Freshman guard Staats Battle is a native of the Raleigh area. Battle played high school basketball at Broughton High School, where he averaged 13.7 points as a senior. Battle, who led his squad in scoring and rebounding, guided the Broughton High Capitals to a 22-6 overall record.
Besides lacing his shoes to tear up the hardwood, Battle also competed on the tennis team during his high school years. The Capitals would finish second in the state playoffs. Seeing the excellence that Battle displayed in different competitive fields, Battle received WRAL’s Extra Effort Award.
This past year, Battle has saw action in a handful of games for the Wolfpack . One of the most notable games for Battle this season was the contest against Northeastern. Battle was one-for-one shooting with a total of three points. This may not seem like much, but when looking back, the Pack had already sealed the deal when Battle entered the game. Instead of standing around and passing the basketball around till the horn blew, the Pack continued to work their offense. Battle was able to knock down a huge three from the corner that sent the Wolfpack crowd into a frenzy.
However, Battle has grabbed headlines for other reasons this year besides his basketball exploits. For those who do not already know, Staats Battle has reached the Elite Eight for the coolest name in the 2012 NCAA tournament. The bracket started out with 64 favorite player names from this year’s tournament field.
According to espn.go.com , their criteria for how cool a name is depends on how fun it is to say, how the name is spelt or how funky and unusual the name is. Based on that criteria, the names are given seeds, after which they go head to head to see who moves on to the next round.
Last year’s winner, Bubba Day of Purdue, took the tournament despite being a 15 seed. This unlikely run by Day last year brings hope to the Pack faithful, as Battle was given a six seed. Another thing to note is that Fab Melo was initially given the overall number one seed, but since Melo was considered ineligible by the NCAA, ESPN decided not to let him in this tournament as well.
In the first round of the tournament, Battle went up against the number 11 seed, Notre Dame’s Mike Broghammer . Battle would easily take the first round victory, compling over 80 percent of the votes. In the second round, Battle faced off with the number 14 seed, Grandy Glaze from Saint Louis. The percentages were not as wide, but Battle won again, with over 64 percent of the votes.
In the round of 16, Battle was up against one of the tournament favorites, Dakota Slaughter of Alabama. Once again, the Wolfpack fans would thrust Battle to the next round by racking up more than 70 percent of the votes tallied.
In the Elite Eight, Battle is up against yet another tournament favorite, California’s Bak Bak . Hopefully with the help of many clicks of the mouse, Battle will propel through to the Final Four.
