College Basketball's 10 Tallest Teams: Does Height Make Right?
There's lots of debate about the importance of height on the basketball court.
How much should a player's size (or lack thereof) play into the decision of whether or not he will see the court?
Mountain State's 7' 8" junior Paul Sturgess (pictured) is the tallest college basketball player in the country, and barely gets off the bench for the NAIA school from West Virginia.
I am continually indebted to Ken Pomeroy, basketball statistic extraordinaire. He puts together stats like no one I've ever seen. http://www.kenpom.com/
One obscure stat he came up with is the average height of every team in Division 1 basketball. It was interesting to look at both ends of the spectrum.
First, the 10 shortest teams in D1 Hoops are:
(Average height in inches / 2010-11 overall record as of Jan 20)
No. 345 Prairie View A&M (74.1 / 5-13)
No. 344 Robert Morris (74.5 / 8-9)
No. 343 Arkansas Little Rock (74.5 / 11-9)
No. 342 Savannah St. (74.6 / 3-17)
No. 341 Oregon (74.6 / 8-10)
No. 340 Florida Atlantic (74.7 / 14-6)
No. 339 Quinnipiac (74.7 / 12-5)
No. 338 Maryland Eastern Shore (74.8 / 4-13)
No. 337 Delaware St. (74.8 / 7-9)
No. 336 Sacred Heart (74.8 / 7-10)
(Trivia Question - Can you name the conferences in which these teams play?)
Only three of these teams are playing .500 ball or better.
So, does size matter? Maybe. Sometimes. In this case, it may be part of the story of these teams' performance.
Let's look at the other end of the spectrum...let's see how the ten tallest teams in college basketball are fairing this season.
Before you look, how many of these teams can you correctly identify?
10. Minnesota Golden Gophers
1 of 10
Average Height: 78.1 in.
Tallest Players: Ralph Sampson III (Yes, that's HIS son) - 6'11"; Elliott Eliason - 6'11"
Record: 14-4
Sampson (pictured) is tied for the Big Ten lead in blocks (2.3 bpg), and scores 10.4 ppg and grabs 5.5 rebounds per game. Earlier this season, Sampson had a big night against Western Kentucky, scoring 22 points, grabbing eight rebounds and blocking seven shots.
Eliason has not played yet this season; will most likely red-shirt.
9. New Mexico State Aggies
2 of 10
Average Height: 78.1 inches
Tallest Player: Abdoulaye N'doye - 7'0"
Record: 10-10
N'doye (pictured), originally from Senegal, has seen limited action this year, playing in nine of the Aggies games, scoring two points and grabbing five rebounds overall.
8. Wake Forest Demon Deacons
3 of 10
Average Height: 78.3 inches
Tallest Players: Ty Walker - 7'0"; Carson Desrosiers - 7'0"
Record: 7-12
Walker (pictured) leads the ACC in blocked shots (2.9 bpg), blocking an amazing 11 shots against Marist earlier this season. He scores 3.5 ppg and grabs 4.3 rpg.
Desrosiers scores 4.1 ppg and grabs 3.6 rpg. He had a season high ten points against Winthrop.
7. Baylor Bears
4 of 10
Average Height: 78.3 inches
Tallest Player: Dragan Sekelja - 7'0"
Record: 12-5
Sekelja (pictured), originally from Zagreb, Croatia, has seen limited duty in five games, scoring seven points and grabbing seven rebounds overall. He had a season-high five points against Prairie View A&M, the shortest team in the country.
6. Vanderbilt Commodores
5 of 10
Average Height: 78.3 inches
Tallest Players: Festus Ezeli - 6'11"; Josh Henderson - 6'11"
Record: 13-4
Ezeli (pictured) is having a breakout season. Originally from Nigeria, Ezeli is averaging 12.9 ppg, grabbing 6.5 rpg and blocks 2.4 shots per game (No. 4 in the SEC).
Henderson, a freshman, has not seen any action and is red-shirting.
5. Syracuse Orange
6 of 10
Average Height: 78.4 inches
Tallest Player: Fab Melo - 7'0"
Record: 18-1
Melo (the second "Melo" at Syracuse), a freshman from Belo Horizonte, Brazil, plays a back-up role for the Orange, scoring 2.2 ppg and grabbing 1.8 rpg. Earlier this season, Melo (pictured) had eight points and seven rebounds against Cornell.
4. Kentucky Wildcats
7 of 10
Average Height: 78.5 inches
Tallest Player: Eloy Vargas - 6'11"
Record: 14-4
Vargas, a freshman from Moca, Dominican Republic, plays a back-up role for the Wildcats, averaging 2.3 ppg and grabbing 2.7 rpg. Vargas (pictured) scored eight points and grabbed three rebounds against Winthrop (the second player on this list to have a "big" night against the Eagles).
3. North Carolina Tar Heels
8 of 10
Average Height: 78.5 inches
Tallest Player: Tyler Zeller - 7'0"
Record: 13-5
Zeller (pictured) leads the Tar Heels in scoring (14.1 ppg) and grabs 7.4 rpg (No. 8 in the ACC). Zeller had a season-high 27 points and 11 rebounds in a victory over Kentucky.
2. Florida State Seminoles
9 of 10
Average Height: 78.8 inches
Tallest Player: Jon Kreft - 7'0"
Record: 14-5
Kreft (pictured) comes off the bench for the Seminoles to score 2.8 ppg and grab 2.3 rpg. He had a six-point, six-rebound night against Stetson.
1. Illinois Fighting Illini
10 of 10
Average Height: 79.1 inches
Tallest Player: Mike Tisdale - 7'1"
Record: 14-5
Tisdale (pictured) leads the Fighting Illini in rebounds (7.3 rpg, No. 6 in the Big Ten) and scores 9.9 ppg. Recently, the senior center had a 16-point, 14-rebound outing against Penn State.
