NBA > NCAA. Unquestioned.
If it was good enough for 50 Cent and Nate Dogg alike, I’m pretty sure it’s exceptionally sufficient for SLAMonline. Regardless of music, 21 Questions with San Dova is taking the task of asking those nebulous questions that seem to revolve around the force of gravity we know to be the NBA. Check for the preguntas at the top of ever
y month or so.
1. Despite all of the criticism about his “motor” and athleticism, is Georgetown’s Greg Monroe really that much of a disappointment?
2. Is Georgia Tech’s Gani Lawal taking away from Derrick Favors’ production or is Derrick just having one of those more-normal, up-and-down freshman seasons?
3. How many NCAA coaches, after witnessing the damage he and Kentucky are doing to almost every single team, wish John Wall just would’ve declared for the NBA Draft (per court ruling) last year?
4. Ohio State’s Evan Turner–point guard, shooting guard, small forward, stretch-4…should maybe he be considered the top prospect over Wall as the NBA’s overall No. 1 draft choice?
5. Isn’t it sort of lame how Michigan is back in relative mediocrity again?
6. Even though North Carolina coach Roy Williams was trying to give confidence to his starting point guard Larry Drew
II, shouldn’t he have tried to recruit John Wall harder, especially since it’s Wall’s home state and was one of his top-five schools (and since Drew’s guard play has been less than stellar, if not downright poor)?
7. Oklahoma’s Willie Warren probably wished he cashed his NBA Draft card last summer, doesn’t he? (And why did he want to prove he can run the team when Tommy Mason-Griffin was the likely starting point guard?)
8. Duke’s looking pretty good, but can the Mike Krzyzewski way win the Blue Devils another NCAA title anytime in the near future?
9. Is Kyle Singler tame because of the Duke system, or is he less-than-spectacular because he’s just not that great?
10. Last Duke question: Isn’t Jon Scheyer the most underrated star of college basketball (being a natural two-guard, but able to run a team as a point guard and play small forward with ease)?
11. Is the yearly fuss over expanding the tournament really necessary? What’s wrong with 65 teams?
12. Why won’t the NCAA just play fair and give NBA draft candidates who don’t get drafted the option to come back? (It would really help those horrid graduation rates.) And for all the concerns about professionalism and the like, if a player wants to get legal representation, why can’t he have his family or guardian sign on his behalf (so that if he decides to return to school, whether he’s a first-round pick or not, he won’t be ineligible to play)?
13. In fact, why can’t players just come back to school regardless of whether they’re drafted or not (a la Larry Bird in 1978)?
14. Even though he achieves good results, year-in-and-year-out, isn’t seeing Connecticut coach Jim Calhoun hoop and holler with such acrimony sort of tired to watch, especially given his health issues? And doesn’t that go for most of the high-level coaches? Isn’t overcoaching sort a philosophical problem, too?
15. Aren’t you excited to see the new Nike uniforms some of the tournament teams are going to roll out soon?
16. Would Kevin Durant possibly be the greatest college player in history had he stayed with Texas through this year (he’d be a senior)?
17. Will the Pac-10 make any notable noise in March?
18. As mundane as the college game has become (due in part to departing NBA talent, gross displays of “ethics” and politics, coach departures and scandals, the ubiquity and sycophantic musings of Dick Vitale, and the minute rulings on scouting, recruiting and player transfers), isn’t NCAA basketball sort of a glorified, micro-managed diva of a minor league?
19. With Kentucky’s g
reat success with its basketball program (made up mainly of African American players in the latter years), isn’t it continually lame that there seems to still be campus issues involving some lowly form of ethnic discrimination every other year amongst the undergraduate student body?
20. Who’s got money on Michigan State this year?
21. Is Dayton’s Chris Wright going to be the tournament’s next March Madness high-riser? (What up Trotwood!)
Sandy Dover is a novelist/writer, artist and fitness enthusiast, as well as an unrepentant Prince fan (for real). You can find Sandy frequently here at SLAMonline, as well as at Facebook, Associated Content and Twitter.
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