Toyota Engineering Society's CUE 3 is a 6'3" humanoid robot reportedly hits free throws with nearly 100 percent accuracy. From the AP:

(The robot) computes as a three-dimensional image where the basket is, using sensors on its torso, and adjusts motors inside its arm and knees to give the shot the right angle and propulsion for a swish...

Stanford University Professor Oussama Khatib, who directs the university's robotics lab, said Cue 3 demonstrates complex activities such as using sensors and nimble computation in real-time in what he called "visual feedback."

To shoot hoops, the robot must have a good vision system, be able to compute the ball's path then execute the shot, he said in a telephone interview.

"What Toyota is doing here is really bringing the top capabilities in perception with the top capabilities in control to have robots perform something that is really challenging," Khatib said.

"Toyota robot can’t slam dunk but it shoots a mean 3-pointer" (AP/Asahi Shimbun)

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Nearly every Sunday for 25 years, Garry Shandling held a secret pickup basketball game for his friends, including celebrities like Sarah Silverman, David Duchovny, Sacha Baron Cohen, Will Ferrell, Kevin Nealon, and Judd Apatow. ESPN writes, "Those Sundays yielded friendships that are responsible for some of the best television and film of the past 20 years. As director Alex Richanbach says, 'This group of people found a little family in Los Angeles because we all have the same comedy dad.'"

Shandling passed away in 2016 but the stories of what the scene was like are coming out now.

There are way too many to include here and they build on each other, so head to ESPN to read the game's oral history by the people who were there: 'Fight Club' with better jokes: Inside Garry Shandling's secret pickup game

One last thing: As a tribute to Shandling, his friends gathered to play one last game of basketball at his house just three days after his death.

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One last game of basketball at Garry's house to say goodbye.

A post shared by Judd Apatow (@juddapatow) on Mar 27, 2016 at 10:49pm PDT

I don't think I've been around a basketball in two decades, never mind played with one. (Who am I kidding? It's easily been three decades.) Yet, I can't help but dig this bright yellow Smiley basketball by Chinatown Market ($59). Dare I say that it put a smile on my face? (Yeah, I'd better not.)

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I didn't bother to watch any of the NBA championship series but I was glued to the screen for this Bad Lip Reading of the 2017-2018 pro basketball season. Read the rest

At last night's NBA All-Star basketball game, singer Fergie sang the Star-Spangled banner for thousands at the venue and millions at home. She's been getting interesting reviews and people stayed up late to give them. I, for one, hope she now sings Happy Birthday to President Trump, concluding by shouting "Let's play some basketball" Read the rest

Yesterday, the Oregon Ducks' Dillon Brooks and Utah Utes' Sedrick Barefield slightly bumped one another while Barefield had the ball. Hoping for a call against Barefield, Brooks then launched himself into one of the greatest, fakest flops of all time.

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This 2012 performance of “Carol Of The Bells” should be redubbed “Carol Of The Balls.” Read the rest

The National Basketball Association won't be holding the 2017 All-Star Game in Charlotte, North Carolina, because of a recently passed state law that discriminates against transgender people. Read the rest

Be sure to view the LA Times' interactive graphic, where you can see stats, details of each shot (the longest to sink was from 43ft), and the full court. Folks keep asking why there's a "dead zone." The answer is surely the obvious one: that it's just inside the 3-point line. When you're that close to it, you may as well go for 3 points rather than take another step and only get 2. Read the rest

A 14-year-old basketball player was impaled by an uneven floorboard while sliding across the court.

The girl was stuck four inches deep, but the wood missed major organs and she was not seriously injured, reports ABC News.

Meanwhile, school officials tell local station WISC they don't know how this could have happened. They say the floor is fairly new. They are now working to fix it.

The world's most famous basketball prankster, George "Meadowlark" Lemon of the Harlem Globetrotters, has died at age 83. I was fortunate to see Meadowlark perform with the Globetrotters several times in the 1970s. He was not only a master of the ball, but also a delightful and hilarious performer whose joy was infectious. (CNN)

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At the Wall Street Journal, Eric Simmons writes about the psychology of March Madness, which is really the psychology of relationships and the deep emotional bonds underlying communities and tribes. When you cheer on the Wichita State Shockers in the Final Four, what you're really doing is introducing other people (and other groups) into your definition of self. Read the rest

From "North Korea Has a Friend in Dennis Rodman and VICE." Not 'shopped; you can tell by the pixels.

Argo 2.0? Former NBA star and noted weirdo Dennis Rodman told ABC News' George Stephanopoulos today that he returned from a trip to North Korea arranged by VICE with a message for President Obama from Kim Jong Un:

“He wants Obama to do one thing: Call him,” Rodman told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos on “This Week.” “He said, ‘If you can, Dennis – I don’t want [to] do war. I don’t want to do war.’ He said that to me.”