The Battle for Akron by the Boys from Akron - Stephen Curry versus LeBron James - the NBA Championship again, and again, and again, and again…

Four years ago when the Golden State Warriors and the Cleveland Cavaliers squared off for the National Basketball Association World Championship, I wrote the following story.  During the last four years nothing seems to have changed.

This year, for the fourth straight year, yet another new NBA record, the same two teams have played for the world championship four years in a row.  For the third time in four years Curry's team reigns supreme, and the seeds of a powerful basketball dynasty might be taking root.

After this year's blowout by Golden State Stephen Curry and LeBron James each have won three world championships.  Between them they are rewriting the record book in scoring, winning, and about every other aspect of basketball.

As the following story tells you, what an irony that the two greatest and most dominating players of the present day NBA were both born in the little town of Akron, Ohio, about forty miles from where world championships between them are now being played, Cleveland of course.

Here is the reprint from the first confrontation between these two giants of the game.

June 5, 2015

National news is captivated by the NBA Championship series that began last night between the Golden State Warriors and Cleveland Cavaliers. Golden State is led by the Most Valuable Player in the NBA this year, Stephen Curry.  Cleveland is led by returning superstar LeBron James, four time MVP and winner of two NBA Championships.

However, there is more intrigue to this game.  You see, the City of Akron, Ohio, a small city of less than 200,000 people and 39 miles from Cleveland and Lake Erie, is the rubber and tire capitol of the world.  Well the reigning king of the NBA, LeBron, is about to be unseated by the future king Stephen Curry.

Did I mention both were born in Akron.  Indeed,  when Stephen Curry was born in 1988, LeBron was already four years old and entertaining people with with dribbling and shooting exhibitions.  You should read his story, as he and his mother had to overcome some difficult times before he could lay claim to being the King of the NBA.

Curry had a much different ride to the top.  After being born in Akron, he followed his father to Charlotte, North Carolina, then Toronto, then back to Charlotte.  His father was a basketball star for Virginia Tech, then played in the NBA for 16 seasons on five different teams.  His mother had been a volleyball star for Virginia Tech.

The encouragement and opportunity to pursue his love for the hoops came from his parents.  That was fine with young Stephen.  It was a well rounded life and education for him.  Then came time to go to college and show the nation his skills,  The problem was, he was a shrimp physically, and no matter how good he was on the court, college scouts did not think he could survive.  Thus the future king of the NBA could not get a single scholarship offer for college from  a major basketball powerhouse.

In spite of his boyish looks he went to Davidson College and led them to the final eight in the NCAA national tournament.  He was drafted by Golden State and became an immediate super star in his 2009-2010 rookie season. In 2010 and 2014 he was part of the USA National team that won the Gold Medal both times.

Now Curry is playing for the NBA Championship, the highest pinnacle you can achieve in sports, even if you are a shrimp, and darn if he still does not look boyish.

For comparison, at 6' 3" Curry weighs in at 190 pounds, most likely wet, and with a weight belt.  LeBron, on the other hand, towers over him at 6' 8" and weighs about 250 pounds. Side by side it is like a VW Bug facing off with a Mack Truck.
   

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Stephen married his former college sweetheart, Ayesha Alexander, on July 30, 2011 in Charlotte. The couple had their first child, daughter Riley, on July 19, 2012.

Ironically, it is Riley, at two years young, who often upstages her famous father during television interviews.

Seems I remember another very young girl who used to disrupt her understanding and famous father under the glare of media spotlights.  I believe her name was Caroline.

Here is a series of Riley photos demonstrating how Riley can control the future NBA King.

Curry is absolutely the perfect role model for any kid who desires to be perfect.  Last night he proved he belonged in that championship game when his team won the first game 108-100, in overtime.

It may be a long series but the battle for bragging rights in Akron is going to provide some of the best basketball in a long time, and Americans need a break from the nonsense, confusion, and apathy that is sapping our spirit and wounding our pride.

My advice, give yourself a break and watch the clash of titans, it beats watching the Evening Blues, or is that News.

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Kentucky's 9th championship might come 12 months later than expected

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By Mike Rutherford  @CardChronicle on Nov 9, 2015, 10:54a

It should as no surprise that the Kentucky Wildcats are once again the No. 1 team in our preseason countdown.

The John Calipari era in Lexington has been loaded with firsts. First program to produce 15 first-round draft picks in five years. First program to bring in five consecutive top-ranked recruiting classes. First team to earn a preseason No. 1 ranking the year after missing the tournament entirely. First program to produce the No. 1 and No. 2 draft pick in the same year. First program since Duke (1990-94) to make four Final Four appearances in five years. First team to start a season 38-0.

The last item on that list was supposed to be different. Perfection was supposed to be the coup de grâce for Kentucky. Forty wins and no losses: the unreachable fruit that only Cal's Cats could grab, and the giant middle finger to the face of anyone with a problem. Instead, it was 38-1 -- good enough to be stuck somewhere between 2013-14 Wichita State and 1990-91 UNLV, and forever locked out of the home of those who hoisted the hardwood on the first Monday in April.

As is the case with any life-altering heartbreak, Big Blue Nation will never be able to fully rid itself of the scar that came with Kentucky's Final Four loss to Wisconsin. There may, however, be a major shot coming in five months that will effectively numb the pain.

Slotting UK at No. 1 has become the safe play for any preseason top 25 countdown, and with good reason. The Wildcats under Calipari have only really made preseason prognosticators look silly once, when a subpar national freshman class and a season-ending injury to star center Nerlens Noel left Kentucky finishing the 2012-13 season in the NIT. Outside of that, Cal has led the Cats to five Elite Eights, four Final Fours, two national title games and brought home the program's eighth NCAA championship. A healthy run at No. 9 figures to start on Nov. 13.

While the subject may rear its head again if they beat reigning national champion Duke on Nov. 17, Kentucky's 2015-16 campaign is unlikely to be dominated by the "pursuit of perfection" talk that was more prevalent than any other throughout last season. The Wildcats will be dealing with what should be a much-improved SEC, and in addition to the Blue Devils, UK has non-conference showdowns with Kansas, UCLA, Ohio State and Louisville. A slip-up at some point before the calendar makes the dramatic flip to March seems like more of an inevitability than it did last November.

Get Ready for New Season

Kentucky, UNC tie for No. 1 in first pollPreviews for our top 25 teams Though Kentucky carries the same coaches' poll ranking into this season as they did 12 months ago, there are few in Lexington who believe this group would match up all that favorably with the team that came so close to being college basketball's first unblemished champion in nearly four decades. That doesn't necessarily mean that the 2015-16 Cats don't have a better shot at finishing their season with some net-cutting.

From the first day of the 2014-15 season, the overwhelming consensus was that a "great" team was going to win the national championship. There were five or six teams that appeared to fit that mold, and it would have been extremely surprising if one of those squads didn't wind up claiming the title. One of them did. It just wasn't Kentucky. The Wildcats were a great team in a season that featured a handful of other great teams. They ran up against one of those teams on the season's final weekend, and that great team was better than they were on that particular night. It's as simple, and as painful, as that.

The sport's landscape would appear to be more navigable in 2015-16. There is no overly apparent dividing line between the group of teams who should rule the season and those who are merely staring up in envy. For Kentucky, a squad with yet another loaded class of newcomers, a returning starter at the most key of positions on a Calipari team, and a couple battle-tested bigs, this is an appealing setup.

Timing isn't everything in college basketball, but it's more important than it is in any other major American sport. Overwhelmingly positive or negative work that took four months to comprise can be completely wiped away by one or two good or bad weeks in March. In keeping with that theme, improved timing might be more important than an improved team when it comes to Kentucky's quest for championship No. 9.

Projected Lineup

PG Tyler Ulis Sophomore

SG Jamal Murray Freshman

SF Isaiah Briscoe Freshman

PF Skal Labissiere Freshman

C Marcus Lee Junior

Key reserves: G Dominique Hawkins (Sophomore), F Alex Poythress (Senior), F Derek Willis (Junior), G Charles Matthews (Freshman), G Mychal Mulder (Junior), F Tai Wynyard (Freshman), C Isaac Humphries (Freshman)

How Kentucky can succeed: Let their latest dose of soon-to-be millionaires do their thing

Nothing that Kentucky has done since John Calipari arrived in 2009 has been ordinary, which is why it's impossible to handle previews of the Wildcats in any of the traditional fashions. Categories like "returning starters" and "percentage of scoring lost" are highly relevant for just about every team in the country, but UK is never like every other team in the country.

Where Karl-Anthony Towns, Willie Cauley-Stein, Trey Lyles and Devin Booker exited, Skal Labissiere, Jamal Murray, Isaiah Briscoe and Tyler Ulis enter. Think about that: four players from the same program were all lottery picks in the same draft, and that same program is sitting here as the projected No. 1 team in college basketball for the very next season. The fact that we don't find this occurrence even the least bit strange anymore might be even more insane than the actual phenomenon itself.

Any team that can count itself among the most talented in the country is going to enjoy a high level of success, and Kentucky appears once again to be loaded with players who will realize their lifelong dreams at next June's NBA Draft.

Recently cleared Labissiere has been at No. 1 or No. 2 on just about every 2016 NBA mock draft since their inception.  Murray never finds himself too far below his teammate, and many believe the Canadian might actually be the bigger star this season. Briscoe is yet another consensus top 10 recruit whose stay in college is expected to be short. Ulis was widely considered to be the best point guard on last year's Kentucky team, and would have likely been the fifth Wildcat to hear his name called in the first round of the draft had he elected to follow the worn-out path of the one-and-done. Instead, he's back for another year in Lexington, and may have a bigger impact than any returning player in the Calipari era.

If you're looking for comparisons between this squad and the 2012 one which cut down the nets in New Orleans, there's this: Calipari has had just one Kentucky team that has received significant production from a senior, the national championship team which saw Darius Miller average just under 10 points per game. This year's team figures to receive a similar boost from Poythress, who was never expected to be around this long, but who now finds himself as the first Calipari recruit to play four years at Kentucky.

The other major parallel is that this team will allow Calipari to get back to letting his guys get up and down the court, a style which was noticeably lacking the past two seasons with the more halfcourt-oriented Harrison twins running the show. It's a shift that figures to please both Big Blue Nation and its front man.

How Kentucky loses early: A culture clash finally goes down in Lexington

There is no lack of evidence to support the widely-held belief that the egos attached to the highest-profile basketball recruits in the AAU era have gotten out of control. With that being the case, maybe the most remarkable aspect of what Calipari has been able to do at UK is that he's brought together the cream of the recruiting crop and never seemed to have much of an issue with his players coming together to pursue one common goal.

There has been nothing so far this summer or fall to indicate that this trend is going to be broken in 2015-16, but if you're looking for a reason why the Cats might be unsuccessful this season, that's about all there is. Maybe Lee, Poythress and Ulis don't take kindly to the 2015 crew once they start stealing the spotlight. Maybe Willis finally freaks out over being a former highly-rated recruit who gets treated like a glorified walk-on. Maybe Mulder smells and it creates a bad locker room environment.

These are the types of things that Kentucky's competition has to hope for in the Calipari era.

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Kentucky again to challenge for NCAA Basketball National Championship

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Bad News for UK Haters

What we learned from Kentucky's first exhibition against Ottawa

By Justin_Hodges  @justin_hodges22 on Nov 2, 2015, 9:36p

Kentucky looked about as impressive as a team could in an exhibition opener.

Basketball season is back, folks!

Your Kentucky Wildcats took the floor against Ottawa University for their first game of the season tonight and put on an excellent performance, winning the game 117-58. Deeper than the score, let's dive into some of the aspects we learned about this brand new Kentucky team.

These boys are hungry

If we saw one thing out of these kids tonight, it is that these Wildcats play with energy, unselfishness and effort. They've shown a will to learn and a hunger to become better. Most kids come into Kentucky with a set of skills that they use effectively. These kids seem to be different; they allow Cal to work on them and learn to play ways that Cal knows will help them win basketball games.

Jamal Murray is well deserving of #23

You can remember at the UK-UNC alumni game, Anthony Davis went over to John Calipari and said, "you let him have 23?!?!" about Jamal Murray. Cal responded with, "your number ain't retired yet! I hope he's better than you so we can retire his instead of yours." Now, is anybody ever going to be as good as Anthony Davis was at Kentucky? Likely not, but Jamal Murray looked excellent tonight. Tallying up 17 points, 7 rebounds, and 6 assists at halftime, Murray finished with 22 points, 12 rebounds, and 9 assists for a near triple double.

Cal is looking rather spry

Over the years, it's been noticeable how much the stress of leading Kentucky can have on a person. Lately, we've seen Cal growing gray hair, showing those aging aspects. Today, he looked a little different. A full head of black Italian hair, a lot of energy, turning the clock back a little bit, probably because this is the most fun he's ever had with a basketball team. Cal has guys that play to the same style he loves for really the first time in his career. Cal always preaches for his kids to have fun; it's nice to see the ol' coach having a little fun himself.

The guards will get to the rim

Coach Calipari loves for his players to get to the rim, especially his backcourt players. Over the years, Cal has had mostly guards that do work outside of the paint. Not this group of kids; Tyler Ulis, Isaiah Briscoe and Jamal Murray love attacking the rim and are so good when they get there. With 66 points in the paint, 26 fast break points and 32 assists tonight, this has the looking of a team that is absolutely perfect for Calipari's scheme. That is scary to think about.

Alex still isn't all the way back

As we thought would be the case, senior forward Alex Poythress clearly isn't all the way back from his ACL rehab. Anytime you're dealing with a ligament tear, it's going to be a long road to recovery, and while Poythress showed flashes of his beastly self, it was clear he's not all the way back yet.

That's also why junior Marcus Lee got the start at the 4 spot over Poythress. It may end being where Poythress coming off the bench as the sixth man is best for this team, and as long as Poythress gets back to 100%, this will be a true championship contender.

Different team, same fundamentals

A lot of new faces are coming into Kentucky this year, but tonight's game made it appear evident that it's going to be a lot of the same fundamentals as it always is in Lexington moving forward. Kentucky's going to play stout defense, garnering 9 blocks, 10 steals and holding the opponent to 26%FG shooting.  They're going to throw lobs and slam them as Marcus Lee and Skal Labissiere did numerous times tonight. They're also going to stretch it behind the three point line, going 12-22 from range today with Tyler and Murray making 4 each. The bench is going to deep as well, just like last year; the bench unit provided 39 points today.

Overall, a great first performance by your Kentucky Wildcats. This team looks like it's going to be very good in hopes for our ninth national title.

Kentucky Wildcats Basketball No. 1 in Preseason Top 25 Poll

By Jason Marcum  @marcum89 on Sep 7, 2015, 

The Kentucky Wildcats will likely once again have one of the best teams in college basketball when the upcoming season begins.

While the 2015-16 season doesn't open for another two months, UK is already having high expectations placed upon them with top-five rankings in just about every preseason poll you'll find. That's the case with Athlon Sports, who have the Cats No. 1 in their preseason top 25:

The Wildcats might not challenge 40-0 again, but Tyler Ulis, Skal Labissiere and Jamal Murray should contend for the Final Four.

Here is the entire Athlon Sports 2015-16 College Basketball Preseason Top 25:

1 Kentucky

2 Duke

3 North Carolina

4 Maryland

5 Virginia

6 Kansas

7 Iowa State

8 Arizona

9 Oklahoma.

10 Villanova

11 Gonzaga

12 Michigan State

13 Cal

14 Wichita State

15 Vanderbilt

16 Purdue

17 Indiana

18 UConn

19 Wisconsin

20 Butler

21 Oregon

22 Michigan

23 Louisville

24 SMU

25 Texas A&M

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