Heady Play: White Stereotypes Pervade NCAA

This story was written by CBSSports.com National Columnist Mike Freeman

"I get it," Samhan said. "I'm a slow white guy, and I'm overweight. So maybe you don't respect me because I have good numbers. But after I kill you the first half, what are you waiting for? I don't know what he wanted. Did he want me to have 40?"

He ended up with 32 points. Close enough. I pulled aside Samhan, my new favorite player in the tournament, and asked him to elaborate on that quote. He summed up beautifully a phenomenon that is again creeping into fan and media dialogue as the NCAA tournament progresses.

"Some people still see a white team or white players and think we can't play," Samhan explained. "It's offensive sometimes. It still goes on. That perception is wrong. It makes no sense. We're all good athletes. White, black, red, whatever."

Thank you, thank you and thank you.

If I were a white college basketball player right now, especially if my team made the Sweet 16, I'd be angry at some of the comments I've heard in the media. I'd be looking for someone to punch. I'd be furious.

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Because it's starting again. White = overachiever. White = non-athletic.

The rhetoric that white basketball players are all smart and non-athletic was supposed to die in the 21st century. But now ... it's baaaaacckk.

As mostly white teams like Saint Mary's, Northern Iowa, Cornell and even Duke have advanced, a certain type of rhetoric has returned with tornadic vengeance. It's all over the media, blogs and even spoken during some of the televised broadcasts of the games.

The New York Times called Saint Mary's heady. I've heard Northern Iowa called "gutty." Cornell has been called "gutty" and "scrappy." New York radio host Mike Francesa -- whom I like -- said this about Cornell and Kentucky.

"The perception is we're a bunch of white guys who can't play and some of us are from Australia so we're not all that talented," said Saint Mary's player Mickey McConnell, speaking of the five Australian players on the team. "We can play. Period."

I know non-athletic. I see it in the mirror daily. Each of these mostly white teams is athletic as hell. You don't get to the Sweet 16 by not being elite athletes. You don't make the tournament by not being extremely athletic. Hell, you don't make a Division I basketball team by not being a supreme athlete.

Again, we were supposed to be beyond these infantile stereotypes and primal desires to stupidly categorize. Instead, here we are. Again.

These stereotypes continue to work both ways, too. If white players are smart and hard-working what does that make African American players? Imbecilic and lazy?

Syracuse has played steady and smart basketball (for the most part) all season. Kentucky's young team has played "heady" basketball (for the most part) all tournament. They're both mostly black teams.

Samhan plays up Saint Mary's underdog and blue-collar attributes, but don't let the holes in his high-tops fool you. Samhan has arguably been the best player in the tournament so far. Against Villanova, a supposedly vaunted Big East team -- the athletic cream of the crop -- Samhan was the best athlete on the court. He was quick, mobile and dangerous. Villanova seemed stunned.

Maybe now we know why.

My firm belief is Kansas lost because some of the Jayhawks players looked across the floor and saw a white team and thought: "We can take these guys. Jeez. Look at 'em."

Then the Jayhawks got smoked and didn't realize until the end they were playing a bunch of talented athletes.

Some of these underdog teams, underestimated and underappreciated because of their ethnicity, might lose this weekend. They all might.

Opponents should still be weary. Teams ignore and downplay the athleticism of a Saint Mary's, Northern Iowa or Cornell at their own risk.

Just ask Kansas and Villanova.

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