Crawford Article

[Billiken Rich]

Generally, white players are not as good at basketball, or as athletic, as black players. I think we can all agree on this without claiming racism.

Though I'm sure the Hoosier state puts out better white boys than most...

Seriously?

[Quality Is Job 1]

Generally, white players are not as good at basketball, or as athletic, as black players. I think we can all agree on this without claiming racism.

Though I'm sure the Hoosier state puts out better white boys than most...

As you can see from the first three (now four) responses, we can't all agree with your premise. Even IF black players, generally, are more "athletic" than white players, I don't know how many times I've seen "athletic" teams from urban St. Louis lose state championships to "slow" all-white teams from the boonies.

[b.hayes]

FWIW, here is the NBA's diversity report card:

http://www.tidesport.org/RGRC/2012/2012_NBA_RGRC[1].pdf

"African-Americans comprised 78 percent of all NBA players, equaling the largest percentage of African-American NBA players since the 1996-1997 season. Eighty-two percent of players were players of color."

It would seem to support (statistically anyway) that at the highest levels of the basketball, there is a disproportionate relationship between African-American players and other ethnicities. (13% of the US is African-American)

[Quality Is Job 1]

FWIW, here is the NBA's diversity report card:

http://www.tidesport.org/RGRC/2012/2012_NBA_RGRC[1].pdf

"African-Americans comprised 78 percent of all NBA players, equaling the largest percentage of African-American NBA players since the 1996-1997 season. Eighty-two percent of players were players of color."

It would seem to support (statistically anyway) that at the highest levels of the basketball, there is a disproportionate relationship between African-American players and other ethnicities. (13% of the US is African-American)

If it were a pure numbers game, then why are the numbers of black Americans playing baseball, soccer, hockey, golf, and tennis not higher? Maybe there are socioeconomic reasons why black Americans are drawn to basketball in disproportionate numbers?

[b.hayes]

If it were a pure numbers game, then why are the numbers of black Americans playing baseball, soccer, hockey, golf, and tennis not higher? Maybe there are socioeconomic reasons why black Americans are drawn to basketball in disproportionate numbers?

I didn't comment that I agreed with his post, I just supplied the facts as they relate to the game in question. The beginning of his post ["Generally, white players are not as good at basketball] seems to be factually supported by the fact that there are over four black NBA players for each white one, despite the fact that there are almost six white people for each black person in the US.

[MB73]

If it were a pure numbers game, then why are the numbers of black Americans playing baseball, soccer, hockey, golf, and tennis not higher? Maybe there are socioeconomic reasons why black Americans are drawn to basketball in disproportionate numbers?

Different sports require different body types and skills (fast twitch speed and power muscles, size, height, weight, endurance, etc., etc.)

Do you see any Kenyan sprinters (60-100 meters)? Japanese football players? Nope... I could go on, but choose not to...

[Old guy]

I do not intend to offend anyone, but basketball is a sport that needs a hoop, a flat surface and a ball. No special equipment required. This is great for a lot of kids that do not have much money but love sports and love to move around and shoot. Basketball attracts a lot of inner city kids which get to be very good at it at a young age.

Now, just compare this to golf, or skiing. Golf requires special equipment and either high fees to play or membership in clubs, ski generally requires special clothing, skis and travel plus heavy fees once you get there. You want to spend more, no problem try scuba diving. Unless you want to dive in quarries you need to fly somewhere nice pay the hotel, boat fees, buy or rent very specialized equipment which requires routine maintenance, and once you are there you get about 45 min below water per tank used. Not cheap by any means.

Yes, certain sports attract people with less money because they love sports and physical contact and because they really cannot afford other types of activities. Basketball is the most democratic of sports. It is available to anyone anywhere there is a hoop and a ball, and it does not cost much to participate.

[Billiken Rich]

The point of this comparison was to say Crawfords stats and accomplishments were irrelevant due to playing white highschool competition, which is crap.

Comparing Olympians and pros to highschoolers is somewhat ridiculous

[Pistol]

It must be summer. It'd be nice to see one thread not devolve into this conversation.

[jimbofive]

the bible has all the answers, as per usual...

on the eighth day, God declared that the black man shall hoop and handle the pigskin, and he shall do it STRONG. the mexicans, He decreed, would kick the futbol and hit the beisbol, and do it STRONG. the asians, would ping the pong and do it STRONG. the jamaicans would run fast, but not long, hit the bong, and do it STRONG. the white people... they can have everything else.

[For-DaLove]

the bible has all the answers, as per usual...

on the eighth day, God declared that the black man shall hoop and handle the pigskin, and he shall do it STRONG. the mexicans, He decreed, would kick the futbol and hit the beisbol, and do it STRONG. the asians, would ping the pong and do it STRONG. the jamaicans would run fast, but not long, hit the bong, and do it STRONG. the white people... they can have everything else.

Post of the year. Maybe decade

[billikenfan05]

This is awesome...

[SShoe]

New book tackles this very issue.

http://www.npr.org/2013/08/05/209160709/talent-or-skill-honing-in-on-the-elusive-sports-gene

[Devils15]

Unfair statement.

I hope Crawford is a player but I will hold judgement until I see him playing others who I know have D-1 talent.

Hope he is a great player but I have seen other 6'3" to 6"4" players who SLU has signed who were much more highly rated than Crawford turn out to be mediocre players at best (Maguire, Diener). Let's hope that Staff has really has come up with a top-notch under the radar player. He certainly appears to be a smart kid with a good head on his shoulders and that is always a good start. He looks like he can shoot. So it gets back to my first question. Can he handle the ball in the open court and can he defend (or learn to do these things. Deiner and Maguire couldn't.

I don't know where to start with this. If you watched the video most of the highlights were against Bowman Academy who has D1 players including Davon Dillard who has a Purdue offer. Mike had 40 pts 17 rebounds in that game. In the regional championship game that someone posted they played Wapahani a team with 2 D1 kids including an Indiana Jr all star and Wright St commit. Also Crews never came to watch him during the season, he came to watch him during the summer in AAU when Mike was playing against the best players in the country. I can also tell you Mike has lived in the weight room and is benching over 300 lbs now. I will be absolutely shocked if he doesn't make an impact right away.

[kmbilliken]

I don't know where to start with this. If you watched the video most of the highlights were against Bowman Academy who has D1 players including Davon Dillard who has a Purdue offer. Mike had 40 pts 17 rebounds in that game. In the regional championship game that someone posted they played Wapahani a team with 2 D1 kids including an Indiana Jr all star and Wright St commit. Also Crews never came to watch him during the season, he came to watch him during the summer in AAU when Mike was playing against the best players in the country. I can also tell you Mike has lived in the weight room and is benching over 300 lbs now. I will be absolutely shocked if he doesn't make an impact right away.

I thought he didn't play AAU and that was why no one knew about him.

[billikens747]

I thought he didn't play AAU and that was why no one knew about him.

Didn't play until junior or senior year I believe.

[NH]

I don't know where to start with this. If you watched the video most of the highlights were against Bowman Academy who has D1 players including Davon Dillard who has a Purdue offer. Mike had 40 pts 17 rebounds in that game. In the regional championship game that someone posted they played Wapahani a team with 2 D1 kids including an Indiana Jr all star and Wright St commit. Also Crews never came to watch him during the season, he came to watch him during the summer in AAU when Mike was playing against the best players in the country. I can also tell you Mike has lived in the weight room and is benching over 300 lbs now. I will be absolutely shocked if he doesn't make an impact right away.

Devils15, what is your connection to Mike, if you don't mind me asking?

[majerus mojo]

FWIW, here is the NBA's diversity report card:

http://www.tidesport.org/RGRC/2012/2012_NBA_RGRC[1].pdf

"African-Americans comprised 78 percent of all NBA players, equaling the largest percentage of African-American NBA players since the 1996-1997 season. Eighty-two percent of players were players of color."

It would seem to support (statistically anyway) that at the highest levels of the basketball, there is a disproportionate relationship between African-American players and other ethnicities. (13% of the US is African-American)

Thanks. God forbid we look at the NBA and see that 80% are African-American, the other 20% comprised of Euros, South Americans, Asians, and White-Americans, and draw the wild conclusion that I did.

I'm not asking for anyone to agree. You don't have to. It's just like, an opinion, man.

Your responses of "...", "Seriously", and "Jimmy the Greek", don't really offer anything to the discussion that would persuade me to revert my stance and claim, "######, that's a good point, maybe white players are better. What professional league have I been watching all these years?"

And of course there are outliers to every "rule" -- Mr. Bird, KLove, Korver, Reddick, etc... I mean, you can essentially list all the White-Americans off the top of your head... because there are so few of them.

This also isn't to say a team comprised of whites could never beat a team comprised of blacks; that would be an "Absurd" conclusion to draw from my statement. I tried to add the caveat "In general" for this reason. Alas.

[Littlebill]

Thanks. God forbid we look at the NBA and see that 80% are African-American, the other 20% comprised of Euros, South Americans, Asians, and White-Americans, and draw the wild conclusion that I did.

I'm not asking for anyone to agree. You don't have to. It's just like, an opinion, man.

Your responses of "...", "Seriously", and "Jimmy the Greek", don't really offer anything to the discussion that would persuade me to revert my stance and claim, "######, that's a good point, maybe white players are better. What professional league have I been watching all these years?"

And of course there are outliers to every "rule" -- Mr. Bird, KLove, Korver, Reddick, etc... I mean, you can essentially list all the White-Americans off the top of your head... because there are so few of them.

This also isn't to say a team comprised of whites could never beat a team comprised of blacks; that would be an "Absurd" conclusion to draw from my statement. I tried to add the caveat "In general" for this reason. Alas.

JJ Redick in the same sentence as Bird and Kevin Love? That, my friend, is bold.

[MB73]

Thanks. God forbid we look at the NBA and see that 80% are African-American, the other 20% comprised of Euros, South Americans, Asians, and White-Americans, and draw the wild conclusion that I did.

I'm not asking for anyone to agree. You don't have to. It's just like, an opinion, man.

Your responses of "...", "Seriously", and "Jimmy the Greek", don't really offer anything to the discussion that would persuade me to revert my stance and claim, "######, that's a good point, maybe white players are better. What professional league have I been watching all these years?"

And of course there are outliers to every "rule" -- Mr. Bird, KLove, Korver, Reddick, etc... I mean, you can essentially list all the White-Americans off the top of your head... because there are so few of them.

This also isn't to say a team comprised of whites could never beat a team comprised of blacks; that would be an "Absurd" conclusion to draw from my statement. I tried to add the caveat "In general" for this reason. Alas.

You are absolutely correct, and have the courage to state facts that are not PC and will be ridiculed by others since facts are not on their side.

One deflected the issue, wrote that high school ball cannot be compared to higher levels, whereas that is the whole point.

Sure, there are plenty of CYC teams that are all white, but as competition increases in middle school, high school, AAU, the NCAA, and the NBA, the % of black players compared to the general population is very significant (78%-13%). Their advantage is primarily genetic. Open your eyes.

We all know it, only a few posters have the guts to tell it like it is.

In the USA, blacks do very well in football, basketball, boxing, and track (sprints)... but not necessarily in all of the other sports.

So, let it go, but let's face reality, not go by party lines or racial lines or PC talking points or in some cases, recent graduates still brainwashed by their professors.

[jimbofive]

I don't know where to start with this. If you watched the video most of the highlights were against Bowman Academy who has D1 players including Davon Dillard who has a Purdue offer. Mike had 40 pts 17 rebounds in that game. In the regional championship game that someone posted they played Wapahani a team with 2 D1 kids including an Indiana Jr all star and Wright St commit. Also Crews never came to watch him during the season, he came to watch him during the summer in AAU when Mike was playing against the best players in the country. I can also tell you Mike has lived in the weight room and is benching over 300 lbs now. I will be absolutely shocked if he doesn't make an impact right away.

if he's benching 300 lbs at 6'5 at 190-200 lbs after just graduating high school, that is insane. i'm getting so psyched to see this dude come in and do work. he's got fuoking HATE in his heart, too, you can see it in that highlight video. i'ma go watch it again, snacktually...

[Clock_Tower]

New highlight of Mike

Are you sure this isn't a highlight of Blake Ahearn??

No seriously, thanks for posting and keeping us informed about Mike. I just renewed my season tickets again am certainly looking forward to watching him play. Unless I am mistaken, and I haven't watched the original Mike highlights in months, these clips appear to show Mike playing much more as a guard (facing the basket), much more comfortable dribbling the ball, much more comfortable shooting off his dribble (as opposed to coming off a pick) as opposed the original highlights (showing more of his catching the ball on the low post/inside and scoring, shooting 3's when left open or coming off a pick). Have you noticed any change in his game? What areas of his game has he improved the most in these past 12 months? What areas of his game is he concentrating on most now? Because he is/has been tall, is it fair to say that he played more with his back to the basket as a Soph and Junior or not?? As we all know, it is very had to evaluate and draw conclusions from only a few video clips.

[Zink]

If you watch the full game videos of his Tipton team (there are a number of them on youtube), you will notice that Mike takes the tip to open the game and then brings the ball up for his team regularly throughout the rest of the game. He did it all for that team, including handle the ball to answer Clock.

Also, echoing a point made earlier in this thread, as we have seen with Evans, having a guy who can score in the post (regardless of whether he is playing 3/4 or for Crawford, probably the 2/3) creates a serious match-up problem. I can see Crawford attacking other wings in the post, as he has phenomenal footwork and great touch around the hoop.

[DoctorB]

I do hope you all read my post yesterday. Yes, sounds unlikely comparing him to Evans. But he is going to play, and if he doesn't score 1000 (or well over) at SLU I'll be a bit surprised by that too. The comment about 300 pound bench = really? REALLY?? wow, give that guy a couple more years to fill out and learn... Plus, everything I've seen and heard tells me he fits in well, is a team guy, is very competitive in terms of really trying to win, listens, and will figure out the defense OK. What a steal.

On a side note: upside is extremely important for a program like ours. 4 (or sometimes 5) year guys, who work hard, listen and are coachable, gym rat types. Not a lot of NBA guys but look at Conklin and Lisch down under-- what a great legacy.

[dlarry]

Benching 300 lbs is good and all but how may appletinis can he put down?