white vs. black games '07-'08

[Jimmy Chitwood]

surprisingly, the biggest upset of the college basketball season might have already happened! not surprisingly, it has barely made a peep on the national consciousness...

Gardner-Webb, and its all-white starting line-up, traveled to Rupp Arena and DESTROYED the Wildcats of Kentucky in the early season Coaches vs. Cancer Classic tourney.

unlike when mostly black Appalachian State upset Michigan in college football earlier this year, and the nation rose up in applause... this time, virtually no one is talking about how white talent rose up and dominated the "superior" afaletes in Bluegrass country.

led by former-walk-on shooting guard Grayson Flittner (yeah, that's how you spell it) who had 22 points and 5 assists, and rugged small forward Thomas Sanders' 21 points and 10 rebounds, Gardner-Webb took a 14-0 lead to begin the game, and never looked back despite lop-sided officiating that tried to get Kentucky back in their "rightful" position.

they completely dismantled and demolished the Wildcats, 84-68 on ESPNU.

Thomas Sanders taking it to the hole.

here's the video link for game highlights, which even point out the bad officiating on one occasion.

also, a name to keep an eye out for is GW's Jesse Wheeler. he is regarded as the best athlete, BY FAR, on the team, as well as easily its best dunker. he's a late bloomer to basketball and is very raw. but he is just a sophomore, and hopefully he will emerge as a dynamic player to go with their current contributors.Edited by: Jimmy Chitwood

 

[Colonel_Reb]

Awesome stuff Jimmy! I wonder what all those fat cat white Kentucky fans thought when they saw their "boys" get beat? I wonder if they thought about Coach Rupp? I'm so happy Gardner-Webb whipped up on a way too black Ken-tuck team.

 

[Jimmy Chitwood]

i posted a lot of info on the Duke '07-'08 thread i just started, but the mostly-white Dukies destroyed the all-black North Carolina Central Eagles to open their season.

while in reality they weren't a big-time opponent, you'd think NCC would have superior afaletes to the white 'boys' from Duke...

it was a rough game from a fouling standpoint, as you can see from some of the pics i posted. but the Blue Devils hardly broke a sweat, winning easily 121-56.

 

[Jimmy Chitwood]

Duke destroyed all-black New Mexico State last night by 25, behind 22 points by Jon Scheyer.

 

[Jimmy Chitwood]

another HUGE upset, at least in the eyes of most 'experts' took place in one of the many early season tourneys... this one, the Peggy Cronin Classic.

the nearly all-white Belmont University Bruins beat the nearly all-black Cincinnati Bearcats, 86-75.

Belmont started 4 white athletes (the lone black starter is the weakest link and had a horrible game), and played 7 white men all together. they were led by Justin Hare, a 6-2 combo guard (who is also a pre-season Mid-Major All-America team), the Bruins overcame some early jitters to dominate for most of the game.

Justin Hare had a game-high 23 points AND 7 assists to pace his team. Andy Wicke chipped in 19 in an otherwise well-balanced team effort.

Cincy only has one scholarship white athlete, but he is one of the two best players on the team. Adam Hrycaniuk finished the game with 15 points and 7 rebounds in the losing effort.

Justin Hare pushes the tempo.

Andy Wicke looking to pull the jumper

Keaton Belcher tries to feed the post

Jon House playing some defenseEdited by: Jimmy Chitwood

 

[JTJTJT]

Butler is ranked top 25, starts 4 whites, and mostly white bench.

 

[Jimmy Chitwood]

before Don deleted the troll, the troll posted these comments...

Reasons it wasn't as big as App. State over Michigan:
Appalachian State is a DI-AA team. They beat the #5 team in the nation, a team who was a national title contender. No D1-AA team has ever beaten a top 5 ranked team until App. State did.

Kentucky is ranked in the 20s. They aren't going to be a national title contender for a while. Basically, it wasn't even close to as big an upset as Appalachian State's win.

now then, a case could certainly be made for Appalachian State being the bigger upset. but an equally strong case could be made for Gardner-Webb, which has been done so here. some of the really tantalizing bits about the little school from Boiling Springs, North Carolina (enrollment of only about 4,000) are...

-- Gardner-Webb was 9-21 last season - 2-16 on the road - and lost its final four games. It lost to North Carolina by 53 points, to Wisconsin by 48, to Wake Forest by 32 and to Georgia by 29. Appalachian State had won back-to-back Division I-AA national championships.

-- The Runnin' Bulldogs were picked to finish eighth this season in the 12-team Atlantic Sun Conference, behind Lipscomb and Kennesaw State, among others, and ahead of South Carolina Upstate and Florida Gulf Coast, both of which are in their first seasons as Division I programs.

-- The 16-point losing margin was Kentucky's largest at home in nearly 16 years, since a 17-point loss to Arkansas in January 1992.

-- Gardner-Webb starts two sophomores and a freshman, and only one of G-W's starters was among the team's top six scorers last season.

-- Gardner-Webb has been a Division I school only since 2000.

-- Gardner-Webb guard Grayson Flittner, who had 22 points and five assists in the win over Kentucky, came to G-W as a walk-on.

-- The win was no fluke. G-W led by double digits for the final seven minutes of the game, and was not aided by particularly sloppy play by the Wildcats (12 turnovers) or by horrible foul shooting (Kentucky shot 18-for-20 from the line).

-- The victory was so unexpected that Thursday's semifinals of the 2K Sports College Hoops Classic in New York was not even on G-W's original schedule. Now the Runnin' Bulldogs will play Connecticut twice in five days and must play at Radford on Saturday after playing UConn and either Oklahoma or Memphis the previous two days.

so really, i find it disappointing that this story, which is AT LEAST comparable to the aforementioned football upset, hasn't received much media attention whatsoever.

 

[Jimmy Chitwood]

Butler is ranked top 25, starts 4 whites, and mostly white bench.

good call, JT.

i've not had the chance to watch Butler this year, but i did catch them a number of times last season. they play fun, fundamental basketball. led by combo guard A.J. Graves, they are a balanced, good shooting team that plays sound defense, though they are undersized.



they only play one black guy in their 7-man rotation. a black freshman is their 8th man, but he only sees garbage time as of right now.

after Graves, their next best player is probably Pete Campbell. he is one of the premiere shooters in the nation, and will battle on the glass, as well.

A.J. Graves

Butler team photo.

 

[Jimmy Chitwood]

Gardner-Webb started 5 white kids against an all-black UConn team tonight. it was a terrible display of what biased officiating can do to the game of basketball...

Gardner-Webb was called for 8 fouls in the first 5:30 of the game... according to Dick Vitale, the reason was because of their lack of athleticism. The reality? The referees were calling a lot of bogus touch fouls on the white kids, while on the other end UConn was knocking the Running Bulldogs to the floor and it was somehow 'all ball.'

UConn was shooting in the double bonus with 12:26 left in the first half... that being said, GW was still only down 2 points.

At the 12:00 mark, 4 players from GW already had 2 fouls! I don't often complain about officiating, because calls usually have a way of evening out over the course of a game...

But this game was obviously a lopsided affair in which the referees wouldn't allow GW to have a chance for a second huge upset.

Despite all that, GW was within 22-19 with 6:05 left in the first half... the refs certainly stopped that, and by the 6:00 mark, THREE of GW's starters had three fouls!

The announcers kept just saying the GW failed point-blank shots were because of the vastly superior size of the UConn team (the Huskies were a LOT bigger), but it was obvious that the flailing bodies and awkward falling to the floor the Bulldogs were enduring were caused by the hacking of the UConn team. While the referees just swallowed their whistles...

It was so bad, that at the 3:48 mark, a GW player! was called for an intentional foul that clearly wasn't! Even Dick Vitale criticized that 'strange' call... of course, by then the margin was already growing and most of the Running Bulldogs' starting lineup was on the bench...

I mean, OBVIOUS fouls weren't being called! It was painful to watch, and I truly feel bad for the GW team for not getting a fair chance to win the game. I couldn't stand to watch the second half.

Edited by: Jimmy Chitwood

 

[REDNOSE]

Spot on Jimmy. I noticed the biased calls early on but have almost grown used to the differences in how whites never get any calls. Its been going on for years and I was first aware of this pattern while watching the Jazz play MJ and the mighty Bulls some years ago. I almost threw my glass through my parent's TV that night!

 

[JTJTJT]

Gard Webb and Belmont are in same div. sohopefully one of them will make NCAA tourney and make some noise in March.

 

[Jimmy Chitwood]

mostly white Miami (Ohio) beat all-black South Alabama last night, 64-59.

the Redhawks provide the opposite of what you normally see in college hoops, in that the primary guys are all white and the scrubs coming off the bench in garbage time are black.

playing an old-school style of game, the Redhawks make up for their lack of depth and lack of size with incredible versatility and unselfishness. they have 4 players between 6-5 and 6-8 who can all handle the ball, pass it, rebound, and score. they really share the ball well, and create match-up problems on the offensive end. defensively, they play mostly straight man-to-man, and are hardnosed, as you would expect.

they play a 6-man rotation, with the lone black starter being the point guard and the weakest link of the primary contributors. (he had 5 turnovers and ZERO assists in this game.) the weakness of the team is lack of a true post player, and their glaring deficiency at the point. black pg Hayes, is terrible.

the best player on the team is 6-5 forward Tim Pollitz. on any given night, he will likely lead the team in assists, rebounds, or points. or maybe all three. he is a very physical specimen with a great mid-range game.

his identical twin brother, Eric Pollitz, isn't as muscular or quite as gifted, but provides a versatile and tall point guard off the bench.

shooting guard/small forward Michael Bramos is the best shooter on the team, and also a good rebounder and passer.

Alex Moosman and Tyler Dierkers round out the starters.

the Miami (Ohio) Redhawks playing team defense.

 

[Deadlift]

Belmont won at Alabama Nov. 19.

http://www.sportsline.com/collegebasketball/teams/page/BEL

I looked at the season stats and only 1 black player is averaging over 10(10.3) PPG.

 

[Jimmy Chitwood]

all-white BYU upset #6 all-black Louisville in the Las Vegas Invitational on Friday night, led by Jonathan Tavernari's dazzling outside shooting and Trent Plaisted's dominant inside play.

Brigham Young's two stars were a whole lot more than the Cardinals could handle.

Tavernari hit five 3-pointers while scoring a career-best 29 points, and Plaisted added 21 points and 12 rebounds for the Cougars (5-0).

the BYU Cougars only had one black player see the floor, and it was during garbage time.

Trent Plaisted with the jam.

Jonathan Tavernari beating the pressure.

here is a link to a cool slide show with audio of the game's highlights... the Cougars have some high-flying white men.

 

[Jimmy Chitwood]

BYU followed that up with a game against the #1 North Carolina Tarheels on Saturday in the LV Invitational championship game... the white Cougars managed to hang with the all-black but two Tarheels, even taking a lead with 16 minutes left in the game, but too many missed shots down the stretch proved to be too big a hurdle to overcome.

they played well, but lost 73-63.

Trent Plaisted dominated, even out-playing Tyler Hansbrough much of the game. the high flying center from Provo ended with game highs in points with 24, rebounding with 17, and assists with 2. he also had a blocked shot.

Tavernari added 18 points, but shot poorly. Lee Cummard was BYU's only other double-digit scorer with 10.

Tyler Hansbrough had 21 points and 8 boards for UNC.

Lee Cummard with the denial.

Jimmer Fredette surveys the defense.

BYU's swarming team defense keeps Hansbrough in check.Edited by: Jimmy Chitwood

 

[Jimmy Chitwood]

Miami(OH) and their 6 white players (of 7 who saw significant court time) almost upset the USC Trojans in the semifinals of the Anaheim Classic.

the Redhawks controlled the tempo, and held the lead for much of the game thanks to 21 points from Tim Pollitz.

Tim Pollitz scored 14 of his 21 points in the first half for Miami, which led by six early in the second half before the game turned into a back-and-forth contest. Michael Bramos added 12 points a night after scoring a career-high 28.

the game was tied four times over the final 13 minutes, with neither team leading by more than four points. the Redhawks missed a 3-pointer with 13 seconds left that would have given them the lead, but were forced to foul after the miss. they lost a VERY GOOD ball game, 57-53.

Bramos and Pollitz were the only double-digit scorers for the Redhawks, but they had a balanced team effort on the glass and sharing the ball. the four white starters all had between 4-6 rebounds, and both Pollitz and Dierkers had 4 assists.

the Redhawks plays Mississippi State today in the consolation game.

 

[Jimmy Chitwood]

i can't believe i've not mentioned them before!

Washington State is currently ranked in the Top 10 in the nation, and only play one black guy. if you've not watched the WSU Cougars on the hardwood, you need to check them out! the starters:

Hawaiian point guard Derrick Low

Shooting guard Taylor Rochestie

Australian center Aron Baynes
a video montage of Baynes destroying Oregon State.

high flying, shot-blocking Texan Robbie Cowgill

sharp-shooting forward Daven Harmeling

and the major role players... Colorado forward Caleb Forrest, Serbian guard Nikola Kiprovica, New Zealand guard Thomas Abercrombie.

 

[Jimmy Chitwood]

in tonight's 61-48 win over Iowa State, five of the seven men who scored for Northern Iowa were white.

the team's top scorer on the year, and the team leader, is senior guard Jared Josten.

 

[Jimmy Chitwood]

the #6 Washington State Cougars won a tough one against Baylor that went down to the wire.

WSU was led by 18 points and 5 boards from Robbie Cowgill. Aron Baynes and Daven Harmeling also hit double digits in scoring.

 

[Jimmy Chitwood]

the Gonzaga express continues to roll on, taking care of business against St. Joseph's, 70-65, though in a hard-fought contest.

the main man for mostly black St. Joe's is a white man. 6-10 point forward Pat Calathes (the older brother of the talented freshman point guard at Florida) had a HUGE night to give his team a chance for the upset.

Calathes finished the night with game highs with 24 points, 7 rebounds, and 5 blocks.

Gonzaga had good nights from David Pendergraft with 13 and 4, Micah Downs with 4 points and 7 boards, and Matt Bouldin's all-around game with 16 points, 7 rebounds, a team-high 4 assists, and a blocked shot.

the highlights on ESPN, of course, are all about mixed freshman Austin Daye, click on the video on this linked page cause it shows a SWEET dunk by Calatahes.

 

[Liverlips]

Great news! I have been getting pretty upset the last few years as the ebst white teams didn't do so wel in the tourny. Let's hope the officaiting is a little less biased this year.

I also saw that Wisconsin often had 4 whites on the court against Duke.

 

[Jimmy Chitwood]

Harvard just beat Michigan!

the 'student-athletes' at Michigan *laughs at the notion* couldn't handle the 'nerds' from Harvard.

the Crimson scored the last 11 points of the game, to knock off the Wolverines 62-51.

all-black Michigan evidently couldn't decipher the complex schemes of the 'heady' Harvard men. Harvard, you see, only had one black on the court during the game. they were otherwise all white with one asian-american.

an interesting side story also took place in this contest. Michigan's white first-year head coach is John Beilein (who left mostly white West Virginia). his counterpart in this match-up was black head coach (and Michigan's head coach last year) Tommy Amaker.

why this is interesting is this: Beilein has won a LOT of games with mostly white teams throughout his career, but left WVU for "greener pastures" and the afaletes of Michigan. conversely, Amaker almost exclusively recruited blacks since getting hired as the Michigan head coach, yet saw his team get worse and worse. Now, with white kids, the black coach defeated the blacks he recruited under a white coach who left white kids behind to "win more."

irony?

as one probably expected, Harvard had a very balanced attack. all six players who played more than 20 minutes scored between 8-12 points, led by guard Andrew Pusar. five of them had between 6-8 rebounds.

as a team, they only had 9 turnovers.

Andrew Pusar for the lay-up.

White men can apparently jump 'high enough'

Jeremy Lin passes for one of his 5 assists.

Pat Magnarelli was effective down low all night.

 

[guest301]

Thanks Jimmy C for the pictures. The irony you spoke off is amazing and I bet that the irony is not lost on Amaker or Beilein. They both know from personal experience with Beilein at WVU and Amaker playing for Duke that white players can ball with the best of them. Michigan athletics sure has experienced alot of embarrassing defeats this year with Appaliachian State defeating them in football and now this Harvard loss.

 

[Jimmy Chitwood]

unranked (and now 3-3) Miami(OH) gave #10-ranked and all black Louisville all it could handle on Saturday, before they fell 47-44.

Miami took a 42-41 lead with just over 3 minutes left, but would make just one field goal the rest of the way.

Tim Pollitz had a game-high 22 points, and added 8 rebounds, 2 steals, and a block.

Mike Bramos struggled with his shot, going just 2-9 for only 5 points.

 

[Jimmy Chitwood]

#16 Butler didn't need its best game to take care of Ohio State. despite poor shooting from its big three in the first half, the Bulldogs played stifling defense all night and had a huge performance from freshman forward Matt Howard.

Butler's leader, A.J. Graves woke up in the second half to end the game with 14 points, but it was freshman Matt Howard's game-high 23 points and team-high 7 rebounds that were the difference.

for OSU, freshman center Kosta Koufos had a solid outing despite getting limited chances due to Butler's pressure on OSU's guards. Koufos had team-highs with 16 points, 7 boards, and 3 blocked shots.

OSU freshman shooting guard Jon Diebler struggled, shooting just 1-6 for 2 points. he also had 6 turnovers. ouch!

A.J. Graves woke up in the second half.

Drew Streicher celebrates after one of his 4 assists.

Butler's aggressive defense limited the touches for OSU's Koufos.

Butler freshman Matt Howard had a huge night for the Bulldogs.Edited by: Jimmy Chitwood