YOUNG STOCK!

With so much basketball on this week I try to game plan what I will watch each night and then adjust on the fly when need be. For example, as interested as I am in watching the new look Knicks there is no way that game was getting much run last night after they began blowing out the Jazz early on. Not with VCU almost pulling off a miracle against ODU in the CAA championship game or Derrick Rose and the Bulls back in action against the Hornets, sans Chris Paul. But the game of the night on my end turned out to be the WCC championship game in Las Vegas between St. Mary’s and Gonzaga. I have to be honest, I had not seen much of either team play this season which is unlike me as they are both locks for the tournament but that did not prevent last night from feeling like a do or die basketball game.

As I settled in with the remote and dinner I immediately noticed two things; 

1) the St. Mary’s backcourt looks wise closely resembles the street toughs Leanardo DiCaprio rolls with in Gangs of New York and 2) David Stockton is the true mini me version of his father, the great John Stockton. As much as I liked the grit of St. Mary’s I couldn’t not root energetically for Stockton and Gonzaga last night The red shirt freshman is so fundamentally sound and so sneaky good it was a joy to watch. His ability to change speeds, kick the ball up the wing before the defense gets back and slither his way into the paint for a number of layups was quite impressive. Then you have the simplicity of his post entry passes. I haven’t seen a guard put that much attention and pride into a pot entry pass, well, since John Stockton. I wonder if YOUNG STOCK sits alone in triple threat position in a dark room watching film of his dad while handling the basketball. I know it sounds dark and mysterious and somewhat like point guard hypnotism if not brain washing but so what, how do the great one’s become great? By taking hard work to the next level and sometimes doing some crazy sh#t.

So with a number of NBA games feeling like playoff games lately and many bigger and higher profile schools getting ready to begin their conference tournaments it was refreshing to see YOUNG STOCK capture his first conference title and guarantee his first NCAA tournament appearance in front of his father.

Check out this video of YOUNG STOCK below, one word; CAGEY.