Point guard
The point guard called the one or point, is one of the five positions in a regulation basketball game. A point guard has the most specialized role of any position. Point guards are expected to run the team's offense by controlling the ball and making sure that it gets to the right player at the right time. Above all, the point guard must understand and accept their coach's game plan. While the point guard must understand and accept the coach's gameplan, they must be able to adapt to what the defense is allowing, they must control the pace of the game. A point guard, like other player positions in basketball, specializes in certain skills. A point guard's 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, who can handle and distribute the ball to teammates; this involves setting up plays on the court, getting the ball to the teammate in the best position to score, controlling the tempo of the game.
A point guard should know when and how to instigate a fast break and when and how to initiate the more deliberate sets. Point guards are expected to be vocal floor leaders. A point guard needs always to have in mind the times on the shot clock and the game clock, the score, the numbers of remaining timeouts for both teams, etc. Among the taller players who have enjoyed success at the position is Ben Simmons, who at 6’ 10” won the 2018 National Basketball Association Rookie of the Year Award. Behind him is Magic Johnson, who at 6’ 9” won the National Basketball Association Most Valuable Player Award three times in his career. Other point guards who have been named NBA MVP include Russell Westbrook, Bob Cousy, Oscar Robertson, Allen Iverson, Derrick Rose and two-time winners Steve Nash and Stephen Curry. In the NBA, point guards are about 6' 4" or shorter, average about 6' 2" whereas in the WNBA, point guards are 5' 9" or shorter. Having above-average size is considered advantageous, although size is secondary to situational awareness, speed and ball handling skills.
Shorter players tend to be better dribblers since they are closer to the floor, thus have better control of the ball while dribbling. After an opponent scores, it is the point guard who brings the ball down court to begin an offensive play. Passing skills, ball handling, court vision are crucial. Speed is important. Point guards are 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 first-rate point guard should have a reasonably effective jump shot; the point guard is positioned on the perimeter of the play, so as to have the best view of the action. This is a necessity because of the point guard's 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 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 specialized in coaching and are non-players.
Some point guards are still given a great deal of leeway in the offense. Point guards who are not given this much freedom, are still extensions of their coach on the floor and must display good leadership skills. Along with leadership and a general basketball acumen, ball-handling is a skill of great importance to a point guard. Speaking, the point guard is the player in possession of the ball for the most time during a game and is responsible for maintaining possession of the ball for his team in the face of any pressure from the opponents. Point guards must be able to maintain possession of the ball in crowded spaces and in traffic and be able to advance the ball quickly. A point guard that has enough ball-handling skill and quickness to be able to drive to the basket in a half-court set is very valuable and considered by some to be a must for a successful offense. After ball-handling and scoring are the most important areas of the game for a point guard; as the primary decision-maker for a team, a point guard's passing ability determines how well a point guard is able to put his decision into play.
It is one thing to be able to recognize the player, in a tactically advantageous position, but it is another thing to be able to deliver the ball to that player. For this reason, a point guard is but not always, more skilled and focused on passing than shooting. However, a good jump shot and the ability to score off a drive to the basket are still valuable skills. A point guard will use his ability to score in order to augment his effectiveness as a decision maker and play maker. In addition to the traditional role of the point guard, modern teams have found new ways to utilize the position. Notably, several modern point guards have used a successful style of post play, a tactic practiced by much larger centers and forwards. Working off of the fact that the opposing point guard is in all probability an undersized player with limited strength, several modern point guards have developed games close to the basket that include being able to utilize the drop step, spin move, fade away jump shot. In recent years, the sport's shift from a fundamental style of play to a more athletic, scoring-oriented game resulted in the proliferation of so-called combo guards at the po
2002 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament
The 2002 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament involved 65 schools playing in single-elimination play to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division I college basketball. It began on March 12, 2002, ended with the championship game on April 1 in Atlanta at the Georgia Dome. A total of 64 games were played; this was the first year that the tournament used the so-called "pod" system, in which the eight first- and second-round sites are distributed around the four regionals. Teams were assigned to first round spots; the top seeds at each site were: Sacramento: Oregon, USC Albuquerque: Arizona, Ohio State Dallas: Oklahoma, Mississippi State St. Louis: Kansas, Kentucky Chicago: Georgia, Illinois Pittsburgh: Cincinnati, Pittsburgh Washington, D. C.: Maryland, Connecticut Greenville: Duke, Alabama The Final Four consisted of Maryland, making their second consecutive appearance, making their first appearance since 1993, making their first appearance since 1992, Oklahoma, making their first appearance since their national runner-up finish in 1988.
Maryland defeated Indiana 64-52 in the championship game to win their first national championship. Juan Dixon of Maryland was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player. For the second straight tournament, the Elite Eight featured at least one double-digit seed. South Region tenth-seed Kent State and West Region twelfth-seed Missouri played in their respective regional finals, with Kent State losing to Indiana and Missouri losing to Oklahoma; this marked the first time since 1987 that no team from the states of North Carolina nor Kentucky reached the Final Four. The following are the sites selected to host each round of the 2002 tournament: March 12 University of Dayton Arena, Ohio March 14 and 16 ARCO Arena, California BI-LO Center, South Carolina Edward Jones Dome, St. Louis, Missouri University Arena, New Mexico March 15 and 17 American Airlines Center, Dallas MCI Center, Washington, D. C. Mellon Arena, Pittsburgh United Center, Chicago March 21 and 23 South Regional, Rupp Arena, Kentucky West Regional, Compaq Center at San Jose, San Jose, California March 22 and 24 East Regional, Carrier Dome, New York Midwest Regional, Kohl Center, Wisconsin March 30 and April 1 Georgia Dome, Atlanta For the second time, Atlanta was the host city of the Final Four, with the Georgia Dome becoming the 33rd host venue.
The Georgia Dome currently holds the distinction of being the most recent Final Four venue to close and be demolished, as it did so in 2017 after the opening of Mercedes-Benz Stadium, which will host the Final Four in 2020. The tournament included two new host cities; the American Airlines Center in Dallas, which opened in 2001, replaced Reunion Arena as the city's primary winter sports venue. The Kohl Center on the campus of the University of Wisconsin brought the tournament back to Wisconsin's capital city for the first time since 1969, although it has not returned since, and the city of Greenville, South Carolina's Bi-Lo Center hosted for the first time in 2002. The 2002 tournament was the last time. At Georgia Dome, Atlanta March 30, 2002 Maryland 97, Kansas 88For the second straight year the Maryland Terrapins earned a bid to the Final Four; this time they would take advantage of their trip. After falling behind 13-2 to the Kansas Jayhawks to begin the game, Maryland stormed to a 44-37 lead at halftime.
They expanded their lead to 83-63, with 6:11 left in the game. Roy Williams' Kansas squad did not quit and closed the gap to 4 with under a minute remaining, but the Terps survived to advance to the championship, 97-88. Maryland senior Juan Dixon led the contest in scoring with 33. Indiana 73, Oklahoma 64Mike Davis's Indiana Hoosiers continued their Cinderella ride in the NCAA Tournament by defeating another higher ranked team, the Oklahoma Sooners. Oklahoma led most of the first half, took a 34-30 lead into halftime. However, with the score 60-60 late in the 2nd half Indiana broke ahead for good with an easy bucket from Jeff Newton, who led the Hoosiers with 19 points; the Hoosiers outscored the Sooners by 13 in the 2nd half and advanced to the championship game with a 73-64 victory. Oklahoma was coached by Kelvin Sampson, who in his career would succeed Davis as IU head coach. April 1, 2002 Maryland 64, Indiana 52The Maryland Terrapins completed the task they set out to do one year earlier by defeating the Indiana Hoosiers 64-52.
Maryland led the entire game except for a brief point with 9:52 left in the basketball game when Indiana took a 44-42 lead. Maryland answered the Hoosier run and ended the game with a 22-8 run to bring home the school's first and coach Gary Williams' only men's basketball National Champion
Portland Trail Blazers
The Portland Trail Blazers known as the Blazers, are an American professional basketball team based in Portland, Oregon. The Trail Blazers compete in the National Basketball Association as a member of the league's Western Conference Northwest Division; the team played its home games in the Memorial Coliseum before moving to Moda Center in 1995. The franchise entered the league as an expansion team in 1970, has enjoyed a strong following: from 1977 through 1995, the team sold out 814 consecutive home games, the longest such streak in American major professional sports at the time, only since surpassed by the Boston Red Sox; the Trail Blazers have been the only NBA team based in the bi-national Pacific Northwest, after the Vancouver Grizzlies relocated to Memphis and became the Memphis Grizzlies in 2001, the Seattle SuperSonics relocated to Oklahoma City and became the Oklahoma City Thunder in 2008. The team has advanced to the NBA Finals three times, winning the NBA championship once in 1977.
Their other NBA Finals appearances were in 1990 and 1992. The team has qualified for the playoffs in 34 seasons of their 48-season existence, including a streak of 21 straight appearances from 1983 through 2003, tied for the second longest streak in NBA history; the Trail Blazers' 34 playoff appearances rank third in the NBA only behind the Los Angeles Lakers and San Antonio Spurs since the team's inception in 1970. Six Hall of Fame players have played for the Trail Blazers. Bill Walton is the franchise's most decorated player. Four Blazer rookies have won the NBA Rookie of the Year award. Three players have earned the Most Improved Player award: Kevin Duckworth, Zach Randolph, CJ McCollum. Two Hall of Fame coaches, Lenny Wilkens and Jack Ramsay, have patrolled the sidelines for the Blazers, two others, Mike Schuler and Mike Dunleavy, have won the NBA Coach of the Year Award with the team. Sports promoter Harry Glickman sought a National Basketball Association franchise for Portland as far back as 1955 when he proposed two new expansion teams, the other to be located in Los Angeles.
When the Memorial Coliseum was opened in 1960 Glickman saw the potential it could serve as a professional basketball venue but it was not until February 6, 1970, that the NBA board of governors granted him the rights to a franchise in Portland. To raise the money for the $3.7 million admission tax, Glickman associated himself to real estate magnates Robert Schmertz of New Jersey, Larry Weinberg of Los Angeles and Herman Sarkowsky of Seattle. Two weeks on February 24, team management held a contest to select the team's name and received more than 10,000 entries; the most popular choice was "Pioneers", but that name was excluded from consideration as it was used by sports teams at Portland's Lewis & Clark College. The name "Trail Blazers" received 172 entries, was selected by the judging panel, being revealed on March 13 in the halftime of a SuperSonics game at the Memorial Coliseum. Derived from the trail blazing activity by explorers making paths through forests, Glickman considered it a name that could "reflect both the ruggedness of the Pacific Northwest and the start of a major league era in our state."
Despite initial mixed response, the Trail Blazers name shortened to just "Blazers", became popular in Oregon. Along with the Cleveland Cavaliers and Buffalo Braves, the Trail Blazers entered the NBA in 1970 as an expansion team, under coach Rolland Todd. Geoff Petrie and Sidney Wicks led the team in its early years, the team failed to qualify for the playoffs in its first six seasons of existence. During that span, the team had three head coaches; the team won the first pick in the NBA draft twice during that span. In 1972, the team drafted LaRue Martin with the number one pick. In 1974 the team selected Bill Walton from UCLA; the ABA–NBA merger of 1976 saw those two rival leagues join forces. Four ABA teams joined the NBA; the Trail Blazers selected Maurice Lucas in the dispersal draft. That summer, they hired Jack Ramsay as head coach; the two moves, coupled with the team's stellar play, led Portland to several firsts: winning record, playoff appearance, championship in 1977. Starting on April 5 of that year, the team began a sellout streak of 814 straight games—the longest in American major professional sports history—which did not end until 1995, after the team moved into a larger facility.
The team started the 1977–78 season with a 50–10 mark, some predicted a dynasty in Portland. However, Bill Walton suffered a foot injury that ended his season and would plague him over the remainder of his career, the team struggled to an 8–14 finish, going 58–24 overall. In the playoffs, Portland lost to the Seattle SuperSonics in the 1978 conference semifinals; that summer, Walton demanded to be traded to a team of his choice because he was unhappy with his medical treatment in Portland. Walton was never traded, he held out the entire 1978–79 season and left the team as a free agent thereafter; the team was further dismantled as Lucas left in 1980. During the 1980s, the team was a consistent presence in the NBA post-season, failing to qualify for the playoffs only in 1982. However, they never advanced past the conference semifinals duri
Universiade
The Universiade is an international multi-sport event, organized for university athletes by the International University Sports Federation. The name is a combination of the words "University" and "olympiad"; the Universiade is referred to in English as the World University Games or World Student Games. The most recent games were in 2017: the Winter Universiade was in Almaty, while the Summer Universiade was held in Taipei, Taiwan; the 2019 Winter Universiade took place in Krasnoyarsk, Russian Federation, between 2 and 12 March 2019, the 2019 Summer Universiade will be held in Naples, Italy between 3 and 14 July. The idea of a global international sports competition between student-athletes pre-dates the 1949 formation of the International University Sports Federation, which now hosts the Universiade. English peace campaigner Hodgson Pratt was an early advocate of such an event, proposing a motion at the 1891 Universal Peace Congress in Rome to create a series of international student conferences in rotating host capital cities, with activities including art and sport.
This did not come to pass, but a similar event was created in Germany in 1909 in the form of the Academic Olympia. Five editions were held from 1909 to 1913, all of which were hosted in Germany following the cancellation of an Italy-based event. At the start of the 20th century, Jean Petitjean of France began attempting to organise a "University Olympic Games". After discussion with Pierre de Coubertin, the founder of the modern Olympic Games, Petitjean was convinced not to use the word "Olympic" in the tournament's name. Petitjean, the Confederation Internationale des Etudiants, was the first to build a series of international events, beginning with the 1923 International Universities Championships; this was followed by the renamed 1924 Summer Student World Championships a year and two further editions were held in 1927 and 1928. Another name change resulted in the 1930 International University Games; the CIE's International University Games was held four more times in the 1930s before having its final edition in 1947.
A separate group organised an alternative university games in 1939 in Vienna, in post-Anschluss Germany. The onset of World War II ceased all major international student sport activities and the aftermath led to division among the movement, as the CIE was disbanded and rival organisations emerged; the Union Internationale des Étudiants incorporated a university sports games into the World Festival of Youth and Students from 1947–1962, including one separate, unofficial games in 1954. This event principally catered for Eastern European countries. After the closure of the CIE and the creation of the first UIE-organised games, FISU came into being in 1949 and held its own first major student sport event the same year in the form of the 1949 Summer International University Sports Week; the Sports Week was held biennially until 1955. Like the CIE's games before it, the FISU events were Western-led sports competitions. Division between the Western European FISU and Eastern European UIE began to dissipate among broadened participation at the 1957 World University Games.
This event was not directly organised by either group, instead being organised by Jean Petitjean in France, but all respective nations from the groups took part. The FISU-organised Universiade became the direct successor to this competition, maintaining the biennial format into the inaugural 1959 Universiade, it was not until the 1957 World University Games that the Soviet Union began to compete in FISU events. That same year, what had been a European competition became a global one, with the inclusion of Brazil and the United States among the competing nations; the increased participation led to the establishment of the Universiade as the primary global student sport championship. 1 The Republic of China is recognised as Chinese Taipei by FISU and the majority of international organisations it participates in due to political considerations and Cross-Strait relations with the People's Republic of China. World University Championships International University Sports Federation International Children's Games Official website of the International University Sports Federation Official website of the German University Sports Federation Official report of the Winter Universiade Innsbruck / Seefeld 2005 Yahoo News: 2017 Taipei Universiade, 87% box-office success as the highest ever
National Collegiate Athletic Association
The National Collegiate Athletic Association is a non-profit organization which regulates athletes of 1,268 North American institutions and conferences. It organizes the athletic programs of many colleges and universities in the United States and Canada, helps more than 480,000 college student-athletes who compete annually in college sports; the organization is headquartered in Indiana. In its 2016–17 fiscal year the NCAA took in $1.06 billion in revenue, over 82% of, generated by the Division I Men's Basketball Tournament. In August 1973, the current three-division system of Division I, Division II, Division III was adopted by the NCAA membership in a special convention. Under NCAA rules, Division I and Division II schools can offer scholarships to athletes for playing a sport. Division III schools may not offer any athletic scholarships. Larger schools compete in Division I and smaller schools in II and III. Division I football was further divided into I-A and I-AA in 1978. Subsequently, the term "Division I-AAA" was added to delineate Division I schools which do not field a football program at all, but that term is no longer used by the NCAA.
In 2006, Divisions I-A and I-AA were renamed the Football Bowl Subdivision and Football Championship Subdivision. Controversially, the NCAA caps the benefits that collegiate athletes can receive from their schools. There is a consensus among economists that these caps for men's basketball and football players benefit the athletes' schools at the expense of athletes. Intercollegiate sports began in the US in 1852 when crews from Harvard and Yale universities met in a challenge race in the sport of rowing; as rowing remained the preeminent sport in the country into the late-1800s, many of the initial debates about collegiate athletic eligibility and purpose were settled through organizations like the Rowing Association of American Colleges and the Intercollegiate Rowing Association. As other sports emerged, notably football and basketball, many of these same concepts and standards were adopted. Football, in particular, began to emerge as a marquee sport, but the rules of the game itself were in constant flux and had to be adapted for each contest.
The NCAA dates its formation to two White House conferences convened by President Theodore Roosevelt in the early 20th century in response to repeated injuries and deaths in college football which had "prompted many college and universities to discontinue the sport." Following those White House meetings and the reforms which had resulted, Chancellor Henry MacCracken of New York University organized a meeting of 13 colleges and universities to initiate changes in football playing rules. The IAAUS was established on March 31, 1906, took its present name, the NCAA, in 1910. For several years, the NCAA was a discussion group and rules-making body, but in 1921, the first NCAA national championship was conducted: the National Collegiate Track and Field Championships. More rules committees were formed and more championships were created, including a basketball championship in 1939. A series of crises brought the NCAA to a crossroads after World War II; the "Sanity Code" – adopted to establish guidelines for recruiting and financial aid – failed to curb abuses.
Postseason football games were multiplying with little control, member schools were concerned about how the new medium of television would affect football attendance. The complexity of those problems and the growth in membership and championships demonstrated the need for full-time professional leadership. Walter Byers a part-time executive assistant, was named executive director in 1951, a national headquarters was established in Kansas City, Missouri in 1952. Byers wasted no time placing his stamp on the Association. A program to control live television of football games was approved, the annual Convention delegated enforcement powers to the Association's Council, legislation was adopted governing postseason bowl games; as college athletics grew, the scope of the nation's athletics programs diverged, forcing the NCAA to create a structure that recognized varying levels of emphasis. In 1973, the Association's membership was divided into three legislative and competitive divisions – I, II, III.
Five years in 1978, Division I members voted to create subdivisions I-A and I-AA in football. Until the 1980s, the association did not offer women's athletics. Instead, the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women, with nearly 1000 member schools, governed women's collegiate sports in the United States; the AIAW was in a vulnerable position. Following a one-year overlap in which both organizations staged women's championships, the AIAW discontinued operation, most member schools continued their women's athletics programs under the governance of the NCAA. By 1982 all divisions of the NCAA offered national championship events for women's athletics. A year in 1983, the 75th Convention approved an expansion to plan women's athletic program services and pushed for a women's championship program. By the 1980s, televised college football had become a larger source of income for the NCAA. In September 1981, the Board of Regents of the University of Oklahoma and the University of Georgia Athletic Association filed suit against the NCAA in district court in Oklahoma.
The plaintiffs stated that the NCAA's football tel
2002 NBA draft
The 2002 NBA draft was held on June 26, 2002, at The Theater at Madison Square Garden. In this draft, National Basketball Association teams took turns selecting 57 amateur college basketball players and other first-time eligible players, such as players from non-North American leagues; the draft was broadcast on TNT at 7:30 PM. The NBA announced that about 42 college and high school players, five international players, had filed as early-entry candidates for the draft; the Chicago Bulls and the Golden State Warriors both had a 22.5 percent probability of acquiring the first overall pick, but the Houston Rockets, with an 8.9 percent probability, won the NBA draft lottery on May 19. The Bulls and Warriors were third, respectively; as punishment for salary-cap violations during the 2000–01 season, the Minnesota Timberwolves forfeited their first-round draft pick. The 2002 draft set a record with 17 international selections, with six coming in the first round alone. Number 2 pick Jay Williams violated his contract by riding a motorcycle, nearly lost his life in an accident that shattered his pelvis, severed a main nerve in his leg, tore three ligaments in his left knee including his ACL.
Although he underwent an intense rehabilitation program, Williams never played a game in the NBA again. When it became clear Williams would not be returning to the Bulls because of his injuries, he was waived; the Bulls could have voided Williams' contract, since riding a motorcycle was contractually prohibited. Instead the Bulls completed a $3 million buyout of the contract instead of having him walk away with nothing; the draft was notable for its relative weakness outside the top prospects, as well as the rampant injury concerns of those players. Top players had promising careers end prematurely due to injury, such as Yao Ming and Dajuan Wagner. Yao was named a Hall of Famer—a selection predicated as much on his role in popularizing basketball in China as it was his actual on-court play; these players were not selected in this draft but played at least one game in the NBA
Atlantic Coast Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Year
The Atlantic Coast Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Year is a basketball award given to the men's basketball player in the Atlantic Coast Conference voted as the most outstanding player. It has been presented since the league's first season, 1953–54, by the Atlantic Coast Sports Media Association, beginning in 2012–13 has been presented in separate voting by the league's head coaches; the award was first given to Dickie Hemric of Wake Forest, the coaches' award was first presented in 2013 to Shane Larkin of Miami. Two players have won the award three times: David Thompson of North Carolina State and Ralph Sampson of Virginia. Hemric, Len Chappell, Larry Miller, John Roche, Len Bias, Danny Ferry, Tim Duncan and J. J. Redick have won the award twice. There have been two ties in the award's history, which occurred at the end of the 2000–01 and 2012–13 seasons: In 2000–01 Joseph Forte of North Carolina and Shane Battier of Duke shared the award. Green and Larkin split the honor in the first year that the ACC began voting for players of the year by the conference's coaches and media separately.
Sixteen players have received either the Naismith or Wooden National Player of the Year awards in the same season that they received an ACC Player of the Year award. Duke's Zion Williamson is the most recent player to achieve this; each of the original 1953 ACC members has had at least one of its players win the award. Five ACC members have not had a winner: Florida State, Notre Dame and Syracuse. However, of these schools, only Florida State joined the ACC before 2013. A This does not include any National Player of the Year awards before 1969, such as the Helms Foundation Player of the Year award. Present-day discussions of National Players of the Year preclude the pre-1969 basketball era. B The "Class" column refers to United States terminology indicating that student's year of athletic eligibility, which corresponds to the year of study. For example, a freshman is in his first year of eligibility, followed by sophomore and senior. C Charlie Davis was the first African American player to receive this award.
D The University of Maryland left the ACC to join the Big Ten in 2014. E The University of South Carolina left the ACC in 1971. Atlantic Coast Conference Men's Basketball Coach of the Year General Specific
