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Thursday links - more men's basketball, as the storylines of the season are set up. And what's a basketball season without storylines, right?
Another listicle of "coaches who need a big season", which, we all know, is a euphemism for "hot seat" without using that language that coaches and journalists find gauche/ trolly/ click-bait.
But Mike DeCourcy gets into the clickbait action, including fellows like Brian Gregory, Tom Crean, Lorenzo Romar and... Steve Lavin in his list.
Focusing on Rysheed Jordan, DeCourcy adds that "Jordan could be exceptional, the sort of player who elevates a team with promise into a team with purpose," mentioning his stilted year.
Speaking of Rysheed Jordan, NBC Sports lists him as eighth on the list of breakout stars this year, with this blurb:
Jordan posted solid numbers as a freshman — 9.7 ppg, 3.1 rpg, 3.0 apg — but didn’t play his best basketball until the final month and a half of the season, when head coach Steve Lavin started allowing him more freedom offensively.
Don't know that I agree that Jordan didn't have freedom before - but the team was playing better defense and he, too, made better basketball decisions.
NBA watch:
Orlando Sanchez logged a DNP in his first possible game with the New York Knicks.
Jakarr Sampson played a bit over six minutes, had two rebounds, one foul, one turnover in the Sixers' win over the Charlotte Hornets.
And for the Orlando Magic, Maurice Harkless had 12 points and 4 rebounds in a win over the Miami Heat in preseason play.
On other tracks - it's ebola-tastic!
Women athletes = future leaders? --> From the Harvard Business Review:
The study by EY Women Athletes Business Network and espnW surveyed more than 400 female executives in five countries (20% were U.S. women). Half are C-Suite level executives, meaning that they serve as CEO, CFO, COO or the board of directors at a company. Of these top executives, over half (52%) played a sport at the college or university level. Only 3% did not participate in sports at any point in their lives.
In case you were worried... --> Major international U.S. Airports will start screening for the Ebola virus.
The screenings, which will include taking the passengers’ temperatures with a gun-like, noncontact thermometer and requiring them to fill out a questionnaire after deplaning, will be for people arriving from Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea, the three countries hardest hit by the epidemic.
About 90 percent of the people arriving from the three countries come through the five airports, officials said. Kennedy Airport alone has about 43 percent of the travelers. The second-highest share of visitors — 22 percent — come through Washington Dulles.
Looking for innovative ideas from unlikely "geniuses" --> From NPR, a story about unique ideas coming from outside the scientific research world.
On Tuesday, the U.S. Agency for International Development announced a $5 million contest, asking innovators to develop cooler, more breathable protective [suits to wear when working with Ebola patients]. Proposals are welcome immediately; USAID head Dr. Rajiv Shah expects the first funding to come as early as December.
Anyone can enter, from a technology whiz to a small business owner. And, of course, auto mechanics.
And therein lies the power of the Grand Challenge — finding great ideas from perhaps surprising sources, says Wendy Taylor, director of USAID's Center for Accelerating Innovation and Impact.