After the brawl between the Xavier Musketeers and Cincinnati Bearcats in the Crosstown Shootout yesterday, UC coach Mick Cronin told the media in the post-game news conference that he was going to watch the game film with Cincinnati's Athletic Director and school president to decide the status of the Bearcats involved. Cronin told the media that they would decide if some of the players deserve to remain on the team. He said that he made all of the players take off their jerseys in the locker room, taking some jerseys off by force. It could be implied from his statement that major suspensions were to be handed out and some players may never play another game for UC. However, University of Cincinnati's decisions on the suspensions were way less than what Cronin had promised.
Four players were suspended--Yancy Gates, Octavius Ellis, and Cheikh Mbodj are suspended for six games, while Ge'Lawn Guyn, one of the fight provokers, received a one-game suspension. Six games! Really? Despite my allegiance to Xavier in this rivalry, from an unbiased point of view, Gates and Mbodj should have left that game in handcuffs for assault charges. Gates sucker-punched Kenny Frease in the face when Frease was trying to separate the two teams. Mbodj then stomped on Frease's head. The NFL and the media made a huge deal about Ndamukong Suh stomping on an opponent's arm, yet Mbodj's stomp almost went completely under the radar. Gates also landed a punch against Xavier player Landen Amos in the skirmish. There are two correct decisions for the University of Cincinnati to make about Gates' actions--either kick him off the team or give him a minimum of a ten to fifteen game suspension.
Mick Cronin is the exact opposite of Teddy Roosevelt, he speaks loudly and carries a small stick. What kind of precedent does this set for future Bearcat basketball players, or any player in the Big East (since the conference stood behind the University of Cincinnati and didn't issue any additional suspensions)? A player can punch multiple opponents in the face and miss less than one quarter of the regular season? I don't know why the police didn't get involved, because that wasn't basketball...that was straight up assault. If Gates did that out in public he would be behind bars right now. Let us not forget that Gates was also suspended last year for breaking team rules. The NCAA better step in and issue harsher suspensions since the University of Cincinnati went easy on themselves. Just because UC issued suspensions before the NCAA does shouldn't pardon them from any league-issued punishments. The only suspension that made sense was Ge'Lawn Guyn's one game suspension. He was one of the ones who provoked the brawl but didn't actually fight anyone. The weak suspensions damage the integrity of the University of Cincinnati and Mick Cronin. They talked up the strict punishments to come to look good in the eyes of the media for the post-game interviews but took the easy, and wrong, way out.
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