1.
Basketball
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Basketball is a non-contact team sport played on a rectangular court by two teams of five players each. The objective is to shoot a ball through a hoop 18 inches in diameter and 10 feet high that is mounted to a backboard at each end of the court. The game was invented in 1891 by Dr. James Naismith, a team can score a field goal by shooting the ball through the basket being defended by the opposition team during regular play. A field goal scores three points for the team if the player shoots from behind the three-point line. A team can also score via free throws, which are worth one point, the team with the most points at the end of the game wins, but additional time is mandated when the score is tied at the end of regulation. The ball can be advanced on the court by passing it to a teammate and it is a violation to lift, or drag, ones pivot foot without dribbling the ball, to carry it, or to hold the ball with both hands then resume dribbling. The game has many techniques for displaying skill—ball-handling, shooting, passing, dribbling, dunking, shot-blocking. The point guard directs the on court action of the team, implementing the coachs game plan, Basketball is one of the worlds most popular and widely viewed sports. Outside North America, the top clubs from national leagues qualify to continental championships such as the Euroleague, the FIBA Basketball World Cup attracts the top national teams from around the world. Each continent hosts regional competitions for teams, like EuroBasket. The FIBA Womens Basketball World Cup features the top womens basketball teams from continental championships. The main North American league is the WNBA, whereas the EuroLeague Women has been dominated by teams from the Russian Womens Basketball Premier League, in early December 1891, Canadian Dr. He sought a vigorous indoor game to keep his students occupied, after rejecting other ideas as either too rough or poorly suited to walled-in gymnasiums, he wrote the basic rules and nailed a peach basket onto a 10-foot elevated track. Basketball was originally played with a soccer ball and these laces could cause bounce passes and dribbling to be unpredictable. Eventually a lace-free ball construction method was invented, and this change to the game was endorsed by Naismith, dribbling was not part of the original game except for the bounce pass to teammates. Passing the ball was the means of ball movement. Dribbling was eventually introduced but limited by the shape of early balls. Dribbling only became a part of the game around the 1950s
2.
NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament
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The tournament was created in 1939 by the National Association of Basketball Coaches, and was the idea of Ohio State University coach Harold Olsen. Played mostly during March, it has one of the most famous annual sporting events in the United States. The tournament teams include champions from 32 Division I conferences, and 36 teams which are awarded at-large berths, the 68 teams are divided into four regions and organized into a single-elimination bracket, which pre-determines, when a team wins a game, which team it will face next. Each team is seeded, or ranked, within its region from 1 to 32, after an initial four games between eight lower-ranked teams, the tournament occurs during the course of three weekends, at pre-selected neutral sites across the United States. The Final Four is usually played during the first weekend of April and these four teams, one from each region, compete in a pre-selected location for the national championship. The tournament has been at least partially televised since 1969, currently, the games are broadcast by CBS, TBS, TNT, and truTV under the trade-name NCAA March Madness. Since 2011, all games are available for viewing nationwide and internationally, such as in the Philippines, as television coverage has grown, so too has the tournaments popularity. Currently, millions of Americans fill out a bracket, attempting to predict the outcome of all 67 games of the tournament. With 11 national titles, UCLA has the record for the most NCAA Mens Division I Basketball Championships, the University of Kentucky is second, with eight national titles. The University of North Carolina is in place, with six titles, while Duke University. The University of Connecticut is sixth with four national titles, the University of Kansas and University of Louisville are tied with three championships. During that time Villanova, Michigan, UNLV, Duke, Arkansas, Arizona, Connecticut, Maryland, Syracuse, the NCAA has changed the tournament format several times since its inception, most often representing an increase of the number of teams. This section describes the tournament as it has operated since 2011, for changes during the course of its history, and to see how the tournament operated during past years, go to Format history, below. A total of 68 teams qualify for the tournament played during March, thirty-two teams earn automatic bids as their respective conference champions. Of the 32 Division I all-sports conferences, all 32 currently hold championship tournaments to determine which team receives the automatic qualification. The Ivy League was the last Division I conference that did not conduct a tournament, through the 2015–16 season, if two or more Ivies shared a regular-season championship, a one-game playoff was used to decide the tournament participant. Since 2017, the league conducts their own postseason tournament, the committee also determines where all sixty-eight teams are seeded and placed in the bracket. The tournament is divided into four regions and each region has at least sixteen teams, the committee is charged with making each of the four regions as close as possible in overall quality of teams from wherever they come from
3.
University of Kentucky
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The University of Kentucky is a public co-educational university in Lexington, Kentucky. S. The institution comprises 16 colleges, a school,93 undergraduate programs,99 master programs,66 doctoral programs. The University of Kentucky has fifteen libraries on campus, young Library, a federal depository, hosting subjects related to social sciences, humanities, and life sciences collections. In recent years, the university has focused expenditures increasingly on research, the directive mandated that the university become a Top 20 public research institution, in terms of an overall ranking to be determined by the university itself, by the year 2020. Courses were offered at Ashland, The Henry Clay Estate, three years later, James Kennedy Patterson became the first president of the land-grant university and the first degree was awarded. In 1876, the university began to offer degree programs. Two years later, A&M separated from Kentucky University, which is now Transylvania University, for the new school, Lexington donated a 52-acre park and fair ground, which became the core of UKs present campus. A&M was initially a male-only institution, but began to admit women in 1880, in 1892, the official colors of the university, royal blue and white, were adopted. An earlier color set, blue and light yellow, was adopted earlier at a Kentucky-Centre College football game on December 19,1891, the particular hue of blue was determined from a necktie, which was used to demonstrate the color of royal blue. On February 15,1882, Administration Building was the first building of three completed on the present campus, three years later, the college formed the Agricultural Experiment Station, which researches issues relating to agribusiness, food processing, nutrition, water and soil resources and the environment. This was followed up by the creation of the universitys Agricultural Extension Service in 1910, the extension service became a model of the federally mandated programs that were required beginning in 1914. Patterson Hall, the schools first womens dormitory, was constructed in 1904, residents had to cross a swampy depression, where the Student Center now stands, to reach central campus. Four years later, the name was changed to the State University, Lexington, Kentucky upon reaching university status. The university led to the creation of the College of Home Economics in 1916, the College of Commerce was established in 1925, known today as the Gatton College of Business and Economics. In 1929, Memorial Hall was completed, dedicated to the 2,756 Kentuckians who died in World War I and this was followed up by the new King Library, which opened in 1931 and was named for a long-time library director, Margaret I. The universitys graduate and professional programs became racially integrated in 1949 when Lyman T. Johnson, African Americans would not be allowed to attend as undergraduates until 1954, following the US Supreme Courts Brown v. Board of Education decision. In 1939, Governor Happy Chandler appointed the first woman trustee on the University of Kentucky Board of Trustees and she served from 1939 to 1960. In 1962, Blazer Hall was opened as the Georgia M Blazer Hall for Women in tribute to her years of service as a University of Kentucky trustee
4.
Kevin Durant
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Kevin Wayne Durant is an American professional basketball player for the Golden State Warriors of the National Basketball Association. Durant has won an NBA Most Valuable Player Award, four NBA scoring titles, the NBA Rookie of the Year Award and he has also been selected to six All-NBA teams and eight All-Star teams. Durant was a heavily recruited high school prospect and he played one season of college basketball for the University of Texas, where he won numerous year-end awards and became the first freshman to be named Naismith College Player of the Year. In the 2007 NBA draft, he was selected with the second pick by the Seattle SuperSonics. After his rookie season, the relocated to Oklahoma City. Durant helped lead Oklahoma City to the 2012 NBA Finals, losing to the Miami Heat in five games and he played nine seasons for the Thunder organization before joining the Warriors in 2016. Durant was born on September 29,1988 in Washington, D. C. to Wanda, when Durant was an infant, his father deserted the family, Wanda and Wayne eventually divorced, and Durants grandmother Barbara Davis helped raise him. By age 13, his father re-entered his life and traveled the country with him to basketball tournaments, Durant has one sister, Brianna, and two brothers, Tony and Rayvonne. Growing up, Durant wanted to play for his team, the Toronto Raptors. During this time, he began wearing #35 as his number in honor of his AAU coach, Charles Craig. Prior to the start of the season, he committed to the University of Texas, at the conclusion of the year, he was named the Washington Post All-Met Basketball Player of the Year, as well as the Most Valuable Player of the 2006 McDonalds All-American Game. He was widely regarded as the second-best high school prospect of 2006, for the 2006–07 college season, Durant averaged 25.8 points,11.1 rebounds, and 1.3 assists per game. The Longhorns finished the year with a 25–10 record overall and a 12–4 record in conference, Durant was the first freshman ever to win any of the National Player of the Year awards. On April 11, he declared for the 2007 NBA draft. His jersey was retired by the Longhorns. Durant was selected with the second pick in the 2007 NBA draft by the Seattle SuperSonics. In his first career game, he registered 18 points,5 rebounds, on November 16, he made the first game-winning shot of his career in a game against the Atlanta Hawks. At the conclusion of the season, he was named the NBA Rookie of the Year behind averages of 20.3 points,4.4 rebounds, and 2.4 assists per game
5.
Texas Longhorns men's basketball
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The Texas Longhorns mens basketball team represents The University of Texas at Austin in NCAA Division I intercollegiate mens basketball competition. The Longhorns currently compete in the Big 12 Conference, the University of Texas began varsity intercollegiate competition in mens basketball in 1906. Among Big 12 Conference mens basketball programs, Texas is second only to Kansas in both wins and all-time win percentage. The Texas basketball program experienced substantial success during the decades of its existence. Since 1977, the team has played its games in the Frank Erwin Special Events Center. The team is led by second-year head coach Shaka Smart. Mainland had been a nationally known basketball player as a student at Wheaton College prior to coming to UT. His Wheaton team placed out of the three competing college basketball teams in the 1904 Summer Olympics in St. Louis, the first Olympic Games featuring the young sport. The Longhorns took the court for the first time on March 10,1906, Texas traveled to Waco two weeks later for a three-game series with the Bears and won all three games behind the play of Mainland. The Longhorns ultimately won seven of the eight games scheduled in the programs inaugural season. Due to inadequate funding, the UT Athletic Council canceled the program after two seasons, leaving Texas without a basketball team for the 1908 season. The Athletics Council revived the program in 1909, owing in part to the efforts of Longhorn player Morgan Vining. Metzenthin finished with an record of 13–14, not until 1959 would another UT basketball coach leave with a losing overall record. Taylor, also the Texas track coach, assumed head coaching responsibilities for the 1913 season. Taylor came to UT with a reputation for basketball expertise. At the conclusion of the 1912–13 academic year, the UTs Cactus yearbook declared and it always has been so considered until this year Prof. Carl Taylor took charge of the work and infused new life into it, L. Bellmonts teams contributed 25 victories to a winning streak that would ultimately grow to 44 games. Hendersons team recorded Texas third consecutive undefeated season in 1916 to extend the total to 40 consecutive victories. S, Attorney General under Woodrow Wilson in 1914
6.
John Wall (basketball)
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Johnathan Hildred Wall Jr. is an American professional basketball player for the Washington Wizards of the National Basketball Association. A Raleigh, North Carolina native, Wall was chosen with the first overall pick of the 2010 NBA draft by the Wizards after playing one year at the University of Kentucky and he plays the point guard position and is a four-time NBA All-Star. Wall is the son of Frances Pulley and John Carroll Wall, when Wall was 8 years old, his father was released from prison but died of liver cancer a month later, on August 24,1999 at the age of 52. Throughout his childhood, Walls mother worked multiple jobs to support Wall, his sister, Cierra, Walls father was incarcerated due to the armed robbery of a convenience store and had served time earlier for second-degree murder. The death of Walls father caused him to reject the authority of adults and led to a path of violence and occasional fighting. Wall played AAU basketball for D-One Sports, Wall played his first two years of high school basketball at Garner Magnet High School in Garner, North Carolina. After his second season, his family moved to Raleigh and Wall repeated his sophomore year at Needham B, despite a very impressive tryout, Wall was cut from the Broughton basketball team for attitude-related issues. As a result, Wall transferred from Broughton to Word of God Christian Academy and it was in Word of God Christian Academy that Wall began mending his attitude related issues. Walls coach Levi Beckwith worked with Wall in order for him to stop demeaning his teammates for missed layups, in the summer of 2007, after his second sophomore year of high school, Wall was invited to the 2007 Reebok All-American Camp in Philadelphia. Wall distinguished himself by scoring 28 points against a team that featured future lottery pick Brandon Jennings, in 2008, Wall played in the Elite 24 Hoops Classic. He scored 10 points and earned co-MVP honors with Dominic Cheek, Maalik Wayns and Lance Stephenson. As a fifth-year senior in 2009 Wall averaged 19.7 points,9 assists, Wall scored 11 points in the game. He was selected to participate in the 2009 Nike Hoop Summit in Portland and he scored 13 points to go along with 11 assists and 5 steals. He was also selected to play in the 2009 Jordan Brand Classic at Madison Square Garden where he notched 6 assists, Wall was originally recruited by the University of Kentucky, Duke University, Georgia Tech, and the University of Kansas. Wall committed to attend the University of Kentucky on May 19,2009 and he was suspended by the NCAA from Kentuckys first exhibition game and first regular season game for travel benefits he received from his AAU coach Brian Clifton, a certified agent at the time. In his first action as a Wildcat, in a game against Clarion University of Pennsylvania. In his collegiate debut at Kentucky versus Miami University, Wall made the winning shot with.5 seconds left on the clock to help then #5 ranked Kentucky win. He finished with 19 points,2 rebounds,5 assists, on December 29,2009, against Hartford, Wall set the Kentucky single game assist record with 16,11 in the 1st half, with only 1 turnover
7.
Anthony Davis (basketball)
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Anthony Marshon Davis Jr. is an American professional basketball player for the New Orleans Pelicans of the National Basketball Association. He plays the forward and center positions. Davis was selected first overall in the 2012 NBA draft by New Orleans and he also earned a gold medal playing with Team USA at the 2012 Summer Olympics. Davis played one season of basketball for the University of Kentucky, when he was first team All-American. He also won the USBWA National Freshman of the Year, NABC Defensive Player of the Year, Davis led the NCAA in blocks and set Southeastern Conference and NCAA Division I freshman single-season blocked shots records. Davis led Kentucky to a National Championship and was named Most Outstanding Player of the NCAA tournament. He left college for the NBA after one season and was drafted by New Orleans, then known as the New Orleans Hornets, after his rookie season, he was named to the NBA All-Rookie First Team. The next season, he became an All-Star for the first time and he has since become a four-time All-Star and the youngest player to score 59 or more points in an NBA game. In 2017, he was named the recipient of the NBA All-Star Game MVP Award after setting an All-Star Game scoring record of 52 points en route. Davis is from the South Side of Chicago and played high school basketball for Perspectives Charter School, the team plays in a division of the Chicago Public High School League, known as the Blue Division, that is ignored by the media because of its lower level of competition. Perspectives is a school that operates as a math and science academy with high academic pedigree. The school had no gymnasium and Davis middle school basketball teams practiced at a nearby church, in junior high school, he was known as the little guy who would shoot threes from the corner. He ended his year at a height of 6 feet 0 inches. By the beginning of his year, he had grown another 1 inch. As an unheralded guard after his season, he worked out with his cousins on guard drills that their father had developed. Davis did not play in the spring/summer AAU circuit between 8th grade and his junior year. He began his year at a height of 6 feet 7 inches and his junior basketball season at 6 feet 8 inches. Rivals. com rated him the #2 player behind Austin Rivers, the attention came when he started playing on Tai Streets Meanstreets traveling system in the spring of his junior year
8.
Bill Walton
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William Theodore Bill Walton III is an American retired basketball player and television sportscaster. He then went on to have a prominent career in the National Basketball Association where he was a league Most Valuable Player and his professional career was significantly hampered by multiple foot injuries. Walton was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame on May 10,1993, Walton was born in La Mesa, California, the son of Gloria Anne and William Theodore Ted Walton. His listed adult playing height was 6 feet 11 inches, it has reported that Walton is actually taller. He played high school basketball at Helix High School, at age 17, Walton played for the United States mens national basketball team at the 1970 FIBA World Championship. The Walton-led 1971–72 UCLA basketball team had a record of 30–0 and he was the backbone of two consecutive 30–0 seasons and was also part of UCLAs NCAA mens basketball record 88-game winning streak. Walton was the 1973 recipient of the James E. Sullivan Award as the top athlete in the United States. Some college basketball historians rate Walton as the greatest who ever played the game at the college level, in Waltons senior year during the 1973–74 season, the schools 88-game winning streak ended with a 71–70 loss to Notre Dame. During the same season, UCLAs record seven consecutive national titles was broken when North Carolina State defeated the Bruins 80–77 in double overtime in the NCAA semi-finals. With Waltons graduation in 1974 and legendary Bruin coach John Woodens retirement after UCLAs 1975 national title, prior to joining the varsity team, Walton, along with Greg Lee and Keith Wilkes, was a member of the 20–0 UCLA Freshman team. He signed with the Trail Blazers but his first two seasons were marred by injury and the Blazers missed the playoffs both years. It was not until the 1976–77 season that he was enough to play 65 games and, spurred by new head coach Jack Ramsay. Walton led the NBA in both rebounds per game and blocked shots per game season, and he was selected to the NBA All-Star Game. Walton was named to the NBAs First All-Defensive Team and the All-NBA Second Team for his season accomplishments. Walton was named the Finals MVP and he nonetheless won the league MVP that season and the Sporting News NBA MVP, as well. He played in his only All-Star Game in 1978 and was named to both the NBAs First All-Defensive Team and the All-NBA First Team, Walton returned to action for the playoffs, but was reinjured in the second game of a series against the Seattle SuperSonics. Without Walton to lead them, Portland lost the series to Seattle in six games, as it turned out, Walton would never play for the Trail Blazers again. During the offseason, Walton demanded to be traded, citing unethical and incompetent treatment of his and he did not get his wish and sat out the 1978–79 season in protest, signing with the San Diego Clippers when he became a free agent in 1979
9.
Shaquille O'Neal
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Shaquille Rashaun Shaq ONeal, nicknamed Shaq, is a retired American professional basketball player and former rapper who is currently an analyst on the television program Inside the NBA. Listed at 7 ft 1 in tall and weighing 325 pounds, ONeal played for six teams throughout his 19-year NBA career. Following his career at Louisiana State University, ONeal was drafted by the Orlando Magic with the first overall pick in the 1992 NBA draft. He quickly became one of the best centers in the league, winning Rookie of the Year in 1992–93, after four years with the Magic, ONeal signed as a free agent with the Los Angeles Lakers. They won three championships in 2000,2001, and 2002. Amid tension between ONeal and Kobe Bryant, ONeal was traded to the Miami Heat in 2004, midway through the 2007–2008 season he was traded to the Phoenix Suns. After a season-and-a-half with the Suns, ONeal was traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers in the 2009–10 season, ONeal played for the Boston Celtics in the 2010–11 season before retiring. He is one of three players to win NBA MVP, All-Star game MVP and Finals MVP awards in the same year. He ranks 7th all-time in points scored, 5th in field goals, 13th in rebounds, largely due to his ability to dunk the basketball, ONeal also ranks 3rd all-time in field goal percentage. ONeal was elected into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2016, in addition to his basketball career, ONeal has released four rap albums, with his first, Shaq Diesel, going platinum. He has appeared in films and has starred in his own reality shows, Shaqs Big Challenge. He currently hosts The Big Podcast with Shaq, ONeal was born on March 6,1972 in Newark, New Jersey, to Lucille ONeal and Joe Toney, an All-State guard in high school who was offered a basketball scholarship to play at Seton Hall. Toney struggled with addiction and was imprisoned for drug possession when ONeal was an infant. Upon his release, he did not resume a place in ONeals life and instead agreed to relinquish his rights to ONeals stepfather, Phillip A. Harrison. ONeal remained estranged from his father for decades, ONeal had not spoken with Toney or expressed an interest in establishing a relationship. On his 1994 rap album, Shaq Fu, The Return, ONeal voiced his feelings of disdain for Toney in the song Biological Didnt Bother, dismissing him with the line Phil is my father. However, ONeals feelings toward Toney mellowed in the years following Harrisons death in 2013, ONeal credits the Boys and Girls Club of America in Newark with giving him a safe place to play and keeping him off the streets. It gave me something to do, he said, id just go there to shoot
10.
Center (basketball)
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The center, also known as the five or the big man, is one of the five positions in a regular basketball game. The center is normally the tallest player on the team, and often has a deal of strength. The tallest player to ever be drafted in the NBA was the 78 Yasutaka Okayama from Japan, the tallest players to ever play in the NBA, at 77, are centers Gheorghe Mureșan and Manute Bol. Standing at 72, Margo Dydek is the tallest player to have played in the WNBA. The center is considered a component for a successful team. But recently, the NBA has turned into a point guard league, great centers have been the foundation for most of the dynasties in both the NBA and NCAA. In the 1960s, Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain further transformed basketball by combining height with a level of athleticism than previous centers. Following the retirement of George Mikan, the rivalry of the two big men came to dominate the NBA, many of the records set by these two players have endured today. Most notably, Chamberlain and Russell hold the top eighteen season averages for rebounds, Bill Russell led the University of San Francisco to two consecutive NCAA Championships. He joined the Boston Celtics and helped make them one of the greatest dynasties in NBA history, Russell revolutionized defensive strategy with his shot-blocking, rebounding and physical man-to-man defense. His principal rival, Wilt Chamberlain, listed at 71,275 pounds, Chamberlain played college ball for the Kansas Jayhawks, leading them to the 1957 title game against the North Carolina Tar Heels. Although the Jayhawks lost by one point in overtime, Chamberlain was named the tournaments Most Outstanding Player. He also won seven scoring titles, eleven rebounding titles, and four regular season Most Valuable Player awards, including the distinction, in 1960, stronger than any player of his era, he was usually capable of scoring and rebounding at will. Most notably, Chamberlain is the player in NBA history to average more than 50 points in a season. He also holds the NBAs all-time records for rebounding average, rebounds in a single game, in contrast to the Celtics dynasty of the 1960s, the 1970s were a decade of parity in the NBA, with eight different champions and no back-to-back winners. At the college level, the UCLA Bruins, under Coach John Wooden, built the greatest dynasty in NCAA basketball history, UCLA had already won two consecutive titles in 1964 and 1965 with teams that pressed and emphasized guard play. After not winning in 1966, Woodens teams changed their style when Lew Alcindor became eligible and he led UCLA to three championships-in 1967,68 and 69-while winning the first Naismith College Player of the Year Award. During his college career, the NCAA enacted a ban on dunking primarily because of Alcindors dominant use of the shot
11.
Indiana Hoosiers men's basketball
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The Indiana Hoosiers mens basketball team is the intercollegiate mens basketball program representing Indiana University. The school competes in the Big Ten Conference in NCAA Division I, the Hoosiers play on Branch McCracken Court at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall in Bloomington, Indiana on the Indiana University Bloomington campus. Indiana has won five NCAA Championships in mens basketball — the first two under coach Branch McCracken and the three under Bob Knight. The Hoosiers five NCAA Championships are tied for fourth in history with Duke, trailing only UCLA, Kentucky, Indianas 1976 squad remains the last undefeated NCAA mens basketball champion. The Hoosiers are seventh in NCAA Tournament appearances, seventh in NCAA Tournament victories, ninth in Final Four appearances, the Hoosiers have won 22 Big Ten Conference Championships and have the best winning percentage in conference games at nearly 60 percent. No team has had more All-Big Ten selections than the Hoosiers with 53, the Hoosiers also rank seventh in all-time AP poll appearances and sixth in the number of weeks spent ranked No.1. Every four-year mens basketball letterman since 1973 has earned a trip to the NCAA basketball tournament, additionally, every four-year player since 1950 has played on a nationally ranked squad at Indiana. The Hoosiers are among the most storied programs in the history of college basketball, a 2012 study listed Indiana as the third most valuable collegiate basketball program in the country. Indiana has ranked in the top 15 nationally in basketball attendance every season since Assembly Hall opened in 1972. Indiana has three main rivalries including in-state, against the Purdue Boilermakers, and out-of-state, against the Kentucky Wildcats, Indiana players wear warm-up pants that are striped red and white, like the stripes of a candy cane. They were first worn by the team in the 1970s under head coach Bob Knight, at the time they were in keeping with the fashion trends of the 1970s, but despite changing styles they have since become an iconic part of playing for Indiana. IU star guard Steve Alford said, As you watch television and you watch the IU games, so when you finally got to put those on, those are pretty special. Rusty Stillions, Director of Indianas Equipment Operations, said the pants were originally only for team members. However, changes in licensing agreements permitted the public to buy them as well. They have since become a staple at games and other Indiana basketball events, beginning in 2014, during Hoosier Hysteria, former IU basketball players have presented to the new players their first pair of candy striped pants. This practice symbolizes a passing-of-the-torch and carrying on the rich tradition, the team is widely noted for their simple game jerseys. Unlike most schools, Indiana doesnt have players names on the back of jerseys that players wear on the court, the notion behind the nameless jerseys is that players play for the team name on the front, not the individuals name on the back. In keeping with Indianas longstanding principle of putting team over player, adidas is the current outfitter of Indiana athletics
12.
Point guard
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The point guard, also called the one or point, is one of the five positions in a regulation basketball game. A point guard has perhaps the most specialized role of any position, point guards are expected to run the teams offense by controlling the ball and making sure that it gets to the right players at the right time. A point guard, like other player positions in basketball, specializes in certain skills, a point guards primary job is to facilitate scoring opportunities for his/her team, or sometimes for themselves. Lee Rose has described a point guard as a coach on the floor and this involves setting up plays on the court, getting the ball to the teammate in the best position to score, and controlling the tempo of the game. A point guard should know when and how to instigate a fast break, point guards are expected to be vocal floor leaders. A point guard needs always to have in mind the times on the clock and the game clock, the score. Among the taller players who have enjoyed success at the position is Magic Johnson, other point guards who have been named NBA MVP include Bob Cousy, Oscar Robertson, Derrick Rose and two-time winners Stephen Curry and Steve Nash. In the NBA, point guards are usually about 65 or shorter, having above-average size is considered advantageous, although size is secondary to situational awareness, speed, quickness, and ball handling skills. Shorter players tend to be better dribblers since they are closer to the floor, after an opponent scores, it is typically the point guard who brings the ball down court to begin an offensive play. Passing skills, ball handling, and court vision are crucial, speed is important, a speedy point guard is better able to create separation and space off the dribble, giving him/herself room to work. Point guards are often valued more for their assist totals than for their scoring, another major evaluation factor is Assist-to-Turnover ratio, which reflects the decision-making skills of the player. Still, a point guard should also have a reasonably effective jump shot. The point guard is positioned on the perimeter of the play and this is a necessity because of the point guards many leadership obligations. Many times, the point guard is referred to by announcers as a coach on the floor or a floor general, in the past, this was particularly true, as several point guards such as Lenny Wilkens served their teams as player-coaches. This is not so common anymore, as most coaches are now solely specialized in coaching and are non-players, former Suns head coach Mike DAntoni had often allowed Steve Nash to freelance when leading the Suns offense, even letting him call his own plays at times. Even point guards who are not given this much freedom, however, are extensions of their coach on the floor. John Stockton is widely considered to be the point guard. He also used the pick and roll maneuvre with Karl Malone, along with leadership and a general basketball acumen, ball-handling is a skill of great importance to a point guard
