UAPB and Memphis
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G Lion
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MEMPHIS PROGRAM RECEIVES ANOTHER BLACK EYE
SPORTS COLUMN
BY NATE OLSON / OF THE COMMERCIAL STAFF
The goons that are the Memphis Tigers basketball team were back at it again Monday night.
'Thug Life' was in full effect at The Pyramid early and often in their game against Arkansas-Pine Bluff.
Memphis pulled out all of the stops: trash talking and shoving during warm-ups, throwing sucker punches and a boot to the head that WWE wrestling legend Ric Flair, 'the dirtiest player in the game,' would be proud of.
When you throw in the fact that Memphis head goon, errr... coach John Calipari defended his players' actions and how the officials completely dropped the ball when handing out the justice, you have a complete and utter debacle.
The night got off to a rocky beginning thanks to a player who shouldn't even have been near the court. Tigers' junior point guard Antonio Burks, who was serving a three-game suspension for accepting a free rental car from Avis, was hanging around the UAPB end of the court. Burks was clad in practice gear and was shooting jumpers with teammates.
Initially, Burks was chatting with Golden Lions senior forward Justin Lloyd, who is a Memphis native and was an acquaintance of Burks, who is also a Memphis native.
However, after talking with Lloyd, Burks sat in a chair facing the court and the UAPB players.
Words were exchanged between Burks and UAPB senior forward Kory McKee. That prompted Burks to shuffle on to the court and get in McKee's face. McKee's mates surrounded him and some shoving and pushing resulted. Also, in the mix was Almany Thiero, a 6-10, 258-pound freshman from Mali, West Africa. Thiero, who was nursing a fracture in his leg, lumbered onto the hardwood to put is two-cents worth into the scuffle.
This reporter was the only media member that actually witnessed the scuffle. In fact, just a few fans and arena personnel actually saw what happened.
Calipari admitted he didn't see the incident, but added that it had to be the UAPB players starting the fight. Word out of the Memphis locker room was the Golden Lions were the ones that cast the first stone and came into the arena spewing trash talk.
Calipari justified Burks' actions by saying UAPB picked on the wrong player, citing that Burks is a tough customer or a thug if you will.
Both of those notions are ridiculous. Noone besides the Tigers and staff believes that lowly UAPB, riding a 9-game losing streak, is coming into The Pyramid with its gums flapping.
If UAPB did say something to Burks, why is that he can stroll onto UAPB's end of the court and get physical? Why was the suspended Burks even allowed to shoot around in practice gear?
Calipari had no response.
Most coaches would have been irate with a player, who was already being disciplined, for showing very poor judgment and lack of maturity.
Then there was the 'Main Event.'
UAPB senior center Antwan Emsweller was trying to gather up a loose ball in the paint with just over five minutes to go in the first half when he was tangled up with three other Tigers.
Emsweller contends he was punched and kicked while at the bottom of the pile. Emsweller fought to get out of the scrum, but replays did not show the 6-8, 255-pounder throwing a blatant punch that the officiating crew charged he dolled out.
Lloyd tried to help Emsweller get loose, and he was decked by a right hand of freshman Memphis guard Clyde Wade, another Tiger Lloyd grew up with.
That's when all chaos broke loose and many of the Tigers came on to the court to get in on the incident, which occurred in front of the Tigers' bench.
Billy Richmond, who transferred from Vanderbilt and will be eligible Dec. 14, came off the bench and kicked a UAPB player while he was down.
Based on viewing replays of the videotape officials Steve Welmer, Curtis Shaw and Don Dailey determined that Emsweller would be ejected for fighting and fellow Golden Lions LeMarquis Blake and Don Fleming were also tossed because of leaving the bench. The only problem was that Blake was on the floor and threw no punches.
Thiero, Richmond, Wade and Anthony Rice were all ejected for leaving the bench. However, Wade was in the game at the time and clearly whacked Lloyd.
"All the coaches from both teams need to be commended,'' Welmer said. 'Had the coaches for both teams not acted the way they did, then we may have had a major problem."
A major problem? I would call a right hand and a boot to the face a major problem. The officials totally lost control, allowed turmoil to ensue - then made sure there were more UAPB players in uniform that were sent to the locker room than the home team.
Calipari contended that Emsweller started the fight. It looked like he was fighting for his life after getting pummeled on the bottom of that pile. Calipari also chastised Emsweller for starting the fight because he claims Emsweller is seldom used, thus has no right to fight.
I don't know how 'Coach Cal' would know how much Emsweller plays. Emsweller has come off the bench, but is not a mop-up player.
There is no way the officials were going to eject enough players to give UAPB, who trailed by only six at the time, an advantage and a chance to upset an already short-handed Tigers' team.
One official was overheard assuring a livid Calipari that his team, "wasn't going to be hurt too bad."
The whole thing stinks.
Memphis showed how classless it can be last season when assistant coach Tony Barbee hit former Arkansas Razorback player J.J. Sullinger with a forearm when Sullinger crashed into the Tigers' bench after chasing a loose ball.
Calipari and Co. sunk to a new low Monday night when they got off easy after a couple of violent acts.
Calipari is always going to defend his players' actions, and he is going to recruit players like Richmond, who was a troublemaker at Vandy. Calipari cannot land the nation's elite players, so he must recruit a band of ruffians with checkered pasts.
Don't count on that trend changing anytime soon in Memphis.
SPORTS COLUMN
BY NATE OLSON / OF THE COMMERCIAL STAFF
The goons that are the Memphis Tigers basketball team were back at it again Monday night.
'Thug Life' was in full effect at The Pyramid early and often in their game against Arkansas-Pine Bluff.
Memphis pulled out all of the stops: trash talking and shoving during warm-ups, throwing sucker punches and a boot to the head that WWE wrestling legend Ric Flair, 'the dirtiest player in the game,' would be proud of.
When you throw in the fact that Memphis head goon, errr... coach John Calipari defended his players' actions and how the officials completely dropped the ball when handing out the justice, you have a complete and utter debacle.
The night got off to a rocky beginning thanks to a player who shouldn't even have been near the court. Tigers' junior point guard Antonio Burks, who was serving a three-game suspension for accepting a free rental car from Avis, was hanging around the UAPB end of the court. Burks was clad in practice gear and was shooting jumpers with teammates.
Initially, Burks was chatting with Golden Lions senior forward Justin Lloyd, who is a Memphis native and was an acquaintance of Burks, who is also a Memphis native.
However, after talking with Lloyd, Burks sat in a chair facing the court and the UAPB players.
Words were exchanged between Burks and UAPB senior forward Kory McKee. That prompted Burks to shuffle on to the court and get in McKee's face. McKee's mates surrounded him and some shoving and pushing resulted. Also, in the mix was Almany Thiero, a 6-10, 258-pound freshman from Mali, West Africa. Thiero, who was nursing a fracture in his leg, lumbered onto the hardwood to put is two-cents worth into the scuffle.
This reporter was the only media member that actually witnessed the scuffle. In fact, just a few fans and arena personnel actually saw what happened.
Calipari admitted he didn't see the incident, but added that it had to be the UAPB players starting the fight. Word out of the Memphis locker room was the Golden Lions were the ones that cast the first stone and came into the arena spewing trash talk.
Calipari justified Burks' actions by saying UAPB picked on the wrong player, citing that Burks is a tough customer or a thug if you will.
Both of those notions are ridiculous. Noone besides the Tigers and staff believes that lowly UAPB, riding a 9-game losing streak, is coming into The Pyramid with its gums flapping.
If UAPB did say something to Burks, why is that he can stroll onto UAPB's end of the court and get physical? Why was the suspended Burks even allowed to shoot around in practice gear?
Calipari had no response.
Most coaches would have been irate with a player, who was already being disciplined, for showing very poor judgment and lack of maturity.
Then there was the 'Main Event.'
UAPB senior center Antwan Emsweller was trying to gather up a loose ball in the paint with just over five minutes to go in the first half when he was tangled up with three other Tigers.
Emsweller contends he was punched and kicked while at the bottom of the pile. Emsweller fought to get out of the scrum, but replays did not show the 6-8, 255-pounder throwing a blatant punch that the officiating crew charged he dolled out.
Lloyd tried to help Emsweller get loose, and he was decked by a right hand of freshman Memphis guard Clyde Wade, another Tiger Lloyd grew up with.
That's when all chaos broke loose and many of the Tigers came on to the court to get in on the incident, which occurred in front of the Tigers' bench.
Billy Richmond, who transferred from Vanderbilt and will be eligible Dec. 14, came off the bench and kicked a UAPB player while he was down.
Based on viewing replays of the videotape officials Steve Welmer, Curtis Shaw and Don Dailey determined that Emsweller would be ejected for fighting and fellow Golden Lions LeMarquis Blake and Don Fleming were also tossed because of leaving the bench. The only problem was that Blake was on the floor and threw no punches.
Thiero, Richmond, Wade and Anthony Rice were all ejected for leaving the bench. However, Wade was in the game at the time and clearly whacked Lloyd.
"All the coaches from both teams need to be commended,'' Welmer said. 'Had the coaches for both teams not acted the way they did, then we may have had a major problem."
A major problem? I would call a right hand and a boot to the face a major problem. The officials totally lost control, allowed turmoil to ensue - then made sure there were more UAPB players in uniform that were sent to the locker room than the home team.
Calipari contended that Emsweller started the fight. It looked like he was fighting for his life after getting pummeled on the bottom of that pile. Calipari also chastised Emsweller for starting the fight because he claims Emsweller is seldom used, thus has no right to fight.
I don't know how 'Coach Cal' would know how much Emsweller plays. Emsweller has come off the bench, but is not a mop-up player.
There is no way the officials were going to eject enough players to give UAPB, who trailed by only six at the time, an advantage and a chance to upset an already short-handed Tigers' team.
One official was overheard assuring a livid Calipari that his team, "wasn't going to be hurt too bad."
The whole thing stinks.
Memphis showed how classless it can be last season when assistant coach Tony Barbee hit former Arkansas Razorback player J.J. Sullinger with a forearm when Sullinger crashed into the Tigers' bench after chasing a loose ball.
Calipari and Co. sunk to a new low Monday night when they got off easy after a couple of violent acts.
Calipari is always going to defend his players' actions, and he is going to recruit players like Richmond, who was a troublemaker at Vandy. Calipari cannot land the nation's elite players, so he must recruit a band of ruffians with checkered pasts.
Don't count on that trend changing anytime soon in Memphis.
DAHILL
Well-Known Member
this article used VERY POOR professional journalism.....
The Huntsville Times could have easily BASHED UAPB's THUG basketball team for what they did in Elmore last year. Players fighting campus police because the campus police was ordered to escort a player off the floor after he got ejected and REFUSED to leave the court.
JSU'99
Allergic to stupidity
But, you nor I were there to see what this reporter saw, and this is not the first time a reporter wrote an article like this. It's a trip though, the head coach out there promoting violence. this isn't the first time I heard something like this about Memphis
And this isn't smack Dahill, but it seems as if everybody else has thug teams when they come to AAMU to play basketball!
Maybe I missed something. Maybe this article is poor journalism. But right now I can't see it. But this is a Memphis writer, not a Hunsville, AL writer, slamming the Memphis basketball team. It is not often that a local writer slams a big school in an incident with an HBCU team. Then again I was not there like a lot of other people.
Understand that Memphis is a former final four team (twice), an NCAA tourney runner-up in 1973 and has gotten top players before. This is a program that has won before. But something is wrong if Calipari, a former final four coach, cannot get the top talent to play for him.
It should be stated that Memphis has not been one of the cleanest programs. As a matter of fact, it has been very dirty in the past, especially in the area of graduation rates.
My father is from there and many of his relatives live and are buried there. I have spent a few thanksgivings there. But I would not send a kid to play basketball for them.
Understand that Memphis is a former final four team (twice), an NCAA tourney runner-up in 1973 and has gotten top players before. This is a program that has won before. But something is wrong if Calipari, a former final four coach, cannot get the top talent to play for him.
It should be stated that Memphis has not been one of the cleanest programs. As a matter of fact, it has been very dirty in the past, especially in the area of graduation rates.
My father is from there and many of his relatives live and are buried there. I have spent a few thanksgivings there. But I would not send a kid to play basketball for them.
DAHILL
Well-Known Member
Originally posted by JSU'99
And this isn't smack Dahill, but it seems as if everybody else has thug teams when they come to AAMU to play basketball!
the UAPB incident didnt have anything to do with fans... there player got two techs during the game and after two techs you are ejected from the game. This player REFUSED to leave the floor and looked at the referee and said "I AINT GOIN NOWHERE". The refs called for campus security. When they tried to walk him off the court, he pushed them and then security came from every corner of the gym and dude ALMOST ended up on a strether.
with JSU, after their head coach got ejected, the assistants had no control over their team. JSU players were pulling AAMU players legs from up under them while on open slam dunks. Then looking at the crowd laughing. Then when ejected one was throwin up GANG SIGNS lmao
I thought that the column was from the Memphis Commercial Appeal. I see that there is a Pine Bluff Commercial. So I was wrong on that account.
If the column is inaccurate, then it is bad journalism. If it is accurate, then it is good journalism. Still, over the years, the Memphis men's basketball program does not have a reputation as a model program. Even if the column is just half right, then Calipari has a lot of work to do.
Not only does Calipari have to win. He has to clean up things in Memphis. Consider this. Memphis has the Grizzlies with Jerry West. Nashville has the Titans and the Predators. Knoxville has perennail championship football and women's basketball teams. Just in the state of Tennessee alone, there is a lot of competition for the sport's dollar. Incidents like these will not help.
If the column is inaccurate, then it is bad journalism. If it is accurate, then it is good journalism. Still, over the years, the Memphis men's basketball program does not have a reputation as a model program. Even if the column is just half right, then Calipari has a lot of work to do.
Not only does Calipari have to win. He has to clean up things in Memphis. Consider this. Memphis has the Grizzlies with Jerry West. Nashville has the Titans and the Predators. Knoxville has perennail championship football and women's basketball teams. Just in the state of Tennessee alone, there is a lot of competition for the sport's dollar. Incidents like these will not help.
Originally posted by JSU'99
its amazing that the only time swac b-ball teams have an altercation is at AAMU. And its not just the fans I'm talking about!
JSU's players started a fight with Bama State the game before the AAMU game. It is clear that the JSU players started both fights.