Here is what national writers, broadcasters were saying about KU, K-State brawl
The brawl at the end of the Kansas State-KU men’s basketball game on Tuesday night drew an instant reaction from members of the national media.
Jayhawks coach Bill Self and Silvio De Sousa seemed to take the brunt of the criticism from the likes of ESPN and Sports Illustrated. Self indefinitely suspended De Sousa on Wednesday.
Here is a roundup of what was being said.
Jason Owens of Yahoo Sports wrote a column with the headline “Silvio De Sousa wielding chair in KU-KSU brawl sums up state of Kansas basketball.”
This is part of what he wrote: “(T)he results of this season seem trite in light of the state of Kansas basketball and college hoops in general, which operates in the overwhelming shadow of the pay-for-play scandal and the NCAA’s duplicity that demands it.
“That it was De Sousa — the very player at the center of the Adidas scandal for Self’s Jayhawks — epitomizes the troubled times defining Kansas basketball.”
On ESPN, Dick Vitale said DeSousa should be banned for life, while Seth Greenberg said a lot of people are responsible, but there is no place for it in the game. LaPhonso Ellis also commented on the brawl:
Sports Illustrated’s Pat Forde wrote a story with the headline, “Ugly brawl with rival K-State shines another embarrassing light on Self, Kansas.”
This is a portion of what he wrote: “The sad thing for college basketball is that an unrestrained brawl just became the most memorable moment of a muddled season. No super teams, no superstars — but hey, here’s a super melee. The rest of the sport should be mad at Kansas and Kansas State, too.
“Silvio De Sousa’s, of all people, wielding a stool as a weapon in a brawl pretty well speaks to the state of the game right now. It’s a sad statement.”
ESPN analyst Jay Williams said Wednesday morning on “Get up” that De Sousa should be suspended and that Bill Self’s tenure at KU might be coming to an end.
Stadium’s Jay Goodman said expects there to be stiff punishments:
This story was originally published January 22, 2020 at 11:43 AM.
