MBB: North Coast Athletic Conference

[CentralOH]

Agreed WooBoo.  It's one thing to challenge an opponent who is going hard to the basket, but another thing entirely to go after someone when you know you can't get there in time to legitimately contest the shot/dunk.

You see this kind of thing regularly, whether in a pickup game, high school game, etc.  It's surprising that more injuries like this don't occur.

[smedindy]

Calm down, Scots fan. I said I wasn't advocating a rush to judgement, which I think is a reasonable course based on hearsay. Now the facts are in, and the foul probably did cross the line.

I do think there may have been contact on Port's dunk at the Wabash game, but it wasn't a malicious contact at all.

And to draw the line from contact on Port's dunk to the foul on Henry - a bit disingenuous I believe.

[imderekpoe]

I was at the Wabash game, and I know that Port (and Moore) were upset that there wasn't a call on his missed dunk, but from what I saw he just missed it.  I didn't think that there was a foul at all - certainly not a flagrant one. 

[smedindy]

Oh, and ScotsFan did you miss it when I said "I'm glad that's settled."

Geez....

[hoopsfan1111]

WooBoo, Scotsfan, (and others),
I wholeheartedly agree that the foul was dirty, it is unfortunate that the player who committed the foul will probably never get what he deserves for being so vengeful and purposefully hurting another person. (I say this based on the quote from the player himself, he admitted it, which is outrageous!)  I am one to try to be optimistic though and hopefully it won't result in Port being out for very long...he is a pretty tough guy and if there is any chance he can play (injured or not) I am sure he will be out on the court.

Also, lets not jump the gun here, no one has even reported that Port's wrist is in fact broken and if he will miss any games or how many he will miss.  Also, I would tend to give the rest of the Wooster Scots a little more credit.  Is Port a huge factor for the Fighting Scots? Yes, no one would argue that...but I have a feeling that Wooster would be able to hold their own without him.  You don't get to be as good as Wooster is without being able to adapt and without more than one 'star player'.

[earlhamalum]

First of all Hard Fouls are part of the game.  Period.. it is sad that a player got hurt.  Nobody goes after someone and says I hope he gets hurt.  You said he STOPPED.. if i'm running hard to get to someone and he stops.. that gives just a little bit of hope that you might get there to affect the shot.  The object of basketball is not to let someone score (NOT AT ALL COST) but you can't fault someone for effort.  I see to many people at the D1 level get out of the way, because they do not want to be on a (POSTER).

No one could fault me for effort and I know plenty of times I committed hard FOULS.  Out of all teams Wooster brings AGGRESSIVE D to the table night in and night out.  It is outrageous to me that people think this player wanted to  HURT Tom Port.  Like I said it sucks that he is hurt and I hope he get's Well fast and gets back on the court ASAP.  You have split seconds to re-act to a play and i'm sure MOUT, didn't him to score a lay-up either. 

If you watch Basketball on a 1-1 fast-break with two people running the floor HARD, how many times to fouls occur?  A LOT.  It is the nature of the game, and I really don't want to hear people FAULT Mout for his effort, when BUSTING your ASS off two people can get in a bad situation that can make a Foul look real UGLY.   

[scott_leo]

Trying to listen to two games here and doing a lousy job.

I had the Wittenberg game on and now all I'm hearing is something that's a cross between music and static.  It seems like it's halftime and the announcers just walked away, leaving the mike open.  I'd expect nothing less from Wittenberg.  At any rate, earlier, they were leading OWU 28-18.

That foul on Port in the Wooster game sounded dirty, again.  It's at least the second time that he's been fouled hard by a trailing player while leading the pack and going up for a dunk.  You'd expect that crap in the NBA but not in DIII.

Yep, that's what it was with the Wittenberg announces.  Bush league (no pun intended) at it's worst.  Just walked away from the mike...

Wooster Booster,

I'll explain the Wittenberg radio situation since it was brought to my attention that you are so concerned. jscwittfan is right about the women's game and the scheduling conflict. The "background noise" was because of a technical issue we were resolving with the studio. Considering we produce ALL men's and women's games (nobody else in the NCAC does both) and often use wireless microphones for halftime/post-game interviews, there is bound to be an issue every once in a while.

To call it "bush league" offends some people that put their time into making the broadcast possible. To imply that we're lazy and just "walked away from the mic" is simply not accurate.

Another Wooster game that I wish I had seen, if only to understand why it played out as it did.  But I refuse to take that trip to Hiram, undoubtedly the most remote location in the U.S. outside of anywhere in Texas.

However, that statement could be mean someone is lazy.

[CentralOH]

EA,
Your points are well made - except that the guy admitted he couldn't get there in time to legitimately contest the dunk.  No one is saying that hard fouls aren't part of the game.  Guys sometimes lose control because they are playing so hard, but there is a line that should never be crossed.  That line is crossed when (in a split second) a defender makes the decision to stop another player from scoring at all cost.

When a guy admits after the fact that he was motivated to stop someone from dunking in his "house," that's dirty.

[ScotsFan]

If you watch Basketball on a 1-1 fast-break with two people running the floor HARD, how many times to fouls occur?  A LOT.  It is the nature of the game, and I really don't want to hear people FAULT Mout for his effort, when BUSTING your ASS off two people can get in a bad situation that can make a Foul look real UGLY.   

It's one thing to foul someone to prevent an easy basket.  But when the player comes out and says that he was abiding by a code to not let anyone dunk in their house, that is completely different.  To me, that doesn't fall into the category of busting your ass off.  It falls into the category of being a thug.  Also, ususally when a HARD foul occurs in an uncontested situation, an intentional foul is called at the very least.  All I'm saying is if the officials let this to continue without at least dishing out intentional fouls or tecnicals, it is only going to get worse.

I do think there may have been contact on Port's dunk at the Wabash game, but it wasn't a malicious contact at all.

And to draw the line from contact on Port's dunk to the foul on Henry - a bit disingenuous I believe.

Fair enough.  I can accept that.  Like I said, I wasn't there.  Just going by what I heard from Wooster's radio broadcast.  It just irks me that an injury like this occurred when it was very preventable.  And like hoopsfan said, the real shame is that Pfouts didn't really learn anything from all of this except that the next time he is in a similar situation he will probably do the same thing because all it will cost him is a personal foul!

[earlhamalum]

When did he Realize he was to LATE?  Obviously after it was over he said he was to late... was that going though his head as he was trying to get to PORT?  I Just think as Port stopped to go up for the Dunk, gave MOUT enough time to (think) he had a chance at stopping the Dunk... and he didn't.  Sounds like he took out his legs.  You could ask Bill_pilgram... if Nathan Stoops, Brandon Miller or Jewett would try to dunk in practice... I can tell you it wasn't going to be on ME!  You know why? Cause that wasn't going to happen if I was playing D on them.  If they were going to try... they were going to be willing to pay the price... Not (dirty) but not on me!  
This is why I don't think he meant to be DIRTY and i think what he siad is taken out of content.  Like i said before.. I hope Port injuries are not bad and he'll be on the court soon!

[earlhamalum]

SCOTSFAN-  This is new to me... but i guess baby I'm A THUG.

I love waking up everyday and learning something new.. thanks for the insight ScotsFan.

[woosterbooster]

earlhamalum -

I can't believe that you're defending this player and the philosophy that nobody dunks on me or in my house no matter what.

Tells me alot about you.

[Li'l Giant]

This "Nobody dunks in our house" garbage is really dangerous bull****.  It's time that the country's basketball coaches stepped up and shut this philosophy down.

Maybe we can get John Chaney to do a PSA. 

[smedindy]

I think there's a difference in two people being close to each other on a fast break with a legit chance to stop a break and one person having to catch up and having no chance to stop a break. In the former, yes, hard fouls can occur and it may look ugly. In the latter, it's not called for.

[hoopsfan1111]

Smeds, I agree with you...

Just some food for thought-

EA, as a former player you know for sure that, yes there are hard fouls quite often during fast breaks...however this play seems to be a little different.

The player knew he was "too late" by his own admission.   The fact of the matter is that it shouldn't have been a case of "I was trying to stop him because no one  dunks in our house" it was a case of, "I have already been dunked on"  Port's dunk was down and through the hoop before the foul was committed and his legs were taken out from under him.  Maybe it was a split second decision or an agressive mistake, but as a college athlete you should know better.

If Port truly is out for some time, that is what makes it sad; because like others said it was preventable.  Okay, so maybe he didn't "WANT" to hurt Port, but he sure wasn't trying very hard not to.