Xavier v Georgia -- Watch your back

[Biff Tannen]

Oh I actually just looked at the time when that foul was committed, that changes everything about it. But you're right muskieman, that is the proper way to control someone when fouling them "hard." Yeah and with the time remaining and the score the way it was that was flat out dirrrrrrrrrrrrty.

and to answer you're other question, I graduated in 2001 with the degree in theology, and was in grad school then joined the Marines in 2002 after 9/11 as an officer (I was your standard officer in the infantry, so I went the complete opposite route of theology!). I got out last year and am in law school at UC (boooooooo!).

[GoZags]

Oh I actually just looked at the time when that foul was committed, that changes everything about it.

And Felton had called a time out to set up his press, and the pressure defense took away a traditional inbounds pass.

I guess Pargo could have dribbled it out but he caught the ball in full stride and stopping would have been an unnatural move.

[muskieman]

Oh I actually just looked at the time when that foul was committed, that changes everything about it. But you're right muskieman, that is the proper way to control someone when fouling them "hard." Yeah and with the time remaining and the score the way it was that was flat out dirrrrrrrrrrrrty.

and to answer you're other question, I graduated in 2001 with the degree in theology, and was in grad school then joined the Marines in 2002 after 9/11 as an officer (I was your standard officer in the infantry, so I went the complete opposite route of theology!). I got out last year and am in law school at UC (boooooooo!).

Thanks for your service. Peter was opposite Jesus's wish in the garden and still was loved and held important in Jesus's mission. I hope to meet you some day and sit down and talk. A lawyer with a degree in Theology, maybe a canon lawyer?

[wkrq59]

Biff,
Sorry my friend, but after more than 40 years of newspapering and covering and watching every form of basketball from high school to pros and toss in AAU and my grandson's 4th grade games, I know a thug when I see a thug.
Several things make the Georgia player worthy of the thug label.
First, with six lousy seconds left on the clock, he need not have fouled at all. Second, he made absolutely no attempt to reach the ball. Third, once he grabbed the kid around the neck, he deliberately slammed him backwards to the floor.
By way of background, I covered every hiockey team in Cincinnati from the early 70s on. I have watched my share of senseless hockey fights and came to realize several inevitable facts.
*Unless the NHL and all its minor leagues including the junior A in Canada cleaned up their act, someone was going to die. Fortunately it has been cleaned up.
*But in its zeal to end the fighting, a natural outcome of the physicality of the game, there was an increase in stick work and sneak attacks. I'm sure as a sports fan you've seen the two incidents I've referred to.
*Hockey fights that involved two players dropping the gloves to settle what either or both sides believed was an injustice born of a referee's blindness were OK as long as there were just two players and the fight was not a staged encounter.
*In the old days there used to be a saying, "Score three, shame on me. Score four, start a war." Nasty results followed.
*But the most damaging result of the senseless--and the Georgia player's action was senseless--fighting was the fact that it filtered down through the minor leaagues to the juniors to the bantams to the midgets and so on. As a result, I once saw two kids who couldn't have been more than 5 or 6, get in a stick swinging battle and one of them will carry a scar for life on his cheek. And not a small scar.
As for calling the Georgia player a thug, he earned the name.
Dayton's Kurt Huelsman is another thug who should be watched closely. He has very little talent other than his size. If he gets a couple of intentional fouls called on him and costs Dayton a few games, he'll have to change. If he gets flargrants and is ejected numerous times he might get the message.
The Georgia player should have been suspended by the SEC for the season. His coach should have also been suspended for praising the kid's "Hustle." Felton has always been a coach who believed in "hard fouls, and he has a reputation of being a dirty coach."
Seriously, Biff, until the so-called "hard foul" is removed from all levels of basketball and until the radio and television announcers quit using the term and thus glorifying it, it will continue to plague the game until someone is crippled or killed.
I have seen high school players driven into the stands and come out missing teeth, teeth that will have to be replaced with partial plates or some other prosthetic. The "hard foul" does absolutely nothing for the game of basketball and when referees fail to enforce the intentional and flagrant rules, that type of play only furthers the idea that "Anything is ok just so you keep the other team from scoring. If he wants his two points, let him shoot the free throws from a wheel chair." I've actually heard a coach say that during a grade school game. And she meant it. She was also pretty po-ed when the ref threw her out of the game.
Maybe I shouldn't be so upset after all the sh!t I've seen over my years beneath the masthead, but it sickens me and if it doesn't stop, there'll be dire consequences.

[NCT]

Greetings! I'm a Georgia alumnus and fan, and I'd like to add a little to this discussion. Yes, the foul turned out to be flagrant and Corey Butler, the offending Georgia player, was ejected from (what remained of) the game appropriately. I do not think it's fair, however, to judge a player or team on one play.

Here are a few things about Butler:

He's a walk-on player. Georgia has only 8 scholarship players left after a handful (including our three leading scorers from last year) were either kicked off the team or left on their own, some for nothing more than skipping study hall. Contrary to stereotypcial assumptions about big school athletics, Felton does not tolerate bad behavior.

Butler attends the University on a scholarship, but an academic one and not an athletic one. And I believe he's a pre-med student. He's a true student-athlete -- something you don't find very often (admittedly) at schools like ours.

In post-game interviews, Butler repeatedly said that he had no intentions of hurting Pargo (yes, I know, of course he's going to say that). Butler said that given the score and the clock, it appeared that a showboating dunk was disrespectful, and he "just wanted him to take the ball and dribble it back out so we can all go home." Plus, in recent games, the team had performed poorly late in games, and Felton had drilled the need to remain aggressive until the buzzer. Does that excuse the foul? No. But before labelling someone a "thug", I think it's useful to consider more factors than just what appears to be a lapse in judgment in the course of a couple of seconds.

After the game, Butler personally apologized to Pargo, who accepted the apology. Butler is a clean-living model student who doesn't even use bad language. I mean, come on.

After the game, Felton apologized to Few and asked if Pargo had been hurt.

Bad foul? Yes. Bad decision by Butler? Yes. Reasonable basis to label Butler or the entire team thugs? I really don't think so.

Thank you for your kind attention. We Georgia fans are very pleased with our team's surprising performance in the conference tournament and consider ourselves fortunate to have made it into the NCAA tournament. We have the utmost respect for Xavier's team. Personally, I am not expecting a lot from this afternoon's game, but I hope we can keep it competitive. Were it not for the fact that Georgia got an unexpected ticket, I'd be rooting for Xavier. When one is immersed in big-school athletics like we are, it's always good to see a smaller school do well -- that's one of the things I love about college basketball: it provides a much more level playing field, so that Xavier can get a higher seed than the Kentuckys, USCs, and Oklahomas of the college landscape. Of course, I'd like for UGA to pull the upset, but in the likely event that doesn't happen, I'd certainly be pleased for Xavier to go deep, beat Duke, and play for it all.