I mention to my dad Friday that Bowling Green was getting an ABA team.

Dad’s been on the planet for a while. He’s spent a healthy portion of his life watching basketball. He doesn’t care much for the professional stuff, but he keeps up reasonably well, so I figured the acronym would register.

“Huh?” Dad says from his seat at the kitchen table. He shoots me a curious, cautious look, like I’m something slimy that slithered out from underneath the sink.

“An ABA team,” I repeat. “The American Basketball Association.”

Hmmm … I thought he’d have caught on by now. As a kid, Pops actually attended a game or two of the original ABA. Didn’t expect this would be so hard.

“Didn’t know that was still around,” he finally says.

Well, it’s not exactly the same thing, I point out. It’s the same name – and the same red, white and blue basketball – but a totally different league. Dad’s marginally interested to learn that the new team, the Kentucky Mavericks, hired Vincent Askew as head coach. Dad sort of remembers Askew’s college days at what was then called Memphis State.

Dad gives a little shrug and turns to check on the whereabouts of his Fourth of July supper. There is no more discussion of the ABA.

Dad’s lack of enthusiasm just might be the prevailing sentiment about the addition of professional basketball to this area. The Daily News sports office certainly hasn’t been inundated with expressions of joy over the news, and I haven’t really been asked about the Mavericks on the street.

That’s in contrast to the response Bowling Green’s forthcoming minor league baseball team has generated. A few weeks ago, I wrote about the challenges pro baseball might face in hoops-centric southcentral Kentucky. That column stirred up a handful of e-mailers, some of whom told me I was nuts for having doubts about baseball’s feasibility. So there’s at least a vocal group of folks interested in minor league baseball, and I don’t think I’m venturing too far out on a limb to suggest this baseball thing has a much broader local appeal than minor league basketball.

I still harbor some reservations about minor league baseball. But goodness, compared to the ABA, baseball’s prospects for success in Bowling Green seem like a one-foot uphill putt. The Mavericks, meanwhile, might be staring at a 60-foot double breaker. It’s maybe a 1-in-100 situation.

For one thing, Bowling Green’s baseball team has an established organization in Major League Baseball. The current ABA, which is less than a decade old, doesn’t have the same foothold. Nor does the overall organization appear very organized – as of this column’s writing, the league’s Web site, ABAlive.com, still says Askew has been named general manager of the Los Angles Push. The news release is dated Wednesday – the same day Askew told the Daily News he’d accepted the head coach position in Bowling Green.

Now, I’m not throwing the Mavericks or the ABA under the bus for bit of off-season miscommunication between the league’s 40-plus teams and the main office. I must question the judgment, however, of choosing a very small town for the return of the ABA to Kentucky – especially one that already has Division I basketball to offer, not to mention pretty decent prep hoops as competition. And of course the UK/Western Kentucky combo fans might skip a UK broadcast or trip to Lexington to attend a big WKU game, but I don’t expect them to do the same for a new low-level pro team.

The ABA will be burdened by a struggle to identify itself during probably the busiest sports time of the year in Bowling Green. That won’t be much of a concern for baseball during the slower summer months.

If the ABA gains an advantage over baseball, it’ll have to be in the Mavericks’ roster. The Bowling Green baseball leadership has no say over what players will play here, and names and faces will change constantly. The Mavericks, though, would be wise to load its lineup with as many former WKU, UK, Louisville and area prep standouts as possible. Hiring Askew is a good start – he’s not a household name, but he’s a guy many regional hoops fans recall.

Even in the wall-to-wall basketball atmosphere of winter, casual fans will come see players they remember and recognize. Considering we know little so far about the Mavericks and the ABA, the team must make itself as familiar to this area as it can. And the sooner the better.

— Daniel Pike is sports editor for the Daily News. He can be reached at 783-3271 or by e-mailing dpike@bgdailynews.com.