KZRider

Happy for them. Hope the have great lives together.

Adding a 2nd PG, whether Worster starts or not is not terribly relevant in my mind, frees Brice Williams to play more like the scoring threat he can be without the responsibilty of running the offense. The fact that Worster seems pretty productive in the PG role is just icing on the cake. Happy to have him!

Nobody minds if a ref misses an occasional call. We're all imperfect humans and don't expect perfection. AND I think MOST officials WANT to do a good job. But there are ENOUGH bad officials that a way to weed them out needs to be found. Not just in the B1G, referees seem to be deciding how the game is called on the fly. And they seem to LIKE the knock down, drag out brutish kind of play of schools like Illinois. And they seem to cave in to coaches like Underwood and Painter who must scare (?) them as games go on. What can Izzo do to them that Hoiberg can't. I wonder??? Conferences need to tell officials to call the game according to the rules! My greatest gripe is how a player driving into the lane INITIATES contact with a defender and yet the defender get called for the foul. A close second is when a defender goes straight up and the offensive player jumps INTO him and yet the defender is whistled. Is that really how the rules are written? In addition, the evaluation process of referees (is there one?) and how they score needs to be PUBLICIZED. Has anyone ever seen a list of how refs grade out? PAY them enough to do the job (if we can hand out million dollar checks to players surely we can figure out a way to pay refs enough!) but make continued employment contingent on how they grade over a season.

Because I have no idea I ask: At what point does a scholarship terminate when a player enters the portal? Does just entering it free the school from its scholarship obligations or do those only end when a player signs with another school? If, for example, JL had a change of heart and decided Nebraska was still where he wanted to be, can he just shut the portal door with his scholarship still in effect or would the school need to reinstate him?

I came back after focusing on other things this Easter weekend to find I had created something of a stir. I understand why some took my comments as a statement about players OFF court behavior. I in no way meant this. I don't know any of these players and have no real knowledge of how they behave off the court. They might be model citizens. Any aspersions engendered by my comments were unintended and I regret that. What I intended to convey is how weary I am of how the game is played ON the court. The hacking, pushing, elbowing, shoulder throwing, plowing over defenders, climbing over backs, hand checking, throwing players out of the way to get a rebound, moving screens that knock defenders down, etc. is what I mean by "thugs in sneakers." I have no objection to playing physically tough basketball but I want it to be clean basketball played within the rules. For example, UConn plays REALLY good basketball and is still a physically imposing squad. Illinois does NOT and Terrance Shannon is NOT a very good basketball player. He is an excellent linebacker with a good shooting eye. Shannon and SO MANY like him in the game today are what I mean by thugs in sneakers ON THE COURT. If referees would call the game as the rules are written instead of just making stuff up as they go, basketball would be a lot more fun to watch, IMO. Hope this brings some clarity.

Purdue, yes. Illinois, no. I am weary of thugs in sneakers winning games. For that reason, I was glad to see Duke beat Houston.

The refs nearly made up for A&M shooting last night. Lost track after they took 50 FTs

A&M playing like mere mortals vs Houston. I get that UH is an elite defense but still... Aggies only have 1 made 3 pt shot with 5 min left in 1st half.

Perhaps someone more skilled at getting video shots could put this moment up but at about the 17 minute mark in the 2nd half, a TA&M player absolutely RUNS OVER KT sending him flying to the floor. The ref is trailing the play. How he could have missed that is mind boggling. I know it was just one play but it was indicative of how this game was, and other games are, played. The frustration of that no call is what I believe caused KT to get T'd up later AND what led to Gary jawing with the A&M bench later on and getting a T. Nothing but admiration for the athletic abilities of the A&M players but this kind of basketball without consequence is bad for the game. There are plenty of contact sports like football and hockey. Please, somebody, rescue basketball from this.

- A defender's freedom to grab and push and hand check would stop. - An offensive player's freedom to initiate contact and have the defender called for a foul would stop. - A rebounder's freedom to push an opponent out of the way and jump over backs would stop. - Moving screens would stop. - A referee's freedom to perform badly without public scrutiny would stop. I say this because I dislike thug basketball and that is what is being rewarded in the current scheme of things.

KU was up 15 halfway into the 2nd half and nearly lost it to Samford. If A&M comes down out of the stratosphere just a little we can do this!

We need Brice and Mast to take this game over.

Yale Auburn going to take FOREVER to end!!!!

Here at home with the wife. Watching via YouTubeTV. Meatballs, little smokies and veggie tray with dip. My wife is unreasonably health conscious. Jug of Mt Dew to offset it. GBR!

After one game I am leading the nation -- along with about 12.5M other people! Better celebrate now before it all goes to pot!