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Summarized by Kent Larsen
LDS Players on At Least 4 of Top 25 Basketball Teams
CBS Sportsline 4Feb00 A2
LDS college basketball players have made an impact on at least 4 of the
AP top 25 schools, including two of the top 3 teams on both the AP and
Coaches polls. Amazingly, and perhaps for the first time, neither of the
teams in the top 3, Stanford and Duke, are in the Intermountain West or
draw heavily from that area, nor are the LDS players on their teams,
Mark "Mad Dog" Madsen and Matt Christensen from the Intermountain West.
Stanford, which is considered the 2nd best team in the nation behind
Cincinnati in most polls, benefits from the efforts of returned
missionary Mark "Mad Dog" Madsen. Madsen, a senior from Danville,
California, has been a heavy contributor to the team and has gained
national attention in the media for his intense play.
Duke, the other top 3 team with an LDS player, has Matt Christensen of
Belmont, Massachusetts. Christensen is a sophomore who has come in off
the bench in every one of Duke's 18 games.
Until recently, 14th ranked (AP poll) Kentucky had Nate Knight, a former
missionary who is has shifted regularly from school to school. Knight
started his college career at Oregon State before his mission, then
played at Utah Valley State College for a season before transferring to
Kentucky before this year. Now he has transferred again, this time to
BYU. He is the younger brother of NBA player and LDS returned missionary
Travis Knight.
19th ranked (AP poll) Utah, also has a number of LDS players, as
expected because it draws heavily from the Intermountain West, unlike
the three other schools above.
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