5. Championship
(#5) White vs (Champ) Arcidiacono
It’s been a long journey for the Bulls rookie guard, White. His reward is to face defending champ, Arcidiacono. Arc is just the kind of player that tends to disrupt players like White, a scrapper on the defensive end that doesn’t quit. On offense he can hit the shots he is supposed to but is far from a “scorer”. He makes up for that with effort.
Think Matthew Dellavedova taking on Stephen Curry (wouldn’t Bulls fans love that?). The final battle is very reminiscent of the one from the Run With Us episode. The major difference is White’s shooting ability. A few broken records are sure to have boosted his confidence and that has carried over into this tournament.
Champ: Coby White
It’s in the books. There were a couple of upsets. Nothing too dramatic, but Arc’s win in the last tourney proved that going chalk is probably not a good idea. So White, the five-seed, winning it all should come as no surprise. The make-it-take-it format certainly helps as the streaky White could lead to Arcidiacono never even getting a shot.
White was finding his groove before the NBA shut down. He became just the third rookie in NBA history to score 30-plus points in three consecutive games and the first to do so off the bench. And that’s not all he did. Over his last 11 games, he averaged 23.7 points per contest with 4.5 assists and 3.9 rebounds. That would have made him one of 17 players with that stat line in 2019.