Meet Fatts Russell, March Madness's skinny first star

The stats on freshman Rhode Island guard Daron “Fatts” Russell say he’s 5-foot-10 and 165 pounds. The stats don’t indicate whether Fatts had a couple of 10-pound weights in his pockets when he stepped on that scale. The stats also can’t measure the way Fatts whipped around the court in this year’s NCAA tournament-opening game against Oklahoma, tormenting and torching the Sooners at every turn.

So how does a guy who weighs about as much as a wet basketball net go about getting the name “Fatts”? According to Rhode Island, his mother dubbed him “Fatts” because he was such a chunky baby. CBS ran a photo of him back in his heftier days:

Russell was also a Philadelphia prep legend, winning both city and state titles with Imhotep Charter school last season. He finished Thursday’s game with 15 points, three 3-pointers, and three assists, keying a second-half run that helped Rhode Island hold off the tenacious Sooners.

And now he’s helped Rhode Island defeat Oklahoma and its superstar-in-the-making Trae Young in a heart-stopping overtime game. Their reward? The winner of the Duke-Iona game. So we’ll get at least one more helping of Fatts.

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Jay Busbee is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Contact him at jay.busbee@yahoo.com or find him on Twitter or on Facebook.

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