Taking On the Stereotypes: Asian American Basketball Player Excels on the Court: After leading his high school basketball team to a state title averaging 15 points a game, the 6-foot-3-inch, 200-pound young man hoped to draw some Division I college scholarship offers.
But none came.
He went on to join Harvard University's team. There, his stellar play the past three seasons has earned him national media attention, an array of accolades, and the unplanned role as a model for other Asian Americans.
Meet Jeremy Lin. He's one of only a handful of U.S. Asian male college basketball players, which he and others attribute in part to social stereotypes that paint Asians as lacking athletic prowess.
“It definitely gives me more motivation,” he says. “I play with a little bit of a chip on my shoulder.”
Nationally, Asian Americans make up less than 1 percent of men's Division I basketball players, according to the most recent NCAA Student-Athlete Race and Ethnicity Report. The numbers among Division II and III are not much higher.
Only 19 Asian men – including Lin – played on Division I teams during 2006-2007, for instance. And, since 1999-2000, that figure has never been more than 27 a year but usually far fewer.
