Some people who call themselves fans should be ashamed of themselves...

I guess I could write this about any team because just about anywhere, there are people who brag about how good of a fan they are then they go to games and boo their own players and get onto message boards and demean, rip, and criticize the very players they claim to be fans of.
I have always been completely baffled by this phenomenon....Here in Peoria, really great Bradley basketball players such as JJ Tauai, Marcello Robinson, POB, and believe it or not...even Sammy Maniscalco, Jeremy Crouch, and Andrew Warren have been the targets of really inappropriate and immature critical comments by some jerks masquerading as fans...and sometimes even boos - people who then claim the Constitutional right to boo whoever they want as if this is all about them.

But this is going on other places as well - other teams' fans are treating their own players similarly...
I read the message boards of the other Valley teams, and I have seen it on most of those other boards -- disgruntled fans who think they're being cheated out of what they pay for tickets and even some who don't even bother to go to games or support the team in any way -- but who feel emboldened to post their criticisms.....

They tear into any kid who is doing poorly -- like maybe that's gonna help. but time and again we see proof that those kids do see and do feel insulted by such comments.....

Some evidence is present in a recent interview with ISU's Justin Clark and on their board, that he's been affected by booing and insulting comments by supposed Redbird fans.
Justin Clark is not shooting well and hasn't been really since he got to ISU. But, then, neither is anyone else on a team that is really hurting for anyone to hit the basket -- so just maybe Justin can still help the team.

And we've seen the same happening at SIU where they even boo Chris Lowery, and at other Valley schools.

I just wanted to call out those cowards who boo like they think they can do better or like they deserve better. Sadly -- it even shows up once in a while at a high school game, but I still will call them out when jerks behave this way.



Recall all the 20 or so kids from the Canarias Basketball Academy who have made it to D-I programs...
Well ...very few are playing or producing....not a good sign for the Euro kids.
In fact, I have detailed elsewhere how so many of all the imported kids....
...such as Iowa State's Lucca Staiger, DePaul's Mario Stula, Beas Hamga -- all the other 15-20 Decatur Christian & BTMA kids, Frank Wiseler, Christian Standhardinger, Gal Mekel, Mantas Griskenas, Shang Ping, Vince Polakovic, Jermain Raffington, and I could go on and on...they've all fallen flat.
In fact, it is actually hard to find a Euro import kid who does much at all....but the few who do exist keep coaches offering rides to them...
But the odds of finding a diamond in the rough among import kids is maybe 1 in 100...
We've been fortunate -- we've had a couple good import kids like Jerome Robinson, James Gillingham, and of course Marcel De Souza....Dinma turned out OK for ISU -- but most seem to never develop......



Wichita State's at-large chances may have gone up in smoke last night after a home loss to VCU in the BracketBusters.
Many fans are even questioning coach Gregg Marshall's decisions late in the game that hurt the Shockers.
BTW -- Wichita's Graham Hatch -- who missed last night's game, may be out a few games with a bone bruise. He has 25 starts this season and hits 39% of his 3-pointers.
Also -- the one guy who carried the Shockers early, David Kyles, has slumped of late...scoring just NINE points over the past four games and going scoreless in two of them!



And for you Billy Packer fans -- here's evidence why we really don't miss him...
TWO years after being booted from any and all NCAA basketball coverage, someone still has enough time on their hands to go ask Billy's opinion on college basketball...
and guess what -- he takes a high and mighty, holier than thou approach and says this...
" ..he doesn't approve of the way CBS and Turner Sports plan to handle NCAA tournament coverage going forward.""

and on the college game in general...
"The game has regressed incredibly in the last 10 years, at all levels and the coaches know it," Packer said. "It's a different world and to do a good job you'd have to buy into it. That's why I couldn't do it anymore."

I guess the only thing that has not regressed is Billy packer's ability to say anything intelligent -- since it already was as non-existent as possible to begin with -- it really cannot get any worse...