Brush up your basketball knowledge
Published Wednesday, April 10, 2024 at 2:29 p.m.
First of all, congratulations to the University of Connecticut Huskies for winning back-to-back national championships in men's NCAA basketball. It's never easy. Congratulations also to the SEC and University of South Carolina women's basketball teams for not only winning it all this year, but also staying undefeated in the process. That's nothing to sneeze at.
This year's NCAA Tournament was exciting for both the men's and women's tournaments, but I have to admit that I was actually as enthusiastic as the University of Alabama made it this far. What you may not know about Bama is that we are not primarily known for basketball. Well, you might have known. In any case, the Tide needed to do well for me to be interested in this tournament.
When I was a freshman at the University of Missouri (before eventually transferring to Bama), I tried to get serious about basketball. That year, the Tigers placed him in the Elite Eight in 2002. Seeing what we were doing on the football field, I was buying into the idea that we were a basketball school.
But the first time I tried basketball was in high school, when the other players on the football team convinced me to join the hoop team. I had played many streetball games with them, so I guess they thought I would be good on the team. And perhaps I did. I made it to the final round of tryouts before being cut. But on that final day, I got a penalty for staying in the lane too long, and I distinctly remember grabbing one of my soccer buddies as he tried to leave the court and whispering,
lane? “Needless to say, I wasn't ready to make the national team.
I'm not saying I don't understand how basketball works. I'm just saying that I'm not as familiar with the rules and history of the sport as I am with soccer. When it comes to football, I'm not as encyclopedic as Post sports editor Ernest, but he's a pretty good armchair quarterback. That means you can read the best defenses from your couch. However, my basketball acumen has definitely improved after watching this year's tour. The problem is, if Bama doesn't do well next year, they could forget everything they learned this season.
Let's take a look. Perhaps he can find time during the offseason to learn more and be better prepared for March Madness next year. Unless, of course, Bama distracts me by getting really good at another sport. Because, honestly, if the Tide becomes great in water polo, I'll probably follow suit.
Blake Bell is general manager and editor-in-chief of the Vicksburg Post. He can be reached at blake.bell@vicksburgpost.com.