Basketball On The Internet.

BOB'S CORNER: Our man on the spot, US corresondent Bob Craven is back with his take on two ongoing controversies - one involving our very own burgeoning superestar Josh Giddey, the other about NCAA star Angel Reese - and so much more in the way of NBA and college hoops.

WHILE the NBA is roughly at the quarter pole of the current season and the NCAA isn't even that far along, two interesting story lines that have little or nothing to do with performance on the court have been prominent, neither fully explained by either their players, coaches or leagues. 

Oklahoma City Thunder's budding 21-year-old Aussie superstar, Josh Giddey, hit the tabloid media with news that he was being investigated for having a relationship with a girl who was a minor (under 18 years old). 

He allegedly had a one-night stand with the girl after they met at an OKC night club.  Supposedly, he found out the next day that she was underage and broke things off.

The NBA initially announced that it was investigating, and then things got confusing.  It was then announced that the Newport Beach, California Police Dept. was investigating. 

Doubly odd as the nightclub involved is in Oklahoma City, and even more complicating is that the age of consent in the state of Oklahoma is 16.  Since that point, Giddey and the team have declined to comment. 

Meanwhile, Gloria Allred, a well-known celebrity lawyer who has advocated for women against powerful men and celebrities for decades, has announced that she will be representing the girl going forward.  Stay tuned.

Louisiana State U. Tigers women's team, one of the top teams in the country for the past several years and 2022 national champions, have a controversy going with their MVP Angel Reese.

Reese, a 193cm forward/centre was reported by flamboyant coach, Kim Mulkey, as having been temporarily removed from team participation.  The Tigers were upset in their very first game of the year, which seemed to touch all this off, and there was a lot of media play about what was happening, much of it unfounded speculation. 

Reese was back after missing four games and issued statements that she had temporarily suspended herself "to protect her mental health".  She added she was being supported by her team and the university, and that Shaquille O'Neal was helping a lot, talking to her on a daily basis.

IN the NBA, about a quarter of the season has been completed, Minnesota Timberwolves leading the Western Conference in a surprise, while the Celtics lead the East - not a surprise. 

Another surprise is the Oklahoma City Thunder are near the top in the West, in no small part due to rookie 216cm rookie big tall guy, Chet Holmgren. 

Yet another surprise is that the San Antonio Spurs and their Hall of Fame-to-be coach Gregg Popovich are almost at the bottom of the league, having won only three games, and this with rookie 224cm wunderkind Victor Wembanyama dominating the middle. 

The Detroit Pistons have only won two games to date.  At the rate they are going, they would win only eight games this season, which would set an all-time NBA record for futility.

The usual names are leading the league in the major individual categories.  Leading scorers are Joel Embiid at 33.1 ppg, followed by Luca Doncic, Kevin Durant, De'Aaron Fox, and Giannis Antetokounmpo at #s 2, 3, 4, and 5. 

Nikola Jokic is the leading rebounder at 12.9 per game, and Tyrese Haliburton leads in assists at 11.9 per game (Jokic is 3rd and Doncic is 5th).  Rookies Wembanyama and Holmgren are 3rd and 4th respectively in blocked shots, and future HOFer Kevin Durant is second in 3-point percentage at 50 per cent. 

He is now also #10 on the all-time scoring list, having recently passed Moses Malone.

Antetokounmpo has a 54-point game this season, the highest in a game so far, and in that game, he became the fourth player this century to have a game of 54 or more points without a single 3-point field goal. 

Jokic and Doncic are chalking up triple-doubles every other game at least, with Doncic recording a monster game of 36 points, 15 boards, and 18 assists a week ago (in a loss, no less) and then racking up a 29-point triple double before halftime (he played almost not at all after the half, but still ended up with 42 points in his triple double.)

THE newly crowned #1 NCAA men's D-I team, the Purdue Boilermakers lost their first game of the season to Northwestern in a close game in OT. 

Purdue, as usual, was led by 224cm Zach Edey, with 35 points, 14 rebounds and 3 blocks, yet they still managed to lose the game, despite winning the battle of the boards 52-27 and shooting 31-41 from the charity stripe. 

Unfortunately, they committed 17 turnovers to just three for Northwestern. 

In another big game, #5 Kansas held on to beat #4 and defending national champion Connecticut by four points. In its very next game, Connecticut defeated #9 North Carolina 87-76.

IN NCAA Women's action, Caitlin Clark scored 35 in leading the #4 Iowa Hawkeyes over arch rival Iowa State U. by nine. 

She now has surpassed 3,000 points scored, making her the 15th women's player to pass that number. She was not on her A game as she only shot 12-of-31 from the floor.  And the #3 Stanford women were routed at home by #23 Gonzaga 96-78.