Basketball Saturday

I committed the better part of the day on Saturday to attending basketball games. I was able to take my daughter to the Iowa State/North Dakota State game Saturday afternoon, fully expecting to leave the game midway through the second half with no doubts about the outcome. After all, my daughter is only 4 years old, and popcorn and ice cream can only keep her attention for so long. Only problem was, the Cyclones decided they weren’t going to play defense, or rebound, or run an offense. Again. The game wasn’t decided until the final seconds, with NDSU missing a three-point basket that would have won the game. Final score, 73-71, ISU.

You can read my rant about the Duke performance in my last blog, and then you can apply the exact same principles to this game. Only problem is, North Dakota State isn’t exactly Duke. Not even close. NDSU is 5-10, with losses against teams named Utah Valley, IUPUI and Southern Utah. The Cyclones have now given up at least 18 offensive rebounds the last three games in a row. Sure, one of those was the Duke game, but the other two were Houston and NDSU. Craig Brackins may be the worst defender in the Big 12. Good thing they don’t play defense in the NBA. As for the offense, I was sitting in front of two older ladies who carried conversation as though they didn’t know a lot about basketball. At one point, they commented, “Why does everyone stand around on offense?” Enough said.

After the game was over, I drove to Colo--to see a REAL basketball team. The Colo-Nesco boys improved to 9-1 with a convincing 60-24 win over East Marshall. The Royals performance was a breath of fresh air with stifling defense, great rebounding, good movement on offense, and great teamwork. The first half was the Travis Guy show, as he hit his first 4 consecutive three-point attempts. He had 12 points in the first half. The second half was the Brandon Eley show. Eley scored 20 of his 24 points in the second half, mostly off turnovers and fast breaks. Bondurant-Farrar comes to town on Tuesday with a 5-2 record.

Royals Scoring: Eley—24; Guy—12; Neuendorf—6; Warren—4; Jamison—4; Larsen—4; Angel—2; Thompson—2; Lawson—2.