Stalking Tall: Ewing Operating in Shadows of John Thompson's Presence

May 5th, 2017 - 18:31

Lew Alcindor is the best player in college basketball history. But Kareem Abdul-Jabbar might be the worst analyst in college basketball annals. The three-time national player of the year was unimpressed with the state of affairs at his alma mater (UCLA) despite a couple of Top 10 recruiting classes paying dividends last season and likely to keep the Bruins in the national limelight next campaign.

The Ghost of Sugar Daddy Sam Gilbert and the fast times in Westwood in the late 1960s under Bruins coach John Wooden comes to mind when struggling to comprehend Jabbar's jaded view of their fast break under Steve Alford. Did Gilbert promise Kareem he would eventually become king (head coach) or, at least, act as pilot of their Airplane? Any suggestion along those lines would make as much sense as majority of Jabbar's TIME(-warped) whining columns on racism and other predictable liberal-drivel themes. The journalistic jewel probably needs to listen to some jazz and chill out a little.

If not pants on the ground, then it's brains in the clouds. In today's gimme-gimme-gimme culture, it always seems to be discrimination when something isn't handed to you. Numerous All-Americans have dabbled at coaching in the low minors or as an assistant but never been a DI bench boss. Incredibly, Patrick Ewing expounded on his belief employers are biased against tall coaches until he was hired by his alma mater to return them to Georgetown's glory days under John Thompson Jr. Ewing is an exception to his victim-hood rule, but following is a list of individuals such as Alcindor/Jabbar who might think they deserve to be guiding their alma mater if they weren't so damn tall: