It's been awhile since a college hoops update, but I'll try to get all of our guys' great performances from Sunday until today. Feel free to add to this if I missed anything.
Sunday
Although Butler lost to LSU, the Bulldog's white back court really shined, with Kellen Dunham scoring a team high 20 points, while also pulling down 6 rebounds. Point Guard Alex Barlow really impressed me Sunday. Despite being a 5'11'' former walk-on, he almost led the team in rebounding, pulling down 10(!), while scoring 9 points and dishing out 4 assists in addition to 2 steals. I'll say it again, Barlow is really improving and coming into his own this year for Butler.
Also on Sunday, the Tar Heels lose again, this time to UAB! The Blazer's two white players did not do very much in the win, however. Alihodzic did pull down a game-high 13 boards, however.
The Shocker's play-making guard, Ron Baker, had himself another great game as Wichita St. held of St. Louis. Baker had a game-high 22 points while shooting 70% from the field!! He also shot 6/7 from the free-throw line. Baker makes this team watchable, despite being the only white player who gets a significant amount of minutes. He has become "the guy" so far this year for the Shockers.
Phil Forte led Oklahoma St. in scoring off the bench again against Memphis, scoring 19 points.
I don't know how many of you know this, but Memphis has a white player this year, in freshman forward Austin Nichols. He has already taken over a starting spot for the Tigers, and had 9 points, 5 rebounds, and a block in the Tiger's win.
Monday
Cal's David Kravish had himself a nice night, getting a double double with 19 points and 10 rebounds.
Tuesday
There were some nice performances by our guys last night. There was a nice game last night between Notre Dame and Iowa. In total, 5 white athletes got the start (2 for ND, 3 for Iowa), and there were often 6-7 whites on the court, so it was a fun game to watch. Iowa prevailed in a high scoring affair, 98-93. Iowa's white players played great, with Aaron White leading the team in scoring with 20 points, in addition to 7 rebounds(a team high) and 7 assists. Off the bench, Wisconsin transfer Jarrod Uthoff played great as well, tying for second on the team with 17 points and 6 rebounds. Point guard Mike Gesell played nice as well, scoring 10 points, and getting 5 boards.
The star of the game, however, came from the Irish in center Garrick Sherman. Sherman played great last night, scoring a career high 29 points, which kept the Irish in the game, in addition to grabbing 9 boards. It's great to see Sherman starting to blossom, hopefully, this is the start of a great year for him.
Speaking of stars, Syracuse two guard Trevor Cooney is rapidly becoming one for the Syracuse Orange. Cooney alone makes Syracuse worth watching, and last night, he did not disappoint. Cooney is not just a great shooter, this kid can drive the lane and make cuts as well, in addition to having the hops to slam the ball down as well. He is also a great defender, as he had 4 steals last night. Cooney scored a game high 21 points as well. This kid is amazing to watch. Yet Dan Dakich (I believe) said last night that Syracuse's backcourt of Cooney and Ennis (a mulatto freshman point guard who is very good) "prepares very well for the games. They are not as athletic or as long as Michael Carter-Williams and Brandon Triche, (their back court last year) but they make up for it with great hand-eye coordination.":dodgy: I've never heard that one before. I suppose then that their hand-eye coordination is the sole reason why both of these guys are very quick, and why Cooney can dunk the ball?
Cooney slams the ball home on a break away.
There are some interesting games on tonight as well. Wisconsin-Virginia is the main game that should interesting us, with a Top-10 team in the Badgers starting for white players, and Virginia starting 3 (maybe; I'm not sure about Parrantes, who looks Hispanic, but still white enough where DWFs wouldn't like him). Regardless, it should be a great game, and the Cavs still have 2 great white players in Joe Harris and Mike Tobey.
Here's a pic of Parrantes if anyone would like to weigh in:
Two more very caste matchups are on as well: New Mexico vs. New Mexico State, and Boston College vs. Purdue.
I know in the NM-NMSU game it's 3 white starters for New Mexico (0 for NMSU) and 3 for BC vs. 0 for Purdue.
Purdue has come a long ways from the days of Chris Kramer and Robbie Hummel. They play exactly 0 white men for any significant minutes. Go BC!!