Hoopaholic’s Gazette: Total Makeover 2026

Basketball, , ,

Allow me to get my recantation out of the way forthwith.

Then we can move on.

Mingling in the Commentariat, as I always do, I have joined recent exuberance in the threads as Coach Pat Kelsey has been piecing together next campaign’s fascinating roster.

As obsessives are wont to do, there has been much conjecture about who will start, how the pieces will fit together, who might be on the court at the same time — especially in the front court — and at which position.

At most every mention that Flory Bidunga, former Kansas Jayhawk, reeigning Big 12 DPOY, will see action at the 4, alongside either of the Cards new 7 footers, I have balked.

Strong if not so sturdy of opinion, I’ve shouted something which can be translated as, “He’s a 5, strictly a 5, never seen him play the 4. He’ll never play out on the court. And any of you who are regurgitating that nonsense haven’t the slightest idea what you are talking about.”

Let’s just say I have received some heated feedback, and leave it at that.

I now withdraw those opinions. Continue reading Hoopaholic’s Gazette: Total Makeover 2026 →

PK Bags Another Big: Obinna Ekezie Jr.

Basketball,

I have been MIA. Derby and all, ya know. Well, here’s this. 

Obinna Ezekie Jr. (With apologies for the blurry photo. I’m just getting this up quickly.)

Seven feet tall.

Five *****.

Reclassifying from 2027 to 2026.

Top 5 in the land.

Dad played in the NBA.

It is reported that a school down the road tried to reel him in. Along with Coach Cal and Brigham Young and Maryland, his dad’s school.

That makes it three in a row over the Cats for the Cards.

— c d kaplan

Hoopaholic’s Gazette: Expansion, Eligibility ++

Basketball, ,

Oh, yes we got trouble, trouble, trouble/ (Oh yes we got trouble here, we got big, big trouble)/ With a “T” (with a capital “T”)/ Gotta rhyme it with “P” (gotta rhyme with “P”)/ And that stands for pool (that stands for pool)

Oh yes we do.

And not just here in River City.

We’re talkin’ office pools not pool pool on green felt. Minnesota Fats.

But we’re behind the 8 Ball for sure.

One page brackets shall have gone the way of rotary phones, buggy whips and cathode ray tellys.

Some Harold Hill-ish con men done finally convinced the NCAA that, mediocrity be damned, more is better.

Even the country’s largest marching band — Bowling Green State’s which is 475 strong — doesn’t have 76 Trombones.

But the Dance floor just got more crowded with 76 now jitterbugging.

Can 110 be far behind.* Continue reading Hoopaholic’s Gazette: Expansion, Eligibility ++ →

Seedy’s Snapshots: Beating Big Bro ++

Basketball

OK, so for me the last couple of days have been kinda like this.

You’re a kid. You hoop with your older brother in the driveway. 21 by 2. H O R S E.

He’s taller. He’s better. He has no desire to cut you any slack. Even if both are banished by Mother the Commissioner, ending up in their rooms to cool down.

He beats you Every Single Time. Shows no remorse.

Until about the summer before the 9th grade. Growth spurt. Shot straightens. Handle gets better if not great.

The day comes when you finally win one.

You’re strutting around the yard with your arms raised to the sky, shouting in glee. Your neighbor working in her garden, stops and claps for you.

Your brother is pissed.

“Again.” Continue reading Seedy’s Snapshots: Beating Big Bro ++ →

Cards Nab Another Portal Dude

Uncategorized

Cards nab another TP guard.

De’Shayne Montgomery, come on down

He’s a 6-foot-4-inch junior. Started all 36 games for Dayton last season. 13.4 ppg, 4.0 rpg. All-Atlantic 10 3d team honors. 77 steals. I’m thinking D.

Let’s get some bigs now.

— c d kaplan

Jerry West Doc: Hoopaholic’s Review

Basketball

Gotta believe that a couple of years ago when basketball icon Jerry West passed away, there were more than a few fans of lesser years who wondered about the adulation, who had what I’ve dubbed a Bing Crosby Moment.*

*When the crooner Crosby died in ’77, it was front page above the fold news at the then still great C-J. I who would believe I know more about pop music and culture than just about anybody didn’t get it. The guy in the cardigan, smoking a pipe? White Christmas? After a smidge of research, I realized he was a teen idol, a global sensation, the Elvis of his time. And it you don’t understand the Elvis reference, may the Lord have mercy on your soul.

There’s a really interesting and informative documentary about Jerry West now streaming at Amazon Prime.

“Jerry West: The Logo.”

The logo, that’s him all right. Rightfully deserved. The kid we once knew as Zeke from Cabin Creek.* Continue reading Jerry West Doc: Hoopaholic’s Review →

A Hoopaholic Lost in Land of NIL

Basketball, , ,

Wednesday was a typical day during this Sea Change Season.

Within an hour, literally, I had four different people at two different locations ask me the same question.

“Where is U of L getting all this NIL money?”

I’ve long admitted to not being an insider. Alright, maybe once upon a time with some significant contacts in the program, but that was decades ago.

Still, I get it.

I’ve got this forum on the interweb.

Despite my caveats, I feign knowing what I’m talking about, and that I know more than you do.

But here’s the reality.

I know nil about NIL.

I don’t know where all this U of L moolah is coming from. But it’s obvious that it’s being provided from somewhere. Continue reading A Hoopaholic Lost in Land of NIL →

A Hoopaholic’s Recruiting Regret

Basketball, ,

Of all the self help vows I’ve made, it is one of the most important for my continued sanity.

A resolution I must admit, I break Every Single Year.

Do not allow the whims of teenaged basketball players to effect your serenity and well being.

Yet, here I am again. At once, proud that I’m holding off joining yet another group that follows such roster building stuff microscopically.

Still checking my computer every half hour or so to see if there are updates.

I beseech thee, Naismithius, allow your gentle countenance to shine upon me and grant me peace.

 * * * * *

As wacky as this season turned into decades ago with the advent of recruiting gurus and services, it is even more so now. Continue reading A Hoopaholic’s Recruiting Regret →

Hoopaholic’s FF Final: Big i$ Big

Basketball, College Sports,

The Days of Future are Passed.

What only the most McLuhans amongst us might have discerned on that first day of September back in ’07 is the Now.

The medium is the message.

And more.

On that day on the nascent and curious wager that was the Big Ten Network debuted. App State upset the Mighty Wolverines in the Big House.

Only the prescient knew then what would be wrought.

Certainly not, one must suppose, Jolin Zhu, age 12, then residing in her homeland of China.

But she is also part of the coalesce that has changed college sports forever. Continue reading Hoopaholic’s FF Final: Big i$ Big →

Cards Commence Sea Change Season

Basketball, ,

Talking on the phone the other day with a pal who follows the sport, but not with the obsessiveness of most of you readers or your scribe, he asked how I was faring now that the season is over?

To which I admonished, first the season isn’t over given the little matter of the upcoming Final Four.

Besides said I, the off season is now a season unto its own self.

One that matters. A lot.

Call it the Sea Change Season.

Most all the schools in or aspiring to the upper echelon of hoops will have a transformed roster next campaign, some a total makeover, others coaching staff shifts of significance.

The carousel for coaches has been in full swing for awhile.

The portal doesn’t technically open until next week, but agents and meddling schools have been chatting for a long while, and players throughout the land are starting to announce their intentions to stay — like thankfully the core of Jeff Walz’s women — or leave.

Like a couple of Cardinals on the men’s team. Continue reading Cards Commence Sea Change Season →