I just read a very interesting quote from former Wisconsin University basketball player Jordan Taylor, who was needled by a teammate over why Wisconsin would not beat Duke in the NCAA championship game last night (Wisconsin lost to Duke, 68-63):
“He was just saying we\’ve got too many white guys. I still get kind of poked at, teased about it, because it always seems like there are about four white guys and a black point guard all the time (in Wisconsin\’s starting lineup).”
That\’s an interesting needle…and an interesting point.
According to Josh Peter\’s article in Friday\’s USA Today, the average Division I college basketball team has 9 Black players and 4 White players…and “all five starters for Kentucky, Duke and Michigan State will be African American. Wisconsin\’s starting lineup, by contrast, includes one African American, forward Nigel Hayes”.
So what does writer Peter have to say about this? What is his explanation? Here\’s your answer:
A number of factors contribute to Wisconsin\’s predominantly white teams, including: state and university demographics; coaching at the lower levels; and Ryan\’s system, which features a methodical, half-court offense that is key to his success but according to players and coaches can make it a challenge to recruit top African-American players.
In other words, Josh Peter feels it is necessary to explain why Wisconsin has such an atypically high number of White basketball players.
I wonder if Mr. Peter, or his bosses at USA Today, have ever considered that the real question is why schools like Kentucky, Duke, Michigan State, et al have so many Black players? I guess not.
The United States is 14% Black. That means, if we were dealing strictly on demographics, the average Division I men\’s basketball team would have 2 Black players.
It also means, therefore, that Wisconsin University is not an aberration in its racial makeup, but the only one of those four schools that reflects anything near the real world (FYI: The racial makeup of Wisconsin\’s entire team is 5 Blacks, 10 Whites and one of a different ethnic category).
You can tell me that Black males are, by and large, better basketball players than White players. And, for the sake of discussion, I will ignore the racist aspect of that claim (what would you call someone who said White males are better students than Black males?) In fact, just to make my point, I will indulge the Black-superior theory by assuming that Black males are twice as likely to play college team-quality basketball as White males.
That would make the average Division I team 4 Blacks and 9 Whites….instead of 9 Blacks and 4 Whites, which, USA tells us, is the average team construct. It doesn\’t come near to explaining anything. Even using a 3-1 ratio (which is about where the National Basketball Association currently is) would generate 6 Black players, not 9.
Maybe the real question is why schools like Duke (10% Black student body), Kentucky (8% Black), Michigan State (7% Black) and Wisconsin (2% Black) are so disproportionately stocked with Black players….and so disproportionately unstocked with Black students?
I have some thoughts about this…but rather than keep going, I\’ll throw the floor open. What do you think the reasons are?
