Since there’s an inverse correlation between the number of white guys and success...
- Thread starter Roy L Fuchs
- Start date
Yep and look at the athleticism those guys had. LaFrentz, Hinrich and Collison played in the NBA. Hayward and the other Butler kid + the dude who was not white off that team played in the NBA. Duke could probably compete for an NBA playoff spot with their loaded ready for the NBA rosters. Are you really comparing these white dudes to Ellingson, Fleming, Kyle Meyer, Oglesby, Gesell, JBo? It's like saying a Ford Taurus and Maserati are the same because they are both cars.
You sure about that Clark. 2 of those white dudes were NBA draft picks Les Jepsen and Matt Bullard. Jepsen averaged 15 points and 10 rebounds a game that year and would score on Luka at will. Bullard was way better than any power on this team...
Its not assuming the inner city kids are dirt bags. It does assume that the blue blood programs get the four and five star kids from poor/inner city schools that don't have academic or social problems. Remember, we're only talking about roughly 150 kids that are 4/5* players, and some of those are kids from suburban or small town schools with pretty much Opie Taylor backgrounds.
So we're, or at least I'm, only talking about maybe 25-50 players total, out of the tens of thousands that play HS basketball, that are both clearly superior as players and academically or socially risky as college students. Iowa's most recent gambles on those kids (Pierre Pierce and Tyler Smith) deprive the coaches of much discretion in gambling on that small subgroup of players..
Of course the current roster aren't all choir boys. Most of us went to Iowa, plenty of hi jinx by varsity players, and pretty much any other subgroup of the University's population. But there's a big difference between stupid kid shit and kidnapping and rape (Pierre Pierce) and armed robbery (Tyler Smith, albeit only theft at Iowa-the guns didn't come out until Tennessee). If McC didn't know that when he got here then the Hubbard experiment, brief as it was, was illuminating about future recruits.
I don't like this policy; still have more than a pebble in my shoe over the double secret probation BS with Ray Thompson, and think we should gamble of some more marginal kids. Give 'em a chance to succeed as students and citizens and only drop them if they fail, socially (serious crimes) or academically. Unfortunately the people that run the U of Iowa don't agree.
Iowa never had five white starters in 89-90. Les and Bullard both started every game they were healthy. Matt would start on any Iowa team that didn't feature Ed Horton-at any time in the last 45 years. Luka and Les would probably split time but Les played in the NBA and we don't know if Luka will or not. Matt was a huge recruit and a great transfer grab.
James Moses started every game. AA ethnicity.
Ray Thompson, AA ethnicity started every game until the U pulled the completely unreasonable double secret probation scam they did on him. Maybe the most disgraceful thing the school ever did to a varsity player-at least since Connie Hawkins in like 1963.
Michael Ingram, AA ethnicity, started the games Matt was injured.
Is this the year that Rodell Davis started? Maybe after Ray Thompson's situation?
Anyway, that was not an all white team and never started all white players. Until the Ray Thompson BS that team was looking pretty good. Thumped North Carolina.
James Moses started every game. AA ethnicity.
Ray Thompson, AA ethnicity started every game until the U pulled the completely unreasonable double secret probation scam they did on him. Maybe the most disgraceful thing the school ever did to a varsity player-at least since Connie Hawkins in like 1963.
Michael Ingram, AA ethnicity, started the games Matt was injured.
Is this the year that Rodell Davis started? Maybe after Ray Thompson's situation?
Anyway, that was not an all white team and never started all white players. Until the Ray Thompson BS that team was looking pretty good. Thumped North Carolina.
With this comment obviously Coach K is a horrible coach...........ok I’m being a wise guy!
Neither would be drafted in the current NBA. Prossibly Bullard. But I am guessing that Nunge's game ends up better. Heck I'll wager that. And I'm not a gambler. Luka will take Jepsen this year.
That roster in 1989-1990 wasn't bad at all. Just had a really, really shiity year. AND Needed a PG.... Sounds familiar.
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Unsurprisingly this conversation doesn't seem possible without it going off the rails.
As you note, there are examples of caucasian players with speed, quickness, hops that can more than hold their own at a high level. And if Fran was bringing in those kind of players on a regular basis there would likely be little to no argument.
The reality is that the pool of players with high level functional athletic skills(speed, quickness etc.) and high level basketball skills, particularly on the perimeter, tends to have more players with African American ancestry.
I want to see more better than average power conference athletes on the roster because I think that's the most likely pathway to more wins. Doesn't matter what their background is but from a numbers perspective the pool of AA players at that level is larger. It's as simple as that.
Stop recruiting so many in state kids and you end up like Iowa state and have only 23% of your roster white.
