2013-14 NCAA College Basketball Thread

[OnWis97]

The thing that really bugs me every time this happens is that idiot fans get validated. I get it...you can't go into the stands. For several reasons (not the least of which is the fact that Ron Artest went after the wrong fan). All we will hear is about how there is never an excuse. But on some level, most of these fans deserve it. The correct fan that threw the cup at Artest deserved it. The fan that taunted Vernon Maxwell about his wife giving birth to a still-born child deserved it. I really believe that. But no matter how much they deserve it, you cannot go into the stands. And yeah, the players have to live in the world in which fans can say whatever they want and the player can't do anything about it. Life is not fair. But I do wish there was some way to deliver a stronger message to fans: "YOU ARE NOT PART OF THE GAME AND YOU DON'T GET TO ACT DIFFERENTLY AT THE ARENA THAN YOU DO AT THE OFFICE." Then again, if we do that, I'd have to hear about "political correctness gone amok" so it's lose / lose.

The three game suspension is a bit on the light side, but I am OK with it. I'm glad they did not pull his scholarship or something. I suppose it should have been the rest of the year for precedence reasons, but I think on a moral level the punishment fits the crime.

Now fans can go back to hurling racial slurs and food at players because they are part of the game. I really felt that that message was driven home by the NBA and the media after the Artest thing. And that drives me nuts.

[Lights Out]

Turns out that all Orr did was call Smart a "piece of crap," as verified from film of the incident. Granted, that's still pretty lame and Orr needs to grow up, but it also makes Smart - and all of the race-baiting narratives surrounding this incident - look foolish. "Piece of crap" is actually extremely tame compared to the :censored: that usually gets spewed at athletes.

[OnWis97]

Turns out that all Orr did was call Smart a "piece of crap," as verified from film of the incident. Granted, that's still pretty lame and Orr needs to grow up, but it also makes Smart - and all of the race-baiting narratives surrounding this incident - look foolish. "Piece of crap" is actually extremely tame compared to the that usually gets spewed at athletes.

If that is actually true, then while I stand by my main point about fans being jerks, I definitely back off of any support I have for Smart. "Piece of crap" is a general insult that is meaningless and players have to be able to ignore. That warrants, at most, an eye-roll. NBA teams may actually want to take this into account if he is going to be this thin-skinned.

The fan's a schmuck, but I see worse at most games.

[dbadefense1990]

"Piece of crap" is just a PG-13 version of the R-rated "piece of :censored:." I don't get how anyone can go all tantrum-like because of such a relatively low-stinging insult, much less a professional athlete-in-the-making throwing a fit.

I can't imagine Smart's reaction if he ever does go all-pro and encounters a Twitter-fed racial-bloodbath.

[HedleyLamarr]

Orr shouldn't be saying anything negative about any college athlete that's playing a game without being paid to do so.

It's fine to boo or poor-mouth a pro athlete, but not college players. College coaches, yes, but not the ones playing for free.

[OnWis97]

Orr shouldn't be saying anything negative about any college athlete that's playing a game without being paid to do so.

It's fine to boo or poor-mouth a pro athlete, but not college players. College coaches, yes, but not the ones playing for free.

I totally agree. I have a personal policy not to really boo anyone unless they are "dogging it" or really being an ass...but I cannot even imagine the line a college player would have to cross for me to boo. Just because Smart was wrong does not mean that Orr was right.

And while Smart over-reacted and Orr may not have "deserved" to be touched, he kinda deserves it cumulatively from what's coming out, even if i was not Smart's job to do it.

Orr is a tool.

But if Smart is this thin-skinned and gets this easily frustrated by losing a few games for a ranked college team, how's he going to be losing 65 games for the Timberwolves some day? He may have some anger management issues to address.

[Lee Noire]

I don't understand why any player, especially college should be ok with being insulted or instigated. While "piece of crap" isn't the N-word, any self respecting human being wouldn't be ok with being called that. It's blatant disrespect and like players are expected to be above it, fans should be too. I don't care how much you paid to be there, that isn't free reign to disrespect someone doing, for lack of a better term, their job.

I'm not going to say he needs thicker skin. He has a ton of respect for himself and won't be disrespected by anyone but he did make a mistake going into the stands. That being said we should start expecting more from fans and the way they act at games. I was listening to a reporter talk about how Tech feels handcuffed in dealing with this fan. They don't want to alienate a long time, paying customer and don't want to tick off boosters who are sometimes fans as well. This is college sports and it is sad. That to me is just as big a problem as the kid going into the stands.

[crashcarson15]

My favorite thing is when white people try and talk about how other people should react when they have racial slurs hurled at them.

[Lights Out]

My favorite thing is when white people try and talk about how other people should react when they have racial slurs hurled at them.

"Piece of crap" isn't a racial slur.

[DS729]

My favorite thing is when white people try and talk about how other people should react when they have racial slurs hurled at them.

"Piece of crap" isn't a racial slur.

Not unless you're going to make the connection of the shade of poo being comparable to a black man's skin, I've seen that happened before when a guy flipped out at someone for it.

But it's not what you'd think of, and honestly shouldn't be thought of that deeply to where you/they think it's racist.

[BlackBolt3]

Geez, they just postponed Duke-UNC. Snow ice and the usual stuff, but I've never remember a game this important for bragging rights being postponed.

[Raysfan12]

Ennis shuts up the Oakland Zoo!

[crashcarson15]

My favorite thing is when white people try and talk about how other people should react when they have racial slurs hurled at them.

"Piece of crap" isn't a racial slur.

You really think he just called him a "piece of crap?"

[OnWis97]

My favorite thing is when white people try and talk about how other people should react when they have racial slurs hurled at them.

"Piece of crap" isn't a racial slur.

You really think he just called him a "piece of crap?"

It's starting to look that way.

Some "superfan" in is 50s should be doing that anyway, but that seems to be what he said.

And yeah, it sucks that college players (and even pros) have to hear bad stuff like racial slurs and mocking of personal tragedies and some fans kinda deserve it, but you can't really have players going into the stands. On the other hand, I wish the dialog we had after these instances was a little less in defense of fans...they need to stop thinking they are part of the game.

But if Smart can't deal with "piece of crap" then it's gonna be hard for him in the NBA.

[FiddySicks]

Well. I made a pretty good decision going to the U of A ASU game tonight!

[ninersdd]

Well. I made a pretty good decision going to the U of A ASU game tonight!

1. Arizona's offense was god awful plus the terrible free throw shooting didn't help.

2. I don't understand why the hell there wasn't technicals called at the end. Carson egregiously hung on the rim when there was still time left. Also while there was some controversy about the fans storming the court while there was time left, it was the fact that the Sun Devil bench ran onto the court when there was still time that there could've been a technical on them as well.

3. Hopefully AZ draws ASU in the conference tourney for some revenge.

[FiddySicks]

Well. I made a pretty good decision going to the U of A ASU game tonight!

1. Arizona's offense was god awful plus the terrible free throw shooting didn't help.

2. I don't understand why the hell there wasn't technicals called at the end. Carson egregiously hung on the rim when there was still time left. Also while there was some controversy about the fans storming the court while there was time left, it was the fact that the Sun Devil bench ran onto the court when there was still time that there could've been a technical on them as well.

3. Hopefully AZ draws ASU in the conference tourney for some revenge.

1. I had yet to really go to an ASU basketball game before tonight (I saw them play Arkansas Central Eastern State Tech or whatever last year, but left about five minutes into the game), so I TOTALLY went into it with the idea that we were probably going to lose pretty bad. I was happy to go though because it's not all that often you get to see a team who's #2 in the country play for free. I was excited to see a team of that caliber play live. BUT, nearly the whole game I was saying to myself, THIS is the #2 team in the whole country? They must either be A ) Complete and total frauds, or B ) Having one of the most uncharacteristically bad nights I've ever seen from a team ranked that high. I'm assuming it's a LOT closer to #2, but I really haven't been too impressed with Arizona this season despite their ranking. They had NO BUSINESS even letting ASU stay in that game, let alone winning it. They aren't a very aggressive team as it is (They're young, that'll come with time), and now with Brandon Ashley out, I don't see them going very far in the tournament.

2. I was sitting mid court jumping up and down on the pitchfork celebrating when I looked up and noticed there was .7 seconds left on the clock, and my heart kinda sunk a bit. My first thought was, "Oh no, here we go again. There's NO WAY we don't get a technical after that Cal game." Everyone was trying to rush off of the court thinking that they had probably ruined the ending of that game. But I think the officials understood the moment and saw how hard all the fans were trying to leave the court, and decided to give them a few moments to do so without trampling anyone.

3. You'll probably kill us. But that doesn't change how awesome tonight was! We really needed a win like that.

[ninersdd]

1. Yeah Ashley out hurt us(especially in the Cal loss also. McConnell made WAY too many turnovers(6 TOs - 2 assists ain't good). Nick Johnson is supposed to be a reliable shooter, but went cold for the 3rd time in 4 games(seriously 5-20 tonight). On the last play, McConnell should've passed it off and not let Bachynski have an easy block. For the 2nd straight season, the team is stagnating on offense I fear(can't describe why). The defense was elite at least, and has been all season(#1 Adjusted D according to KenPom). Both teams were god awful from the free throw line(the Cats were slightly worse), and just making a few more would've been huge.

2. Yeah, at first I was mad at the fans, but there was a lot of confusion at the end and you guys(the fans) didn't deserve a tech there. However, on that last dunk Carson hung on the rim in one of the most obvious ways I have ever seen, and that one should've been a T for sure. Plus the bench mobbed him after that, and there was still time left on the clock plus no timeout was called. That could've been another technical, this time on the Sun Devil bench. Bill Walton said that Jahii should've just dribbled it out to put the game away for sure; now Zona fans have a legit gripe about those incidents.

3. Yeah Herb badly needed that(plus a tourney berth) to keep his job for another year. You guys played your hearts out, but I'm still very mad that the Cats sucked and still could've pulled it out.

[FiddySicks]

I'm with ya on that comment about how good your defense was. They shut us down a lot, and our final possessions in the 4th quarter and overtime both went for no points. Problem was, U of A couldn't score to put it away either.

[crashcarson15]

Re: Technical...

The ASU bench should've gotten a technical for rushing the court with time still left on the clock. That's what set the whole thing off. Not the kids rushing the floor though because that's a stupid call in general and they were just reacting to the bench doing what they did.