Going into the season, it seemed as if the point guard position would be one of the Missouri Tigers strengths going into the season. The Tigers saw the return of junior Terrence Phillips, who was the starter for the 2016-17 campaign and senior Jordan Geist. Neither player is considered elite, but the upperclassmen are experienced, which is often needed with young teams such as the Tigers.
The Mizzou backcourt also featured two talented freshmen in Blake Harris and C.J. Roberts. On paper, it seemed to be the perfect blend of young talent and experience. In reality, finding steady play from the point guard position has proven to be a challenge for Cuonzo Martin.
First off, Martin decided to redshirt Roberts, as he likely would’ve seen limited minutes off the bench. Good decision, coach. However, I must admit that I became slightly worried when Martin began using graduate transfer Kassius Robertson at the one. Robertson is a fine player, but the sharpshooter is clearly better suited at the two-guard spot. Robertson’s kicking off the season as the starting point guard showed that Martin was not fully confident with his other options.
Phillips, who was second on the team in minutes last season with 28.3 per game, is currently only averaging 11.7 minutes per game. Geist is averaging 19.6 minutes and has seemingly been Martin’s most-trusted point guard of late. However, Geist suffered a terrible meltdown in the second half versus West Virginia.  In a tumultuous 70 second stretch, Geist was seriously shaken and turned the ball over twice and racked up three fouls, including a tech.
Despite starting the game, Harris only played six minutes versus the Mountaineers. Martin was presumably worried about his young PG handling the suffocating pressure of Bob Huggins’ squad. At the end of the day, that’s precisely the type of pressure Harris needs to face.
Harris is clearly the most-talented of the bunch. His inexperience will lead to some headaches, but now is the time to get those bumps and bruises out of the way. The Tigers rely on so many freshmen that inconsistency is going to be a constant issue with this team. The more meaningful minutes that Harris plays now, the more ready he will be once conference (and postseason) play begins.
Sometimes less is more. Whether it’s Harris or someone else, the Tigers must see one of the point guards step up and definitely claim the starting PG position.
Social media overreactions
If Isaac Newton was alive today, his famous Third Law might read as “For every action, there’s a social media overreaction.” Case-in-point, two NBA superstars dealt with horrible social media reactions to incidents that weren’t really a big deal.
First, Steph Curry received heavy criticism for a video that circulated around the Twittersphere. After a recent game, Curry re-emerged from the tunnel where a cute little kid begged the superstar for an autograph. The All-Star guard was seemingly oblivious to the kid’s request and he looked around the stands and never stopped to sign the kid’s jersey or even acknowledge the repeated greetings.
People rushed to deride Curry for shading the young Warriors fan. However, it’s impossible for NBA superstars to stop to sign autographs for every fan who screams out their name. Furthermore, in the video, the child appeared to receive autographs and/or photos with several other Warriors such as Klay Thompson, Shaun Livingston, JaVale McGee and David West. That’s already more sports stars than I met up close during my entire youth.
In an ill-advised response to the angry fans, Ayesha Curry (Steph’s wife) tweeted out an explanation.
“So tired of seeing this,” she wrote. “He was looking for a family member in a crowd of 100 people which you can’t see on the other side of the camera…”
“He would never purposefully ignore a squirrel let alone a precious little boy. Demeaning someone to get your followers up much,” she added.
Trolls are going to troll. Ayesha Curry should have let the salty people have their say and moved on. Expecting athletes to sign every autograph isn’t just unrealistic, it’s impossible.
The next NBA superstar to go under the social media gauntlet was LeBron James. Against the Miami Heat, James was ejected from a game for the first time in his career. Both James and Kane Fitzgerald, the referee that gave him the boot, immediately faced massive blowback on social media.
“It was a culmination of a couple different acts,” Fitzgerald said. “Immediately after the no-call, he turned and threw an air punch directly at me, and then he aggressively charged at me, and then he used vulgarity in my ear a few times.”
The predictable, “Aren’t you supposed to be a good role model?” people came for James’ neck after his night ended early. James’ supporters weren’t pleased. Many fans blamed Fitzgerald for an overreaction and claimed he wanted a piece of the spotlight. Nonsense.
The ejection was valid. James overreacted to a non-call (one that in my opinion was a good non-call), cursed at the ref and was sent packing. He was wrong in the situation. He faced the consequences.
It’s OK. The sky isn’t falling. The building isn’t burning. LeBron James let his competiveness get the best of him in one instance. He has played in the NBA for 15 years and this is the first time it’s happened. He’ll be OK.
He’s not a monster. He’s not a bad role model. He’s just human. Hopefully one day, my social media feed will be filled by humans like Curry or James once again. Right now Twitter seems to full of trolls and Russian bots.
Follow Ishmael and In the Clutch on Twitter @IshmaelSistrunk
