Sports Illustrated’s Grant Wahl writes about out-of-control fan antics this week. As I was reading the article Thursday night, an Arizona fan threw a bottle of water at the Southern Cal bench and almost hit coach Tim Floyd. Arizona coach Kevin O’Neil handled it well. He grabbed the mic and asked for the fan to be identified and kicked out. He apologized to Floyd and the Trojans.
If you have watched college basketball lately, you are aware of the incidents Wahl writes about. Oregon fans made idiots of themselves when Kevin Love and UCLA came to town. Illinois fans did the same against Indiana and Eric Gordon. There is something about the mob mentality and athletics that make it easy for people to turn ugly.
- Missouri’s Antlers and Duke’s Cameron Crazies started this, as far as I can tell. Most of it is fun and part of the atmosphere. But it’s too easy for fans to get juiced up on the desire to influence the game and get on TV and go rogue. Why do they do it? Probably because the media tells them they influence the game and TV talking heads love to do live shots in front of crazed students (even though it makes it hard to hear). Everybody wants to be on TV.
- Schools are setting themselves up for a bad scene by putting fans court-side in big-money seats. Press row can serve as a buffer. Some places have moved the press from court-side (which is fine as long as I have a good view of the action I’m supposed to describe) to other areas. How long will it be before the wrong player chases a loose ball into the wrong loud-mouthed fan’s area – and it’s go time? In the MVC, I can see this scenario taking place at SIU, where the crowd gets jacked up and teams are on edge because of the physical play. Creighton is a danger zone because the fans sit at tables behind the benches and next to the working media. The Qwest Center serves alcohol. Will it surprise anyone when a buzzed Bluejay fan and a rival player get into it? Schools need the money and those seats are prime real estate – I understand that. At some point, things are going to get ugly.
- More coaches need to take the lead and get involved in shutting up some of these clowns. Maybe it’s not Ernie Kent’s job, but he probably could have helped the situation by telling Oregon fans to cool it on Love. I always like former Wichita State coach Mark Turgeon for his willingness to tell the students when they crossed the line. Enthusiasm is one thing. Acting like a fool and embarrassing your school is another.
- The first student body that called the cell phone of a rival player was funny. Now, it’s a cliche. So is a lot of this stuff. Â Cheer. Paint your face. Make a sign. That is all great. If you are going to the game with the sole purpose of getting inside the head of a 20-year-old, you need to relax a little.
Meetings are as much a part of life for Wichita State pitchers as respecting coach Brent Kemnitz’s nap routine and throwing three pitches for a strike.
Wednesday, I sat in on the meeting, which took place 15 minutes before practice. Kemnitz gathers his flock with the signal words “flow, flow, flow, flow, flow,” which is Kemnitz speak for talk, chatter, babble, whatever. The pitchers meet in the Eck Stadium team room.
- They arranged the schedule for the next few days. Anthony Capra, recovering from an appendectomy Saturday, will throw a “legit” bullpen Thursday in Long Beach. If he doesn’t throw Sunday against the Dirtbags, Tim Kelley is on. Some pitchers are to throw in Wednesday’s scrimmage, mostly those who did not throw or throw much in the first three games. Those who didn’t throw in games are expected to take the scrimmages seriously. It is their chance to make an impression.
- Each pitcher gives a status report on his arm. Everybody, if I remember correctly, reports “sweet” except for freshman Cameron Maldonado. The right-hander is on the shelf with a shoulder impingement. Kemnitz does not expect the injury to sideline him for long.
- Kemnitz hands out duties for the scrimmage. Senior Andy Womack gets the soft drink run to Sonic.
- Kemnitz gives the staff around a B-plus for its first three games. The Shockers have a 1.00 ERA and allowed seven runs, so that seems reasonable. Two pitchers who struggled – senior Khol Nanney and sophomore Clint McKeever – discuss their issues. Nanney rushed his pitches in his relief outing against Fordham. He threw two wild ones that let in two runs. WSU’s defense let McKeever down, but then he added to his own problems against Emporia State by giving up two two-out hits and a two-out walk. McKeever realized he tried to throw too hard when he got in a jam. Kemnitz tells him to “muscle down” instead of “muscling up” to preserve the heavy sink on his ball. When McKeever throws too hard, his ball flattens out and hitters prosper.
- The weekend rotation will be Rob Musgrave, Aaron Shafer and TBA.
- Junior Logan Hoch got the pitchers out of running with baseball advice on savvy. “Savvy” means knowing the game, and knowing what you don’t know about the game. Hoch’s advice is to pick the brains of the older players. Kemnitz liked it, and absolved the staff of burnouts.
WSU ends a four-game losing streak and moves out of last place in the Valley.
Couisnard with 25 and seven boards. Clemente with 12 and 10. Matt scored seven with three assists. Ely led the Aces with 16. WSU held Holsinger to 10 on 4-of-13 shooting.
UE has packed it in. The Aces are missing free throws and layups. WSU leads with 1:07 to play. Mekel’s free throws make it 66-51.
Braeuer exits to an ovation. P.J. an d Lance are still in.
P.J. with a steal and a layup and he will exit Koch Arena with a career-high 25 points.
Shocks up by 10 with 2:44 to play. Simmons calls his final timeout after a Durley dunk gets the crowd going. Harris just drove the lane and passed to Durley for the slam. Durley put WSU up 59-51 seconds earlier with a basket at the shot-clock buzzer.
Brett Burley scored his first points as a Shocker, making two free throws with 4:30 to play.
Evansville got back in it, as expected, at the line. The Aces went on a nine-point run and scored five on free throws. WSU just went through a dangerous period with a lineup of Ellis, Harris, Preadom, Mekel and Burley. Braeuer is back in, along with Clemente.
11:50 to play and UE’s Clint Hopf is at the line.
Timeout wtih 15:41 to play.
Ellis started the second half, which must mean Thomasson’s foot injury is something to be concerned about. He is on the bench. It doesn’t look like he is going to play. Phil limped off after a foul with 9:22 to play. He came back in in the first half, but he may be finished for the night.
WSU starts it strong and Couisnard is in the middle of it. He ripped the ball away from the UE center to start a break. Mekel flipped him the ball behind his back for a three from the top of the key. The Aces called timeout and Marshall came nearly to halfcourt to give P.J. his props.
18:32 to play. The Aces are teetering. The Shockers are not good at knockout punches.
At stake tonight is ninth in the MVC. It’s not much, but nobody wants to finish last. The ninth-place team plays at 6:05 p.m. on March 6. The last-place team plays at 8:35 p.m. Both game are played in a nearly empty Scottrade Center and the atmosphere is dreadful.
For the 8-9 winner, top-seeded Drake awaits at noon the next day. The 7-10 winner gets the second seed and a few more hours of rest.
WSU hasn’t finished last in the MVC since 1996. It would truly be a cruel story to go from first to worst in two seasons. The Shockers have 20 minutes to avoid that fate.
Big plus for WSU: No fouls for Couisnard. Many of his problems this season can be connected to fouls. When he is on the floor and playing smart defense, he is darn productive. Look for Evansville to run Ely at him in the second half to try to pick up some fouls.
Shockers close strong, which has been no indicator of future success in recent games. Couisnard’s three-point play, off a backdoor pass from Braeuer, victimized his brother and gave WSU a 32-22 lead.
The Aces cut into it with Victor Gomez’s follow shot just before the halftime buzzer.
This game is similar to the earlier meeting in Evansville. WSU led 31-20 at halftime before falling apart in the second half and losing 64-56. The Shockers shut down Holsinger and Ely in the first half at Roberts Stadium, then allowed both to go nuts in the second half.
Tonight, Holsinger and Ely both have eight. I think the Shockers would be happy to hold them to that in the second half and keep other Aces from helping. At Evansville, Nate Garner scored 11, still his high in Valley games.
WSU is shooting 44.4 percent from the field, but is 1 of 9 from three. The Shockers are out-rebounding the Aces 19-10 and own a five-point edge at the line.
The most worrisome point is two fouls for Clemente and J.T. Durley. Brett Burley played six minutes, his total in five previous appearances. He grabbed an offensive rebound, picked up a loose ball for a steal and worked hard on defense, so his minutes must be considered a success.