Commentary: Shut Up About Student-Section Sportsmanship

The Boiling Point: Coaches from Wisconsin and Ohio State love it when they get a home-court advantage from student sections, hate when the other team does.


Ohio State coach Thad Matta said his star player, Jared Sullinger, was spit on when Wisconsin students rushed the court Saturday after beating the then-No. 1 Buckeyes.

"“[Sullinger] got spit on when the students stormed the court. A student ran by him and spit on him. Nothing too major.”"

Wisconsin coach Bo Ryan said it didn’t happen.

"“There’s absolutely nothing that has come to my attention,” Ryan said. “All I know is we won the game, deal with it, our end, their end,” he said."

I don’t condone spitting on a player at all, and I don’t know whether or not someone actually did spit on Sullinger. I honestly don’t really care. It seems more and more people are complaining about what student sections are saying and doing, when in reality I don’t think they’re doing anything worse than their predecessors – the people who are now complaining – did.

All it really comes down to is people hate when they’re the target of something, yet love it when they get an advantage from what the students do or say. Take Matta, for example. He went on a rant in Monday’s Big Ten Coaches Teleconference about students and the safety of players, yet his school just moved 1400 students from the end of the court to directly behind the opposing bench. Matta certainly didn’t mind when those students yelled at the Purdue bench.

"“One of the students said, ‘Robbie, you shouldn’t be crying on camera,'” said OSU sophomore Tim Collins, Nuthouse coordinator for the Block O student organization. “Matt Painter turned around and said, ‘C’mon guys. He’s not even out there. Show some class.’ The fact he stopped coaching for a second showed he wasn’t totally focused on the game. I realize it’s probably not the best thing from a sportsmanship angle, but you’re going to have that anywhere you have students on top of you.”"

While I’d be surprised if Painter actually said this (I’ve heard much worse yelled at players and coaches without Painter even blinking), it still brings into question if its right or not to put students behind the opposing bench.

I’m not naive enough to think the end of the visiting bench hasn’t been the target of several shouts from the Paint Crew, and I’d be disappointed if the students at Ohio State HADN’T yelled at Purdue’s bench. I know IU’s students are right by the visiting bench, as are the Orange Krush at Illinois. Last year alone I heard at least four students at each venue claim to have been intimate with Chris Kramer’s mom.

I know I’m starting to ramble here, but my point is students will be students. You love them when they’re for you, but you hate them when they’re against you. This is nothing new, yet people are continuously complaining about it. I say give it a rest and let them be.