Document Type
Thesis
First Faculty Advisor
Laura Beaudin
Keywords
Bias; NCAA; Basketball; Probit
Rights Management
CC-BY-SA
Abstract
This study attempts to examine nationality & racial bias in NCAA college basketball all-conference team selection. Data were gathered for men’s and women’s NCAA Division I basketball players for 3 seasons from 2016-2018. Data were collected from various sources including NCAA.org, ESPN, and individual team websites. Probit and ordered probit models were used to examine relationships in the data. The variable of interest, nationality, was not significant in predicting the probability of a player’s chance of an all-conference selection in either the men’s or women’s analysis, and race was only significant when conference fixed effects were not considered. Therefore, results were inconclusive with regards to a player’s nationality or race playing a significant role in determining their chance of an all-conference selection. This study, will add to the previous literature examining bias in sport. It will be particularly significant to the area of collegiate basketball and women’s sports, in which there is sparse academic research.
