Trivia, but not trivial

[wildforthecats]

I'm emphasizing men from NC public schools because we have not signed one in 50 years. We know how to recruit from Charlotte Latin.

I'm not sure I understand your rules here, as I obviously whiffed on Mallorie Haines by not recognizing that we are only looking for public school recruits. I'm going to throw out De'Mon Brooks as a graduate of Hopewell and hope he qualifies.

Yes, haha, De’Mon counts, haha. Jordan Downing is another one. Of course, I’m sure there’s some ruling against guy’s that only played one year for the Cats.

You’re not alone DC69, it’s a pretty bizarre thread.

[citycat]

I was referring to our lack of a white public school signee since 1974.

That's why I made the post about Rock Powers, our last white public school scholarship men's player.

PS. De'Mon is special case. He had committed to Howard early in his senior year of high school. Howard fired their coach and he was able to reopen his commitment.

PPS. I'm the poster who mentioned Ace Flagg has transferred to Greensboro Day and Zeke Battier is enrolling at Providence Day.

[stevelee]

You’re not alone DC69, it’s a pretty bizarre thread.

It’s simple: a thread about lack of African-American players from NC public schools that can consider only white players, if I’m keeping up with the discussion.

[MrMac]

You’re not alone DC69, it’s a pretty bizarre thread.

It’s simple: a thread about lack of African-American players from NC public schools that can consider only white players, if I’m keeping up with the discussion.

Yep. That's bizarre.

[i77cat]

You’re not alone DC69, it’s a pretty bizarre thread.

It’s simple: a thread about lack of African-American players from NC public schools that can consider only white players, if I’m keeping up with the discussion.

Yep. That's bizarre.

It'd be bizarre if accurate.

[stevelee]

It'd be bizarre if accurate.

But only slightly funnier.

[Acorn]

According to the 2022 College Sport Racial and Gender Report Card, among D1 men’s basketball athletes, 52.4% were Black or African American, 24.3% were White, 9.8% were International, 7.2% were Two or More Races, 2.8% were Hispanic/Latino, and 2.7% were Unknown (Link: https://www.tidesport.org/_files/ugd/c0 ... 56db35.pdf). That the percentages add up to just under 100% makes me believe they put every athlete into just one of those categories, but I haven’t dug into the report’s methodology.

Given that, it’s extremely unlikely that a random process of roster construction would generate a team that looks like the Cats. It would be like flipping a coin (actually a coin weighted to slightly favor heads) thirteen times and coming up with tails each time. To be clear, I have no reason to expect that the staff, the department, or the school would have any desire to build a roster with these racial demographics. But some variable(s) that is/are correlated to race seem to be predictive of who gets and/or accepts offers.

[i77cat]

I assume that our lack of African-American MBB players makes us unique in D1, perhaps in all of college basketball. That ain't a uniqueness to be proud of.

[bvgerd]

Its something the staff and school undoubtedly are aware of and they should consider if there are factors leading us to not offering African American players or if there are factors making us an unattractive program for these players to commit to or stay a part of for four years. By my count, four of the last five years incoming classes have included Black or African American players, and based on the recruiting news about extended offers and contact with players, I dont think we can say that the staff is not recruiting African American players. As for the second question, I am in just by no means in a position to comment on whether Davidson is an unattractive option. I hope coaches and the school are following up with players like Des and others who have chosen to transfer and working to address potential reasons motivating a decision to move on.

That said, although there is no denying that the roster stands out from opponents with our demographics, I think when people bring this point up they tend to ignore both our international diversity and overstate the lack of African American or Black players on the team. From 2014-2020 the men's roster included five or six players who were Black or African American each year. Five years ago Kellan, Carter, Nelson, and Kishawn were all important contributors on the 2019-2020 squad and Malcom Wynter was a senior walk on who had been a part of the team all four years. Four years ago Kellan, Carter, Nelson all returned and Emory joined as a freshman. 2021-2022 Nelson, Des, Chris Ford and Emory were all on the team. These last two years and this upcoming season are more extreme in the lack of diversity, in part tied to players transferring schools, but they seem to be outliers from the preceding history.

[Cat Forever]

I would be happy with an all black, all brown, all African American, all African Jamaican, or all Indian roster for Davidson Basketball. All white would be OK too. Just get the best players who are academically qualified for admission. If two or more recruits are tied regarding basketball talent and meet academic qualifications ... then diversity could become a consideration.

[MrMac]

Amen. All Cats bleed red...and black.

[Acorn]

Sure, it could be random. It’s just extremely unlikely that it is. And when you look at the pattern across multiple years, the probability of getting those demographics randomly, because you’re just trying to get the best players who are academically qualified goes even lower (very close to zero, though—of course—not exactly zero). This would not be a very challenging example in a basic stats course.

[stevelee]

There is nothing (or at most, hardly anything) random in the process. There will almost always be some self-fulfillment in the status quo, for one thing.

And when three players leave for rather obviously unrelated reasons, generalizing from that may not be the most fruitful endeavor.

[i77cat]

Our football coaches are a powerful force for racial and economic diversity.

[stevelee]

Our football coaches are a powerful force for racial and economic diversity.

Back when Davidson was losing to about everybody except College of Faith, non-alumni neighbors would ask me why Davidson didn't drop football.

Besides the economic issues of which they were unaware, I'd explain that the football team was important in that regard, but most especially in helping to maintain the goal of having an equal number of males and females. I also could see it raising the GPA of the male population. There were times when the football team's average was higher than that of the student body as a whole.