I haven't thought much about University of Virginia since the great coach Tony Bennett stepped away. Your mention of Dallin Hall, and UVA cracking the top 25, caused me to look into them further. Another team with a majority White starting lineup! The team's leading scorer is freshman forward Thijs De Ridder, who's averaging an excellent 15.1 ppg. The Belgian (a real one, not an invader!) seems to have a well rounded game, contributing on the glass and shooting nearly 40% from outside the arch. The 3rd White starter is freshman center Johann Grünloh who leads the team in rebound (7.3 per game) and blocks (2.7 per game). The German (a real one, not an invader!) 7 footer also contributes a solid 9.1 ppg. The Cavaliers should certainly be one of the more favorable teams in the new extended ACC (18 teams with many making no geographical sense).
Looking at some of the other top 25 teams in action yesterday, many were lead by White athletes as the "top performer".
#2 Michigan - Aday Mara
#4 Iowa State - Milan Momcilovic (up to over 18 ppg this year from 11; big jump)
#5 UConn - Alex Karaban
#13 Vanderbilt - Tyler Nickel
#15 Nebraska - Berke Büyüktuncel, triple-double! (most Cornhuskers game will have some White athlete leading them)
#23 Florida - Alex Condon
Good to see Ryan Odum continuing a trend of having a respectable amount of White players on Virginia teams. I guess it shouldn't be too shocking though considering he had an all White starting 5 at Utah State and even had several White players at VCU of all places.
Watched a little bit of the BYU and Eastern Washington game and guard Dawson Baker is unfortunately out for the season with a torn ACL - even less of a reason to support BYU now. Even worse, BYU just signed an Egyptian former G-League player who is apparently immediately eligible as he is playing tonight. Eastern Washington has also gotten much darker and sit at 2 wins and 10 losses on the year. It is a far cry from the Groves brothers leading the Eagles to the NCAA tournament. Their coach is Dan Monson, who originally took Gonzaga to their first Elite Eight (starting four Whites).
I think that the majority of the top 25 teams have a top player who is White, which is awesome to see.
1.
Arizona - not the top players, but have 6th man Anthony Dell'Orso and 2 other Europeans who start.
2.
Michigan - Mara (like you mentioned)
3.
Iowa State - Momcilovic (like you mentioned - having a fantastic season so far this year...might be the best 3 point shooter in the country!)
4.
UConn - Karaban (like you mentioned)
5.
Purdue - Braden Smith (and a whole lot of other Whites)
6. Duke - not great this year for us unfortunately
7.
Gonzaga - Braden Huff is their best player in my opinion (at least on offense)
8. Houston - nothing
9.
Michigan State - Kohler is their leading scorer
10.
BYU - Richie Saunders is either their best or second best player
11.
Vanderbilt - Tyler Nickel averages 15 a game
12.
UNC - Henry Veesaar averages 17 a game at center
13.
Nebraska - Reink Mast is their best player
14. Bama - nothing
15. Texas Tech - not much
16.
Louisville - Isaac McKneely is their 3rd leading scorer
17. Kansas - not much
18. Arkansas - not much
19. Tennessee - not much, but JP Estrella is their 3rd leading scorer
20.
Illinois - your pick of which Euro is the best
21.
Virginia - De Ridder is averaging 15 a game
22.
Florida - Haugh and Condon are the leading scorers (top two bench players are both White too)
23.
Georgia - Blue Cain is the 2nd leading scorer
24. USC - not much
25.
Iowa - Bennett Stirtz is their best player
Of the top 25, 17 have a White player who I would at least consider to be a focal point of the team, if not the best player outright. This doesn't even really touch on the White supporting pieces that many of these teams have. It is a great time to be watching college basketball!
