Went to Brooklyn last night to see the McDonalds game at Barclays. My first time at the game. Some thoughts:
1) Darius Adams - boy we dodged a bullet here. I wont be mean because Destiny is a hero for our WBB, and he is clearly a great kid, stopped and met all the little kids on the court and seemed like a great teammate. That said but he looked horrible. He was the shortest and skinniest leg guy on the court, barely played (might not have until the 2nd half?) and I don’t think he scored, at least not until garbage time. Had an embarassing clank 3 off side iron and then tripped and fell went sliding for a travel, JWill style. He will not play mins at Uconn and will be in the portal after this year, going down to a mid major.
2) Barclays put on a pathetic event. The upper bowl was curtained off but the lower bowl was probably 80% full so a decent crowd. However they had exactly 2 concession stands open in the entire arena, causing a line that wrapped almost halfway around the concourse that took almost 1 full hour standing in line (luckily did this from the end of the womens game to the start of the mens game so didnt miss much action). There was 1 merch table open also, didnt bother waiting in that line. They had a “corner store” kiosk open that looked like it was an abandoned food cart at disney world, which had a couple selections of chips and warm bottled soda. Wow I think only the Trenton game against Princeton was a worse arena experience than this.
3) This game has totally jumped the shark as it used to represent a celebration of college basketball, but now represents all that’s wrong with college basketball. The entire deal is put on by these “management” companies, which all these kids have deals with (including their “high schools”) - half the kids go to the same 5 high schools, which are basically basketball academies with probably a class or 2 on the side. The entire thing screams slimey Vegas agent money and it’s just too bad.
Lastly, very little Big Ten flavor. 1 Michigan guy who was ok, 1 UCLA guy who was a star (led the West to their first win in 8 years over the East), and a tall white guy who’s going to Washington somehow (where do they keep getting this basketball money)
Anyway that’s my take on the event
1) Darius Adams - boy we dodged a bullet here. I wont be mean because Destiny is a hero for our WBB, and he is clearly a great kid, stopped and met all the little kids on the court and seemed like a great teammate. That said but he looked horrible. He was the shortest and skinniest leg guy on the court, barely played (might not have until the 2nd half?) and I don’t think he scored, at least not until garbage time. Had an embarassing clank 3 off side iron and then tripped and fell went sliding for a travel, JWill style. He will not play mins at Uconn and will be in the portal after this year, going down to a mid major.
2) Barclays put on a pathetic event. The upper bowl was curtained off but the lower bowl was probably 80% full so a decent crowd. However they had exactly 2 concession stands open in the entire arena, causing a line that wrapped almost halfway around the concourse that took almost 1 full hour standing in line (luckily did this from the end of the womens game to the start of the mens game so didnt miss much action). There was 1 merch table open also, didnt bother waiting in that line. They had a “corner store” kiosk open that looked like it was an abandoned food cart at disney world, which had a couple selections of chips and warm bottled soda. Wow I think only the Trenton game against Princeton was a worse arena experience than this.
3) This game has totally jumped the shark as it used to represent a celebration of college basketball, but now represents all that’s wrong with college basketball. The entire deal is put on by these “management” companies, which all these kids have deals with (including their “high schools”) - half the kids go to the same 5 high schools, which are basically basketball academies with probably a class or 2 on the side. The entire thing screams slimey Vegas agent money and it’s just too bad.
Lastly, very little Big Ten flavor. 1 Michigan guy who was ok, 1 UCLA guy who was a star (led the West to their first win in 8 years over the East), and a tall white guy who’s going to Washington somehow (where do they keep getting this basketball money)
Anyway that’s my take on the event
