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Talent debate boils down racial bias inAmerica's media

Somewhere between Vermont's victory over Syracuse and North Carolina's narrow victory over Villanova, the NCAA men's basketball tournament became a referendum on team versus talent.

How do reporters manufacture this nonsense?

Before Monday night's national championship game, Coach Roy Williams was asked how he responded to those who characterized it as a showdown between Illinois, the team, and his North Carolina squad, the talent.

Williams, of course, was irked. He spent 10 years as Dean Smith's assistant at North Carolina and 15 seasons as the head coach at Kansas. And this season, he has led North Carolina to its first national championship game in 12 years. Yet the news media say he is here because of his players' talent.

"I'm bothered by that," Williams said. "The only thing, it doesn't bother me because most of the time when you say `team versus talent,' you're talking about African-American kids versus white. At least we're not talking about that here."

I think we are.

Each team is made up of a large number of black players, so this perception goes beyond the individual to the heart of a persistent tug of war over how culture biases are expressed through these games.

Monday night's game was the first matchup between teams ranked No. 1 and No. 2 in the Associated Press poll since 1975. At a more significant level, it was the first time in more than a decade that a national championship game was such a cultural prism.

As the storyline goes, North Carolina wins with raw talent, which is associated with street ball, while dutiful Illinois wins with the smart passing and teamwork associated with the "white" ideal.

The storyline continues: Illinois Coach Bruce Weber is the brilliant strategist who forces his players to abandon their playground ways and play team ball; Williams rolls the balls out and lets his players sink or swim on the strength of their talent.

This is the latest twist on what I call loose-ball mentality, which regards talent as a scourge. That athletic talent is not compatible with high intellect is an age-old myth perpetuated by the news media.

"Illinois is extremely talented," Williams said. "Yet the perception is, if we win: `Aw, well, gosh, you're supposed to win. If you can't win with that group, you ain't never going to win."'

What's so silly about the perception that Illinois had the team and North Carolina had the talent is that these players are essentially cut from the same cloth. The Final Four teams, including Michigan State and Louisville, all recruit the same players.

Dee Brown of Illinois and Rashad McCants of North Carolina are friends. Each is capable of playing the same wide-open playground style. They tone down that style in an organized setting, in which coaches impose themselves and call plays. But when the pressure is high, as it was on Monday night, every player goes for what he knows.

"Ultimately, the players are out there playing," McCants said before Monday night's game. "If coach calls a play and that play is not working, players out there on the court are ready to break the play off and make a play. With our team, Coach Williams wants us to be basketball players and just play like we're playing on the playground."

Throughout an outstanding NCAA tournament, there has been a lot of sermonizing about team versus talent. It's not that simple. In reality, the formula is team plus talent equals championship.
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