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What did Mick Cronin say to officials to get reprimanded?

Mick Cronin

Cincinnati head coach Mick Cronin gestures to his team in the first half of an East Regional semifinal game against Ohio State in the NCAA men’s college basketball tournament, Thursday, March 22, 2012, in Boston. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)

AP

The NCAA announced on Wednesday afternoon that Cincinnati head coach Mick Cronin had been reprimanded for his language in the Bearcat’s loss to Ohio State during the NCAA tournament.

“Unfortunately, Coach Cronin’s postgame actions were not consistent with the expectations that the committee has for participants in the championship,” said Jeff Hathaway, chair of the Division I Men’s Basketball Committee and director of athletics at Hofstra University. “The committee has been and will continue to be supportive of high standards of sportsmanship and fair play for all tournament participants. Anything short of this does not serve participants or fans, the championship or the sport in a positive manner.”

Cronin has already lost an appeal on the ruling, which is nothing more than a public scolding from the NCAA. And a public scolding from the NCAA is about as newsworthy as me telling you that Indiana will be the likely favorite in all of their guarantee games this season.

So why do I bring it up?

Because I’d love to know what the line is. I’ve been to plenty of basketball games where I’ve sat close enough to the action to hear coaches go after referees like a drunken George Carlin. We’ve all watched enough games on TV to know that the camera zooms in on a head coach arguing a call, meaning that every sports fan in the country can perfectly lip-read each and every four-letter word there is in our language.

The point I’m getting at is that unless we are talking about Josh Pastner, college basketball coaches (well, all coaches for that matter) have what you might call a potty mouth.

So what did Cronin say that deserved a reprimand?

I’d honestly love to know, because I feel as if my repertoire of cuss words has begun to dwindle since I graduated from college.

Rob Dauster is the editor of the college basketball website Ballin’ is a Habit. You can find him on twitter @robdauster.