It was nice of NBA commissioner David Stern to recognize he made a mistake by switching from leather basketballs to a composite one prior to this season without any input from current players. The players have complained vehemently since training camp.

But Stern’s announcement Monday to switch back to the leather balls on Jan. 1 wasn’t the right move either. While some players are still complaining, most have gotten used to the new balls. Therefore, why switch in the middle of the season, and have everyone have to get readjusted to leather balls? It would have been much better to admit the mistake and say we’ll go back to the leather balls next year. The NBA Development League will continue using the composite balls to evaluate it performance. While that league may end up continuing to use the ball, don’t expect to see it return to the NBA.

Here’s hoping Conference USA abandons its post-season honors format.

For the first time in its 10-year history, the league announced two all-conference teams, one voted on by media members in C-USA cities and the other by the coaches.

Either combine the awards voting or choose one.

I, for one, wouldn’t mind yielding to the coaches on this one.

But by choosing one, it will end the confusion surrounding, for example, the coach of the year award. The league had two winners . . . both from the city of Houston. Rice’s Todd Graham won the media honor and Houston’s Art Briles was the coaches’ choice.

Actually, the best method would be to allow the coordinators from each team to vote. The offensive coordinators could pick the defensive players, the defensive coordinators could pick the offensive players and a more representative team would be the result.

John Calipari said before practice Friday that sophomore center Kareem Cooper will likely make his season debut Saturday against Ole Miss.

The 6-11 Cooper was suspended in the preseason for violating team rules, was brought back after the Maui Invitational but hasn’t been in uniform.

“He may play in this game and it has nothing to do with Tennessee,” Calipari said. “Academically he has himself right. They talked to me and told me when I came back where he is and what he’s doing. He’s not in any kind of shape to go in that game and do anything but I’m in all likelihood going to play him in the game.”

When I followed up to ask if Cooper had been in danger of not being academically eligible, Calipari said no but that Cooper had been behind in school and wasn’t going to play until he caught up.

“He’s taken care of business,” Calipari said.
Read the rest of this entry »

The two had never squared off against each other before. It took a matchup clear across the world for former University of Memphis point guards Antonio Burks and Darius Washington to get it on.
Burks, the former Grizzly backup guard, was leading his Crvena Zvezda team from Serbia against Washington’s PAOK team from Greece. Washington, who left the U of M after two seasons for the NBA but was undrafted, scored 19 points to help PAOK deal Crvena Zvezda its first loss of the season, 85-81.
Burks, who was released by the Miami Heat during training camp, had 16 points and six assists for Crvena Zvezda.

Some good work being done in the community by the Ole Miss basketball team, which plans to stop by St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital on Friday afternoon. (The Rebels play Memphis at FedExForum on Saturday.)

According to the press release sent out by the school, “At least one patient has expressed to being a long-time, loyal Ole Miss basketball fan.” Well, I suppose that’s a step in the right direction. Maybe they’ll gain a few more. But for the time being, these Rebels might struggle with the hometown crowd at St. Jude’s. I can see some young boy or girl looking up at Dwayne Curtis, Ole Miss’ junior center, and exclaiming, “You’re no Robert Dozier!” But we digress.
Read the rest of this entry »

Why’s everyone so pumped up?

It was just two weeks ago that Manassas and Kingsbury were involved in an all-out brawl during a Hall of Champions basketball game at Kingsbury, and now, we have Mitchell guard Ken Torry going after Hamilton forward Deveyon Hunter last Friday night with a straight right hand in the fourth quarter of a game that was all but over.

Usually, during games I’ve covered, it’s the fans that start the brawls, and those scuffles are usually confined to the seats. This year, on-the-court retaliation seems to be the trend. Whether it’s just an early-season one has yet to be seen.

I guess the most disappointing part of it all, at least in my book, is that Mitchell coach Jerry Johnson and Hamilton coach Keelon Lawson only jacked up the intensity even more afterward, taking verbal jabs at one other publically rather than teaching their kids a lesson in sportsmanship.

Keep in mind, these two teams have to play one another again, for a third time already this season, Saturday night at Mitchell. It took school officials and the police to get them separated after the game last Friday.

Here’s hoping all it takes is a handshake afterward to separate them this time.

So I’m looking at the newest AP basketball poll that came out a couple hours ago, and honestly, I wonder whether some people voting are actually paying attention college basketball.

My quibble isn’t with Memphis dropping from No. 14 to No. 16. In the big picture, it isn’t really significant, and frankly the three teams that moved ahead of Memphis — Arizona, Wichita State and Butler — deserved to. Arizona had a quality win over Illinois, Wichita State has gone on the road to beat Syracuse and LSU and Butler wasn’t ranked high enough last week following its win in the Preseason NIT.
Read the rest of this entry »