By Tim Peeler, Special to CNNSI.com
ACC Commissioner John Swofford wants to regain control of a herd of cats.
Swofford is understandably angry at a rash of recent events that have given the league that likes to call itself the best in the nation -- for its competition, for its coaches and players and for the money it provides for the nine member institutions -- a black eye and a bloody nose.
But the commish is coming into the battle a little too late. His officials have lost control of games and the league has lost any control it once had of its players and coaches. And that's how Swofford was put in the bad position of handing out a practically unprecedented suspension to N.C. State freshman Julius Hodge and reprimands to Clemson head coach Larry Shyatt and Virginia assistant coach Walt Fuller.
Coaches, who seem to be too busy doing other things these days, apparently don't have time to tell their players they shouldn't jaw, taunt and curse at opposing teams. Heck, half the time the coaches are doing it themselves, if the videotape is any indication.
It's pretty obvious from watching televised games this past year that the league's code of sportsmanship, which Swofford leaned on heavily when he announced his disciplinary actions Tuesday, is in shambles. And, despite the public service announcement by the nine coaches that encourages sportsmanship, the coaches are as much to blame as anybody.
"If there are things that people don't like, then it is up to us as coaches and administrators in this league to make sure it doesn't happen any more," said Maryland coach Gary Williams.
Amen.
The problem, however, is that Williams and his colleagues have gotten too used to stepping way over the line during games. Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski was practically patted on the back for inciting his crowd to jeer loudly when Blue Devils center Carlos Boozer was called for an intentional foul after elbowing Georgia Tech's Halston Lane in the head.
Williams went ballistic when two Virginia players lingered near Maryland's huddle last week and his expletive-laced tirade was caught on videotape. It was, in fact, what caused Fuller to race over from the Virginia bench, for which he was reprimanded.
Shyatt was chided for going after Duke player Dahntay Jones, who said something to the Clemson bench after making a forceful alley-oop dunk near the end of a close game at Littlejohn Coliseum. Jones says he doesn't remember what he said, but players on the bench reported that he cursed at them.
Shyatt had to be restrained by one of his assistants, or Lord knows what he would have done to Jones. Krzyzewski, informed that Jones had instigated the incident, apologized for his player's actions.
Swofford spent much of the early part of this week talking individually to the league's coaches and to John Guthrie, the former Georgia coach who coordinates officials for the ACC and the SEC.
He chose to come down hard on Hodge, the Wolfpack's second leading scorer and one of the league's premier trash-talkers, for "deliberately and blatantly hitting Maryland's Steve Blake in the head" near the end of Sunday's game at Cole Field House. It would have been a just punishment, if the league had ever done anything to punish other players who have lost control of their emotions. Does the name Makhtar Ndiaye mean anything to anyone?
N.C. State argued that Hodge had been goaded into retaliating after several previous incidents with Blake, including an open-handed shove that sent Hodge to the floor during Maryland's win at N.C. State on Dec. 30.
But those things are acceptable these days as sportsmanship has given way to the gamesmanship of trash talk and hidden contact.
What should concern Swofford most is that in none of the three incidents that drew the punishments did the game officials do any thing to take control of the situation. Hodge was assessed a technical foul, but was not ejected from the game because he had just committed his fifth foul. Regardless of that, the officials could have ejected him for the vicious elbow, which would have meant an automatic one-game suspension under NCAA rules.
Neither Shyatt nor Fuller were assessed technical fouls after leaving their benches to chase after opponents.
But this shouldn't be surprising. Officials are continuously brow-beaten by coaches who are so powerful neither they nor the league office are willing to stand up to them.
Swofford took a step toward doing that on Tuesday. But there are miles and miles ahead of him on this journey.
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When Wake Forest's Darius Songaila returned to Winston-Salem, N.C., from a summer trip to his native Lithuania, the senior was anxious to see how his countryman, freshman Vytas Danelius, was faring at school.
What he found was disturbing. Danelius, a highly touted 6-8 recruit who followed first-year coach Skip Prosser to Wake Forest, was holed up in his dorm room on the private school's campus, sleeping on a bare mattress, with a suitcase in the corner. The transition was obviously not going very smoothly.
Songaila roused Danelius out of the room, took him to the mall, where he picked out some sheets, a comforter and other things that would make him more comfortable in his dorm room.
Now, Danelius is making himself at home on the court, too, producing more like the senior he shadows around campus. After a slow start, he's been contributing frequently to the Demon Deacons' three-game winning streak, recording his first career-double double against Clemson and scoring 13 points off the bench at N.C. State.
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HOT: ACC Commissioner John Swofford
Under the collar, that is; he is not happy with the rash of recent on-court incidents
NOT: Poll voters
How could Virginia stay in the top 10 after losing three consecutive games? Why is Wake Forest No. 16 in one poll and No. 24 in another? Need any further explanation of why few people take these things seriously?
HOT: Maryland guard Drew Nicholas
He's been getting more time in the Terrapin backcourt, and his two long 3-pointers helped Maryland overcome a nine-point deficit in the final four minutes to beat Virginia.
NOT: ACC drama
Is there anything to look forward to in the league besides the Feb. 17 rematch between No. 1 Duke and No. 3 Maryland? |
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Of all the surprising things the ACC saw last week -- coaches chasing down players, players throwing cheap shots -- perhaps the most intriguing thing to watch was Krzyzewski playing peacemaker.
Usually, the Duke coach instigates rather than mediates when someone goes after his players, as Shyatt did last Saturday when Jones said something to the Clemson bench.
Shyatt went nutty and had to be restrained by an assistant. Based on Krzyzewski's reaction earlier this year against Georgia Tech, you would have expected the Blue Devil coach to tee off on Shyatt.
Instead, Krzyzewski calmly apologized for what Jones did and went back to his bench.
"The first thing, I think the refs thought Larry and I were going to fight," Krzyzewski said. "But look, Larry's team needs a win and they had a chance to knock us off. He should be allowed to be as emotional as he needs to be."
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 Maryland's Juan Dixon
The ACC's second-leading scorer was relatively quiet in Sunday's win over N.C. State, until the Terps needed him most; he scored 16 of his game-high 27 points in the second half.
Florida State's Monte Cummings
He's scored in double figures in 14 straight games, including 23 points in a loss to Wake Forest; Cummings, a senior guard, is second in the ACC in field goal percentage at 57.2 percent.
Georgia Tech
After losing seven straight games to open the ACC season, the Yellow Jackets could have tanked and cruised home with one of the worst records in ACC history; instead, they have now won two in a row heading into Wednesday's game at reeling Clemson, which has lost six straight games.
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As the league sits around waiting for the Feb. 17 Duke-Maryland rematch at Cole Field House, there is kind of a depressing lull in the league this week.
The one game that might pique some interest this week is No. 24 Wake Forest's trip to No. 5 Cincinnati Saturday at noon, a game that will be nationally televised on ABC.
It will be a homecoming for Demon Deacon coach Skip Prosser, who spent seven years in the bigger Bearcats' shadow as the head coach at Xavier, a small private school on the other side of town.
But Prosser owned a 4-3 record against the Bearcats, something Cincinnati coach Bob Huggins generally dismissed as more important to Xavier than to Cincinnati, which had its eye on bigger prizes.
Well, this is Prosser's chance to show that those four previous wins were no fluke.
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As best anyone can figure, the last time an ACC player was suspended by the league was 1961, when Duke's Art Heyman and North Carolina's Larry Brown and Donnie Walsh were banned for the rest of the season for their part in a fistfight at the end of a Duke-North Carolina game in Durham. ... The last time two coaches were publicly reprimanded by the league was 1996, when then-Commissioner Gene Corrigan called North Carolina's Dean Smith and Clemson's Rick Barnes to the woodshed, following their third run-in with each other in two seasons. Corrigan forced them to donate $2,500 each to their favorite charity, though the league was careful not to call it a fine. ... North Carolina coach Matt Doherty doesn't have any pets, but after losing eight of his last nine games during the Tar Heels' miserable season, Doherty said: "I'm thinking about going to buy a dog so when I go home I can kick it." ... Maryland's 8-1 ACC record is the Terps' best start after nine games since 1980. ... Clemson has four players averaging in double figures -- Jamar McKnight, Chris Hobbs, Tony Stockman and Edward Scott. The last time the Tigers finished a season with four double-digit scorers was 1972.
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