Hoops Hoops Everywhere...It's Madness

First and foremost, since we mentioned the two great coaches that get overlooked by the Hall of Fame in basketball, I feel obliged to mention the obvious player. Artis Gilmore has soooo many credentials where do you begin. Averaging 22 rebounds in an NCAA season would probably be a good place to start, but that is just for starters. He took a nice Jacksonville University team to the NCAA finals and I believe at the time broke the records for blocked shots. (OF course the NCAA didn't like that action where a small school goes to the finals and Jax got slapped with a bunch of sanctions....How dare they beat high major schools on a regular basis, especially a Florida University that is small!) In Artis' first season in the ABA he was rookie of the year and I believe MVP. The ABA was a great league at the time. When the ABA merged with the NBA, Artis had a great career. Oh yeah, the competition was not chopped liver in the middle in those times...Kareem, Bob Lanier, Willis Reed, Wilt, Nate Thurmond and many more great pivot men. What are these guys who select this stuff smokin? Artis, you should be in the hall.

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What a great year the NBA is putting together this year. The Western Conference race is so close for playoff spots 2 through 9. There are so many nice players that are young and that make the league so exciting, a real breath of fresh air. However, I will now agree with most of the NBA ex players consensus in Houston that Kobe is in a league by himself. The other night after Artest shut down Lebron, he had Kobe one on one. The results were disaster for Artest. Kobe hit every shot, mid range, the 3, drives. What made it fun was Artest tried to intimidate Kobe and it did not work. Kobe told him something like "are you a stand up comedian" and proceeded to destroy one of the best defenders in the league. Heck there were 2 on him and it did not matter. The things that seperate him from MJ is that Jordan brought it harder on D on a regular basis and Michael had bigger hands that allowed him to do a few things that Kobe cannot.

Deron Williams is a player who gets a little overlooked because people are so enamored with Chris Paul. But Williams is bigger and a better defender and for my money, I would love him on my team. I remember seeing him in Vegas in AAU ball and I wondered why he wasn't rated higher. However, Dallas high school ball that year you had Chris Bosch, Ike Diagou, and Bracey Wright, who would be a solid pro if his knees did not give out. You also had a guard named Hopkins as well as Daniel Gibson. So for some reason Deron Williams got overlooked and since Texas had T J Ford, Deron Williams went to Illinois. Williams was under rated then and I think because he plays in Utah, he is under rated now.

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I am not a fan of conference tournaments, but the Syracuse/UConn game was one for the ages. When a young player says "I am going to Memphis for the great education and the possibility of playing great basketball" what he really means is "yeah this town is rough and most of the pro players won't live within 30 miles of the arena because the murder rate is so high, but darnit, they pay real good". Having said that, they don't do anything all the other teams do and they deserved a one seed. However, the committee is great at laying the wood to the non BCS teams.

Toughest leagues. My eyes tell me at the top, it is the Big East. I also say top to bottom that the ACC is probably the best league balance wise. Sagarin rates the ACC first, Big Ten second, and Big East third. Personally, what all this means is that the tournament is going to be a gas. There are more teams that could have a chance than ever before. Every team seems to have one flaw or another. Still, the last 2 years have had less upsets than previous years. Is this because the High Major Hoop teams are getting the high school superstars that would have otherwise gone pro? Personally, I think there is something refreshing about a Jacksonville making it to the finals. George Mason was a sheer joy a couple years ago. Remember when this country really went for the underdog? My fantasy would to see about 3 great superstars go to a mid to low major school and give a quote"yeah we could have gone to Louisville, but dammit all we think that Bob Jones University should be number one!" Now that would be the greatest.