Last weekend, I watched a total of six games over a five-day period – four at Williams Arena (2 WBB, 2 MBB) and a MIAC WBB/MBB doubleheader at Augsburg. It was my annual weekend of hoops in the dead of winter that I’ve done for several years now.
I am not a hoop snob who only watches so-called big-time basketball. The non-athletic-scholarship athletes deserve as much love as the Big Ten players. It also is a more enjoyable experience as opposed to the too commercialized atmosphere at The Barn these days.
Speaking of the MIAC, where all 13 member schools are located within the Minnesota state borders, the conference in recent years has striven to move from its traditional all-White league to one that is growing more diverse every school and sports season.
Augsburg University, located in the shadow of the larger University of Minnesota in the Cedar-Riverside community, has virtually become the MIAC’s diversity model in several sports: AU WBB has five Native American players and three Black players on its 14-player WBB roster, and the men have seven Blacks and a total of eight POCs on its 17-man squad.
“I came from a very private white high school (Hill-Murray),” said soph guard Evelyn Perkins of Oakdale, Minn. “So having a diverse school environment was one of the most important things for me when I decided to come [to Augsburg]. My teammates and I talk about this all the time. We compared our bench to other teams’ playing benches, and I wouldn’t trade with [them].”
“That’s a big reason I came here,” added junior guard Elias Batala (Apple Valley/Eastview HS). “I have a lot of people like myself with similar traits come here. It seems like a family.”
Senior guard Wakinyela Bear (Morrison, Colo.) said she and fellow senior Amira LaDuke (Cass Lake, Minn.) both came to AU at the same time; they are two of the five Natives on this year’s Auggies. “I feel like Native Americans play a different type of basketball we call “rez ball,” stressed Bear. “We really like the community here, very diverse compared to other schools in the MIAC.”
“It’s real nice to be on a basketball team where I don’t feel like I am standing out and everybody is looking at me,” said soph LaiLoni Harris (Burnsville/Bloomington Kennedy HS). “It’s nice to see people and different ethnicities, backgrounds, and everyone is coming together.”
Soph Hanif Muhammad (Minneapolis/Breck HS), a transfer from St. Cloud State pointed out, “I say the chemistry [on the men’s team] is great.”
Junior Ali Axmed (Lakeville, Minn./North HS) stressed that the diversity is most attractive to recruits of color: “I think they feel comfortable coming in here. We have that bond that no team has in the league.”
However, you still don’t see a lot of Blacks at Auggies games other than players’ parents, family members, and friends.
“I don’t know if there is a reason,” said Jason Stanford, whose daughter Jada Stanford is a sophomore from Brooklyn Park and Champlin Park HS. He and twin brother Jermaine played for Minnesota’s Clem Haskins in the mid-1990s. “I try to come to all of her games,” said Jason of his daughter.
Said Jada, “I would love to see more people of my color supporting our game. I love that this school is diverse. That’s one of the reasons I decided to come here.”
Both AU squads won their games vs. Macalester last Saturday 102-70 to go 11-3 overall, 4-1 MIAC, its best start since a 9-2 start in 2021-22. The Auggies women also triumphed 86-71 and now 5-8, 2-4 MIAC.
“As we keep winning, in time [Black fans] will definitely show out,” concluded Muhummad.
Charles Hallman welcomes reader comments to challman@spokesman-recorder.com.