Jimmy Chitwood
Hall of Famer
Don has stated several times that he sees evidence that the black population is producing fewer and fewer talented athletes. maybe he's on to something...
please pardon me, it's going to take a moment for me to get to the point.
for the past decade or so, Gonzaga has been one of my two favorite basketball teams. they earned their national reputation the hard way: on the court. they built their program up from nothing on a foundation of under-recruited, hungry, local white kids with BIG chips on their shoulders. however, since the high point of Gonzaga basketball, when an all-white lineup caught the nation's attention by knocking off three major-conference powers, including 1998 Final Four participant Stanford, en route to an Elite Eight berth in the 1999 NCAA Tournament and a narrow last-minute loss to eventual champ UConn, Gonzaga's roster has grown ever darker.
and now that Gonzaga has become a household name, the Zags have begun to almost exclusively target "real" athletes for their basketball team. for example, all 4 scholarships for the 2007-08 season went to non-white players: juco transfer Ira Brown (black) and freshmen Austin Daye (mulatto), Robert Sacre (mulatto), and Steven Gray (mulatto).
the darkening trend took a slight slowdown with the 2008-09 signing class, as two of the three signees were white: freshmen Grant Gibbs and Andy Poling, both of whom are redshirting this season. only guard Demetri Goodson was black. however, it seems the decision to ignore the gene pool that brought them success has once again picked up speed.
i mean, it must seem obvious that Gonzaga's recruiters have to REALLY want an all-black recruiting class to sign the one they reeled in...
of their 4 commitments for 2009-10, Gonzaga has a black kid from Minnesota, a black "German", and a black "Canadian" originally from Sudan.
wait, that's just 3 players. i almost forgot their 4th "Canadian." i hope you enjoy the lovely "Canadian" family photo.
Gonzaga obviously wants to become a black program, but in order to do so they literally had to scour the globe to find 4 blacks worthy of a scholarship. what other reason could explain their having to go all the way to Minnesota and Germany and Sudan-via-Canada?
maybe Don is right, and American blacks are no longer producing many athletes who are fit for more than running from the cops.
this, of course, doesn't hit the main question. which is, why in the hell is Gonzaga going black?!?
please pardon me, it's going to take a moment for me to get to the point.
for the past decade or so, Gonzaga has been one of my two favorite basketball teams. they earned their national reputation the hard way: on the court. they built their program up from nothing on a foundation of under-recruited, hungry, local white kids with BIG chips on their shoulders. however, since the high point of Gonzaga basketball, when an all-white lineup caught the nation's attention by knocking off three major-conference powers, including 1998 Final Four participant Stanford, en route to an Elite Eight berth in the 1999 NCAA Tournament and a narrow last-minute loss to eventual champ UConn, Gonzaga's roster has grown ever darker.
and now that Gonzaga has become a household name, the Zags have begun to almost exclusively target "real" athletes for their basketball team. for example, all 4 scholarships for the 2007-08 season went to non-white players: juco transfer Ira Brown (black) and freshmen Austin Daye (mulatto), Robert Sacre (mulatto), and Steven Gray (mulatto).
the darkening trend took a slight slowdown with the 2008-09 signing class, as two of the three signees were white: freshmen Grant Gibbs and Andy Poling, both of whom are redshirting this season. only guard Demetri Goodson was black. however, it seems the decision to ignore the gene pool that brought them success has once again picked up speed.
i mean, it must seem obvious that Gonzaga's recruiters have to REALLY want an all-black recruiting class to sign the one they reeled in...
of their 4 commitments for 2009-10, Gonzaga has a black kid from Minnesota, a black "German", and a black "Canadian" originally from Sudan.
wait, that's just 3 players. i almost forgot their 4th "Canadian." i hope you enjoy the lovely "Canadian" family photo.
Gonzaga obviously wants to become a black program, but in order to do so they literally had to scour the globe to find 4 blacks worthy of a scholarship. what other reason could explain their having to go all the way to Minnesota and Germany and Sudan-via-Canada?
maybe Don is right, and American blacks are no longer producing many athletes who are fit for more than running from the cops.
this, of course, doesn't hit the main question. which is, why in the hell is Gonzaga going black?!?