Stories

College Rebounding

January 27, 2009

Last week, I went to lunch with Swen Nater who was a teammate of mine when I was with the Virginia Squires.  For those of you who are not familiar with him, Swen went to college at UCLA and basically was the backup center, playing behind the great Bill Walton.  Although not playing much with UCLA, at 6-11 [...]

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“By the way, the shot was late”

January 20, 2009

I should say right from the start that my cousin, Chris Kampe, was captain of the Mercer Island team so one should guess that I write this with the type of bias normally seen only from someone named “Olbermann” or “Coulter”. This is the story of the 1981 Washington State basketball championship game between Shadle [...]

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Martin Luther King Jr. and Basketball

January 19, 2009

Today, we commemorate one of the greatest leaders this country has had in its existence. Because all of you understand the importance and impact of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s life, I am not going to into a long spiel on how profound his life was–I am sure if you are interested there are plenty [...]

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Jim Valvano and the V Foundation

December 11, 2008

As I wrote about yesterday, I watched the Jimmy V Classic Monday night. Every time I see a clip on Valvano, either running around the court after they won the Championship, or a clip from his famous speech at the ESPY in 1993, or any other mention of Jimmy V., it brings a smile to my face.  It’s [...]

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Stick To Defensive Fundamentals at the End of a Game

December 8, 2008

One of the most memorable lessons George taught me in High School was how to play defense at the end of a game.  His exact rules or explanation may differ, but my interpretation was basically to stick to your normal defensive fundamental strategy on the final play of the game. There is a reason that [...]

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Improve the College Game?

November 24, 2008

I watched the Duke-Michigan game last night Friday night.  Duke looks very good.  Obviously well coached, they can score inside and outside.  Gave the vaunted Michigan zone defense fits with their ball movement and the ability to knock down the three.  Also, very active on defense.  Michigan looks to be much improved over last year’s team.  [...]

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Pick Up Games

November 19, 2008

Pick up basketball games can be very interesting, especially when it comes to calling fouls.  Anybody who has played in a game where you call fouls on yourself, knows how intense it can become. When I was a rookie with the Virginia Squires, Larry Brown told me about playing one on one games with Doug Moe.  [...]

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Kevin Johnson vs Reggie Miller

November 14, 2008

A week ago Tuesday, two basketball loving men were elected as the first African-American to their respective offices.  The first, of course, was Barrack Obama, who will be our nation’s first African- American president.  The second man is the former Phoenix Suns great point guard, Kevin Johnson, who will be the first black mayor of the city of Sacramento.  [...]

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Two Diverse Training Camps

October 7, 2008

I mentioned in a previous post how important training camps are in setting the tone for the season.  I want to talk about a couple of training camps I was involved in to validate my point. After the merger of the ABA and the NBA, I was a player on the Nuggets for our first [...]

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Erving and Veterans

October 6, 2008

As a professional basketball player, my second training camp was with the Virginia Squires, and it was very interesting.  During the summer, the Squires had signed an underclassman by the name of Julius Erving.  Very little was known about him. We knew he had big numbers, but very few people had ever seen him play.  I know [...]

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