The Missouri Tigers were a team fresh off winning the Big 12 Tournament Championship. They earned a two seed in the West region and had a first round match up against the 15 seed Norfolk State who won the MEAC Tournament. Frank Haith in his first year was everyone’s darling, especially in the media. He took a team with mediocre pre-season expectations to a Final Four favorite. A lot of pundits had the Tigers making it to New Orleans.
Well something funny happened on the way to the Superdome. Norfolk State pulled a huge upset knocking off Missouri 86-84 and the Tigers are forced to go home early. For the Missouri players it’s a darn shame, they had a great season and should be proud of their accomplishments. They are the collateral damage of their coach’s karma.
photo credit: collegebasketballtalk.com
Frank Haith got to walk the sidelines freely the whole season with a smile, while several of his former Miami Hurricane players had to sit for taking improper benefits during his tenure in Coral Gables. First it was DeQuan Jones, who missed 10 games. Then it was center Reggie Johnson who missed one game. Then it was the team’s leading scorer Durand Scott, who was suspended on the day they were schedule to play Florida State in the ACC Tournament. Miami would lose and it cost them an NCAA Tournament bid.
For Miami fans Frank Haith are two bad words when said together. He was a mediocre coach who bailed to take another job and left the land scorched for the next guy to clean up. When you have three players suspended for taking improper benefits there’s a program issue. Haith didn’t have control over his players, but served no penance for his time at Miami. With the NCAA being such a fraudulent organization we can’t expect justice from them. All Miami fans could hope for was Karma, and they got it in spades. They are celebrating big time down in Norfolk, but they are also lighting up cigars in Coral Gables. Miami has made it further than Missouri in the post season and that is sweet justice.
Ari Russell
Of course Frank is a media darling: he’s black. No matter how corrupt he is, he will have 7 years of goodwill until the race card no longer offers protection from the local minority beat writers.
Dude is corrupt and a lousy game day coach.
Mizzou better hope the ncaa forces it’s hand to get rid of him.
Not sure what the locals think and don’t think the few minority beat writers have any impact on decisions and or goodwill thrown in his direction. Haith has gotten most of his attention and positive marks from the national media and the Missouri fan base. When I wrote an article about not crowning Frank Haith yet, Missouri fans ripped me. They loved the success Missouri was having. I said they ought to wait until the NCAA Tournament. Well we have our result right now.
nice piece ari…definitely an angle that the mainstream media won’t talk about…
Thanks Mike, they should talk about it. I do feel bad for the Missouri players, but not their coach.
DeQuan Jones was actually found to not have received any improper benefits. Your phrasing makes it seem as if his suspension was a punishment, when in actuality it was a proactive move by UM during the investigation and the NCAA found the allegations to be false.
I just hate that his name continues to be dragged through the mud by the media, even though he was cleared of any wrongdoing.
By the way, has anyone reported what Scott was guilty of? I can’t find it anywhere.
Same as reggie, his aau coach was flown in watch him play…nothing durand received directly…and got 6 game suspension, not one!