Category Archives: Basketball

Summertime Basketball in The Ville

Basketball

Allow me to repeat the celebratory shoutout again.

Cardinal Hoops — of sorts — in the Hall in July.

Huzzah!

The Ville in The Ville.  Ring them bells.

Bring in Poncho Wright to toss up the opening tip. (If you’re too young to get the reference, ask your aunt who wears Cardinal gear every day during her walks.)

This year’s entry in The Basketball Tournament from our town/ our school features four ballers from the ’13 once and forever national champs. Peyton Siva, Russ Smith, Chane Behanan and Wayne Blackshear.

In addition to outsiders, former Bellarmine Knight Chris Dowe, EKU Colonel/ Maroon Nick Mayo, and William & Mary Tribesman Omar Prewitt, there’s former Cardinal walkon Dillon Avare.

Plus a couple other former Cards, perhaps not quite as memorable as the foursome from the crownwearers. Continue reading Summertime Basketball in The Ville →

Hoopaholic’s Gazette: Chucks, Walton, Practice Report

Basketball

Fascinated by Bill Walton, I watched the first two 30 for 30 episodes of “The Luckiest Guy In The World” Tuesday night. The final two chapters drop next Tuesday on ESPN.

Of course, there are times when he’s simply too much, doing color on a West Coast tilt with great straight man Dave Pasch. He’ll fly off to Twirlyland, jokingly diss his partner, spin off to an alternative universe, then return to the game offering observations, often insightful, often not.

I’ll either turn off the sound, or move on.

There are other times when he’s engrossing. Whether he’s chatting about the game, or the history of a nearby national forest.

Like him or leave him, he is every always a fascinating fellow.

Among other things, the series explains the why about his senior season at UCLA, which saw the end of an 88 game winning streak, and the school’s streak of NCAA titles.

I won’t ruin that back story, which I loved.

There’s a lot of stuff here — both personal and hoops — which might change your mind about Walton, whom you may consider insufferable.

As for me, I had a personal moment with him that I hold dear. Continue reading Hoopaholic’s Gazette: Chucks, Walton, Practice Report →

Let’s Have Some Fun, Card Fans!

Basketball, Fandom, Sports

Yesterday I was daydreaming, wondering about how far fans will go when they are in love with a team or a school?

So, I thought it would be cool to see if any of the Red & Black Faithful who are the vast majority of my readers have stories have any stories?

Which I hope all will share in the Comment Section below.

I’ve got some. Mine involve Cardinal hoops, but the sport does not matter, it’s what was done in the name of loyalty.

Three here underscore how strong my love is.

To start. It would be disingenuous not to admit my entire professional career path was altered by a U of L basketball game.

Truth is I never in my callow youth contemplated adulthood. Marriage. Family. Career. Never gave ’em much thought.

So, my senior year at U of L arrives in ’66-’67. Vietnam is the black cloud over all of us military age. I hadn’t a clue what I was going to do after graduation. I had a humanities prof whom I really liked. So, what the hell, I signed up to take the Graduate Records, and apply for a Masters or beyond in Humanities.

Like I said, not much aforethought.

But the week of the Saturday I’m going to take them, a pal walks into the Cardinal Inn with this.

Great news, he advises, he’d scored some tickets to the Cards hoops encounter that Saturday afternoon at Cincy. In their old gym. Continue reading Let’s Have Some Fun, Card Fans! →

The Denny Celebration

Basketball, ,

Disinclined to attend such affairs — they often become tedious — I went anyway.

So glad I did.

Out of respect for my favorite coach ever.

Out of thanks to the human being who was the catalyst for more joy in my life than any other than my bride.

Denny Crum.

The evening was sweet.

The evening was touching.

Beyond reiteration that he stands among the best college basketball coaches ever, it cannot be shared enough what a decent, giving, important man he was. To the players he coached. To the fans he touched. To the community of Louisville. To the world of college basketball. Continue reading The Denny Celebration →

Denny!

Basketball,

Sigh.

Every Cardinal diehard who was there in the moments of those halcyon days has stories.

From 1971 to 1986, it was a magic carpet ride.

Mine begin in my funky $60/ month attic apartment in the Triangle with my pal, fellow fanatic Ben. Listening on the radio to Denny Crum’s first game as Cardinal coach from Gainesville.

Cards 69, Florida 70.

Stoned  I am sure and stunned, we looked at each, deflated.

It had been a strange few years for Cardinal hoops, leading up the new era.

Legendary Peck Hickman unexpectedly resigned after the ’66-’67 campaign with his Wes Unseld-led best ever squad returning. Long time assistant John Dromo took the reins.

A couple solid but unspectacular seasons followed. Then Dromo had health issues, and had to step down. Assistant Howard Stacy moved over a chair. U of L lost 6 of its last 8.

Enough for the powers that be to understand it was time to look elsewhere.  A faculty committee led by Econ prof Carl Abner did the heavy lifting. John Wooden’s right hand man was the choice.

Hope ensued. Continue reading Denny! →

Hoopaholic’s Gazette: The Next Level

Basketball

College Hoops first and foremost.

Forever and always.

But, ya know, a hoopaholic’s gotta feed his addiction.

So, NBA Playoffs it is.

Not that it’s an onerous task.

What I rediscover every year when The Next Level gets my attention: Those guys are really good. Really really good.

It’s a different game . . . obviously. But fascinating nonetheless. How matchups and strategies change in the course of a tilt.

Some teams run their sets so precisely, especially in the playoffs which feature the best, it’s almost eery. Blind passes are thrown, and teammates are where they are supposed to be to catch them. Defensive flaws are exploited. Then remedied. Offenses adjust.

Exhilarating matchups. Like Kawhi vs Durant in Game 1 of Suns vs. Clippers. Continue reading Hoopaholic’s Gazette: The Next Level →

Recruiting Stuff: Hoopaholic’s Gazette

Basketball,

Self inflicted as it may have been, it was somewhat of a comeuppance anyway.

From a mainstream movie anyway. I’m talking about “Air” and how it felt to get the lesson yet again that, as much as I do know or think I know about hoops, there are always nuances that only the true experts (not me) catch.*

*Don’t worry, I’ll get to the recruiting stuff in a minute, and this anecdote is actually germane to the topic.

In the movie which lays out how Nike snared Michael Jordan after the ’84 draft away from adidas and Converse, there’s a fascinating scene with Phil Knight’s (Ben Affleck) recruiter in chief, Sonny Vaccaro (Matt Damon).

He’s trying to figure out whom to try to get as a client by watching videos of the highest draft picks that year. And he’s put a tape of Jordan highlights, and watches the final sequence of the ’82 title game. You know the one, when Dean Smith goes to MJ, who drills the game winner.

I was at the game. Have watched the clip tens of times. Never caught what Vaccaro saw and Smith knew when tapping the freshman to take the shot instead of James Worthy.

Which is Jordan’s incredible confidence in the moment. Worthy’s a decoy, pulling a defender toward the lane. As MJ without a hint of nervousness or stress or panic awaits the pass, and without hesitation at the biggest moment of his hoops career until then fires it deftly through the net.

We all saw the shot. Vaccaro and Smith and the Bulls saw the transcendence. Continue reading Recruiting Stuff: Hoopaholic’s Gazette →

Rumor & Innuendo Redux

Basketball, Rumor & Innuendo

Back to where it all began is where I find myself this fine spring day, waiting for the Champions League and NBA playoffs to start.

My sports writing career, such as it has been, began in the 90s at LEO, trafficking in sports gossip. That’s why the whole Seedy K moniker.

I knew a guy. A barrister who would literally stand in front of his office building in the afternoons, looking for fellow junkies to chat up about sports. Not only was he a huge fan, he was connected. Gave me some great stuff.

I mean, when I’d walk by, he’d give the come on over here move with his head.

The R & I deal was also propelled by passing along gaffes and bon mots from Coach Pipe. Oh for the halcyon days of SchnellSpeak of the Week.

Anyhow, I’m baaaaaack!

Of course, times are different these days. What with all the social media and chat rooms, the interweb is rife with all matters gossipular. So it might very well be that those of you tuning in have already consumed this tittle-tattle. Or have even started the scuttlebutt yourselves.

 * * * * *

Like you may have already heard what I’ve heard about She Who Is Known By HVL Alone. Continue reading Rumor & Innuendo Redux →

The Day After: Hoopaholic’s Gazette

Basketball

As this wackamole of a season careened off the rails, tumbling down Mt. Sinai, banging through the rapids of the River Styx and resting someplace in a stagecoach on the cactus-strewn road to Houston, a sprawling city with zero planning & zoning, there was a consensus among the punditocracy.

Including in these quarters at the vast 13 acre campus of Seedy K Sports.

There really is not a best team this season, just one with enough survival gear to escape six games in a row.

And, then this happened.

We all started asking as the FF approached, is there one more surprise? Might Miami or Florida Atlantic or San Diego State actually prevail as champion?

Because as if all of a sudden there appeared to be a clearly best team: the Huskies of UConn. Who were sashaying their way through the Dance card with the second highest victory margin per W ever. (UK, I believe, in The Rick’s title season there, in case you’re curious.)

And so it came to pass.

There was no One More Surprise before One Shining Moment. Continue reading The Day After: Hoopaholic’s Gazette →

Seedy K’s Tourney Takeaways

Basketball

(Hey!) Over, under, sideways, down/ (Hey!) I bounce a ball that’s square and round/ (Hey!) Over, under, sideways, down/ (Hey!) I bounce a ball that’s square and round/ When will it end? (When will it end?)/ When will it end? (When will it end?)

So, yeah, is this the most cockamamie Final Four ever?

In the era of seeding, and 64, uh make that 68 teams, one has to assume it to be so.

But back in the day, like in ’70 when there were this conglomeration. Behemoth UCLA, and Jacksonville, New Mexico State and St. Bonaventure. The trio of servants were all indies, when that was a thing in college hoops.

The whole affair was pretty much geographic in makeup. And there were byes. And schools got to play sometime on their homecourt in early rounds. Like the mighty mighty Bruins did often.

But in the Era of One Shining Moment? Continue reading Seedy K’s Tourney Takeaways →