Found this via What’s Bruin with Rich Perelman via Bruinville. A reader of his blog, who is also a soccer referee, was also pretty peeved:
Because of excellent defense, the Washington player [Tim Morris] was unable to get off a pass and finally, as time was running out, threw the ball with purpose and great force into the face of the UCLA defender, 6′ 8″, 245 pound Alfred Aboya. It was, of course, heartbreaking to see Mr. Aboya crumpled on the floor. If a soccer player had done this on my watch, I would have disqualified that player (red card) for violent conduct. I am also aware of the high school soccer goal keeper who died after being struck in the chest/heart area by a ball – apparently the timing of the blow coincided with the heart beat that caused the fatality…
The Los Angeles Times report on the basketball game stated that there was “nothing” illegal about the violent and flagrant throwing of the ball against a player’s face. I think basketball has finally reached a tipping point where it has become roller derby without wheels. Flailing arms by players attempting to secure a rebound are one thing, but smashing a ball into a player’s face is unacceptable . If this action is not against the rules, it should be.
Personally, had I been on the Bruin player on the bench, I would have, instinctually, gotten in right in Morris’ face. Like this:
Yeah, you tell em’
Perelman explains why our Bruins didn’t react aggresively:
One noteworthy corollary to Morris’s action was that the UCLA bench didn’t respond physically against Morris, although the play took place right in front of them. Why? Because – to paraphrase Lee Steinberg asHyman Roth in “The Godfather, Part II” – “it had nothing to do with winning.” That’s what the Bruins were focused on; at 61-66, a technical against Morris and Bruin possession could have brought the game to 65-66 with about 30 seconds to go instead of the eventual 61-71 final.
That makes sense to me. Maybe if the game had been out of reach, our boys would have let Morris know exactly how they feel. Regardless, I think it says a lot about our boys that they understood they could completely ruin their chances to win the game if they acted impulsively. I wouldn’t have acted with the same reason. Then again, I wasn’t recruited by Ben Howland.
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