- Everybody Loves Mike – There are lessons to be learned from Mike Miller. Not necessarily basketball ones but lessons about how to be successful. Miller has made himself a success the good old fashioned way: by helping people out. Sure he’s busted his butt and has god given skills that have made him – say – an NBA lottery pick and champion. But no one makes it alone. Miller helped everyone else. It’s helped him. In some regard it’s business 101: Listen. Sometimes that’s all it takes.
- A Day in the Life of an Uber/Lyft Driver in San Francisco – I’ve thought about becoming a driver and was intrigued by this article. But then I read it and got to thinking about something else. Is this the Millennial tone? Are we cynics? Unending critics of a presumably unsupportive capitalist society geared towards selfish ends? Do we hide entitlement behind feigned self-deprecation? It’s disheartening to find the bad in everything, particularly one’s everyday life.
- This Will Probably Be the Slowest College Basketball Season Ever Played – Thought I’d revisit this one after attending my first game of the season! It was Arizona against Utah Valley and did not project to be much of a contest. It was not. Furthermore, I was bringing eight co-workers who knew little to nothing about college basketball. I took it upon myself to educated them. Whether or not they learned anything or even appreciated it is unknown. I kept telling my co-workers what a slow game this would be. Here’s how I explained it: This game was going to be slow but not necessarily by possessions but rather by actual game time. UVU plays an offense designed to take its time. That was then coupled with Arizona’s defense which is designed to make an offense take it’s time (20.2 seconds per possession vs. 19.5, respectively). UVU wanted to take their time and was then going to be allowed to. And then, what happened, was the Wolverines (UVU) went ahead and fouled Arizona at the highest rate they’ve fouled anyone all season. It was the only green spot (defensive FTrate) on their KenPom page. Long possessions and lots of fouls made for a lot of “action” with an unmoving clock. KenPom – in the above article – notes further reasons why this could be the slowest season ever, but on Tuesday night, it was the confluence of offensive strategy, defensive strategy, and the referee’s whistle that made this thing s-l-o-w. Of Note: 1) My co-workers loved McKale, 2) This game was actually well ahead of the average pace (71 AdjT vs. about 67). This was instigated by the fouls and the 25% TOrate from UVU.
