After the men’s basketball team’s solid win over New Mexico State on Saturday, it became abundantly clear to anyone watching on ESPN 3 that DU students have yet to learn how to react to camera crews showing up at games.
Storming the court after beating an unranked opponent that actually sits lower in conference than the Pioneers is simply embarrassing. Granted, DU does not get to play top-ranked teams often (if ever), but the fact that the student section was larger than normal and the Pioneers came out with a win does not warrant defacing one of the best traditions in sports.
The blog “Ballin is a Habit” lays out four prerequisites for court storming that DU students should pay heed to. First, it has to be a big game (either a rivalry, a conference championship or something of that magnitude). Second, the talent levels of the two teams have to be significantly different. Third, the game has to come down to the wire; no blowout wins allowed. Finally, if the winning team is already ranked, it simply should not happen.
I highly suggest we follow these prerequisites and note that we might not get to storm the court every year. We should still support the team, but let’s leave the court storming to national upsets.
Moving on to other basketball-related news, Nuggets center JaVale McGee is quickly becoming one of my favorite players. McGee, with his 7-foot-6-inch wingspan, thunderous dunks, alternate personality name Pierre and incredible shot blocking ability, is slowly rounding into form as a basketball player, all in a way that is so distinctly JaVale.
When the Nuggets released their version of the Harlem Shake video last week, McGee was the one that got the video rolling, just as any Nuggets fan would expect.
While in the past he has been known just as well for his boneheaded plays as his amazing feats of athleticism, it seems that the good JaVale is starting to overtake the bad JaVale. Over the course of the 2012-2013 NBA season, McGee has posted a team-high 21.45 Player Efficiency Rating, well above the league average of 15. That ranks him 18th in the league of all players with enough minutes to qualify.
While many have questioned McGee’s on-court decision making, Nuggets wing Andre Igoudala disagrees with the notion that McGee isn’t thinking on the court.
“JaVale McGee is one of the smartest guys I know,” said Igoudala. “He’s a thinker, so his mind goes into a lot of different places, and I think that can be taken the wrong way when he’s on the court—he can be an over-thinker at times.”
Regardless of his intellectual capacity, I’m excited to see the progress I’m sure McGee will continue to produce. If he continues his level of play across some increased minutes (yes, George Karl, it’s time to play JaVale more), I truly believe his defensive presence as a shot blocker and insane level of athleticism and dunking ability could make him one of the best centers in the league.
