"New Face of the NBA" (1971)

A really cool video I came across on YouTube called "New Face of the NBA" from the 1971-72 season. It's always cool to take a look back and compare the look of the film with the videos of today. More importantly, it's cool to see what they say about the players in this film and compare it to how their careers shake out. Nothing like a blast from the past!

It's (Hilton) Magic

#2 Iowa State 67, #5 Princeton 52

Fred Hoiberg and his Iowa State Cylcones have won the 2013 Coliseum Invitational!

Hilton Coliseum is 3-and-a-half hours north of Kansas City, but the magic was still alive in this championship final as Iowa State was able to trounce Mitch Henderson's Princeton Tigers.

Early on the game was back and forth, and by halftime #5 Princeton looked to have the inside track on the upset; they were up 27-26.

Then came the second half, where Iowa State exploded for 41 points while only allowing 25. It was a team effort for Iowa State, as all nine players that went into the game contributed at least two points in the second half.

For Princeton, Ian Hummer led the way with 15 points and TJ Bray was right behind him with 11. Princeton as a team shot 35% from the field thanks to Iowa State's athletic players forcing tough shots inside. For Iowa State Chris Babb led the team with 15 points while Tyrus McGee had 13 and Georges Niang had 12.

This championship run by Iowa State was a team effort, which made choosing a single MVP tough. However, the committee has decided that senior guard Tyrus McGee is the 2013 Coliseum Invitational MVP.

So there you have it. 32 teams were thrown together, and one team came out the winner. We'll see what random teams are put in the blender next season. In the meantime, congratulations to the Iowa State Cyclones, your 2013 Coliseum Invitational Champions!

 

Coliseum Invitational: National Semifinals

It has come down to this. The final four teams standings. They have convened in Kansas City to see who will come out as the winner of the Coliseum Invitational. Here are the four regional winners: 

Region 1: #1 Ohio State Buckeyes

Region 2: #2 Iowa State Cyclones

Region 3: #5 Princeton Tigers

Region 4: #2 Missouri Tigers

The matchups were determined by the grouping the remaining teams by RPI. So in this case, the matchups are Ohio State (8) vs. Princeton (120) and Missouri (34) vs. Iowa State (44). Here is a summary of both games: 

#2 Iowa State 72, #2 Missouri 70

After a slow start by both teams that saw a 29-28 Tiger lead at halftime, things started to pick up with both teams scoring a combined 85 points in the second half. Iowa State began pulling away when they were up by six with 3 minutes left. However, Mizzou began fighting back and were able to tie the game at 70 on a Laurence Bowers lay-in with 14 seconds remaining. The game was decided when Melvin Ejim connected on a jumper with one second left. Ejim had 12 points and 15 rebounds, but Chris Babb led the Cyclones in scoring with 19. Behind him was Will Clyburn with 18 and Tyrus McGee with 15. For Missouri, Earnest Ross led the way with 15 points, Keion Bell had 12, 9 rebounds, and 3 steals. Phil Pressey and Tony Criswell finished with 10 each.

#5 Princeton 70, #1 Ohio State 59

It was efficient offense and strong perimeter defense that allowed Princeton to run away with this game against Ohio State. After shooting out to a 41-25 lead at half, Princeton was able to hold on to the lead for the rest of the game. Ian Hummer led the way with 21 points while Denton Koon added 14. For Ohio State, Deshaun Thomas had 18 points and 7 rebounds. He was the only Buckeye to score double-figures. As a team, they shot 15% from three and 53% from the line.

So the final of the first ever Coliseum Invitational will be Iowa State and Princeton. Will there be more Hilton Magic in Kansas City, or will the Ivy Leaguers' efficiency be too much for Iowa State. On Friday, it will be all figured out.

Jeremy Evans Runs in From Two States Over to Catch Alley-Oop

Circled is Utah Jazz forward Jeremy Evans, moments before he catches an alley-oop from guard Jamaal Tinsley. Can we all just take a moment to look at this. Look at this. Jeremy is in Wichita when Tinsley throws the oop, yet, as you will see in the video below, he is able to catch it without missing a beat. Amazing.

If I Had a Sports Radio Station...

I am an avid sports radio listener. Rather I am checking in on the day's hottest topics or leaving it on for background noise, I tend to listen to more sports radio than the average person. I like certain shows more than others, and it made me wonder what shows I would air if I started my own sports radio station. These are the results.

WEEKDAYS:

6am to 10am: Mike and Mike in the Morning

• I'm not a superfan of this show. Sometimes I find it annoying. However, more often than not I enjoy it, and I feel this program far surpasses other local and national morning shows.

10am to 1pm: Brian Kenny

• I have heard great things about the ESPN iteration of this program, and after listening to the debut of his NBC program I figured he would go great in the midday slot

1pm to 4pm: SVP and Russillo

• This is my favorite radio show on the air, so of course I had to add them. It's a fair and balanced, funny, entertaining program and they were the first show I picked for this list. Of course I would put my favorite show on  my network!

4pm to 7pm: Waddle and Silvy

• As a Chicagoan, this is my favorite local program. They just moved to the afternoon drive-time slot here, so I figured I'd slide them in here if I were to ever start something national.

7pm to 10pm: Bomani Jones

• I respect and enjoy the viewpoints of Bomani Jones very, very much. He's a freelancer (making appearances on ESPN) that's between jobs right now, but he also does a weekly webcast within this timeslot. He has sports talk radio experience, so I figured I'd be the one to bring him back to the radio daily.

10pm to 2am: Freddie Coleman

•  I enjoy Freddie Coleman to an extent. He is all over the radio dial at ESPN: weekdays, weekend, daytime, overnight. I couldn't think of anyone to put in this time slot, so why not reliable ol' Freddie?

2am to 6am: Jason Smith

• When Jason Smith was at ESPN, he had his overnight radio show. I liked it very much, so I decided to put him back in his old slot to provide overnight entertainment to insomniacs nationwide.

WEEKEND:

6am to 9am (Sat.): Rick Kamla

• Knowing him from NBA TV, Rick Kamla definitely has a personality for sports radio. Apparently, he works weekday mornings in Atlanta. Perfect! At first I had trouble filling this Saturday morning spot since Kincaide only does Sundays, but then I had an epiphany and figured Kamla would go great here. I'm sure if I were to approach him in real life, he'd be enough of a trooper to say yes to this time slot.

6am to 9am (Sun.): Jon Kincaide

• I listened to Kincaide's national show every so often when he was at ESPN and liked it. Now, he's at CBS, but in this same spot. I figured who else better to fill an already hard-to-fill timeslot?

9am to 1pm: Keith Olbermann

• We all remember him and Dan Patrick as The Big Show from mid-90s Sportscenter, but I really didn't get into him until I started follow cable news during the 2008 election. He's a polarizing figure both from his time at ESPN and for his political views on MSNBC. He'd be the perfect lightning rod to draw in listeners (rather or not they like him) during a time when a lot of people aren't usually listening to sports talk radio.

1pm to 4pm (Sat.): Trey Wingo and Marcellus Wiley

• I wanted to add a show with Marcellus Wiley, but I didn't want him to do it solo. He's a smart guy and needs somebody who he has great chemistry with. Enter Trey Wingo. Wingo really only does NFL stuff with ESPN and this point, which gives him plenty of time to do a weekly radio program. As a studio host on ESPN's NFL shows and already working with Marcellus I know he'd be a great fit to work with Wiley. The show is on Saturday since they would probably be needed on Sundays for NFL coverage.

1pm to 4pm (Sun.): Adnan Virk and Linda Cohn

• I usually hear these guys when they fill-in for Colin or SVP and Russillo, and I enjoy when they do. So much so, that I figured they were in the running for that afternoon drive-time slot when Doug Gottlieb left for CBS. But no, they still hold down the fill-in role. I don't think it would hurt to give them a weekly mid-afternoon show.

4pm to 7pm (Sat.): Rich Eisen

• I get a kick out of Eisen's podcast whenever I get a chance to hear it. He is prime for a little radio slot in between his NFL Network duties. Of course, I put him on Saturday since he's busy on Sundays as well as just about every other day during the NFL season.

4pm to 7pm (Sun.): Rece Davis and Jay Bilas

• At first, I was just thinking "It would be cool if Jay Bilas had a show", but the more I thought about it the more I figured he'd be better with a co-host. Almost instantly, Rece Davis popped in my head. I've listened to Rece Davis fill-in on Colin Cowherd's show, so I know he's had sports talk experience. In my opinion, he's one of - if not the - best studio host. Coupled with his extensive GameDay work with Jay, he'd be the perfect person to drive the show. I put the show on Sunday since both guys would be busy on Saturday with College GameDay during basketball season and Rece would also have to do GameDay during football season.

7pm to 10pm: Bill Daughtry

• I have listened to Bill a handful of times when he does weekday evenings on ESPN New York. I enjoy his eccentric style so I put him here in a slot where I had trouble finding people I wanted to added that didn't already have conflicts with other jobs.

10pm to 2am: Bob Valvano

• I really enjoy Bob Valvano's work as an analyst and as a radio host. He has his weekend overnight show on ESPN Radio, so I know he'd be perfect here.

2am to 6am: Amy Lawrence

• Amy Lawrence has her weekend show on CBS Sports, and pretty much held down the same spot at ESPN Radio. I think she was decent when I would hear while driving home after a fun night. I think she would be great for this spot.

So if I were running a nice little national sports radio outfit, these are the people I would hire. I get it's ESPN and Chicago-heavy, but I'm very happy with my lineup. Will it change somewhere down the line? Perhaps. But if I were to launch Coliseum Sports Radio today, these are the hosts I would trot out.