A QUICK CHECK- IN WITH NAIA COLLEGE BASKETBALL WITH GEORGE FLOROS AND RONY SEIKALY

 Of the two men holding up the trophy in this picture, the one on the left is George Floros, AKA Big G, and the one on the right is, of course, the former NBA player Rony Seikaly. The Lebanese Seikaly was the very first draft pick of the Miami Heat when they were an expansion franchise in 1988. George, a native of Greece, was not. (rimshot)

This photo was taken in 1983 in Paris, where George, Rony and their teammates from ACS Athens High School had won the international competition that year. There’s no truth to the rumor that George and Rony went on to promise that ACS Athens would win “Not one, not two, not three, not four, not five, not six, not seven” of those titles. George and Rony were quite a deadly duo on the court and were known, respectively, as The Greek Playboy and The Guy Who Can Actually Play Basketball (I’m just kidding, George! I threw that in for Nikki’s benefit. ). After his NBA career Rony went on to become an active real estate entrepreneur and George (who, by the way, is available, ladies) now divides his time between taking trips to Las Vegas and planning trips to Las Vegas.

Anyway, since Rony and George will probably see more action on the basketball court than the NBA’s current players will this year, I figured the pic above would make a nice intro for this quick look at the NAIA college basketball standings. Obviously with the football playoffs and Bowls going on in the divisions covered by Balladeer’s Blog and with the Jerry Sandusky/ Joe Paterno scandal keeping me busy (Especially today’s revelation that they may have been involved in Natalie Wood’s death. I’m kidding!) the basketball season has been neglected. And now, since I’m incurably eccentric, the men’s and women’s Top Six teams in NAIA basketball:  

Division 1 – MEN – 1. Pikeville Bears … 2. Mountain State Cougars … 3. Robert Morris (IL) Eagles … 4. Concordia (CA) Eagles … 5. Martin Methodist Red Hawks … 6. LSU-Shreveport Pilots 

 D1 – WOMEN – 1. Azusa Pacific Cougars … 2. Union (TN) Bulldogs … 3. Oklahoma City University Stars … 4. Shawnee State Bears … 5. Lewis-Clark State Warriors … 6. Freed- Hardeman Lions   

Division 2 – MEN – 1. Northwood (FL) Seahawks … 2. Indiana Wesleyan Wildcats … 3. Davenport Panthers … T4. Bellevue Bruins  T4. Oregon Tech Hustlin’ Owls … 6. Cornerstone Golden Eagles    

D2 – WOMEN – 1. Northwestern (IA) Red Raiders … 2. Morningside Mustangs … 3. Indiana Wesleyan Wildcats … 4. Kansas Wesleyan Coyotes … 5. Briar Cliff Chargers … 6. College of the Ozarks Bobcats