Marquette men's basketball head coach Tom Crean was either delusional or lying when he stated (in a March 22 Milwaukee Journal Sentinel column by Michael Hunt) that Marquette fans would never conduct themselves the way certain UWM fans did when Crean attended their game against Rice University at the Bradley Center.
I was at the Marquette/Louisville game at the Bradley Center with my dad. During the entire game, a Marquette fan called Louisville head coach Rick Pitino a "faggot," screaming it at the top of his lungs, ignoring the family with small children sitting in front of us. Just as bad, a different group of Marquette fans sitting behind us yelled racial slurs at Louisville players throughout the game, mocking their home country and ethnic background, among other things.
Is this the kind of behavior Crean claims Marquette fans do not engage in? These are hardly isolated incidents, Crean. Like it or not, Marquette's fans are just as bad as any other team's fans. They get worked up and yell and scream, sometimes in a reasonable manner that merely demonstrates their support of the team. I am certainly not implying that all fans behave like the ones mentioned above. Fans like that are definitely in the minority. But there are plenty of them.
Personally, I find Crean's arrogance and self-importance appalling. Crean can spin it any way he wants, but he's acting like a childish jerk in refusing to play UWM. Check out Marquette's laughable preseason schedule. Northern Michigan, a Division II team. Canisius. Sacred Heart. They played some horrible teams, and even struggled against some of them this season. I believe they only managed a three-point home win against one of them. And Crean has the audacity to imply that Marquette and his program are somehow above UWM and their program?
Losing to Sacred Heart is fine, but losing to UWM we can't handle? Marquette should be playing both UWM and UWGB, in addition to the University of Wisconsin. Those two teams would be formidable foes, and a rivalry with all of the state's Division I teams would be exciting. I love Marquette basketball, and college basketball in general, but the entire Marquette community should be embarrassed by Crean's behavior. It is a disgrace.
Congratulations on being the first team since the University of Minnesota in 1998 to not make the NCAA Tournament the year after going to the Final Four. It's beginning to look like someone is being paid more than he is worth.
Doro is a School of Education graduate student.
