All basketball is fun, and winning basketball - as at Ardrey Kell and Marquette - is most fun of all

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Our seniors -- from top, Steph, Riley, Nia, Kennedy and Deeya (manager) --
make a pyramid with Coach Buseick.

On Jan. 4, our Ardrey Kell Lady Knights opened the 2019 portion of our schedule with a loss to our archrivals, South Mecklenburg High. We blew a 12-point fourth-quarter lead. It was our 3rd loss in 4 games, a highly unusual stretch for a program that has been consistently ultra-successful. And it gave us a 1-2 conference record, with both losses coming at home.

We were hurtin'.

Our fine coach, Jeff Buseick, had talked about the Buster Douglas-Mike Tyson fight earlier in the season, and I decided to expound on that theme after one of our practices.

Remember how Coach talked about the Douglas-Tyson fight? Well, he was only a few years old when that took place while I watched it live, but he still did a great job talking about all of the highlights. The one thing he left out was this: Tyson actually knocked Douglas down in the 8th round. The ref was counting ... 1-2-3-4 ... if it gets to 10, Tyson wins by knockout ... 5-6-7 ... Buster is in trouble ... 8-9 ... Douglas got up at 9 and then the bell rang. He literally was saved by the bell. And then, 2 rounds later, Douglas knocked out Tyson to complete probably the greatest upset in the history of sports.

Well now, we've been knocked down. At AK, we're not used to it, but it has happened. How are we gonna respond? Six of our next 7 games are on the road, including games against the 2 teams we just lost to. What are we gonna do? Are we gonna quit, or are we gonna get up off the mat and fight? Let's get up off the mat, ladies, and show the world we're still AK!

The girls all cheered and it was a feel-good moment for us. As an assistant coach, I don't usually get to give rah-rah speeches.

Fast-forward to the present. Last night, we finished the regular season by rallying for a great win over Olympic on Senior Night. It was our 9th straight conference victory since that 1-2 start, and we're near the top of the league standings again.

I'd love to say that my speech had a single doggone thing to do with it, but I know better. These girls are tough-minded and talented, and they deserve all the credit.

Besides, given the way we've dominated the conference the last many years, one could argue that WE are Mike Tyson in this analogy!

Whatever, it's fun to be winning again.

We take a 19-5 record into next week's conference tournament. The state tourney is the week after that. This time of year is so much fun.

Go AK!

One of our players called this photo
"Ending Segregation."

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And speaking of basketball ...

Huge win Saturday for my Marquette Warrior Eagles, the No. 10 team in the nation!

A few days earlier, we had lost at home (to St. John's) for the first time all season, and now we were playing the defending national champions.

We got 38 points from our star, Markus Howard, and solid contributions from several other players, and defeated No. 14 Villanova 66-65.

Getty Images

It was what we call "National Marquette Day," when folks from all over the country gather in their cities to watch the event on TV.

I was "volunteered" to run our event in the Charlotte area.

We had a nice turnout and a lot of fun!

Followed that up last night with a decisive victory against DePaul. It was fun going to a sports bar with Robbie to watch that game right after the AK girls had defeated Olympic -- a great double-header for me.

We're ready to take the Big East title and have a great run in the NCAAs.

We Are Marquette!
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Never mind

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When I finished my 50-minute workout on the elliptical trainer, DePaul actually was leading Providence 61-57.

By the time I checked on the score after wrapping up a few sets of situps, the Blue Demons were losing 70-62 ... and it didn't get any better for them after that.

And there I had been thinking they might never, ever, ever lose again.

DePaul wins ... and other impossible ponderables

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After going 0-for-2009, DePaul stunned Cincinnati in the first round of the Big East megatourney. Wouldn't it be something if the Blue Demons win their next four games to capture the conference title and then roll to the national championship, too?

And wouldn't it be something if they played Northwestern in the NCAA title game?

And wouldn't it be something if Carlos Marmol could do to the AL pennant winner what he couldn't do to the Netherlands and close out the Cubbies' first championship in 101 years?

And wouldn't it be something if Lovie Smith would ever utter these three words: "I was wrong"?

And wouldn't it be something if Ozzie Guillen could ever utter three words that didn't include two bleeps?

And wouldn't it be something if Tony La Russa would admit that his juicing stars in Oakland and St. Louis bamboozled him?

And wouldn't it be something if Roger Clemens gets to share a cell with Blago?

And wouldn't it be something if people cared as much about their real families as they do about their fantasy teams?

And wouldn't it be something if Kerry Wood, Michael Barrett (or whoever) fessed up to smashing Sammy's boombox?

And wouldn't it be something if those commercials were right and a bald guy really could grow back a full head of hair?

And wouldn't it be something if eating a slice of Craig's Crazy Carrot Cake Cheesecake at the Cheesecake Factory actually would help a guy burn off fat?

And wouldn't it be something if every TV show could be as good as The Wire was?

And wouldn't it be something if Bernard Madoff lived long enough to actually serve 150 years in prison?

And wouldn't it be something if the Dow hit 14,000 by the end of next week?

And wouldn't it be something if our elected officials could pass a stimulus bill that didn't include so much pork it's been banned by both the American Heart Association and the Society of Kosher Butchers?

And wouldn't ... wait a second ... now I'm getting ridiculous. Maybe I should just go back to something a little more realistic.

You know, like that DePaul thing.

Bulls don't need no stinkin' Dwyane Wade

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The Bald Truth

Thank goodness John Paxson held onto Donyell Marshall instead of including that all-time superstar in a 2003 draft-day trade that would have brought Dwyane Wade to the Bulls.

I mean, if Pax had made that deal, the Bulls never would have drafted Kirk Hinrich ... and then where would they be?

The Quote

"When I got the steal, what was going through my head is coach said, 'We got a time-out left.' So I was about to call it ... but then I said, 'Nah.'" - Wade

The Balder Truth

Wade's most recent amazing performance came in the Heat's double-overtime win over the Bulls on Monday night, when he capped a 48-point, 12-assist game by stealing the ball from John Salmons and then hitting a running 3-pointer at the buzzer.

He had sent the game into OT with a trey but had missed a difficult reverse layup at the first-overtime buzzer.

Two out of three? Not bad for a Chicago kid whom Illinois and DePaul barely recruited.

As a fellow Marquette Golden Warrior Eagle, all I can say is: Thanks, Illini and Demons!

THE BALDEST TRUTH

It's pretty tough to make a case for anybody other than LeBron James as NBA MVP, but one could make a pretty good argument that Wade should be co-MVP.

Would the Heat win even 15 games without the league's leading scorer?

OK, the Cavs would be in pretty serious trouble without James, too. 

Kobe Bryant? Hardly. Great, great player. And I'd probably choose him over either Dwyane or LeBron to take the final shot of a game. But the Lakers would be playoff contenders even if Kobe got charged with rape again and had to spend a mess of time in a Denver courtroom.

One thing for sure: Of the three, only Dwyane has an NBA title since he entered the league.

Another thing for sure: Only the Bulls have Captain Kirk.

Call 'em the DePaul Droopy Demons

One is DePaul coach Jerry Wainwright. The other is cartoon legend Droopy Dog. Won't say which is which, but both have the same number of Big East victories this season.

The Question

Were those really Bo Ryan's usually fundamentally sound Wisconsin Badgers who kept committing shot-clock violations even though they trailed Illinois by double digits with less than 10 minutes to play?

THE BALDEST TRUTH

Always a friend of the referees, Bobby Knight said officials would do a better job if they worked fewer games each week because they'd be less fatigued.

I suppose. And coaches might not be so stressed out if they didn't eat, drink, walk and talk basketball 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 52 weeks a year. 

If a coach takes more down time, though, he might lose an edge because other coaches wouldn't. Which could cost him his paycheck. And if refs only work three times a week, it would affect their standard of living.

Everybody would like more time to just chill ... but it isn't always practical now, is it?