Re: Pitino May Suspend And Trade Unruly Players

[Dan Forant <dforant1@nycap.rr.com>]

This team could use a riot, half of them are imposters wearing basketball
uniforms instead of sanitation styles. 


At 03:38 AM 3/29/00 -0500, you wrote:
>That UCLA job looks better and better...                 Bickering C's at
a loss: Pitino vows punishment 
>                 by Steve Bulpett 
>
>                 Wednesday, March 29, 2000
cut
>

>                 According to one fan seated nearby (the media was positioned
>                 out of clear sight on the far end of the baseline), there
was much
>                 arguing and it appeared players were close to making the
>                 confrontation physical.
>
>                 Pitino said it remained a verbal matter.
>
>                 ``They started fighting amongst themselves, and there
will be
>                 major suspensions (today) on this basketball team,'' he
said.
>                 ``I'm going to sleep on it (last night).
>
>                 ``It could be season-ending. It could be one or two
games. But
>                 I'm going to really sleep on it. I'm very upset right
now, so I don't
>                 want to react at this point. But there will be major
suspensions.''
>
>                 Asked the extent of the problem, Pitino said, ``Fighting
amongst
>                 each other, on the court, during a timeout. It will never
happen
>                 again. It's extremely unprofessional, very
un-Celtic-like. These
>                 guys have been good, and unfortunately they're going to pay
>                 dearly for this, because it's not an isolated incident.
>
>                 ``There's too much pointing fingers, blaming each other.
In all
>                 my years of coaching I've never seen as unprofessional an
>                 attitude, and there'll be major suspensions and probably
maybe
>                 major trades at the end of the year because of it. I'm
going to
>                 sleep on it and not react. I'm really upset - very upset.
But I'll
>                 sleep on it and not react too much now.''
>
>                 Attempts by coaches to calm the matter were not met well.
>                 Walker and Fortson and others continued to yell.
>
>                 Pitino did not name those mainly involved, but it was
said that
>                 even peacemakers ended up having their harsh say.
>
>                 ``Just yelling at each other, finger-pointing, blaming,
childish
>                 behavior - things that you'd never see from a professional
>                 athlete,'' Pitino said. ``I'd never see that from a
Bernard King.
>                 Totally unprofessional. You can't be a Celtic and have that.
>
>                 ``It has nothing to do with frustrations. You don't do
that. You
>                 can't do that as a pro, and we'll nip it in the bud and
it'll never
>                 happen again as long as I live.
>
>                 ``The coaching staff is extremely bothered, very upset. You
>                 know, picking on the weak really, really is upsetting.''
>
>                 Pitino's words left much in question, but he said he will
elaborate
>                 today at a morning practice that was hastily called (a
day off had
>                 been planned).
>
>                 Walker, a Celtic co-captain, downplayed the incident in his
>                 comments.
>
>                 ``I mean, 71 games into the season guys are emotional, guys
>                 want to win, want to play hard,'' he said. ``Situations
happen. I
>                 mean, everybody's professional athletes here.
Everything's not
>                 going to be picture perfect the way you want it to be. But
>                 everybody on this team is still great friends with each
other. Just
>                 frustrations through the point in the game with things
not going
>                 well for you. You play well in the first half and it
doesn't go well
>                 for you in the second half and frustrations happen.
>
>                 ``But everybody on this team is real friends. We've just
got to
>                 regroup. It's good that we don't play a game until
Friday. We've
>                 got to catch ourselves. We're not having as bad a season
as we
>                 showed tonight. We've got to put it back together and start
>                 putting some wins together.''
>
>                 According to Pitino, all the players will not be together
when the
>                 Celts host Washington Friday.
>