LaVar Ball: UCLA had too many ‘white guys’ with slow foot speed to win title

Lonzo Ball's father blames Sweet 16 loss on race

LaVar Ball has a new theory for why UCLA didn’t win the national championship he predicted UCLA would win: too many “white guys.”

“Realistically you can’t win no championship with three white guys because the foot speed is too slow,” he told The Orange County Register.

UCLA had three white starters this season -- Bryce Alford, TJ Leaf and Thomas Welsh. Oddly, none of them were beat off the dribble possession after possession in the Bruins’ 86-75 Sweet 16 loss to Kentucky. That honor belonged to Lonzo Ball, LaVar’s son, who watched De’Aaron Fox go for 39 points in 36 minutes. Also worth noting: Duke’s 2010 national championship team had three white starters -- Jon Scheyer, Kyle Singler and Brian Zoubek -- and five of the eight Blue Devils who played in the title game that year were, to use Ball’s phrase, “white guys.”