HOOPS

I love college basketball, but college football has become my favorite spectator sport in recent years. Just about every Saturday I am sitting in front of my big screen TV from about noon till almost midnight. I love it!

My Wake Forest Demon Deacons are in the thick of the hunt for the ACC championship. Amazingly, there are still 7 other teams left in the chase this late in the season. My prediction and hope is a North Carolina – Wake Forest showdown in Tampa Bay for the ACC championship game.

Now comes basketball season. Tonight the pre-season No. 21 ranked Wake Forest opened the season with a 94-48 blowout of N.C. Central. Freshman Al-Farouq Aminu from Norcross, Georgia, had 21 points and 10 rebounds. Go Deacs!

Another “small” college in North Carolina known for its academics and basketball is Davidson. Davidson basketball has fascinated me since their great teams in the 1960’s when the then 1,000 student college stunned the major powers and were ranked in the top ten for a few seasons.

Today I read an interesting story about Stephen Curry, the current scoring sensation on the Davidson basketball team. Last March he led his team to the Elite Eight in the NCAA tournament. In four tournament games he averaged 32 points! Click on the Sports Illustrated article to read something of his family’s Christian influence.

This photo of his shoes shot during the tournament tells his motivation ... "I can do all things" ... the Apostle Paul's words in Philippians 4:13.