Bumblin' B's

[Lefty]

I know there are some people on this forum that just want this topic to go away but I ran across this article in the Altoona Mirror.  I am sure this it the type of press Lincoln is getting with all of the schools they are playing.



Small school Lincoln shows how little it cares about sportsmanship

By Cory Giger, cgiger@altoonamirror.com

The team and coach responsible for one of the year's most disappointing displays of sportsmanship will be in town tonight.

Lincoln University of Pennsylvania, which 12 days ago ran up an unheard of score of 201-78 against a vastly inferior opponent, will take on Penn State Altoona at 7 p.m. at the Adler Gym.

The Lincoln team made national news with its disgraceful blowout, with highlights appearing on ''SportsCenter'' and coach Garfield Yuille trying to explain why it happened on ESPN2's ''Cold Pizza.''

It happened because some people in sports care little about sportsmanship.

The final score — the most lopsided in college basketball history — is interesting enough, but the details from that game are downright fascinating.

Lincoln, ranked 18th in the latest NCAA Division III poll, was playing at a tournament in Salem, W.Va. One of the teams, Division II Wayne State, had to pull out of the event, so Ohio State-Marion was added as a late replacement.

Ohio State-Marion isn't affiliated with any NCAA divisions and played only club basketball the past six years. The team brought just six players to the tournament, including five freshmen. The sixth player was 44-year-old Mark Sisler, the school's athletic director and also head coach of the men's basketball and women's volleyball teams.

Sisler still has college eligibility and is a decent player, so he serves as a reserve on the basketball team.

Ohio State-Marion was crushed in its first-round game, 133-53, by the University of District Columbia. Sisler's club entered the loser's bracket and had one more game to play, against a Lincoln team that lost its opener to host Salem International, 90-79.

Four Ohio State-Marion players shared a hotel room that Friday night. Coach Sisler and his son, Bryant, a starter on the squad, slept in the team van.

For their trouble, the Scarlet Wave showed up at the gym the next day and were throttled by Lincoln. Not many people knew of the 201-78 final at the time since only about 31 folks were in the stands, but that all changed once the score hit the national news.

Lincoln ran its intense full-court press the entire 40 minutes, forced 62 turnovers and set five Division III records, including points in a game. (Division II Troy set the NCAA all-division points record in a 258-141 win over DeVry in 1992).

Lincoln senior guard Sami Wylie erupted for 69 points, sinking an NCAA record 21 3-pointers. Wylie is 28 and has four children, and Yuille reportedly wanted his player to make a big splash in hopes of increasing his chances to play professionally.

Yuille did not return several messages left by the Mirror, but he has spent much of the past two weeks defending himself against critics.

''I'm a new coach trying to come in and do bigger things, and I feel everything is tarnished,'' the third-year coach told the New York Times.

Yuille claims he's not the unsportsmanlike monster some people have made him out to be, and that he viewed the game more like a scrimmage and not a real contest.

But it was a real game, coach, and running up the score like that is disgraceful.

Lincoln led 97-44 at the half and, get this, had an incredible 48-0 run at one point. The margin reached 100 (156-55) with 8:35 to go.

Instead of being a good sport and calling off the dogs, Yuille had his players continue to press. The coach did substitute frequently, and all 16 of his players saw action. Wylie played only 24 minutes, chucking up 41 3-pointers, or almost two per minute.

Lincoln attempted 60 3-pointers and took a shot from the field every 17 seconds. Yuille has claimed he wasn't trying to reach 200 points. He still had Wylie in the game at the end, however, and the team scored 13 points over the final 2:22 to top 200.

Why does a basketball team that's up 110 points need to score 13 more in the final two minutes?

Yuille can claim all he wants he wasn't running up the score, but who's he kidding? Even the school's athletic director deemed the display unacceptable and issued an apology.

''Lincoln University of Pennsylvania has a long and proud tradition of excellence in athletic competition and firmly embraces the principle of good sportsmanship,'' AD Alfonso Scandrett Jr. said in a statement. ''Accordingly, it is with much regret [to see] the demonstration in opposition to that principle by the men's basketball coaching staff in [the] game against Ohio State University-Marion. It was an anomaly.''

A Lincoln University spokesman told the Mirror that Yuille is a good guy who has a lot of character. Perhaps he is, but that wasn't on display in the game that could haunt the coach for the rest of his career.

One bit of good has come out of all this, from the Ohio State-Marion side.

Sisler, the 44-year-old coach who scored 24 points in the blowout, sent Yuille an e-mail saying there were no hard feelings. He also said, ''the national publicity we're getting is tremendous'' and that more kids now are interested in playing for Ohio State-Marion.

From the Penn State Altoona perspective, tonight's game involves perhaps the most high-profile team ever to visit Adler Gym. The Lions might not be much of a match for Lincoln on the court, but at least their integrity isn't in question. 

[wilburt]

We (the royal we) are just rehashing the same points over and over and over again... 

[Lefty]

Wilburt,

You are 100% correct...the same thing is being said.  But what strikes me about this article is this from a local newspaper of a team (Penn St - Altoona) that plays Lincoln tonight, how much bad press did one game cause?  This reporter probably never heard of Lincoln before two weeks ago but running up 201 points on any team will have people reading about your program.  I would think this article would have never been written if Lincoln would have won 130 - 78.

Lefty 

PS.  Penn St - Altoona is 1-7 on the year, anyone want to guess the final score of tonights game?

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Most of that story is lifted directly from the AP story on the game.  I've seen most of the same phrases (short of the obvious opinion) in a bunch of stories around the country.

[Ralph Turner]

Small school Lincoln shows how little it cares about sportsmanship

By Cory Giger, cgiger@altoonamirror.com

The team and coach responsible for one of the year's most disappointing displays of sportsmanship will be in town tonight.

...

From the Penn State Altoona perspective, tonight's game involves perhaps the most high-profile team ever to visit Adler Gym. The Lions might not be much of a match for Lincoln on the court, but at least their integrity isn't in question. 

I have to come out and say this.  As a middle aged Southerner, who lived thru the integration of 3 different public school systems as my father's job called for him to move,  that is about 3 shades this side of outright racism!

It is not "skin color" that he is questioning, but the "gangsta" implication is as vivid as every ugly "n-word" joke that I heard in the South in the mid 1960's.

[Lefty]

Ralph,

With all due respect I don't understand how you can say his article is racist.  All he is saying is the integrity of Lincoln is being questioned because they ran up the score.  Where do you see any reference to "gangsta"?

I am just curious of what you see that I am missing.

Thanks,

Lefty

[Ralph Turner]

Lefty, it is the "we are better than these guys" attitude without even seeing them.  ("Our feces has no odor", to borrow a Texas-ism!)

Maybe growing up in the south makes one a little more sensitive to what you can say and what you can't.

As surely as that article showed up in the Montgomery AL  Advertiser or the Marshall TX News, the national (NY, Philly, DC, Chicago, SF, LA ) media would have hit us Southerners for the "racist attitude".

Coming from Altoona, Pennsylvania, it is not looked at with the same bias/filter.

The most glaring aspect of Coach Yuille's strategy is playing Wylie at the end.  That is our retrospective 20/20 hindsight!  That is what we have discussed and it apparently wasn't seen by more than 31 friends, girlfriends, maintenance staff and onlookers.  Lincoln probably has more fans than that in the gym during practice!

The fact that every other example given concerning higher profile coaches was rationalized and defended bothers me!

Coach Yuille was in the worst lose/lose/lose situation that I have recently seen.

The Salem International coach should have honored the request to change opponents!

Coach Yuille, I am sorry for you and your situation and I hurt with you!



Lefty thanks for the chance to respond!

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

I have to admit I had the same reaction, Ralph.  I didn't get the racist or even "gangsta" connection.  Again this probably comes from my own experience where my brother's high school team (a bunch of WASPy middle-class white kids) got the same treatment.  The article was certainly biased against Lincoln, but it didn't seem to be in an intolerant way (other than Altoona's apparent intolerance of outsiders), but if you've ever been to Altoona you can understand that Xenophobia may sell a lot of papers there.

[Ralph Turner]

Hoops Fan, thanks for that comment. 

I know Wilburt has taken some heat recently as Fisk was, for lack of a better term, "released" from the GSAC.

There were multiple mission/vision things going on in the GSAC, including allocation to athletic budget, new facilities, new football programs in the new league, etc.  But it was hard to get past that lingering doubt.

Good luck, Lincoln and PSU-Altoona!

[Lefty]

Well I guess I am on the opposite side of Ralph and Hoop's opinion.  When I read the article the first thing that came to my mind is the articles that have been written and the ones that still will be.  I didn't see, and still don't, the "we are better then you".  The last line about integrity could be said by any other Division 3 team.....until this happens again.   

I have pretty much stayed out of this debate but I have to agree with OxyBob...if Lincoln did not have Wylie in at the end of the game it might have been a little easier to swallow. 

I attended one of Lincoln's games earlier this season and they have a fine team and I actually still root for them to do well.  I was just very disappointed in what happened...just like a lot of others.

 

[Ralph Turner]

Lefty and OxyBob, thanks for the civil discussion.   

[Lefty]

From the WOW department.....Penn St Altoona picks up its second win of the season with a 95-86 win over Lincoln. 

[Ralph Turner]

Wow is right.  +1 for the score update!

That was an in-region game, so that Lincoln is now 3-2 (in-region record).

Pool B is more wide open!

[ChicagoHopeNut]

Great win for Penn State Altoona. Karma hits back at Lincoln.

[jack johnson]

can we get back to talking about other pool B teams besides Lincoln.......anybody have any perspectives on how Pool B is shaping up early on???