College basketball doesn't have many unwritten rules. So back in mid-November, when Monmouth junior George Papas stole the ball from Kansas' Tristan Enaruna while trailing by 55 points in the final seconds, then went on to dunk the ball and receive a technical foul for taunting Enaruna, it was looked at more with a laugh than as anything too serious.
But that's now two occasions when this sort of thing has happened this season -- both with the Jayhawks. The first time, it ended with just a technical. The second, clearly worse. So I reached out to a dozen coaches at different levels of college basketball with two questions:
1. What was your take on the final play of the game that led to the brawl?
2. Are you going to have a conversation with your team on what happened and how to prevent incidents like this from happening in the future?
https://www.espn.com/mens-college-b...what-coaches-saying-kansas-kansas-state-brawl
What the coaches had to say about KU/KSU.
The coaches were relatively one-sided on the final play of the game, with a majority saying going for a steal and layup while down 20-plus is entirely unnecessary.
"I do think it's dumb to go steal the ball down 25 when they are dribbling out the clock," one head coach said. "It's false hustle. You're beat! How about playing better defense when the game is being decided?"
"It's bush league. I'm glad he blocked it," an assistant coach said. "It's bulls--- [for De Sousa] to stand over him too though."
"I think it's talked about with every team all year," a mid-major coach said. "You don't try to score on a team on the last possession when the game is over. And you also don't try to get a steal on defense, either. The game is over. When it does happen, either way, it's just a kid trying to get attention."
One coach said there were several different points in the lead-up to the brawl that should have prevented it from getting out of control.
"You need other guys not to escalate it that aren't involved -- which is what happened," he said. "There's also a s--- ton of suits [assistant coaches and support staff] at the end of the Kansas State bench that should have been all up in between them. You gotta have your antennae up. We're the adults. Bruce [Weber] should have been yelling at that kid to not go lay that up. It was right in front of him, if he was walking to go shake hands."
"You would hope that something of this magnitude could be prevented," one head coach said. "I know how high emotions get and things can spiral downhill in a hurry. I will definitely bring it up with my team today and reiterate how to handle being in those situations -- up or down."
But that's now two occasions when this sort of thing has happened this season -- both with the Jayhawks. The first time, it ended with just a technical. The second, clearly worse. So I reached out to a dozen coaches at different levels of college basketball with two questions:
1. What was your take on the final play of the game that led to the brawl?
2. Are you going to have a conversation with your team on what happened and how to prevent incidents like this from happening in the future?
https://www.espn.com/mens-college-b...what-coaches-saying-kansas-kansas-state-brawl
What the coaches had to say about KU/KSU.
The coaches were relatively one-sided on the final play of the game, with a majority saying going for a steal and layup while down 20-plus is entirely unnecessary.
"I do think it's dumb to go steal the ball down 25 when they are dribbling out the clock," one head coach said. "It's false hustle. You're beat! How about playing better defense when the game is being decided?"
"It's bush league. I'm glad he blocked it," an assistant coach said. "It's bulls--- [for De Sousa] to stand over him too though."
"I think it's talked about with every team all year," a mid-major coach said. "You don't try to score on a team on the last possession when the game is over. And you also don't try to get a steal on defense, either. The game is over. When it does happen, either way, it's just a kid trying to get attention."
One coach said there were several different points in the lead-up to the brawl that should have prevented it from getting out of control.
"You need other guys not to escalate it that aren't involved -- which is what happened," he said. "There's also a s--- ton of suits [assistant coaches and support staff] at the end of the Kansas State bench that should have been all up in between them. You gotta have your antennae up. We're the adults. Bruce [Weber] should have been yelling at that kid to not go lay that up. It was right in front of him, if he was walking to go shake hands."
"You would hope that something of this magnitude could be prevented," one head coach said. "I know how high emotions get and things can spiral downhill in a hurry. I will definitely bring it up with my team today and reiterate how to handle being in those situations -- up or down."