Arcidiacono takes 'white guy' question in stride
HOUSTON - Unlike the regionals of the NCAA tournament, the Final Four allows for two days of interviews with the coaches and players of the participating schools for the hundreds of national media on site.
HOUSTON - Unlike the regionals of the NCAA tournament, the Final Four allows for two days of interviews with the coaches and players of the participating schools for the hundreds of national media on site.
That could have turned out uncomfortably Friday for Villanova's Ryan Arcidiacono when he was thrown a question asking, "Do you think people have underestimated you as being a small white guy with choirboy looks?"
Arcidiacono laughed.
"That's the first time I've heard that in my four years," replied the 6-foot-3 senior, who went on to answer in nine more sentences in a rather light-hearted vein.
But some folks extracted just one sentence - "People just don't like a good, white basketball player" - and ran with it on Twitter.
That lone sentence did not mirror the context of the entire response, which went as follows:
"Yeah, for sure. You'll have to ask my opponents. My first couple of years, yeah, this small little white guy on the floor. I can't really say because I'm not going up against myself. If I see another white guy on the floor, I don't think he stinks. They can think what they want. I definitely get a lot of hate from being the white guy from Twitter. People just don't like a good, white basketball player. I don't know why."
When someone suggested former Duke star J.J. Redick as a comparison, Arcidiacono said, "That was a whole different level."
He added, "I take pride in it, try to be the tough guy on the floor, and the hardest working."
It's a big stadium
The Villanova-Oklahoma game will be played in NRG Stadium, home of the NFL's Houston Texans. That means the cavernous background could make it tough on the three-point shooters of both teams to find the basket accurately.
"We practiced" Thursday, Arcidiacono said. "The first 10 to 15 minutes were different being out on the floor with no one in the gym. It takes a little while to get used to the rims and the whole sight lines. By the end of practice, we were fine."
The difference between the Pavilion and an NFL stadium doesn't seem to bother some Wildcats, however.
"It's fine, no problems," said Kris Jenkins, Villanova's most prolific three-point threat. "Every shooter thinks every shot is going in anyway, so it doesn't matter where it is."
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