tonight we have a pair of Championship games that feature caste match-ups. both play on one of the ESPN networks at 8:00, so pick your poison.
the Valparaiso Crusaders start 4 White men, and they play 6 White devils (which is funny since they’re the “Crusaders”) in their 8-man rotation.
their best player is Ryan Broekhoff, a 6-7 do-everything junior forward from Australia who leads them in scoring and rebounding, is a terrific passer, and is the team’s best defender. their other forward, 6-8 junior Kevin Van Wijk, is their next-best scorer and rebounder. he’s from the Netherlands. forward Richie Edwards provides firepower from long range off the bench.
starting guards Will Bogan and Ben Boggs are solid all-around players who contribute in a variety, even when not stuffing the stat sheet, as does Matt Kenny who usually comes off the bench.
they face off against Detroit which also has a deep bench, but only plays 1 White athlete.
in the other caste head-to-head, we see nearly all-White South Dakota State (who only has 1 black kid who regularly sees the court) against nearly all-black Western Illinois (who only has one White kid who regularly sees the floor).
the best matchup of the game will be between the two point guards. SDSU’s Nate Wolters, a junior, is the best player in the game (and one of the most under-rated players in the country), leading his team in points (21.5 ppg), rebounds (5.1 rpg), assists (6.1 apg), and steals (1.7 spg). he’ll be facing off against WIU’s best player, senior Ceola Clark III, who leads his team in points (13.6), assists (4.7), and steals (1.6). the winner of this head-to-head will likely determine the winning team, as both lead guards are the engines that power their respective team’s performances.
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of the teams who have qualified for the NCAA Tournament by winning their conference tournament titles, several feature White athletes as dominant figures.
* surprisingly-non-White Saint Mary’s’ best player (as well as the WCC’s) is junior point guard Matthew Dellavedova.
* UNC Asheville’s best player is senior guard Matt Dickey, despite an otherwise very dark roster.
* Davidson is obviously a majority-White team, as only one black player sees the floor for the Wildcats.
* Creighton features the explosive scorer Doug McDermott, arguably the best offensive player in the nation, as well as frequently having 3 White men on the court at a time (including 4 White athletes in the regular rotation), especially the deft-passing and shutdown defense of (Gonzaga transfer) Grant Gibbs.
* Belmont starts 3 White athletes, and their top reserve (who actually plays starter’s minutes) is another White kid.
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an interesting side note … the two nearly all-White teams who are playing tonight (and Davidson who played last night) feature incredibly young rosters, with only one single White senior in the three starting lineups combined. how cool is that? if things develop as they should, all three teams should be even better next year.
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one last thing to mention regarding the upcoming NCAA Tournament … another team that has gone largely under the radar is the
Vermont Catamounts. they've won 22 games this year, and they’ll be playing for the America East Tournament Championship (and an automatic Tourney bid) on March 10. they only have one black player on their entire roster, so hopefully they’ll prevail against Stony Brook and do some things come Tourney time. of course, that's a big job for them to do.
Nate Wolters is looking real good for the Jack Rabbits as I'm flipping back and forth between them and Davidson. Oh, and I definlty count Cohen white.
