Originally Published at HBCUSportsBlog.com
Meet Kyle Whelliston. He’s a college basketball writer for ESPN.com, and he’s one of the leading authorities on mid-major conference basketball. If you consider yourself a true college basketball enthusiast, you’ve visited his blog, The Mid Majority.
Check out his views on college basketball at historically black colleges and universities, Billy Packer, and rap group Little Brother.
1. Discuss your role at ESPN.com, how that partnership came to be, and why you love mid-major basketball so much.
I started The Mid-Majority back three years ago, and chronicled visits to 100 different games over the course of the 2004-05 season. That caught the eye of some national outlets after I completed it. ESPN.com showed a serious commitment, they let me travel all around the country to games… and they’re the Worldwide Leader and all, so it’s not like I could say no. I’m twice weekly there, and run a pretty rowdy SportsNation chat every Wednesday.
The mid-major basketball part came because I attended Drexel University in Philadelphia late in my college career, which is about as mid-major as you can get: collapsible bleachers, cardboard pizza, the works. Delaware State was just 75 minutes’ drive south, and I got hooked on HBCU hoops by way of those Saturday afternoon doubleheaders. My wife loved to go too, but she was more in it for the band and the cheerleaders.
2. Teams at historically black colleges and universities have gained significant attention in the last few years with the introduction of ESPNU, and with regional coverage. Talk about how that has changed the discussion on college basketball competition, particularly among the mid-majors.
It’s been great, the Monday night games have provided national exposure that a lot of the lower leagues can’t even come close to. What I appreciate is that the telecasts are becoming more and more involved in getting across the feeling of being at a HBCU basketball game, which we both know is as unique and wonderful an experience as you’re going to find in the American sports world. I registered my disapproval with the first year’s coverage, it was like they just set up a couple of cameras and went through the motions of covering a low-RPI basketball game. So that’s improved a lot.
Television helped take away the shroud of mystery from these conferences. Some people I’ve talked to have become huge fans, just from the telecasts. There’s a lot of scoring, and the games are close… what more can you ask for? Only about 8 percent of SWAC games have ended in blowouts these past few years, far and away the best percentage in Division I. Nobody’s heading for the exits early.
3. For your money, which HBCU has the best pep band?
I love the Blue & Gold Marching Machine, North Carolina A&T’s band. Love them. I know they don’t get the love they deserve around the MEAC, but in terms of solid chops, skill and consistency I’ll always take them. No nonsense, they go in there, kick a large amount of ass, and leave. But I’d get laughed out of a lot of these conversations if I didn’t say that Southern is the best band in the SWAC.
4. In a recent post, you talked about the deficiencies of the SWAC conference website, and how it does not advance the standing of the teams or players in a larger spotlight. Do you think that the MEAC, SWAC, CIAA and SIAC do enough to promote their best athletes to a larger audience, and to professional scouts?
The conference website is better than it has been… but c’mon, the last post is a month old and the link to the PDF’s is broken. And that’s an improvement! Some of the individual schools, like Texas Southern and MVSU, I have no idea why they don’t keep good websites. Then they wonder why attendance is so low.
I think it’s more a matter of the light just not going on upstairs. An investment in sports information is an investment in advertising for the school. Sports are a very common way for alumni to stay connected with their old U., and I wonder how long it will take for some of these schools to figure out that alumni generally have money that they’re willing to give back if it means helping the school colors fly higher. These are very logical connections that haven’t been made yet in some places. Maybe some think that being on ESPNU is enough. It isn’t,
And yeah, it hurts athletes. For instance, Trey Johnson went undrafted, and he was one of the last cuts out of Hornets camp. Leading scorer in the nation, and there were usually only one or two NBA reps at the games I saw him at. Imagine if Jackson State and the SWAC had done like a lot of schools and conferences and bombarded ESPN, Fox, Yahoo and the pro teams with his name and stats. The man is a professional ballplayer.
But the irony of all of it is that the SWAC now probably produces the most complete, thorough weekly report of any small conference. The thing’s 30 pages long. Problem is, you have to show up at the games with a media credential to get your hands on it.
5. If you could see one player in black college basketball history from any era, who would it be and why?
Without question, Marvin Webster. The Human Eraser! I saw him when I was growing up, when he played for the Knicks in the early Eighties. He was just an overworked, underappreciated workhorse by that time. I wouldn’t mind being transported back to those sold-out Morgan State games in the days when he dominated.
It’s been a dream of mine to do a book on the MEAC in the 1970’s, every single former coach and ex-player from that era I talk to speaks in hushed tones about it… Webster sounds like he’s eight feet tall in those stories! I still think that the greatest basketball story most people don’t know about is the one about the UMES “Black Beatles” of 1974. They nearly made it to the NCAA Tournament despite being an NAIA member, and ended up as the first HBCU ever invited to the NIT. Webster handed UMES the one loss that gave the NCAA the excuse they needed to exclude them.
6. Should the conferences do more to draw more diverse crowds and athletes to their sports, or should it be the responsibility of the individual schools?
That’s a giant red button issue, and I’m glad you’re not afraid to bring it up. I’m generally one of only a few white guys at MEAC or SWAC games — it’s usually me, a photographer or two, the ref, and the parents of the one white dude at the end of the bench — and it’s led to some thought-provoking experiences.
Like when I go to a Morgan State game now, they wave me past the metal detectors, presumably because I’m white and am wearing a coat and tie, carrying a giant laptop bag. I’m really uncomfortable with that. Equality means equal treatment, which means I stand in line too. Folks remember the “I have a dream” part of Dr. King’s speech, but forget the much more important “table of brotherhood” part.
So I don’t think any school or conference should go out of their way to attract any audience based on race. No “Welcome White People” banners at games either. It’s basketball — good basketball — and it’s a cultural experience, and I try to get the word out that it’s hardly the dangerous one a lot of people might still think it is. I just hope that someday the decision to attend a MEAC or SWAC game is as racially charged as “What do you want for dinner tonight, honey, Chinese or Mexican?”
7. With the parity between major basketball programs and mid-majors ever growing, how long do you think it will be until we see an NCAA champion from a mid-major conference?
It would have to be a perfect storm, and would require a team that’s unselfish and deep enough to plow through the rosters full of McDonald’s All-Americans that you meet up with in late March and early April. For the vast majority of these teams, it’s always going to be an uphill struggle.
8. Does Billy Packer regularly send you spam?
I wish. No, actually, funny story. I was sitting in the media section watching George Mason practice session the day before the 2006 Final Four, and there was Billy Packer a copuple of seats down from me with a giant stack of books and papers… GMU media guide, stat sheets, scouting reports, all that. All the research stuff he hoped he would never have to ever read two weeks earlier, when he and Jim Nantz made their infamous statements about mid-majors on CBS. Halfway through the practice, a famous national sportswriter ( i.e., not me) approached him and sat down next to him. Packer rubbed his face and said — I will swear to my deathbed that he said this — “Wake me when this mid-major s**t is over.”
9. Which black college team do you think would be most likely to advance in the NCAA basketball tournament?
Honestly, I don’t see it happening this year. Last season, I looked at Jackson State with national scoring leader Trey Johnson, all those great quick guards and enough big guys to hang with the big boys, and I thought, mayyybe… but, of course, they got the absolute worst draw imaginable and ended up as a punching bag for Florida in the first round. Those Tigers were a better team than a lot of people gave credit for, and not a lot of casual fans knew how good they were. Rutgers and UTEP found out, though…
So you’ve got to look at programs. In the SWAC, Southern puts a lot of resources into hoops and if anyone’s going to do it out of that league in the next few years, it’s most likely them. I like A&T in the MEAC this year with all those seniors, but they’re going to be retooling come next year. Hampton is the program with the right blend of pride, budget and track record to break through, though. Matthew Pilgrim, that 6-8 sophomore they have, absolutely blew me away at the MEAC tournament last year. Might happen sooner rather than later for them.
10. Of all the mid-major teams, which team do you think could be successful in a conference like, the ACC?
I get this one all the time and don’t usually have the opportunity to give a proper long answer, but it’s a money issue. Teams in the CAA or Missouri Valley, or even the WAC, average around $15 million a year budget-wise on athletics. That’s pennies on the dollar compared to the major schools. I mean, Ohio State spends over $100 million on sports! If you give Butler or Old Dominion — or even Norfolk State! — an ACC budget, I’m sure they’d find a way to hang.
11. One thing I wish you would have asked me but now I’ll tell you about is -
The new Little Brother CD. It’s amazing. Two guys out of North Carolina Central doing it their own way, balancing the major-label and independent lifestyles and still making great music. Phonte and Big Pooh been an immense inspiration to me, navigating between ESPN life and The Mid-Majority. I’ve been listening to “Getback” on repeat ever since I hit the road this season.
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