A fan’s perspective

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Close the border

I don’t recall which sport he coached, but one Missouri coach made a statement that stayed with me: he pledged to “close the border” by recruiting every high-profile athlete in the state. We realize that is an impossible task however the statement certainly appears sound. Coach Gates never made that promise, yet he appears to be taking a similar approach. Although the 2026–27 season has yet to begin, Gates and his staff have already been busy adding talent to the roster.

Mentioned earlier was Scottie Atkinson, he’s a 6-foot 4 shooting guard, this 4-star prospect is from Webster Groves in the St. Louis metro, he committed July 1. On Monday September 21, Cameron Barnes, a 6-foot-7, four-star power forward from Lee’s Summit in the Kansas City metro, committed to Missouri. In the NIL era, Barnes and Scottie Atkinson may represent the program’s entire high school recruiting class for 2027–28. Although coach Dennis Gates never promised to “close the border,” landing both high profile in-state prospects suggests Missouri may be doing exactly that.

Is there a problem

Recently a friend approached me at a gathering, he made a statement which at first confused me. James said; “Are you going to have a problem with LA and Philadelphia?” Confused by his question I’m sure I had a bewildered look on my face, “What is he talking about?” I thought for a moment and then the lightbulb went on in my mind, “He’s talking about the fact LeBron James is now a Sixer.” I smiled and said to him, “If I have a cut anywhere on my body my blood is not red, it’s Purple and Gold” (alluding to Laker colors). I stated this earlier but am unsure if it’s been published yet.

LeBron James will not go down in history as one of the all-time great Lakers, he will be recognized for being an all-time great by me. Over LeBron’s time with the Lakers I have personally witnessed play by an NBA elder statesmen never in the history of the game. There have been a number of players who played into their 40s but none at the high skill level of LeBron. There are forces at work beyond me, there may someday be a statue of LeBron erected outside Crypto.com arena. It will join other Lakers already in place, will I object if this should occur? Of course not if those powers believe he deserves a statue far be it left up to me to be an objectional voice. LeBron James has been a generational player….one who transcends his contemporaries.

They remain

In 1962 the number of television sets that existed in the United States totaled 46 million. Population growth has occurred over the years, in 2025 the number of televisions was 125.8 million. The 1961-62 NBA season saw NBC which held the broadcast rights televise a total of 22 of the 80 games played that season. Nowadays with NBA League Pass along with Peacock, Prime plus ABC and NBC every game played is available.

In addition to that there are the numerous sports channels with nightly highlights of play. By now you are probably wondering the direction this account is headed, back to Wilt Chamberlain and the 100 point scoring game which set the NBA record. They remain, I’m going to place the Warriors Draymond Green alongside all the conspiracy theorists. Green along with many his friends continue to doubt the authenticity of the Chamberlain record. They do this despite seeing Bam Adebayo eclipse Kobe Bryant when he scored 83 points in a win against the Wizards March 10, 2026. Bryant had secured second place January 22, 2006, scoring 81. The portion of this story I find so interesting, no one to my knowledge has ever questioned Chamberlain’s 50.4 points per game average in 1961-62.

Imagine this, we leave out the scoring record he would have scored 50 points or more in 79 games that season. Historians claim Babe Ruth hit 60 home runs in 1927 but there is no video proof. Legendary athlete Jim Thorpe set a decathlon world record of 8,412 points in the 1912 Olympics, the record stood until it was broken in 1948. The question did Thorpe score that number of points since there is no evidence of any sort.

Growth of the game

The programs we consider college basketball’s Blue Bloods—Kentucky, North Carolina, Kansas, and others—remain among the nation’s best. But as the sport has evolved, they no longer dominate men’s basketball as they once did. As an example UCLA has won 12 NCAA men’s championships but none since 1995. North Carolina has six trophies in its case, the most recent occurred in 2017, while Kentucky has 11 but only one since 2012.

These Blue Blood programs continue to produce outstanding seasons; they simply have more competition for talent now, more so than ever. Growing interest in college basketball has helped programs such as UConn, Houston, Arizona, Purdue and Gonzaga rise to national prominence over the last few years. These schools and several others have long histories in the sport, at one time Houston and others had a national presence that waned for a time. Hiring a new coach (Kelvin Sampson) became the basis for Houston and others to become powers in their own right again. The future looks bright for the growth of many of these basketball programs.