Follow Up On The Dirty Huskies

by Nestor on Feb 11, 2008 4:51 PM PST in Basketball

Here is the video (HT BradleyBruin) of one of the dirtiest plays in college hoops we have seen in a while:

May be someone can get a better video of that?

It sounds like the Pac-10 office is now being vague about this cheap shot. From Dohn:

I spoke to to Bill McCabe, the Pac-10's coordinator of men's basketball officiating, about the play involving Washington's Tim Morris throwing the in-bounds pass off the face of UCLA's Alfred Aboya.
McCabe said he has not yet reviewed the tape (he expects to do so tonight) but did offer this response when asked about the philosophy of the rule.
"You can't throw the ball at a player if it's an unsporting act,'' McCabe said. "If you were trying to throw the ball off someone and have it go out-of-bounds, than it is open to interpretation."

Open to interpretation? LOL.

Perhaps Mr. McCabe ought to look at Morris's facial expression when he took smashed the ball right in AA2's face.

Romar may be a nice guy an all. And he may have only nice kids in his program. But if we don't get any formal apology from Romar and Morris, we will forever mark them as Dirty Huskies from our pov. Calling them classless would be kind after watching that replay. Sickening.

GO BRUINS.

UPDATE:Thanks to TheTJCummingsEra for posting this video in the comment thread:

Wilbon's reaction as noted by bruin11 is priceless. Again, if Romar has shred of class and dignity, he'd make sure his program issues statements of apology from Tim Morris and himself. If we don't get apology in next 24-48 hours, we will mark up his program as "Dirty" from here on out. GO BRUINS. -N

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Agree completely

I never had any sort of ill will towards Washington hoops before yesterday.

No apology, and I label them dirty and classless forever.

by gilbert on Feb 11, 2008 5:04 PM PST reply actions

Posted this in another thread

Morris is a freakin' prick. Stop it at 1:09 and you can clearly see him looking dead at Aboya when chucking the ball. In addition, you can also see him start to move to his left because he knew the ball was going to richochet off of Aboya. Nobody makes a 1 handed pass to a player in the near vacinity like that. That is a turnover waiting to happen. You make 1 handed passes on long outlet passes. UDub fans are claiming it was not intentional. I say bullshit. Morris shows intent and he had an opportunity to throw it off of another body part yet chose not to. So he apologized. Big deal, what is he supposed to do. These delirious UDub fans wearing those purple glasses need to check themselves.

I'm still irked by what happened. AA2 showed tremendous restraint because I would have knocked him out. Don't get your hopes up about any reprimand because we all know how effective the Pac 10 is. I don't expect anything from UDub as well because Morris is Romar's cousin/nephew. Hope we see them at Staples and wax the floor with them.

**No surprise that the Pac 10 gave a vague response. There has been talk of how Aboya & Morris hugged and made up. I honestly don't think Aboya & our team knew what really happened due to game situation and obstructed views. Howland clearly saw what happened and he called it out as much as he could without seeming like he was whining to the media. I'm sure our guys will have a much different take after viewing this clip because it is clear what Morris intended to do.

by BlueReign on Feb 11, 2008 5:05 PM PST reply actions

Restraint indeed

I want to see Kevin Love's full court pass stopped about 93 feet short by this guy's face.

by dokein on Feb 11, 2008 5:43 PM PST up reply actions

Ask and ye shall receive: PTI analysis

by TheTJCummingsEra on Feb 11, 2008 5:05 PM PST reply actions

wilbon...

"in the hood, that would've resulted in a whole lot more than a 'T'"

haha

but i can't believe kornheiser didn't think it was that bad. One of the dirtiest plays i've ever seen

by bruin11 on Feb 11, 2008 5:32 PM PST up reply actions

Actually, Korn said at the end...

... "He banged it off his EYE!"

Sounds like he was bothered by it, too.

"In this program your passion bucket must be full to play SC." -- CRN, to Dan Patrick, 1/2008

by Meriones on Feb 12, 2008 7:22 AM PST up reply actions

Kornheiser

At the end he said "I have nothing else to say, I have nothing to add". Sounded to me like he was agreeing with Wilbon.

by LA Seitz on Feb 12, 2008 9:23 AM PST up reply actions

The facial expression seals it

I thought it had malicious intent from the body language, but after seeing that facial expression there is no doubt in my mind that this Morris son-of-a-bitch was headhunting. Wilbon is absolutely right, and we will be expecting an apology soon.

by Tydides on Feb 11, 2008 5:14 PM PST reply actions

Hey Morris!

Come try that on me and see what happens to your sorry ass...

by bruinmo on Feb 11, 2008 5:46 PM PST reply actions

moreover

morris balanced on his right foot, back on his left, and then right again and left as he got out of the way. my thought at the time, and I think the replay shows, is that he should have been called for traveling. (in addition to unsportsmanlike conduct)

by rds on Feb 11, 2008 5:53 PM PST reply actions

Morris's movement

He got out of the way because if the ball had hit him, it would have been out of bounds on UW and UCLA's ball. I couldn't slow down the tape to see if he travelled.

I thought it was a cheap play, and that he should have been t'd up but his moving after it did not show intent to hurt, it showed intent to make sure that UCLA didn't get the ball.

by BruinsRule on Feb 11, 2008 7:56 PM PST up reply actions

He didn't travel

I remember thinking about that when it happened and I went back and looked at it. He pivots, but that's it.

by Ryan Rosenblatt on Feb 11, 2008 8:04 PM PST up reply actions

Dirty Huskies

I am extremely angry over this attack against AA2. I am looking for the PAC-10 officials to do something to reprimand the Washington Huskies program or at least the dirty player Morris. I am shocked that that those stupid referees didn't do anything after that dirty move. Isn't one of their job requirements to protect the kids from physical attacks? This is equivalent to punching a player in the face. This is horse-shit.

by cyberdbk on Feb 11, 2008 5:58 PM PST reply actions

Huck the Fuskies!

by charnaw on Feb 11, 2008 6:08 PM PST reply actions

LOVE IT!

..good sign material!

God, it's great to be a Bruin!

by whp68 on Feb 12, 2008 5:21 AM PST up reply actions

i don't want an apology

baseball's code of conduct gives us the best response. you throw at our player's head, we throw at your player's head. hopefully we see them in the pac-10 tourney. i'm usually on aboya's case for different things, but i wouldn't be able to restrain myself the way he did. wilbon, you my boy.

Across The Face

by rb bruin on Feb 11, 2008 6:21 PM PST reply actions

Hmm

I am not sure about that. This is a college game. And I think the Pac-10 has to make a decision on whether it will allow this kind of thugball in the league.

Moreover, if Romar IMHO does need to speak up and say he is sorry that this took place. This is not just another school. He coached here. We have a lot of respect for him here. But if he keeps quiet on this all that respect for him will be gone.

by Nestor on Feb 11, 2008 6:27 PM PST up reply actions

Aaron Brooks v. Appleby

In first round of Pac-10 tourney 2 years ago. Brooks felt he was fouled hard earlier in the game, as well as in a previous contest, and doled out a forearm shiver that wrecked Appleby's schnoze I believe.

There has been a precedent for retaliation of this sort. IIRC, Brooks had to sit a few Pac-10 games at the beginning of next season.

Howland is too classy to send in a goon to do the job a la John Chaney, and you know he would not let Aboya after him. He eats vipers for chrissakes.

That incident with Brooks and Appleby makes me think that UW is not as squeaky clean as they would like you to think.

by sausmaf on Feb 11, 2008 10:26 PM PST up reply actions

Brooks

was suspended 3 games if I remember correctly. It was the 2 following games and their next game against Washington I believe. The incident began with normal pushing and shoving that occurs in every game as players try to get open. As the refs never called a foul on either player the pushing and shoving and holding escalated. Finally, the 2 players started talking trash and before the refs could get there, Brooks landed a blow. I may be a little off, but I think that's how it went down.

by Ryan Rosenblatt on Feb 11, 2008 10:32 PM PST up reply actions

That's how I remember it

The atmosphere of that game was quickly turning toxic as UW-Oregon games tend to be, and the refs did nothing to defuse the situation before it got out of hand. Now, it's not like anyone needs an additional reason to want to deck Appleby, but that was a pretty ugly situation that carried into the next season, and Brooks didn't do his team any favors by getting himself in that situation in the first place. We could have lost Aboya for a few games as well had he retaliated, even though the "street rules" say that he would have been within his "rights" to do so. I am glad he took the high road since we have higher aspirations and UW is going nowhere.

by Tydides on Feb 11, 2008 10:49 PM PST up reply actions

Let the score do the talking

Yeah I hope we meet them in the Pac-10 tourney, which looks likely given their current seeding. Yet rather than some sort of physical retaliation, I would take a focused, relentless beat down, something along the lines of 81-35.

"I just think, at the end of the day, UCLA is not a great job." Brian D'Oh!n, 12/07

by godblesstyus95 on Feb 12, 2008 8:01 AM PST up reply actions

Saw it live . . .

. . .and it was worse then because it was so unexpected. It was perhaps the worst diplays of unsportsmanlike conduct I have ever seen in any sport. I thought every kid is tought to bounce it off the foot or leg of the opposing player in those situations or when you're falling out of bounds with the ball. This was an malicious intent to hurt one of our guys as clearly seen in the replays from Morrison's facial expressions and body movement to throw the ball that hard at AA2's face. Despicable.

The classy and stand-up thing for Romar to do is issue an apology. But I'm not expecting it. They'll claim it was in the heat of the moment, pure instinct and not intended to hurt anyone, blah, blah, blah.

The loss was awful. This play made it intolerable. Hopefully we'll see them again in the Pac 10 Tourney so we can serve up a good ol fashion Ben Ball beat down on those hacks.

Go Bruins. Take it all out on SuC this weekend.

by Bald Eagle on Feb 11, 2008 6:31 PM PST reply actions

too bad that we won't really

be able to retaliate in the pac 10 tourney other than a 20 or 30 point beat down, because if we retaliate with a cheap shot we might lose someone for part of the ncaa tournament. washington doesn't have to worry about that, they're fighting for the nit.

hopefully next year when then come to pauley, aboya can pull morrison's bitchass aside and point up to number 12 in the rafters.

by stephons on Feb 11, 2008 6:37 PM PST reply actions

Did anyone see the end of the Georgetown-Nova game

what a way to end the game. That ref needs to be reprimanded. He called a fou on Noval in a tie game 80 feet from the basket on something that isn't a foul regardless. Nova was over the limit so Georgetown got 2 free throws and won the game. I can't really explain the play but if you say it you'd be shocked. The ref should be ashamed of himself.

by Ryan Rosenblatt on Feb 11, 2008 6:48 PM PST reply actions

yeah

why did the ref think he had the right to choose the winner of that game. horrible.

by stephons on Feb 11, 2008 6:54 PM PST up reply actions

On Dohn's blog

Aboya says Morris apologized to him.

Aboya said Morris apologized immediately following the play.
"You never know his intention, if he did it on purpose or whether it was a cheap shot,'' Aboya said. "But he did apologize.'

by Ryan Rosenblatt on Feb 11, 2008 6:53 PM PST reply actions

Well

He could have said whatever he wanted. But given what we are seeing on video that's not good enough. This is dangerous stuff.

by Nestor on Feb 11, 2008 7:16 PM PST up reply actions

If AA2

accepts his apology and considers it sincere then I'm fine with it. While a public apology would be nice, the key is apologizing to AA2 and making it sincere. If he does that and AA2 accepts it then I'm ready to move on

by Ryan Rosenblatt on Feb 11, 2008 7:46 PM PST up reply actions

I am not ready to move on

Not when Coach Wooden doesn't like this.

by Nestor on Feb 12, 2008 4:41 AM PST up reply actions

McCabe is a coward

Dohn should have just asked point blank if it's okay for a player to throw the ball off another player's face. McCabe's hemming and hawing shows how ineffective he is at his job. He should have point blank said that kind of conduct is not tolerated in the Pac-10. Romar better apologize or else all goodwill from being an ex-assistant coach on the 95 team is gone. Morris should be suspended at least a game for that action.

by UCLA4Life on Feb 11, 2008 7:07 PM PST reply actions

this means...

WAR...

by bruinmo on Feb 11, 2008 7:20 PM PST reply actions

Off the topic again...

sorry but this loss is still burning and all i know is there is absolutely NO WAY i'd be able to stomach another loss to the clowns across town. absoutely no way. it's time for the boys to reach down, grab a hold, and get it done...

by bruinmo on Feb 11, 2008 8:06 PM PST reply actions

We can't lose in football

and get swept in basketball. Not OK. Not gonna happen. I refuse to allow such a thing to happen.

by Ryan Rosenblatt on Feb 11, 2008 8:08 PM PST up reply actions

contacting the pac-10

Does anyone who we can contact in the pac-10 front office to demand some sort of action?

I think Morris needs to be suspended a couple games or something. We're lucky Aboya is a tough kid. If this happened to someone else, Morris could've done some serious damage. Mata or Luc, for example, had concussions a few weeks ago and if they were hit...

by UCLAbruin920 on Feb 11, 2008 9:42 PM PST reply actions

Morris

Morris should have been immediately ejected from the game. Tha Pac-10 should suspend him for at least 3 games. AA2 could have lost an eye, broken facial bones or a broken nose. The ref should be reprimanded. Somebody get his name so we can refuse to let him ref any of our games.

by Blue Critter on Feb 11, 2008 9:47 PM PST reply actions

Morris

by Blue Critter on Feb 11, 2008 9:49 PM PST reply actions

Let's jam their inboxes with our disgust

Acting Athletic Director
Scott Woodward
huskyad@u.washington.edu
PH: 206/543-2212
FAX:206/616-4334

Exec. Assoc. Athletic Director
Jeff Compher
jcompher@u.washington.edu
PH: 206/543-2317
FAX:206/616-2459

Head Coach
Lorenzo Romar
jamee@u.washington.edu
206/543-5260

Asst. Coach
Cameron Dollar
dollarc@u.washington.edu
206/543-5260

Asst. Coach
Jim Shaw
jimshaw@u.washington.edu
206/543-2282

Asst. Coach
Paul Fortier
pfortier@u.washington.edu
206/543-5260

Director of Basketball Operations
Lance LaVetter
lancelv@u.washington.edu
206/685-9570

If you want to send one email to them all (many times):
huskyad@u.washington.edu
jcompher@u.washington.edu
jamee@u.washington.edu
dollarc@u.washington.edu
jimshaw@u.washington.edu
pfortier@u.washington.edu
lancelv@u.washington.edu

by UCngLA on Feb 11, 2008 10:09 PM PST reply actions

Thank you for the addresses..

..I sent the following to all of them, including Cameron Dollar(!):

Gentlemen,

I would like to register my disgust at a blatant and vicious act by one of your players in last Sunday's basketball game with UCLA; I refer to Morris's intentionally throwing the ball off Alfred Aboya's face while inbounding a pass. I would ask that both the coach and the player involved issue a public apology and assure your fans and UCLA's that this will never happen again.

It would be a shame to let an incident like this tarnish a hard-fought win, one that will surely be the centerpiece of an otherwise desultory basketball season.

Respectfully,

William Phinizy
Fountain Valley, California

..figure I'd stick it in and turn it as long as I had the opportunity.

God, it's great to be a Bruin!

by whp68 on Feb 12, 2008 5:42 AM PST up reply actions

huskies are like summer break...

no class. reminds me of the tom brady tuck rule where any semi-intelligent, non-biased person could have objectively seen on replay what the right call should have been.

by joebruin2K on Feb 11, 2008 10:33 PM PST reply actions

Most football people agree

the ref did make the right call on the tuck rule. He called it as the rule book says. Now any semi-intelligent person knows its a crappy rule, but the ref called it as he should have.

by Ryan Rosenblatt on Feb 11, 2008 10:47 PM PST up reply actions

That hit was viscious....

I've actually beamed a ball off of someone's face in the same situation before, though I was aiming for the guy's foot and the ball slipped on the release--- you usually do it one handed so that there's more velocity on the ball, and it is more likely that it will bounce out of bounds... I of course had the 'oh shit, my bad' look when it happened.

but by the look on the guy's face it is blatantly obvious that he intentionally and maliciously threw the ball at AA's face. There is nothing about it that is "up to interpretation". He should be suspended. Plain and simple.

One of the announcer's comments about the 'play' was kind of strange, "when you get in that position, sometimes, that's the only option left." uhh.. no. you always have the option of beaming it off the guy's feet or knees... you don't go head hunting unless you've lost your cool, and want to start something.

by Bruin Gold on Feb 12, 2008 12:55 AM PST reply actions

Pac 10's official stance:

"It's just one of those unfortunate plays that happens," said Bill McCabe, the conference's coordinator of men's basketball officiating on Monday afternoon after reviewing the play on tape.

"I know Tim is not one to just go out and bean someone," Romar said. "It was in the heat of the moment and Tim made a quick decision and it happened. If I had thought Tim was trying to hurt someone I would have had an issue ...He was in a little confined area right by their bench and he just reacted. They [the official] are counting [to five seconds]. But like I said, he wasn't trying to hurt someone and he did apologize right afterward."

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/huskies/2004177447_uwmen12.html

by insomniacslounge on Feb 12, 2008 2:31 AM PST reply actions

Aboya taking the high road...

"I guess [Morris] didn't have room because it was by our bench," he said. "I want to say it was a cheap shot, but you've got to do whatever you can to inbounds the ball."

Also, I'd missed this initial assessment by Bill McCabe:
"There's no doubt in my mind that Aboya jumped in front of the ball," McCabe said Monday afternoon. "There's no doubt in my mind that Aboya caused the contact."

So I guess the official stance by the Pac-10 is that if a player is guarding an inbounds play, he is asking to be drilled in the face. I'm glad that's all been cleared up.

by insomniacslounge on Feb 12, 2008 2:48 AM PST reply actions

Aboya intercepted the ball with his face?

McCabe is on drugs. Morris was aiming to hit AA2, and did. He threw the ball as hard as he could into AA2's face. That's a "T" by the way I measure such things (and believe you me, I know how this works, I was once ejected from a game for standing still. I set a blind pick, and the defender, who was about 8 inches and 75 lbs. smaller than me, went down. I was called for an intentional foul and ejected. Coincidentally enough, the refs for that game were friends with the team we were playing....)

Bob O. (Signholder #3)

by TuneMan7 on Feb 12, 2008 6:02 AM PST up reply actions

Don't know if you UCLA fans are still viewing...

but this thread is WAY over the top. I'm a UW fan, but more importantly a fan of college basketball and a former player. Things to consider here while looking at Tim Morris-- 1) Ben Howland was practically defeding him, up on the bench. No complaints on that, is there guys? 2) AA2 (as you call him) was infringing on the space the inbound is allowed (I believe it is 18 inches from the sideline.) 3) It isn't travelling. Once the referee hands the ball to the in bounder, the player must stay within a three-foot area of the place they were given the ball. The in bounder may move both feet, but once they move beyond the three foot area, it becomes a violation. 4) if you throw at the player's feet (as I did once when being pressured) and he jumps, you miss the feet and turn the ball over. If you throw at the belly he will catch it. So you throw at the chest/shoulder/head and he will be less likely both to be able to move and to be able to catch the ball.

Was it a hair dirty? Yes. Was it any bigger a deal than grabbing and pinching while fighting through screens, throwing an elbow during a rebound, hitting the belly of the shooter with your low hand while you contest the shot with the top hand or any of the other hundreds of cheap tactics that ALL PLAYERS AT THAT LEVEL engage in? No. It was just more obvious. Lay off the "dirty program dirty player" bit. It was just a play in the heat of the moment, and I doubt the players in the game took it very personal. I've seen (and done) much worse on the college level.

by whiskeychainsaw on Feb 16, 2008 1:03 PM PST reply actions