@MarkKnudson41
Strike One: If there’s one word to describe the current Men’s college basketball season, it’s easily “unpredictable.” A myriad of teams changing places at or near the top of the polls on a weekly basis. Who will be in the Final Four? it’s anyone’s guess.
Mountain West leader San Diego State is certainly in that mix. The last undefeated team in Men’s college hoops (23-0) has a 4½ game lead in the MW conference standings and is on track to get a #1 seed in the NCAA tournament. Big stuff.
That is, unless the national trend of upsets is contagious and somehow finds a way to impact the MW, too. What if say…the number two team in the conference could shock the Aztecs at some point?
What if that number two team (tied with Boise State at the moment) is Colorado State? Could the Rams pull that kind of attention grabbing upset?
After drilling UNLV on Saturday, Niko Medved’s upstart Rams are 16-8 overall, 7-4 in conference play and tied with the Broncos for second place. Since starting 0-3 in MW play (including a 79-57 whipping from the Aztecs in FoCo on Dec 4th) CSU has won seven of eight to move into the upper echelon of the league. They haven’t overcome a slow start to their season in the eyes of the computer rankings and “power indexes” (still ranked #108 in the ESPN power index) so nothing short of winning the conference tournament will get CSU into the Big Dance.
Are these very young Rams capable?
Finishing second in the regular season would put CSU in a great position to earn a shot at SDSU in the conference tourney final. At that point – as we’ve seen all season all over the country – anything can happen in a one-game situation.
The Rams have seven regular season games left, including a February 25th tilt in San Diego. They could probably go 5-2 in that stretch and get that #2 spot. They host Utah State, San Jose State and Air Force, along with road games at Fresno State, Wyoming, UNLV and SDSU. They need to finish alone at #2, since Boise State holds the tie breaker.
What was unthinkable a month ago is plausible now.
With the University of Colorado poised to earn an NCAA bid even if they don’t win the Pac 12, and Northern Colorado seen as the favorite to win the Big Sky Conference automatic bid, the state of Colorado is likely to have at least two team participating in March Madness. The very young and up and coming Rams could make it a three-feat if they can pull off an historic upset. It’s been that kind of year.
Strike Two: During its 74-year existence, the National Basketball Association has been relatively tragedy-free. There was the untimely death of Boston Celtics player Reggie Lewis in the summer of 1993 at the age of 27 from a heart attack. But similar situations involving young players have typically involved some form of self-inflicted damages. Sad, but not always tragic.
The shocking death of Kobe Bryant was very, very different.
The reaction around the basketball world – the entire world, actually – since the helicopter crash that claimed the life of the 41-year-old future Hall of Famer, his daughter and seven others has been genuine and moving. It’s unlike anything the sports world has seen since….maybe ever.
Almost all of the league’s Hall of Famers who’ve passed away have done so from natural causes during their golden years. A few, like Pete Maravich, passed away before their time (Maravich was 40 when he died of congenital heart disease in 1988.) But never has something like Bryant’s accidental death shook the sport.
The tributes have been widespread, moving and memorable. But they’re all brief in the long term. Certainly, those who run the Staples Center will erect a statue of Bryant outside the building, which will be a wonderful and lasting tribute. But that will be local.
There’s something the NBA can do that will be even more meaningful and lasting to honor one of the best players ever.
The NBA last updated their logo in 1969 – 50 years ago. The silhouette is of Hall of Famer Jerry West, a Los Angeles Lakers legend in his own right. More people might know a similar image of Michael Jordan, but that’s property of Nike and strictly for profit. The Jerry West logo is the NBA’s version of The Shield. And it’s not for sale.
Now the time is right – by West’s own admission – to make a change to the NBA logo.
It should become a silhouette of Kobe Bryant.
And West would certainly concur. After his Hall of Fame playing career ended, West was the General Manager of the Lakers for 20 years, during which he engineered the draft-day trade that brought Bryant to Los Angeles in 1996. He was Kobe’s first NBA friend, mentor and promoter. The two men remained close even after West, who is now 81 years old, left the Lakers. Three years ago, he told ESPN, “If they would want to change it, I wish they would. In many ways, I wish they would.”
West would undoubtedly support an image of Bryant taking his place.
Three million people and counting have already agreed. An on-line petition was started shortly after the news of Bryant’s passing became public and has secured those three million signatures to date. Mark Cuban, Jaime Foxx, Justin Bieber, Usher and many others have voiced support for the change.
There’s been no indication that the league is listening. Hopefully the calls for this change grow louder and stronger as time marches on.
What makes the Bryant case so compelling is the way Kobe attacked his work during and after his playing days, and the way he died. He had become something of a renaissance man – an Oscar winner, author, businessman and basketball dad. He was on his way to coach his daughter early on a Sunday morning when their helicopter went down in bad weather. It’s not quite Roberto Clemente-like, but there are similarities.
All this should factor into making a decision as big as changing a logo. Bryant certainly wasn’t perfect, but the way he was living his life in retirement should be a blueprint for all professional athletes who have to hang ‘em up. It’s not easy (trust me) but it’s better when you can attack your second career the same way you did your first. Kobe was doing that. He was making a mark outside of basketball after having a Hall of Fame playing career.
And that makes him unique enough to become the new “logo.”
Strike Three: A year ago, the Denver Nuggets appeared to get a great draw in the NBA Western Conference play-offs. By finishing second to Golden State, they avoided an early round games against the defending champs. The way things finished in the regular season, they also avoided early round series with Houston and Utah, two teams the Nuggets didn’t appear to match up with very well.
As it turned out, after barely getting by 7th seeded San Antonio in the first round, the Nuggets couldn’t capitalize on the good fortune of meeting up with Portland instead of Houston in round two, blowing a series lead and letting the Trail Blazers advance to the conference finals instead.
This season, a similar scenario could unfold. The Nuggets could very well avoid the Lakers in the early rounds if LeBron and Co end up holding on to their lead in the Western Conference and the Nuggets can finish second again. The LA Clippers and Denver are currently jockeying for the second spot, so Denver is likely to have a #2 v #7 (again) or a #3 v #6 first round series. That would mean the teams Denver is most likely to open against would be Dallas, Memphis, maybe Portland…or if New Orleans with Zion Williamson gets red hot, Nuggets vs Pelicans.
Which would be considered a “good” draw for Denver? Who do they want to avoid in the early rounds this time?
You know the NBA would love a first-round matching LeBron v Zion/Anthony Davis v his old team. Lakers v Pelicans would be a slam dunk for TV ratings. It’s highly doubtful New Orleans can get to the play-offs, much less become the sixth or seventh seed. And that’s good news since Denver has scuffled against New Orleans this season.
Denver is probably going to be able to avoid an opening round series vs last season’s regular season nemesis, Utah or Houston (although the Nuggets have fared better against those team so far this season than they did last year.) Those two will probably have to meet each other early on. We’re more likely to see a Nuggets – Dallas Mavericks first round series. The Joker v Luka. Or perhaps the rejuvenated Memphis Grizzlies with Ja Morant become the first-round opponent. Based on this year’s results so far, both series would be tough ones for Denver.
In truth, that’s probably what this team needs come April. They haven’t been so hot when they’ve been the big favorite, having lost multiple games to teams with sub-.500 records. They do better when they go in with an underdog mentality. It seems to bring out the fight in them. That, coupled with the hard lessons learned last post season should produce better results this spring.