Tag Archives: basketball

Tis’ the Season of Giving

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UConn Freshman star Andre Drummond gave red-shirt freshman Michael Bradley the best gift ever this season.  Since Drummond is using UConn basically as a stepping stone to his NBA career, he has decided to forego his scholarship, and remain on the team as a walk-on.  He basically took the scholarship from Bradley because he is a much better player.  However, Bradley does not have much to work with.  He is an orphan who grew up with very little.  People were constantly accusing Drummond of “taking a scholarship from an orphan”, but since they were trying to resolve this without the media, they both had to remain silent, and just accept the verbal abuse.

With Bradley sidelined with an injury for now, he can only sit and watch his team move up in the rankings.  Drummond will most likely go this year in the draft, barring any injuries of course.  He is 6-11 and can score and rebound better than most at his size.  As soon as he gets stronger, he will be a force in the middle.

Current NBA Salary Structure Not Up To Par

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The way the NBA’s salary structure works today has already lead to star free agents teaming up with each other to form their super-teams. The way I look at it is the NBA is to blame for it. The NBA needed to change this in the new collective bargaining agreement and they did not. I’m sure the players association would have been for what I am about to propose.

I am all for a salary cap, but the league should not be telling teams how to spend their allotment of cap space. There are max contracts allowed in the NBA. When LeBron James was a free agent last summer notice most of the talk was not about money, it was all about where LeBron wanted to play. A team like the Cavaliers did not have a realistic opportunity to sign LBJ. They couldn’t offer more money than any other team. The only reason LeBron would have stayed in Cleveland would have been because he was faithful to his hometown fans. We all know how important that was to him. Why would LeBron rather play for a team that can’t offer a supporting cast over a team like the Heat that had Bosh and D-Wade when money isn’t even a factor? He won’t. No one will.

The NBA players have essentially realized that they can dictate where they want to play and it continues to put their present teams in dreadful situations. Chris Paul didn’t want to go to Boston during recent trade rumors, but what if the Celtics were able to offer CP3 a $30 million per year deal? I’m not saying I would want to do that as a Celtics fan, but I’m sure the extra millions would have made him reconsider. I’m sure the Cavs would have offered LBJ anything he wanted to stay in Cleveland. Losing out on the LeBron sweepstakes ruined their franchise for the near future. Yes, as a free agent the players could still choose where they wanted to play, but assembling super-teams would come at a cost to the players. If the Cav’s were to have offered LBJ $30 million per year, and the Heat only had the cap space for $20 million, it may have changed the situation. Instead we are going to continue to have 5-8 teams in the league with a legitimate title shot, while leaving the remaining teams completely hopeless.

Dad Punches Son in the Face After Basketball Tournament

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There was a youth basketball tournament held last weekend in Lakeville, Minnesota. Normally this isn’t big news at all, usually just a fun time for the kids to go out and play a sport they enjoy playing. It wasn’t so much fun for Steven Wilson’s son. Mr. Wilson’s son apparently didn’t play up to his father’s expectations during the tournament, so his father let him know it. While most parents would be more of a coach like figure if they wanted to help their son, apparently Steve Wilson thought taking on a Mike Tyson-like approach would work better. According to many witnesses Steve Wilson grabbed his son with one hand and began punching the eight grader in the face numerous times. Parents at the scene had to intervene to break the fight up. Steve Wilson was arrested and released on $10,000 bail.

Wilson faces a $3,000 fine and up to 90 days in jail. The fact of the matter is, if Wilson does not have a prior record he more than likely won’t even serve jail time, which I believe is a complete joke. Unfortunately events like this happen all the time. This guy was just stupid enough to do it in public. What kind of sick individual punches his eighth grade son numerous times over a basketball game? Sounds like this guy could use a little time in the slammer, followed up by some serious anger management courses.

 

Moses Parts Red Sea

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I played basketball against Central Catholic in high school and for the most part they always smoked us. Pulling in talent from all around the area, they’re just an all around good sports school, especially when it comes to basketball. Don’t get me wrong, I have no love for the school at all, but you just have to give it up to their fan section here. Well done.

 

Xavier, Cincinnati Game Ends With Bench Clearing Brawl

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As I’m sure most are aware, there was a bench clearing brawl with just seconds left in Saturday’s Xavier vs. Cincinnati NCAA basketball game. The game was very physical in the first half, and both coaches were warned during halftime that actions would be taken if it didn’t stop. With just under 10 seconds left in the game, a player from each side started pushing and shoving, which led to Yancy Gates throwing the basketball at a Xavier player along with several punches, one which drilled Xaviers Kenny Frease directly in the face sending him to the floor. That wasn’t all Frease got. While he was on the floor attempting to get up, Cincinnati’s Cheikh Mbodj decided to kick him in the face. The fight eventually ended and the game was called with just under 10 seconds left. Yancy Gates received the longest suspension, six games, while the others got anywhere from one to four games.

What I find most disturbing is Cheikh’s Mbodj’s actions. What a coward. You can see in the video he pretty much had nothing to do with the fight and the only thing he can think to do is kick the guy in the face while he’s down. There is absolutely no room in sports for things like that. That guy is a complete coward and should be suspended longer than anyone else involved. An Ohio prosecutor also said he is considering bringing charges against some players involved.

This brings me to the other two players would made absolute idiots of themselves during their postgame press conferences. Xavier guards Tu Holloway, and Mark Lyons. When asked about the fight they replied by saying “That’s what you’re going to see from Xavier and Cincinnati, we got disrespected a little bit before the game, guys calling us out. We’re a tougher team. We’re grown men over here. We’ve got a whole bunch of gangsters in the locker room — not thugs, but tough guys on the court. And we went out there and zipped them up at the end of the game.”

How stupid can two kids that attend Xavier University be? Apparently pretty stupid. The only reason most of these “gangsters” are able to attend these schools is to play basketball, not do what they did back on the streets. Yes, Yancy Gates deserved the six game suspension, but it should not have been the longest suspension handed out from this mess. Just because of their stupidity and unprofessional manners, both Tu Holloway, and Mark Lyons should be severely punished. It was a disgrace that this happened in the first place, but then when they are given a chance to show remorse they acted like the thugs they truly are and referred to themselves as gangsters and basically said Cincinnati had it coming. That’s class at his finest. Both schools ought to send those gangsters a message and show them that their actions are not acceptable by suspending the players involved for a minimum of 10 games.

College Round Up

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It was a weekend full of upsets in college basketball.  And it wasn’t just me feeling upset that Duke and North Carolina both won.  #1 Kentucky was upset by unranked, but undefeated Indiana at the buzzer.  Probably the most exciting game of the year so far in my opinion.  #2 Ohio State was also upset by #13 Kansas.  It should be mentioned, however, that the Buckeyes were playing without the best player (in my opinion) in the league due to back spasms.  I think they will still be ranked near the top once he is back and well.

Usually, I wouldn’t comment on a team like Xavier that no one cares about, including myself, but if you watch the news at all, you should know what happened.  A bench clearing brawl, including everyone that could reach an opposing player, ended a blow out by #8 Xavier of Cincinnati before the game was even over.  The only thing that was missing was Ron Artest running into the stands and punching fans in the face.  I am willing to bet that Artest (or as he now likes to be called Metta World Peace??) is laughing like hell remembering his ‘glory’ days with the Pacers.

‘Cuse Me?

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Well, looks like dominoes are dropping as allegations have arisen about Syracuse assistant men’s basketball coach, Bernie Fine. In case you missed SportsCenter the last few days, Bernie has been accused of molesting two ball boys (not funny) over a 16 month period. Now, I don’t really want to touch on the specifics of the incident, I’d rather talk about the way Syracuse is handling this situation – the exact way that Penn State should have. This is not to the degree of Penn State, but you still have one of the highest profile programs, with one of the most legendary college coaches of all time in the hot seat.

Syracuse and the police have agreed to investigate the matter (which has been investigated prior to this incident in ‘05), and has done the right thing by releasing a statement saying, “There should never be a rush to judgment when someone’s personal integrity and career are on the line.”

Now, what I find best about this is the direct action the university is taking, not just from administration, but from Beiheim himself. On ESPN, Beiheim said that it is a “bunch of a thousand lies …You don’t think it is a little funny that his cousin (relative) is coming forward? He supplied four names to the university that would corroborate his story. None of them did … there is only one side to this story. He is lying.”

Honestly, Beheim is a flat out G. This guy came out, defended his assistant head coach with facts and with fury, and took a stance. Something that Joe Pa failed to do.

Now, if real evidence surfaces, not only do I look like a dumbass, but we may have lost two of the most legendary coaches in collegiate history in a month span. I guess that would be payback for ‘Cuse leaving the big east.

Coach K Making History

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Coach K of the Duke men’s basketball team looks to become the winningest coach in Division 1 Men’s Basketball tonight against Michigan State.  Although I am by no means a Duke fan, I respect the way he coaches because he can win championships and doesn’t feel the need to talk smack. In other words, the total opposite of Rex Ryan’s style of losing and putting his foot in his mouth. (No pun intended, but completely intended)

He looks to win his 903rd game and pass Bob Knight with help from his new star, Austin Rivers.  So for one night, and one night only, I will be rooting for the Blue Devils.  Hey, if it weren’t for GayGay Reddick I may have started liking them a long time ago.