Michigan was the taller team they were outrebounded 46 to 39 by UConn. Elliott Cadeau Michigan guard was named MVP with his 19 point effort. One other note of interest, all five starters for the Wolverines were portal transfers, this was a first. Rooting for the Wolverines were the Fab 5 of Chris Webber, Jalen Rose, Juwan Howard, Jimmy King and Ray Jackson. Also cheering the Wolverines to victory was Rod Pelinka, President of Basketball Operations and General Manager of the Los Angeles Lakers. By the way no one remembers this but Pelinka was also a member of that Michigan team however if you check the annals you will discover he played meager minutes.

You be the judge

I am influenced by what I heard, not what you are about to read. One of the topics I heard was to be discussed this morning on ESPN, “Are the Mavs better off building around Cooper Flagg?” Injury aside let’s explore the numbers, Luka Doncic turned 27 in February….this past December it was birthday 19 for Flagg. That difference is 7 years, in my opinion that is not too significant, players 10 years age difference would be significant. Although they were losers Doncic managed to help lead the Mavs to the 2024 NBA championship.

The current Mavs team is not as talented as the Doncic led team. What can he do for you, both players have similar skills in their ability to score baskets although I would give a slight advantage to Doncic. The same for distributing the basketball, Doncic edges out Flagg here. This measurement is slightly more difficult to determine….defense. Based on seeing both in action and with Flagg only in his rookie season this is how I see it, edge by Flagg. There is another area I find difficult to determine, that is intangibles. Who sees the game at crunch time, i.e., the ability to make the critical decision or play? That’s a tossup for now in my view. As for the future build, it’s my belief this is a draw between Doncic and Flagg, what do you think?

Championship basketball

Division I men’s basketball receives the most coverage, this includes the broadcast airways, print media and fans, despite this fact quality basketball is played at other levels of competition as well. The weekend saw two championships secured prior to the Division I championship game. In Division II Gannon University with two campuses in Erie Pennsylvania and Ruskin Florida was crowned champion after beating Lander University 84-61, this school is located in Greenfield South Carolina. Gannon completed its championship season with 34 wins and only 3 losses.

In Division III basketball the University of Martha Washington in Fredericksburg Virginia was victorious over Emory University Atlanta Georgia 75-73. Martha Washington finished its championship season with 30 wins and 3 losses. It should be of note that there are no athletic scholarships in Division III sports. Division III schools “award financial aid based on merit, academic, or need-based criteria rather than athletic ability.” Despite the limited media coverage during the basketball season the Division II and III championship games were available on cable or streaming for your viewing pleasure. Some of these players might never show up in an NBA jersey however a small number do become pros.

It works both ways

This has been written in the past, the motto of the State of Missouri is simple. It says, “I’m from Missouri, you’ve got to Show Me.” Well I just said it out loud, Mike Malone North Carolina basketball coach show me! For years all we heard was this, “You can’t hire a college coach as an NBA head coach.” I’m not going to go into detail just state we can count on one hand the success stories and they are even suspect to a degree. Larry Brown had actually coached in the ABA before he became a college coach.

In my opinion Quin Snyder is a good…not great NBA coach, after beginning as head man at the collegiate level there was an adjustment period required. The preface is this, the athletic department better hope Malone can do the job. Coaching at the college level is far different than it was 7-10 years ago, truth of the matter I must be fair to Malone. Not realizing the talent remaining on the roster can he make the critical move required of him? It’s not a question of X’s and O’s, he’s got that stuff in his playbook it is the other things a college basketball coach must accomplish in this day and age.