Wisconsin Basketball Thread 2021-2022

[homer]

B1G is announcing something soon. I'm starting to think one of the UW coaches might get a game or two suspension.

[PeaveyFury]

Wouldn’t be stunned if the guy who made the gesture we’ve all seen by now gets a game for that. Wouldn’t be completely unreasonable and would allow the Big Ten to claim both sides were held accountable.

[homer]

Michigan suspending Howard the rest of the season per Dan Wetzel

 

edit: rest of regular season

[BillScottCanRake]

Adam Rittenberg says the suspension is through the end of the regular season (5 games). If true, he would be back in time for the Big 10 tournament.

 

[jason21nl]

Now the NCAA has to take care of the rest

[DuWayne Steurer]

Rest of the regular season is weak.

[PeaveyFury]

Reports are three players suspended for a game (only Neath for Wisconsin) $10k fine for Gard, no suspension for him or Krabbenhoft.

[MrTPlush]

I think it’s a learning moment for Gard to avoid anything that is going to incite some negative response like that in the future.

 

I’m not a fan of the ‘you just need to figure out how not to make him mad’ narrative as that’s been used since the dawn of time to enable bad behavior in people who can’t control their emotions.

 

I get what you are saying, but at the same time you have to look out for yourself and your players. What if Johnny Davis had gone and threw a punch? What if they lost Gard for a big game like Purdue?

 

I guess I am referring more to trying and confront Howard…not exactly the timeout itself. Confronting Howard is just playing with fire, especially with his history.

[homer]

Wouldn’t be stunned if the guy who made the gesture we’ve all seen by now gets a game for that. Wouldn’t be completely unreasonable and would allow the Big Ten to claim both sides were held accountable.

 

They should build a statue of that guy

 

Am I the only one that saw that and immediately thought; "That has to be the strength coach."

[homer]

The penalty on the players seems really light.

[LouisEly]

The penalty on the players seems really light.

Agreed. Throw punches and you'll only get one game. Doesn't discourage cheap shots at all.

 

I was expecting Howard to get through the end of the season including BTT. Rest of the regular season is weak too.

[PeaveyFury]

You just know they’ll somehow end up planing each other in the Big Ten tournament…

[sdcheezhd]

If it were a player initiated thing instead of a coach initiated thing the players might have been treated harsher.

[PeaveyFury]

Howard doubled- down in his presser. It’ll be interesting if the ensuing week results in a sheepish apology when he realizes he may actually lose his job.

 

Ah, there's the "After I had time to reflect...." statement we all knew would be coming:

 

https://twitter.com/jeffborzello/status/1495920691883003906/photo/1

[DuWayne Steurer]

Howard doubled- down in his presser. It’ll be interesting if the ensuing week results in a sheepish apology when he realizes he may actually lose his job.

 

Ah, there's the "After I had time to reflect...." statement we all knew would be coming:

 

https://twitter.com/jeffborzello/status/1495920691883003906/photo/1

 

 

In the prepared statement he apologized to Joel Krabbenhoft.....

[wallus]

I would like a job where I can assault a competitor and not lose my job.

[CheezWizHed]

I would like a job where I can assault a competitor and not lose my job.

 

 

Ukraine is lovely this time of year.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

I think the player punishments were light in large part because the players actually had nothing to do with instigating the whole thing. It would have been a bizarre message to punish them as hard as the coaches. You can't fine them, so a suspension is really your only option and I think outside of what was done, it would have been a bit much. Actually think they got that aspect of it correct.

[rickh150]

Howard was pressing and trapping. He has no leg to stand on with the timeout calls. He started the whole thing. Ticked off at losing this game and playing awful in 2nd half… looking for reason to escalate situation on Wisconsin team. Found it.

 

The other TO under 1 minute gets very little attention. Gard subbed his guys on a made basket TO and play continued with no full timeout. One could argue that he was trying to move the game along here and wanted it to end quickly.

[MrTPlush]

Howard doubled- down in his presser. It’ll be interesting if the ensuing week results in a sheepish apology when he realizes he may actually lose his job.

 

Ah, there's the "After I had time to reflect...." statement we all knew would be coming:

 

https://twitter.com/jeffborzello/status/1495920691883003906/photo/1

 

That is the, “This is what you are going to say if you want a job after the next five games.”

[LouisEly]

I think the player punishments were light in large part because the players actually had nothing to do with instigating the whole thing. It would have been a bizarre message to punish them as hard as the coaches. You can't fine them, so a suspension is really your only option and I think outside of what was done, it would have been a bit much. Actually think they got that aspect of it correct.

Yes and no. For the most part I agree, but I'm thinking of the player that threw Chambliss to the ground and, according to Neath, started punching him. That was the instigation to Neath and the two Michigan players getting into it. It seemed like after Howard hit Krabby they had separated them, but then when Chambliss got thrown to the ground it went to another level. Had that not happened, Neath doesn't do what he did. That guy should have gotten another game or two.

[reillymcshane]

As people pointed out, Howard had his team pressing and trapping despite the game being far out of reach. If his guys had just hung back - then the Badgers don't call time out. Instead, they only had 4 seconds to get the ball over half court. The TO gives them 10 seconds. If Michigan wants to play press and trap, I'm gonna give my guys the best chance possible to execute. That means a time out.

 

To then go and say 'We'll remember this crap' is crap. Gard could have backed off - knowing Howard was looking for a confrontation - but I don't blame him for standing up for himself and his team.

 

Just a stupid move by Howard. Just stupid. To try and defend his actions as being 'offended' by a time out was lame.

[CheezWizHed]

Gard was probably just trying to communicate his intentions to Howard as a result of his lessons learned from last year that he wasn't a good communicator. /half-blue

[Dmiles23]

What if Johnny Davis had gone and threw a punch? What if they lost Gard for a big game like Purdue?

 

Let's let this situation play out in another timeline. Gard lets Howard walk by and doesn't stop him or say anything to him. Howard continues to spout off to the assistant coaches and players. One of the less calm players, lets just say Davis, takes exception to what Howard is saying, takes a swing, and starts the brawl.

 

1. How do you think the media would be reporting on this story?

2. What would your reaction be to Gard letting Howard walk by?

 

Being a Badgers fan, I am proud of what Gard did. Howard started yelling at the Badgers bench during the timeout. You could tell he didn't want to go through the handshake line. The announcers even made a big deal about it before anything happened. And he came into the handshake line hot, immediately pulled down his mask, and started yelling. As a head coach, it is your responsibility to protect your team and take them out of harms way. You should expect the coach of a D1 basketball program to be able to handle a situation like this like a grown man. This isn't a weigh-in for a MMA fight, for cripes sake. He is supposed to be a role model for young men!

 

I've always been a Juwan Howard fan, but how he handled this situation has really soured me on him. Not only the handshake line and the slap. But the post game presser was just mind blowing to me. He was threatened by Gard? Are you kidding me?! They weren't pressing? I'm not as dumb as I look! It just seems like a bunch of excuses to try to justify his actions instead of manning up and taking responsibility and accountability for his actions.

[LouisEly]

I'm absolutely appalled - but not shocked - at the lack of media acknowledgement/awareness of what Howard said to Gard before Gard touched him.

 

Deadspin has been worthless for about a decade now, and decided to reinforce that today. (Let's not acknowledge what their opinion is and stir that pot for the moderators' collective sake; let's just acknowledge that Deadspin is worthless.)