When Kansas State suspended senior Jamar Samuels or Saturday’s NCAA tournament game against Syracuse, it didn’t sit well with coach Frank Martin. Taking $200 so he could eat wasn’t wrong, the coach said.
Martin isn’t the only one.
Samuels’ case evoked compelling reads from Dave Zirin and Jason Whitlock, both of whom argue that the suspension couldn’t have been more idiotic. Two excerpts below.
Whitlock:Samuels came to Kansas State dreaming of being an NBA player. He’ll leave Manhattan, Kan., with a degree and as the winningest player in the history of the school. It’s a great legacy that was tarnished by the NCAA’s fraudulent, president-celebrated, media-enforced “amateur” bracket pool.
College basketball and its NCAA tournament are a government-approved, nationally televised, multibillion-dollar scam and we’re supposed to care that Malone gave Samuels $200 to spend while K-State was visiting Pittsburgh? Really?
Zirin:
This case isn’t cast in a light of Samuels breaking the rules. It’s being cast in terms of right and wrong and deserves some further consideration, particularly when college basketball is such a focal point right now.
But it won’t be. The only thing that would’ve elevated this would’ve been a Kansas State win.Would Samuels have been eligible this week? Would any outrage have caused the NCAA to re-think the suspension?
Now it’s just another suspension of a player who won’t be back next season. When something like this happens during the Final Four, then we’ll hear outrage beyond sports writers.
One would hope.
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