Tag: Dawn Staley

“Remote” Observations from my Couch on Sports

I spent a majority of my time this past weekend on my couch, fiddling with my remote to watch various sports events. Five observations…

  1. I watched and enjoyed the women’s NCAA basketball tournament this season and you can credit Caitlin Clark for my avid interest. She is the female reincarnation of “Pistol” Pete Maravich, who played for LSU in the late 60s. Clark and Maravich were prolific shooters, ball handlers and passers. The women’s game continues to improve and doesn’t have the same turmoil of disgruntled players flocking to the transfer portal as the men’s game is experiencing.
  2. I have read and viewed some pushback from WNBA players about Caitlyn Clark. I already sent some jealousy regarding Clark’s popularity and athletic notoriety. When Pete Maravich was drafted by the Atlanta Hawks, he faced hostile teammates who were upset by his popularity and style of play. I am hoping that Clark does not experience the same negativity from her teammates. It will only hurt the WNBA – – the WNBA needs Clark more than she needs them.
  3. I had some emotional conflict during the finals of the women’s NCAA game. Part of me wanted Iowa to win so it would cement Caitlin as one of the best or maybe the best women’s player in college basketball. But most of me was a Dawn Staley fan. Staley is an excellent coach and a class act whether she wins or loses. She basically took a new team to the NCAAs, went undefeated and won the title.
  4. I read this morning that John Calipari is preparing to move from coaching Kentucky to Arkansas. Calipari could takes some lessons from Dawn Staley on communication. Calipari has worn out his welcome at Kentucky based on mediocre results this season including early losses in the SEC tournament and the NCAA tournament. I watched Kentucky more than any other men’s college basketball team this year. I was interested in the progress of DJ Wagner and Aaron Bradshaw who both played at Camden High and were expected to be drafted into the pros this year. Based on their performance on the court, I would not draft either one. I don’t think either one benefited from their tutelage under Calipari. Both should look into the transfer portal and hopefully reinvigorate their chances to get into professional basketball. Calapri is an excellent recruiter, but a mediocre coach.
  5. Kudos to another great performance by a female athlete. Anna Leigh Waters won her 100th PPA championship this weekend. She took gold in women’s singles, mixed doubles and women’s doubles. At 17, she is the predominant pickleball player in the women’s division. Some suggest that she is the best pickleball player, man or woman. I am hoping that she will have a competitive rival soon. Her reign reminds me of how Chris Evert dominated women’s tennis in the 1970s before Martina Navratilova started to play competitively.

NCAA Picks, Big 5 and Dawn Staley

In full disclosure, I did not follow college basketball like I have years ago. For example, I used to be able to tell you the top 10 or 15 players in NCAA basketball. Today, the only All Americans or top draft picks I know about are the Purdue center, Edey and the Alabama forward, Miller, who just got in trouble. My NCAA picks (below) are basically wild hunches based on only a cursory study or familiarity of the teams. I am picking Purdue to win at all even though I have only seen a few of their games. Two of the games were against Rutgers. Rutgers beat Purdue in the regular season and barely lost to them in the Big 10 tournament.

Speaking of Rutgers, I was one of those people who were a bit disappointed that they did not make the NCAA tournament. However, I can’t feel too bad for Rutgers today. Last night, as the number 1 seed, and playing in their gym, they lost to Hofstra in the first round of the NIT. Rutgers did not exactly bolster their objection into not getting into the field of 64 or 68.

No Big Five team (Villanova, Saint Joe’s, Temple, Penn and La Salle) made it into the NCAA tournament. This was the first time since 1977 that a Philadelphia-based school failed to play in the tournament. Penn actually came the closest to playing in the tournament with their semifinal game in the Ivy League tournament against Princeton, which they lost. Not sure that any team will play in next year’s tournament either…

I have not seen a lot of Big Five teams play. However the two best players in the Big Five for this year are Jordan Dingle for Penn and Erik Reynolds for St Joe’s. I’m not sure that either of those players or NBA caliber or will be drafted. However they impressed me more than Cam Whitmore of Villanova who probably will be picked early this year in the year’s NBA draft.

One of the best ideas that I have read on Twitter of all places is that Dawn Staley should replace Aaron McKee as head coach of Temple’s men’s basketball team. If any woman could succeed in coaching men’s basketball at a major college level, it is Dawn Staley. It would be nice to see her back coaching in Philadelphia!