Given the circumstances, the decision for UNC's bench to leave the court before the final horn was a sensible choice made in the interest of safety.
On Saturday, Williams appeared to have simultaneously addressed the safety issue (by prematurely pulling all but the five necessary persons to finish the game) while maintaining decorum and respect for the game of basketball (by allowing the game to properly end).
Yet days later, Williams admitted, "I was trying to get my entire team off the court," which would include the five walk-on players that instead remained for those final seconds and had to find their way off the court through the chaos that followed the expiration of time.
Williams said he apologized to his players, stating, "'Guys, I apologize ... I would never have left you out there to play the game.'"
With those comments, Williams might have increased his standing with fans of unity and concern for players, but he decidedly diminished his record when it comes to respect for the game.
Just as passionate college or scholastic basketball fans have made a tradition out of rushing the court after a huge victory, one of the most vital traditions for those who actually play, coach or officiate the game is that the game is played to the final horn, to its completion, to triple-zeroes.
This core tradition seems to have been ingrained in the minds of the five players who stayed behind.
The NCAA Rules Book has a name and section number (4-28) for games that are not played to completion: these contests are called forfeits.
For the record, the last NCAA men's basketball contest to be declared a forfeit was a Dec. 10, 2011 contest between the Cincinnati Bearcats and Xavier Musketeers. That game was prematurely terminated due to a bench-clearing brawl.
For the sake of tradition and respect for the game, Williams should consider himself fortunate his plan did not come to fruition.
A blowout and upset? Teams have bad games. It happens.
Removing his bench prior to the game's end? It was a safety issue. It was a wise move.
UNC can easily overcome both occurrences.
Removing an entire team from the court, so that the game's final 14.2 seconds cannot not be played?
That is an unenviable situation known as a forfeit, a word associated with fights, brawls, melees, protests, poor sportsmanship and a lack of respect for the game and sport of basketball.
UNC and Williams should count themselves very fortunate the FSU blowout never came to that.
3 comments :
So UNC would have forfeited a game they were losing by 32 points, and the result of the forfeit would have been that all stats from the game and the final score of 90-58 would stand.
While I agree that it would have have been a great thing to have forfeit a game, it would have barely been noticed in the long run.
I think the bigger problem is that there is a lack of security for players, coaches, and support staff for visiting teams and they should be able to clear out before fans are allowed to rush the court.
Mistake in my third line, that "it would NOT have been"
I tend to agree that UNC doesn't want a forfeit here. Headlines would have been brutal. Imagine not finishing a game because a coach pulled his entire team. It reaks of poor sportsmanship and sore loser. Still, I also agree that security should be adequate enough to escort the visitors from the floor and keep them separated from rushing fans.
Post a Comment