Basketball Season Has Begun

Three games in five days.

Jim Bade, Ken Dupuis, Craig Morris, and I went to U of Detroit to see them play Butler last Thursday. Butler came in undefeated, including wins over U of M and Ohio State, and ranked in the mid-teens. Butler won a low scoring, defensive struggle 53-46. I was especially impressed by Butler's Matt Howard, a 6-7 freshmman from Connersville, who scored 20, some on twisting, acrobatic layups; he also had 12 rebounds, and 3 blocked shots.

On Saturday, Kathy and I went to Oakland U to watch the Grizzlies play Southern Utah. It was Kathy's first visit to the O'Rena which is the reconstructed fieldhouse where Kathy graduated back in the day. She tried to call them the Pioneers, their original nickname! A seesaw battle most of the game, Southern Utah pulled ahead late to win by nine. Oakland's Matt Kangas shot 8 for 16 three-pointers and wound up with 27 points, and Geoff Payne from SUU scored 32. Very entertaining evening. Tee shirts thrown into the crowd by swimming and diving team, putt a golf ball the length of the court into a small opening for a semester's tuition, free pizzas, dance and cheer teams performing, shoot three-pointers for gift certificates. And a great place to watch basketball.

Then Monday up to Romeo High School to see the Bulldogs take on Dakota HS. (Strange to have boys basketball on other than Tuesday or Friday, the traditional days for as long as I can remember. But with girls now having their season in winter instead of fall, boys and girls will share those days.) Blake Cushingberry led Romeo to a 73-62 win with 36 points and 18 rebounds, his second consecutive 30-point game. Blake is the third Cushingberry brother we've seen play and he appears to be the best. A little taller and much stronger than his two brothers he can dominate physically as well as skillwise. Others on the team are very good players in their own right. And I suspect without Blake they would have a fine season. They are quick, run the floor well, and pass. By midseason, after they've played together for awhile, they will be very good. They will be fun to watch the rest of the season.