As we prepare to by disappointed by the fist college football playoff, We had some great days yesterday by white hoopsters across the country yesterday. I'll try to get to all of the performances that I noticed from both watching and flipping through the box scores.
First, Arizona triumphed over Gonzaga in an excellent game yesterday. Kyle Wiltjer,who had a game high 15 points to go with 7 rebounds, missed a potential game winner at the end of regulation. Meanwhile, Arizona guard TJ McConnell went off during overtime, scoring the first 4 points for Arizona as they ended up winning when an afflete for the Zags was fouled shooting a 3 and proceeded to miss all of them (last one was an intentional miss). McConnell finished with 12 points, 2 assists, 3 rebounds, and 3 steals, yet the announcers constantly reminded us all during the game that McConnell doesn't actually have much athletic ability.:icon_rolleyes: Too bad McConnell isn't black, he'd be a sure fire NBA Hall of Famer! Down low, the two centers of Polish descent, Kaleb Tarczewski of Arizona and Pzemek Karnowski of Gonzaga battled like titans, with Tarc finishing with 11 points and 7 rebounds, while Karnowski had double double with 10 points and a game-high 11 rebounds. Kevin Pangos struggled somewhat, finishing with only 8 points on 3-10 shooting. Overall, a great game with white guys making plays all over the place.
Wisconsin took care of a pesky Marquette team yesterday 49-38. No doubt Marquette's players are still adjusting to running an actual offense at teams with Wojo at the helm over Buzz Williams. Frank Kaminsky was a beast as usual, with 15 points, 10 boards, 4 steals, 3 blocks, and an assist. Josh Gasser also had four triples for the Badgers, finishing with 12 points. Opposite, dynamic grad transfer Matt Carlino had a good game, leading all scorers with 18 points.
It appeared Wichita St was all about their white players yesterday!! In a game that would have made CF proud, the only 3 Shockers players in double digits happened to be their 3 white guys!
Ron Baker led the trio with 18 points. Fellow starter Evan Wessel had 15 points, while Estonian freshman center Rauno Nurger had 15 off the bench. Not surprisingly, they blew away the Billikens 81-52.
Butler took care of Northwestern yesterday as well, winning 65-56. It would've been more if one of Butler's affletes hadn't insisted on wasting several positions by driving to the rim and throwing up garbage about 3 or so straight times down the court. Kellen Dunham led all scorers with 19 points on 6-9 shooting to go with a perfect 6-6 from the charity stripe. Alex Barlow played his usual great defense, and had 8 points, 6 rebounds, and 4 steals as well.
For Northwestern, they have an impressive looking freshman in guard Bryant McIntosh, who came off the bench to lead the Wildcats with 12 points. He seems to have that "it" quality about him having watched him yesterday. Chris Collins compared him to Jon Scheyer, so this kids gonna be good!! Good to see Duke's former assistants still recruiting and playing white talent; maybe those guys (Collins, Dawkins, and Wojo, to name a few) are the guys who had a say in some of that great white talent Duke used to accumulate...
For Michigan State, Matt Costello came off the bench to tie the team lead in scoring with 15 points and also pulled down 5 rebounds, outperforming the magical athlete that Coach Izzo put in the lineup ahead of him.
CF favorite BYU had a great game in blowing out Hawaii, 90-70. All three of BYU's starting guards had HUGE games. First, Kyle Collinsworth had 19 points, 12 rebounds, and 10 assists for a triple double!! Collinsworth is BYU's most important player; without him, it's a lot tougher for the Cougars to win. Tyler Haws had his usual great game with 30 points, to go with 7 rebounds. Chase Fischer also had 20 points with 5 rebounds, 5 assists, and 3 steals. These three may be the most underrated backcourt in the country, that's for sure.
Davidson continues it's great start to the year by blowing out Stetson 90-59. Tyler Kalinoski had a game-high 25 points in the blowout. I'm hoping the Wildcats are able to exceed expectations their first year in the A-10.
Iowa devoured a cupcake yesterday, and Aaron White led Iowa's white contingent with 14 points and 5 boards.
Finally, the best performance by a white player yesterday may have to go to Eastern Washington's Venky Jois (who may be of partial Indian descent). Regardless, he had 38 points and 7 boards yesterday in the Eagles' win over Seattle.
Finally, I thought I'd post a few more pics of our guys in action:
Aaron White - Iowa
Alex Barlow - Butler
Bryant McIntosh (Northwestern) defends Kellen Dunham (Butler)
Kyle Wiltjer - Gonzaga
TJ McConnell - Arizona
Ron Baker - Wichita St.