NCAA Tourny--White Teams

[Stonewall]

Gentlemen, I wanted to start a thread that garners various views on which NCAA teams that possess prominent white players will make noise in next month's tournament.

Personally, I like BYU, Notre Dame, and Washington State.

Let me know what you guys think.

 

[Deadlift]

The Big Ten is interesting:

For the most part, the Whiter teams have fared better this year.

I like Michigan State, Wisconsin, Purdue, Butler and Notre Dame.

Some of these teams with "better" White representation will certainly make the Sweet 16.


I sure ain't rooting for UNC or UCLA. Not this year.

 

[Jimmy Chitwood]

there are a lot of prominent teams this year that feature either a mostly white lineup, or a white star player.

BYU, Washington State, and Notre Dame certainly are all quality teams. and in the case of BYU and Washington State, they often have five white men on the court at once for long periods.

Notre Dame, Wisconsin, Duke, and Butler (which is NOT in the Big Ten) often have four whites on the court for long stretches. as do Gonzaga, Drake, and Davidson. all of which are in the Top 25 this week, i think...

Michigan State, Vanderbilt, and Purdue almost always have 2 or 3 white men on the court (and in the starting lineup), including the best players on the team for all three schools. and they are all solid locks for the NCAA Tourney, too, it looks like.

and the best player for otherwise coal black North Carolina, Louisville, and UCLA is a white man, as well. all in all, a pretty good year for our guys.

 

[Stonewall]

What's great about the aforementioned majority white teams rests in the fact that they know how to close out games. For example, I've seen Washington State play a lot this year. Often, this team is locked in a close game down the stretch and based on superior game management (i.e. not turning over the ball and making dumb mistakes) and most importantly, making free throws, this team comes out a winner. The same is true with Notre Dame.

Vitale even brought up in the Memphis-Tennessee game his apprehensions about a team winning a national championship while missing 50 percent of their foul shots.

The tournament will be very interesting. A predominantly white team (like Duke, for instance) who goes on fire shooting the ball (especially 3 point shooting) stands a good chance of winning this thing.

Having Hansbrough and Love is key for UNC and UCLA. I just want to make sure teams like Georgetown and Memphis get knocked out.

 

[Colonel_Reb]

BYU wins outright MWC title againby starting5whites for the whole season! Congrats to the Cougars, now get win 25, win the MWC Tourney, and make some noise at the big dance.

Cougars Repeat as MWC Champions
by Jay Zwahlen, BYU Athletic Communications

PROVO, Utah (Mar. 5, 2008) -- The BYU men's basketball team clinched the outright regular-season Mountain West Conference championship on senior night with a 78-61 win over Wyoming Wednesday night at the Marriott Center.

The Cougars (24-6, 13-2 MWC) sealed their first back-to-back outright conference crowns since the 1979 and 1980 (when Danny Ainge was there) seasons and became the first MWC team to win two outright titles in the nine-year history of the league.

"It was a special thing to win the Mountain West Conference title on your home court," BYU coach Dave Rose said. "This title has come through great leadership and hard work. These players deserve this title after how hard they have worked all season long."

BYU guard Jonathan Tavernari also broke Andy Toolson's 18-year single-season record of 74 made three-point shots in a season. Tavernari hit four treys on the night to improve his season total to 76.

Center Trent Plaisted notched his eighth double-double of the season with 23 points and 11 rebounds. Guard Lee Cummard had a solid all-around game, tallying 12 points, seven rebounds and five assists. Tavernari was BYU's second leading scorer with 18 points.

Plaisted started the game off with BYU's first five points. Wyoming would respond with a long three-point shot from Brandon Ewing to bring the score to 5-3. The Cougars would then go on a 7-2 run over a three-minute span that ended midway through the half. After the run, BYU was up 17-7.

With 12:07 left in the half, Tavernari made a three-pointer to not only give BYU a 22-10 lead, but also etch his name in BYU's record books. Tavernari hit his 75th three-point shot of the season to give him the BYU record.

BYU would close the half on an 11-4 run starting at the 5:34 mark. The Cougars led 38-27 at the break. Tavernari scored 18 first-half points. Plaisted had 11 points and five rebounds at the break. Wyoming's Tyson Johnson led the Cowboys at the half with 11 points. Brandon Ewing had the more balanced stats with eight points and six boards. Only four Cowboys scored in the period.

The Cougars jumped out to a quick 15-point lead to open the second half, and they would only extend that lead as the half progressed. Cummard and Plaisted tallied six early points that were part of BYU's 19-6 run over the first seven minutes of the second half.

Midway through the period, Plaisted came alive, scoring 12 points and nabbing five rebounds in the first 13 minutes. With a 50 percent second-half field-goal percentage and a 57.1 percent three-point percentage, BYU closed the deal for good.

"Although we had a few slower spots on the offensive end of the court, I thought we were defensively pretty solid the whole night," Rose said. "This was a good win for the team, and we are ready to move on to the next game."

BYU will close out the regular season at TCU on Saturday at 7 p.m. With a 24-6 overall record to date, the Cougars have a chance to become the only BYU team in program history to record 25 regular-season victories.

 

[Jimmy Chitwood]

if William and Mary beats George Mason tomorrow night (Monday, March 10) they will be in the Big Dance.

the Tribe of William and Mary only has one black kid who sees the floor. and they often have five white kids on the floor for long stretches. they beat regular season conference champs all-black Virginia Commonwealth today.

the game will be televised live on ESPN at 6pm central standard time.

edited to add: the Tribe has a very balanced attack, but have struggled for much of the year. it appears they are coming together at the last possible moment.

junior forward Peter Stein is a high flyer.Edited by: Jimmy Chitwood

 

[Stonewall]

I watched a Gonzaga game in its entirety for the 1st time last night, and came away very unimpressed. This is not the Gonzaga team that we saw earlier in the decade, not nearly as white. And it shows. Pargo looked horrible. Heyvelt is a star, yet is far underutilized. The 6'11" high flyer was their best 3 point shooter last night, and it looked like Mark Few didn't even want him shooting 3s.

The whiter Santa Clara team almost pulled it out, congrats for an impressive effort. They were physical, and very quick to the ball.

Anybody catch the San Diego-St. Mary's game last night?