Chuck Taylor

Tra'deon Hollins of UNO had some good minutes for the Pacers. Looks like they've told him not to shoot, but he still makes a lot of plays while he's out there.

Lantz played for the Lakers, Simmons in the ABA and Branch and Campbell for the Globetrotters (laugh it you want, but in those days it meant something because there were so few opportunities to get paid to play). Tom Baack was the only one of the starters who didn't play professionally, and he was damn good. That's all from memory, so take it as fact until somebody Googles it and proves me wrong.

I'm impressed that he got 20 minutes. Shooting will come.

NBA free agency is a strange, strange thing. The Lakers let Julius Randle go, pick up Rondo for $9 million. NO signs Randle and lets Cousins go. The big money went quickly and Cousins is left looking for a team, ends up with the champs. A former All-Star, he gets a one-year deal for $5 million, while Randle gets $18 million for 2 years. No comparison between the two players. It all makes sense its own way, but it's a complete head scratcher if you don't know all the ins and outs of contracts, salary caps, etc. The Lakers' team chemistry should be interesting with Rondo and Lonzo Ball competing for time, and LBJ and Lavar chiming in with their opinions. Luke Walton may need some of his dad's hallucinogens.

Saw it on 24/7, they've been wrong before. Of course, so have I. ?

Also has an offer from DePaul. Good size and strength.

I've spent several hours on the shoe styles and colors but haven't cracked the code. Are they playing 3 on 3 based on shoes? ?

Pretty sure there were no players taken who were 5-year guys like Palmer or Cope will be next year. It probably was this year or nothing in terms of them getting drafted.

Some wiseacre said to call it the CHICO. Freddie Prinze would be pleased.

IIRC, Doc stopped them going because of risk of injury, although it was right after a competitive game featuring a number of NU players against a bunch of Creighton players that Creighton won. The timing seemed more like he didn't want bragging rights to extend to summertime. Don't know that, just speculation. The thing is, though, they no longer allow more than 2 players per team from one school so seems like it would be good to have our guys show up. NU and CU players could even be on the same team. I try to catch some games every year, and they're fun to watch. Dourisseau, Wilkinson and some other former Huskers play.

Interesting. Usually just former players there. His team includes Isaiah Chandler, Roman Behrens and Shereef Mitchell.

I'm not sure we've been in that sort of era in a century. Knute Rockne was notorious for pulling kids out of steel mills to play football, and there was no policing organization to make sure that schools followed rules. Boosters "employed" athletes during Devaney's time and slipped money under the table, as they did at any other top football school. Basketball has had documented point shaving since at least 1950 and other scandals. While it may have gotten worse, the main thing is that all of this is reported so much today. So maybe we grew up not hearing about it so much, but bigtime college sports have never really had anything to do with education. It's a minor league sports system, and the schools leverage the success of their program to get donations from alums and sell themselves to prospective students. It is what it is, and while it's a questionable system, I probably donate more to DONU when the teams do well. ?

I'd love to have a Zima with Pia Zadora.

I know comparing guys of different eras always involves a lot of "what ifs", but the defensive scheming is big for me as well. Zone was outlawed, so MJ was able to do a lot more damage one on one than LB. The counter-argument is that the 3 pt shooters are better now, so helping comes at a price. As for the best ever, I'm probably in the camp with the big guys: Russell (the biggest winner in the history of basketball) and the unstoppable Wilt and Kareem. The defensive domination of the bigs trumps the offense from the wings. LB over MJ and the Big O if we're talking about playmaking wings. If we're talking greatest collegian ever, I'll take Lew Alcindor by a mile. Most dominant player ever, and I hated UCLA.

Wait, you're not using your real name here?

I agree. Wilt and Kareem both have at least an equal claim to GOAT.

From a Kansas City Star story on Mizzou recruiting: http://www.kansascity.com/sports/college/sec/university-of-missouri/article212310044.html

Matthew Mors out of Yankton just finished his freshman year and is one of the nation's top players in that class. http://www.keloland.com/news/article/sports/player-of-the-year-nominee-matthew-mors-leads-yankton-to-first-title-in-40-years So if you're wondering why the heck NC would play in Sioux Falls, that might be the reason. Seems like they did that with one of the other kids they were chasing, like Harrison Barnes. Might have been someone else, though. I am just speculating, not reporting.

Or this version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rinz9Avvq6A ?

Heh, heh, he said dill ....

He's the one who fired Turner after 2 seasons to hire Charlie Weis. Would have been interesting to see if Turner could have made it work if he'd been given more time. He's done pretty well at Liberty, which is moving up to D-1 FBS this year.

Good enough to impress us with his athleticism, but not so good that we worry about him switching to the track team.

Has a 4.0, maybe he was transferring for better academics? ?

Right, it's like he transferred into exactly the same situation he wanted to get away from. Marquette plays soft, so he'll bring toughness to the table, but both Hausers are really good and he won't start ahead of either. A head scratcher.

That's higher than they finished this year in Kenpom, so I'm skeptical. Mostly, though, they're going to really miss Angel Delgado, who won the Jabbar Award as the nation's best center and who gave Kansas fits. They also lose two senior guards who led the team in scoring and one of whom played point. So they lost their best player, their point guard and top two scorers. Maybe they'll be better this year, but on paper it seems like they'll drop off. Games aren't won on paper, but they're not won on Bart Torvik's algorithms either. ?