From the moment of my fist keystroke here, there are 10 days, 10 hours and 34 minutes until the NBA Draft withdrawal deadline for college underclassman, those wishing to continue their undergraduate eduction at an institution of higher learning.
Flory Bidunga, you are on the clock.
And now the Louisville Cardinal fanbase, after enduring a week of quiet burgeoning anxiety, which followed a furious couple months of anticipation and good news, sits and waits.
Tick Tock. Tick Tock. Tick Tock.
Like the opening
of “60 Minutes,” only a whole lot longer.
And we wonder, what if the “#1 Player in the Portal,” opts to stay and roll the dice. As The Professor, may he Rest in Peace, would opine, “Perhaps the kid simply doesn’t want to endure the ‘Theoretical Thereminology 368’ class he’d need for graduation.”
If rational thinking doesn’t prevail and he leaves his talent in the 2d round pool, what are the Cardinals to do?
It would leave them with enough largesse to make a necessarily absurd offer to Milan Momcilovic. Which would certainly help the Cards’ chance for real marksmanship. But leave them for the second season in a row bereft of depth underneath.
Oh the pluses and minuses of this obsession.
When word from whatever spot of gestation started to circulate last week that Bidunga was ” perhaps leaning” toward staying in the Draft, I began to cull the nooks and crannies of the www. for other unsigned possibilities.
The name David Fuchs popped up. A 6-9, 245 lb. bruiser who is not leaving his heart in San Francisco.
Apparently ACC mate Clemson is making the biggest push. But . . . that was several days ago, and a quick check does not reveal any commitment on the kid’s part.
Understand, I have not the foggiest idea whether this baller’s even on the U of L staff’s radar. Just me trolling for some nugget that will sate my craving for the day.
Or, is there some fire breathing, vodka guzzling firebrand from Hackcomputevenia we’ve never heard of that might add to the global nature of the team?
Flory, the Cardinal Nation awaits.
* * * * *
I finally remembered the name of the player whom Isaac Ellis reminds me of.
Tyler Kolek at Marquette from a few years back.
Late bloomer who became the heart and soul of Shaka Smart’s Warriors a/k/a Golden Eagles.
Not projecting anything about Ellis, other than in my obsessive brain, Kolek came to mind after watching Ellis’s tapes.
* * * * *
Speaking of that university that Al McGuire made famous on the hardwood, I am looking forward to observing how Sananda Fru fares in MIlwaukee?
Was he mishandled in Louisville?
Were our observations of his “softness” correct?
Can Smart instill some boom shaka laka in the center?
* * * * *
Because it’s the only hoops being played by the male of the species, I watch the NBA playoffs.
A Motowner by birth, I have a rooting interest.
Am glad the Pistons bench finally showed up in Game 6, a beat down. In which former Cardinal Donovan Mitchell did not do his thing.
Which Detroit performance helped ameliorate my disgust over how Detroit lost Game 5. James Hardin missed a FT in OT. But no Piston blocked him off and the Beard captured his miss.
“Basketball 101,” I screamed at the screen. You learn it in the 6th grade. Cut off the shooter at the line. Geesh.
If the Cavs prevail tonight in Game 7, I’ll be fine. Donovan will give me a rooting interest against the Knickerbockers. But I’ll be wearing my lone piece Pistons merch during the game.
* * * * *
The other once upon a time Cardinal I’ll be paying attention to next campaign: Luke Murray. Now head guy at BC.
Former assistant in the Yum!, stupidly fired by Chris Mack, two time natty winner at UConn since, has apparently harvested some money in Beantown. Using it wisely.
He only had one player returning. And now has what appears to be a more competitive roster than the Eagles have had in decades.
* * * * *
10 days, 9 hours, 48 minutes.
Yo, Flory, ya know you don’t have to wait for the last moment to withdraw.
— c d kaplan
