I am scared of your whiteness!

This should have been a Larry Bird thread.

 

Most kids stay close to home. Most schools recruit mostly close to home. Exceptions? Yes, plenty. No one is saying there are no black players in the Big 10. But to the extent that there are fewer, it's because of -- wait for it -- demographics.

 

Indiana hasn't been limited to in-state or regional recruiting since Branch McCracken came to town.

 

That's a fascinating graphic. 12 years old, but still. Wonder how much it's changed.

 

North Dakota's men's basketball team only has four of us/them (depending on your point of view).
Checked Montana's team, but got distracted by the "win $500 worth of beef" contest.

 

Bob Knight was once feted for being a guy who could win with a largely Caucasian team. But, when asked about it, he simply said "anybody can play basketball -- black, white, blue, green."

Bo Ryan's style tends to favor good 3-point shooters and big, strong post players -- the type of guys you might find in Wisconsin, and at the risk of sterotyping, guys who play positions that are (stereotypically) seen as ones white guys play. Northwestern uses the Princeton offense, which relies more on ballhandling and shooting ability (and to a degree, craftiness), and always seems to have about 3 Europeans on the floor.

But, in large part, I sense this to be a big of a misnomer. Indiana was always seen under Bob Knight as a primarily white team, because he always seemed to have a Steve Eyl/Todd Meier/Todd Jadlow out there to set picks or a guy like Steve Alford or Pat Graham to shoot 3-pointers. The majority of Tom Crean's recruiting classes have featured African-American players, and next year's will, too. Of the 8 guys I know of who have verbaled or signed for the next 3 years, all but one are African-American. Wisconsin always seems to have a big white post player with a last name I'd associate with being from Wisconsin, but their leading scorers are almost always black players.

 

That is indeed an interesting graphic and I sincerely appreciate all the input on this topic, because I've always wondered about it.
I would not doubt that Tom Crean might go out and sign some diverse players in the here and now, but my questioning is about the Wisky and IU rosters of past seasons, leading up to 2012-13.

It's just really been intriguing to watch, and again, there have been some really accomplished teams at both of those schools through the years.

 

I'm afraid of my own whiteness.

 

Spike Lee hates you and he now knows why

 

Thus, Bell Fourche, South Dakota is officially the whitest place in America.