Homemade Basketball Thoughts

BY SCOTT MORGANROTH
PHOTOS BY CANDICE EBLING

1. Am I impressed or surprised that Pistons billionaire Owner Tom Gores paid Stan Van Gundy $35 million over five years to be the President of Basketball Operations and Head Coach?

I would say a combination of both.

For $7 million per-season, the Pistons are getting a man that has an NBA head coaching record of 371-208 with a .641 winning percentage. This winning percentage is the sixth highest among NBA coaches with at least 500 or more games of head coaching experience.

Van Gundy's teams have reached the playoffs seven times, including three trips to the Eastern Conference Finals, two with the Orlando Magic and once with the Miami Heat.

Stan coached Orlando for five seasons, took the Magic to the NBA Finals once and his regular season mark was 259-135 with a .692 winning percentage.

The Pistons know they're getting a bold and disciplined coach that emphasizes defense. There will be no players boycotts on road trips at practices and his teams will play hard for a full 48 minutes.

What people probably don't realize was Van Gundy had a good college coaching record. In eight seasons, he was 135-92 (.595) proving that he can coach and develop young talent.

With the Pistons coming off a 29-53 record, Van Gundy knows he has to work with the young and the veterans knowing this squad is far from the finished product.

What I like most about the hiring of Van Gundy is now the Pistons won't be able to botch Greg Monroe's upcoming free agent status. If Van Gundy wants him, he and Gores will financially find a way to keep him playing at The Palace Of Auburn Hills, providing Monroe wants to remain in Detroit.

It will be a basketball, not a financial decision.

Even though the Pistons lost their recent lottery pick to the Charlotte Hornets, if Detroit can land a good player in round two, more power to them. Once upon a time, Dennis Rodman was drafted in this round. I'm sure Michigan Wolverines Power Forward Mitch McGary (6-10) would be a popular choice.

The Pistons won't have to worry about losing next years first round pick because that situation is over with and there is a distinct possibility they could make a draft deal to get back in.

If a Monroe agreement can't get worked out, it wouldn't be the end of the world.

When Grant Hill departed for the Orlando Magic in 2000, all wasn't lost.

Joe Dumars orchestrated a sign and trade with Orlando for Ben Wallace and Chucky Atkins.

Hill didn't think he could win a title in Detroit.

His judgement was a mistake as Detroit would win its third championship in 2004.

While Hill's Detroit numbers of 21.6 points-per-game, 7.9 rebounds-per-game and 7.3 assists-per-game looked good, Atkins and Wallace entered the Pistons starting line-up. Wallace would develop into an All-Star in the coming years with his rebounding and excellent defense.

After departing the Pistons, Hill would play in 47 games in the following four seasons do to a recurring ankle injury.

His next 12 seasons as a former Piston were injury plagued as he averaged 13.1 points, 4.7 rebounds and 2.6 assists with the Magic, Phoenix Suns and LA Clippers. He had great weather, no snow or ice but also never won a championship.

2. Regardless of who Van Gundy hires as general manager, it's good to see the return of former Pistons Coach Brendan Malone as an assistant coach. They worked together in Orlando, and at 72-years old, Malone is one of the most knowledgeable basketball minds. We all know the late Chuck Daly relied on him during the Bad Boys Era which produced two championships.

One person I would like to see Van Gundy mold is Bill Laimbeer. He was the guy that was the Master Of Mind Games on the court, and winning WNBA Championships with the Detroit Shock has to count for something.

He played hard, was no-nonsense and his strong locker room presence was always respected. Just ask Mark Aquirre. I could see Laimbeer building toughness in star center Andre Drummond and forward Josh Smith. Laimbeer was a great outside shooter and Smith could learn a lot from him.

Although he was disliked by his competitors, I remember watching ESPN's Outside The Lines and Charles Barkley heavily endorsed Laimbeer as a head coaching candidate. It would be unfortunate if he doesn't get that chance down the line.

Van Gundy has mentored Hall of Fame Center Patrick Ewing into a potential head coaching candidate. There is no question he can do the same with Laimbeer.

One thing that hopefully Laimbeer has learned over the years is having a better working relationship with the media. After all, being the face of a franchise, he'll have to sell the fans and get them to come to the arena.

Once upon a time, former Tiger Kirk Gibson had a stormy relationship with the press. Now he's managing the Arizona Diamondbacks and their playing days, approaches were quite similar.

3. The I-696 route has hit the Pistons as Detroit will have an NBADL team in Grand Rapids.

Marketing the Entire State of Michigan has worked well for the Tigers and Red Wings.

As of 2012, Grand Rapids population was estimated at 190,411 which ranked 124th in the US.

The West Michigan Whitecaps and Grand Rapids Griffins are the teams in the area.

The Whitecaps are the Tigers Class A Midwest League affiliate and play at Fifth Third Ballpark (9,684).

The Griffins play at Van Andel Arena (10,834 Ice Hockey). The Red Wings relied on this 2 1/2 hour drive en-route to their 23rd consecutive post season appearance.

Grand Rapids was the home of Boxing's Floyd Sr., Jr., Jeff and Roger Mayweather and James Toney.

4. Where will Joe Dumars ultimately land again in the NBA?

My best guess and the most logical spot would be with the New Orleans Pelicans.

For him to get involved in his Home State Of Louisiana and guide a team which has never reached the NBA Finals would be a challenge he'd be anxious to tackle.

He graduated from McNeese State and played there from 1981-1985. He was born in Shreveport, LA on May 24, 1963 (51) and Pelicans/Saints Owner Tom Benson would love to win a championship in two sports.

Dumars former boss Bill Davidson pulled the trick with the Pistons and Tampa Bay Lightning.

Having a three-time NBA Champion, six-time All-Star, who was inducted into the Basketball Hall Of Fame in 2006 wouldn't be a bad resource with his championship basketball mind.

For Dumars in Detroit, there was a lot of good and some bad. But in the end, Dumars knew his time was coming to an end. His No.4 is retired and without him, the Pistons wouldn't have three championship banners hanging from the rafters at the Palace.

5. While this thought isn't related to the Pistons, it's related to the University of South Florida, My Old Stomping Grounds.

I'm glad that Steve Masiello, 36, completed his undergraduate degree at the University of Kentucky.

Manhattan showed a lot of class by putting him on unpaid leave in April because he hadn't earned his degree. When USF ran a background check, it found that Masiello misrepresented himself on his resume, thus it terminated his contract.

Manhattan admitted that Masiello used poor judgement, but didn't intentionally misrepresent himself.

Masiello, who led the Jaspers to a 25-8 record and the NCAA Tournament, and a near upset of Louisville this past season. He has a 60-39 mark with a .606 winning percentage in three seasons as coach.

What Masiello did was nearly commit Career Suicide. It's inevitable he'll leave Manhattan one day for a higher paying job.

We'll never know what he would have accomplished at USF.

But for now, he Owes Manhattan at least 2-3 years because what the Jaspers did by bringing him back and Preserving or Saving His Coaching Career was Priceless.

Scott Morganroth can be reached at www.scottsports33.com.

College Hoops Observations

BY SCOTT MORGANROTH

I've always had the belief that nobody pays attention to college basketball until after January 1 because there are so many other sports going on.

The beginning of the college basketball season does show some marquee match-ups, but there are a lot of mismatches. This makes me wonder whether these elite head coaches over the years in the eyes of Hall of Fame Coach Dick Vitale play too many "cupcakes" easy contests, thus their win totals become inflated.

But as I follow college basketball through the fall, there are a some things that stood out which I definitely feel are worth mentioning.

1) I was glad to see the University of Detroit-Mercy honor Vitale on December 5, 2011, by renaming it's court "Dick Vitale Court at Calihan Hall." The Titans defeated St. Johns University 69-63 to cap off the occasion. When the NCAA Final Four was held in Detroit in 2009, the university allowed Vitale to use his old office for live ESPN Reports. As coach of the Titans, Vitale's tenure was short and sweet. From 1973-77, he posted a 78-30 record and an NCAA Tournament appearance in 1977. During the 1977 season, the Titans had a 21-game winning streak and the tournament field was 32-teams. During that winning streak, the Titans defeated eventual National Champion the Marquette Warriors on the road in Milwaukee during the regular season.

Vitale left the Titans and accepted the head coaching job for the Detroit Pistons but this decision fizzled as he finished with a 34-60 record from 1978-1979. He was smart enough to get out of coaching and called ESPN's first NCAA Basketball Game on December 5, 1979, when DePaul defeated Wisconsin 90-77.

How ironic is it that exactly 32-years later from the day he started working for ESPN, that a court would be named after him on My Own Father's birthday. Another irony is that in 2008, Vitale was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame with his old boss, William Davidson, the man who fired him in 1979 from the Pistons.

2) I hope Indiana University does the right thing and eventually honors former Coach Bobby Knight. All Knight did was lead the Hoosiers to three national championships and ran a clean program. It's old news that Knight's temper led to his dismissal at Indiana. But lets not lose sight of the fact that the basketball program overshadowed football and put Indiana on the map. It's fallen on hard times since Knight's departure.

It was refreshing to see Knight honored at halftime on December 20, 2011 with an alumni award from Ohio State where he graduated in 1962 in a game against Lamar University, coached by his son Pat Knight. Ohio State won the game 70-50. Bobby Knight was a member of the 1960 Buckeyes team that won the school's only hoops national title.

3) I saw that UNLV named its court after former Coach Jerry Tarkanian. There is no question that this is well deserved because he put this program on the hoops basketball map. From 1973-1992, Tarkanian made the Thomas & Mack Center an intimidating place to play as it was referred to as the "Shark Tank." He was 509-105 for a winning percentage of .829. He led the Rebels to the program's lone National Championship in in 1990, in addition to 12 NCAA Tournament Appearances and Four Final Fours. The last Final Four UNLV appeared in was in 1991 and this the program hasn't been the same.

Tarkanian left UNLV for the NBA's San Antonio Spurs but his pro career lasted 20 games as he finished 9-11 with a .450 winning percentage during the 1992-93 season. I actually met Tarkanian during a Pistons game at the Palace of Auburn Hills and he admitted that he may have made a mistake leaving UNLV because he wasn't comfortable coaching the pros. He told me that he was tired of all the headaches he had to deal with pertaining to the politics of the NCAA governing body thus he went to the NBA.

4) Please tell me one thing that makes sense that Louisville Coach Rick Pitino has announced that he will leave the Cardinals when his contract runs out after the 2016-2017 season. Will this help recruiting? What will gas prices be? Will electric cars replace our conventional vehicles? Who will be the next president? This is the most meaningless piece of news that I've heard since the start of my journalism career in 1979. Frankly Rick, nobody gives a damn about 2017! The ball hasn't even dropped to welcome 2012. Go see the movie Rick "Back To The Future" and let us all know how you like it.

5) It will be interesting to see how Nebraska Mens Basketball Coach Doc Sadler fares in the Cornuskers inaugural season in The Big 10. On December 27, 2011, The Wisconsin Badgers whipped Nebraska 64-40  in the Cornhuskers first Big 10 Conference home game in Lincoln.

Ironically, Nebraska played Wisconsin in their conference opener on the road in Madison and got drilled 48-17.

Nebraska is 8-4 and 0-1 but I have a feeling this will be a long year on the hard court for a school which is known for it's success as an elite football program. Athletic Director Tom Osborne knew this when he departed The Big 12, but is willing to get hammered in other sports as long as he reaps the financial benefits of the gridiron along with the TV exposure on the Big 10 Network. Good luck Nebraska and see you next fall.

Scott Morganroth can be reached at scottsports33.com and his blog can also be seen at www.scottsports33.com.

Sunshine State Hoops Classic

BY SCOTT MORGANROTH

He was a 12-time All-Star, won a pair of NBA Championships, one Finals MVP in a Hall of Fame career with the Detroit Pistons.

Isiah Thomas No.11 is retired at the Palace of Auburn Hills. He also owns an NCAA Championship with the Indiana Hoosiers and legendary Coach Bobby Knight.

But I wonder whether the guy, who has played on the biggest "Hoops Stages," could have felt more helpless as he did on Saturday Night, in Boca Raton, Florida at the FAU Arena.

Thomas was a victim of the old Yogi Berra adage that "It's not over until it's over" as his Florida International University (FIU) Golden Panthers lost to the FAU Owls 73-72. During this game, FIU led early by a 12-1 margin. The Golden Panthers led the entire contest except when it mattered the most. The end.

The outcome of the game was decided by pair of missed free throws by Phil Gary and FAU took the ball down the court on the fast break and won it with a layup by Brett Royster with 4.2 seconds left.

Basketball seems to be a simple game. You shoot the ball and put it in the basket. You rebound and play defense to create opportunities for the offense. A free throw is an uncontested shot that requires total concentration. Yet, over the years, the best players in both the college and pro levels miss free throws in key situations.

When the game was over, Thomas walked off the court slowly and dejected. During his post-game Press Conference, he told the media that his team has struggled at the free throw line and has trouble closing out games. His Golden Panthers are now 9-14 while FAU improved to 18-7.

Owls Coach Mike Jarvis earned his 400th career win in thrilling fashion as the sellout crowd of 2,961 stormed onto the court to celebrate.

I don't care how big the gym is whether it's 20,000 or 2,961, noise is noise!

As for Thomas, dressed in his suit, I'll bet on this night, he wished he had worn his No.11 jersey and shorts to make those last second free throws. A win in the Sun Belt Conference against an area rival would have been just as satisfying as an NBA game.

But the man has seen everything.

As I looked at his roster, Thomas hasn't forgotten his Pro Basketball Roots. Five of the 15 players are from Pistons Territory. He "Smiled" and said there will be more to come. There is a lot of basketball talent in Michigan.

It has to be an easy sell for a potential recruit that he's playing for his idol in a warm weather climate. These kids will have no problem investing into flip flops and sneakers while eliminating boots.

But whether anybody cares nationally about the FAU VS FIU Rivalry in any sport, these schools have high caliber coaches on the hard court with Thomas and Jarvis.

In Football, FAU won the Motor City Bowl a few years ago while FIU just won the Little Caesars Bowl in Detroit this past December.

I can only hope that today's Super Bowl between the Green Bay Packers and Pittsburgh Steelers provides as much excitement as Saturday Nights "Sunshine State Classic."

After the game, I told FAU Assistant Sports Information Director Justin Johnson to put me on the Credential List for the rematch in Miami on Saturday, February 19th. I have a feeling this will be another slug fest.

Scott Morganroth can be reached at scottsports33@aol.com and his blog can be seen at http://www.scottsports33.com/.

Pistons, Devil's Nights

BY SCOTT MORGANROTH

When I was a child living in Southfield, MI a few decades ago, the evening of Oct 30 was a night many of us youngsters looked forward to as we loaded up on soap and eggs to have fun on Devils Night.

It was an evening that homeowners disliked because they were not looking forward to cleaning their windows after they were soaped and hit by an egg, or in other extremes broken windows had to be fixed as a result of rocks.

Myself and other friends never went past soap and eggs because these were the same people we would see with costumes the next night wanting candy for Halloween.

When I moved to Highland, MI., there was no Devils Night because this was the country and there were major distances to cause havoc. By the same token, there was no Halloween and all of my friends lived in Southfield so this wasn't fun anymore.

Devils Night doesn't figure to be fun for the Detroit Pistons this year as this franchise takes an 0-2 record to Chicago to face the Bulls (0-1).

But there is more to this situation than meets the eye.

Detroit lost it's opening game Wednesday Night to the New Jersey Nets 101-98 in Newark. What made this loss more painful was the fact that Detroit lost to a coach it could have hired in Avery Johnson when the two sides couldn't agree to contract terms a couple years ago. Johnson felt he needed some job security to get this franchise back on track and Vice President Joe Dumars couldn't close the deal to lure him to the Palace.

Now Johnson is working for Russian Billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov who met Johnson's price and has deep pockets to land the coach the talent he needs to be successful as they prepare to move to Brooklyn, NY in a couple years.

Detroit hired John Kuester instead and in his first season the team finished with a 27-55 record although the team had to deal with 155 games lost to injury and was 7-4 when his squad was totally healthy.

Nevertheless, Detroit's problems go beyond last season. When Kuester was hired he became the 27th coach in franchise history. He's followed in the shadows of Hall of Famers the late Chuck Daly, Larry Brown, Doug Collins and Rick Carlisle, whom elevated this franchise to elite levels.

In addition to not hiring Johnson which in my opinion, this move will haunt the Pistons for years to come, Dumars knows he'll always regret not drafting Carmelo Anthony and taking Darko Milicic instead with the second pick of the 2003 NBA Draft.

While most franchises would be thrilled to reach their respective conference finals every year, Dumars wasn't. He dismantled the team by trading his quarterback Chauncey Billups to the Denver Nuggets for Allen Iverson on November 3, 2008 and he would become Anthony's teammate in Colorado.

An inexperienced head coach like Michael Curry had to deal with a disgruntled guard in Iverson which proved to be a big mistake.

While Brown did make a mistake by wanting the New York Knicks job while he was employed by the Pistons, it still boggles my mind that Dumars and late Owner Bill Davidson couldn't work out their differences to co-exist. Davidson gave Brown millions of dollars to leave.

Instead, this once proud franchise is in such disarray because it's just a matter of time before Owner Karen Davidson does sell it. If Red Wings/Tigers Owner Mike Illitch does buy the franchise, will Dumars be a part of the new management team? Despite three championship rings, will the what have you done for me lately theme lead to Dumars becoming a paid season ticket holder?

Will Dumars become a season ticket holder at the Palace of Auburn Hills or a new arena in downtown Detroit?

He certainly won't be credentialed by late Vice President of Public Relations Matt Dobek.

I doubt he'll be working with Tom Wilson, who has his hands full trying to get Illitch a new stadium.

Perhaps Dumars could reunited with John Hammond who learned his lessons well and has turned the Milwaukee Bucks into a playoff team last season.

As all of these mistakes have compounded themselves, in recent years, the Pistons fans have faced more tricks than they have treats. There losses on and off the court will only lead to more empty seats at the Palace.

While I do feel bad that Kuester has inherited this mess, is he the guy that can turn around this team which has an aging Ben Wallace, Tayshaun Prince and Richard Hamilton plus hope that Tracy McGrady can make a comeback with Arnie Kander as his strength and conditioning coach?

Time will tell whether Ben Gordon (5 year/$55 Million) and Charlie Villanueva (5 year/$35 Million) are worth their contracts. I do believe that selecting 6-11, 250 Georgetown Center Greg Monroe as the seventh pick overall in this years draft was a good move, but the problem is there haven't been many good decisions lately.

So how many more Devils Nights will there be for Pistons fans? In an economically depressed city, I'd think that taking money from customers for an unsatisfactory product is worse than soaping and throwing eggs at windows. The fans are getting eggs thrown in their face.

I can't imagine a happy fan after the Pistons lost their home opener 105-104 to the Oklahoma City Thunder Friday night.

These questions remain.

What will the Pistons record be with a healthy 2010-2011 roster?

Will Kuester be around to finish the rebuilding job?

What big name coach will be brought in to finish what Kuester started?

When will the team be sold?

How much patience will the new owner have with Dumars?

How small will the crowds shrink to?

What will become of the Palace of Auburn Hills?

One thing is for certain, Avery Johnson is glad that he won't have to answer these questions at any of his press conferences in New Jersey.

His team is 2-0 and last year's Nets squad became only the fifth team in NBA History to lose 70 games by finishing with a 12-70 mark. Johnson's team has only one way to go and that's up.

Will we say that about the Pistons? They can still regress at 27 wins.

Time will tell but in a matter of time, Karen Davidson won't care that she was unable to keep her late husband's legacy alive.

In the meantime while Devil's night antics have been replaced by cable, satellite television, video games and the Internet, Pistons fans can only hope their are less tricks, soap and eggs in the future and there are more Halloween evenings instead.

Scott Morganroth can be reached at scottsports33@aol.com and his blog can be seen at www.scottsports33.com.

Best Detroit Team?

BY SCOTT MORGANROTH

I'll never forget the first time I saw my name get published.

In 1979, my close friend and adopted brother George Eichorn asked me to write a few paragraphs commenting on what was wrong with all of the Detroit teams because at that time they were all struggling.

Eichorn was asking me to do him a favor and I did it.

A week later, "He Kept His Word" by publishing those comments that appeared in the Detroit Monitor and I was extremely excited!

By keeping his word, that taught me the one core value that has served me well in my lifetime and has built an unbelievable relationship with undoubtedly the closest person in my life!

Now 31 years later, we've seen the Detroit Tigers, Pistons and Red Wings win titles. The Lions haven't made it to a Super Bowl, but thanks to them and Eichorn, I've been to four.

Back in 1979, the economy was in lousy shape and nowadays, the Detroit area has been slowed due to the recession.

With that said, it's time to look at what Detroit team is headed in the best direction as I did in 1979 when I was an intern working with Eichorn at WXYZ Radio.

Despite their ouster in the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, the Red Wings have been to the post-season 25 of the past 27 years, plus won four championships in 11 seasons. The Red Wings have made the playoffs for 19 straight years.

As evidenced by the contract extensions to General Manager Ken Holland and his assistant Jim Nill, the Red Wings are in excellent hands with their front office.

In Ken Holland, we trust.

If the NHL hadn't incorporated a salary cap, who knows how many more titles the Red Wings would have won? We know that Owner Mike Illitch has deep pockets and has used his checkbook well to acquire the necessary players to make the team winners on the ice as well as marketable on NBC plus a popular draw at opposing arenas around the country.

The Red Wings did win a Stanley Cup after the salary cap was implemented and reached the Finals in a tremendous two year stretch facing the Pittsburgh Penguins and star Sidney Crosby.

But as long as Detroit has Pavel Datsyuk, Henrik Zetterberg, and rookie goaltender Jimmy Howard matures with experience to compliment the teams core players, the only problem the Red Wings will have is finding a first class facility to play their games. This is why former Pistons executive Tom Wilson was hired to coordinate this project and he'll continue to hire his former teams administrators to handle things in a first class manner.

After the departure of Curtis Granderson and Placido Polanco, I thought the Detroit Tigers would have a tough season.

But with the acquisitions of Austin Jackson, who has replaced Granderson in centerfield, Johnny Damon, Phil Coke all former New York Yankees, to compliment Miguel Cabrera, Brandon Inge, and Justin Verlander, there should be competitive baseball at Comerica Park this summer.

When the Tigers (25-19) signed Jose Valverde to replace Fernando Rodney, I knew this was a major upgrade.

As long as Dave Dombrowski and Jim Leyland remain in charge, the Tigers should be fine.

They looked good winning five of seven games during a recent home stand against the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox. It helps that they play in the AL Central Division and not the AL East where they'd have to face the Yankees, Red Sox and the Tampa Bay Rays 18 times each.

When a team gets rid of its popular public relations director as it did with the recent dismissal of Matt Dobek, that's bad!

But the Detroit Pistons, coming off a 27-52 record and no playoff appearance, have some major work to do on and off the court.

This years draft figures to be interesting.

Former Coaches Flip Saunders and Doug Collins have the top two draft choices with the Washington Wizards and Philadelphia 76'ers respectively. It's obvious that they'll draft a player the Pistons need.

Joe Dumars can't afford to make a mistake with the seventh overall pick. There can't be a repeat of not taking a Carmelo Anthony in favor of Darko Milicic.

If the Pistons regress further, it will be a sad sight to see the Palace of Auburn Hills 50% full. It's sad even thinking that there would even be discussions of them leaving this first class facility to move downtown. How do you leave a first class venue?

This team needs to be sold to an owner that cares ASAP!

If Dumars wants to keep his job, there better be some significant improvement immediately.

With the declining condition of the franchise, the new owner should be able to get a bargain basement price for the team and the Palace.

Late Pistons Owner William Davidson must be turning over in his grave at Clover Hill Park Cemetery.

Two victories in 32 games is embarrassing.

Despite the enthusiasm of the past two drafts, once these draft choices mature, plus Martin Mayhew and Jim Schwartz perform their "Complete Makeover" of the franchise, there will be reasons to be excited about the Detroit Lions.

If the Lions win at least five games, then the crowds will be 80-90% full.

Thankfully they're in Detroit because in any other sports market, their futility would lead to crowds of 50-60% attendance and a lot more local blackouts.

The Lions have to be fortunate that they at least are featured on Thanksgiving once a year and that this game hasn't been taken away because they started this tradition when no other team wanted it. But if they want to keep the game, they better improve and be competitive on this holiday.

More importantly, if they ever want to see more national telecasts on Sunday, Monday and Thursday nights, things have to change to get consideration from NBC, ESPN and the NFL Network.

Being one of four teams to not reach a Super Bowl plus having just one conference championship appearance in franchise history will hang over their heads until fortunes change.

For Detroit fans, hopefully it changes quickly. The Michigan Wolverines and MSU Spartans have shown over the years that Southeastern Michigan Gridiron Fans flock through the turnstiles.

Once upon a time, Barry Sanders and company filled the Pontiac Silverdome's 80,000 plus. It's time to see Ford Field get jammed and nobody will care about traffic on the Lodge Freeway, I-94 and I-75.

Scott Morganroth can be reached at scottsports33@aol.com and his blog can be seen on www.scottsports33.com.

Great Memories With FIU's Isiah Thomas

BY SCOTT MORGANROTH

Whenever FAU and FIU meet in any sport, this is a nice intense rivalry between these two schools separated by an hour drive off the Florida Turnpike.

The Shula Bowl adds a nice ending to the football season while in baseball both universities have produced a lot of professional baseball prospects.

During the past two weeks, the basketball programs met and even though FAU defeated FIU both times, this series figures to get interesting in years to come.

On January 30, 2010, in Boca Raton, FIU Golden Panthers Coach Isiah Thomas made his first appearance in Palm Beach County.

For myself, it was an opportunity to be reunited with a guy that I worked with when I covered the Detroit Pistons for the Detroit Monitor during their Bad Boys era in the late 1980's and 1990's which won two NBA Championships.

Before the game, Thomas and I spent time talking about the good old days of how his team's defensive physical style of basketball changed how the game is being played today. We also talked about personalities like Bill Laimbeer, Dennis Rodman and the battles Detroit faced at the famed Boston Garden.

It was a great reunion for us and the crowds were much bigger than they were on this night. At the Palace of Auburn Hills, 21,454 fans jammed the building and the electricity was tremendous.

The FAU Arena was buzzing as well but the crowd was considerably smaller. FAU sold the game out as 2,916 turned out, in addition to filling the suites, media requests which increased the total to nearly 5,000.

Before the game, Thomas and I talked about the difference in the two arenas and we both agreed that basketball is basketball regardless of how big the building is.

On this night, FAU Athletic Director Craig Angelos was gleaming because he knows that there aren't many occasions that an opposing coach will sign autograph posters to frame and exhibit in his athletic department.

Naturally, he was pleased with the attendance to watch an opposing coach who also won an NCAA National Championship at Indiana in 1981 for the legendary Bobby Knight.

As for the game, FAU won round one 106-88 and judging by the way the Golden Panthers were playing, I got the feeling that Thomas, the Hall of Fame point guard, was going to go to the FIU locker room and put on his No. 11 jersey to show his team how things needed to be done.

Oh well, it was nice to dream!

But it was evident that Thomas was out coached by FAU's high profile coach Mike Jarvis. Last year, Jarvis had to experience a difficult first season as the Owls finished the campaign 6-26.

While FAU has turned things around this season with a 14-13, 10-6 record and is 2-0 against Thomas, with the most recent win occurring in Miami on February 18, 77-74, despite Isiah's 7-22, 4-12 record, this rivalry figures to get better as both teams recruit better players.

Meanwhile, Thomas and Jarvis have found fresh starts in South Florida after their departures from New York.

Jarvis was fired by St. Johns University on December 19, 2003 due in part to a series of off-court incidents.

Thomas had an unsuccessful tenure with the New York Knicks from 2003-2009 as an executive and head coach.

Both have traded the limelight & subways for the sunshine to begin their challenges of turning mid major schools into regular NCAA Tournament participants. They've earned all of their millions and are now in the "Been There And Done That Club."

Scott Morganroth can be reached at scottsports33@aol.com and his blog can be read at www.scottsports33.com.