McDermott Joins Vanishing Breed of White First-Team All-Americans

With political correctness running amuck, there is always a risk of being portrayed akin to Al Campanis when discussing race issues. CollegeHoopedia.com has conducted extensive research on trailblazing African-Americans who broke the color barrier at current NCAA Division I schools. And now it's time to assess the racial overtones of college basketball through the current minority prism of the white player.

According to a politically-direct UCF study several years ago, Creighton's Doug McDermott faced an uphill climb this year becoming an NCAA consensus first-team All-American inasmuch as fewer than 1/3 of NCAA Division I players are white. There is some credence to refraining from judging a book by its cover. But the last time a majority of the NCAA consensus All-American first-team selections were white was 1969-70 (LSU's Pete Maravich, Purdue's Rick Mount and Kentucky's Dan Issel).

McDermott could become the first mid-major player to be a two-time NCAA consensus first-team All-American since UNLV's Larry Johnson in 1989-90 and 1990-91. Non-whites accounted for more than 83 percent of the NCAA consensus All-American first- and second-selections since the shot clock was introduced nationwide in 1985-86. Alarmists might beg to differ, but the white American player hasn't exactly slipped into extinction. This isn't boxing, but McDermott is clearly the latest "Great White Hope" along with Indiana sophomore-to-be center Cody Zeller, the younger brother of North Carolina center Tyler Zeller, a second-team All-American this season as a senior.

McDermott, who averaged 25.3 points and 8.7 rebounds in three non-league victories over Big Ten Conference members, could become only the sixth white player in the last 30 seasons to emerge as a multiple-year consensus first-team All-American. Following is an alphabetical list of only 19 different white players in that time span named as an NCAA consensus first-team All-American:

White First-Team All-American	Pos.	School	A-A Season(s)
Steve Alford	G	Indiana	1985-86 and 1986-87
Andrew Bogut	C	Utah	2004-05
Nick Collison	F	Kansas	2002-03
Dan Dickau	G	Gonzaga	2001-02
Danny Ferry	F	Duke	1988-89
Jimmer Fredette	G	Brigham Young	2010-11
Tyler Hansbrough	F-C	North Carolina	2006-07 through 2008-09
Bobby Hurley	G	Duke	1992-93
Casey Jacobsen	F-G	Stanford	2000-01
Christian Laettner	F-C	Duke	1991-92
Raef LaFrentz	F-C	Kansas	1996-97 and 1997-98
Kevin Love	C	UCLA	2007-08
Doug McDermott	F	Creighton	2011-12
Chris Mihm	C	Texas	1999-2000
Adam Morrison	F	Gonzaga	2005-06
Chris Mullin	G	St. John's	1984-85
Troy Murphy	F	Notre Dame	1999-2000 and 2000-01
J.J. Redick	G	Duke	2004-05 and 2005-06
Keith Van Horn	F	Utah	1996-97