Letter to the Editor

It was a study in contrasts.

Wednesday night, while the clock was winding down on the Iowa State/Kansas women’s basketball game at Hilton, the winning Kansas players sat on their bench and waved at the crowd. Then, after the game was over, the players and the coach, Marion Washington, left the coliseum waving and yelling at the Hilton bystanders.

Also Wednesday night, as the clock was winding down on the Iowa State/Kansas men’s game in Lawrence, Kan., the winning ISU players sat on the bench, excited for their team. As the game ended, coach Larry Eustachy warmly shook the hand of Kansas coach Roy Williams, and ISU star Marcus Fizer hugged the opposing players.

What was the difference?

Both were good games, with hard-working players and screaming fans. Neither road team was expected to win the game, and both the Jayhawk women and the Cyclone men had reason to be proud of their efforts.

But the ISU men handled their win with class. The Kansas women did not.

Kansas coach Washington said after the game that Hilton fans were taunting her players. She’s probably right — when games are as physical as Wednesday’s was, fans tend to get upset at missed calls by the officials and constant pushes by opposing players. And fans will always boo coaches who continue to jaw at refs even after being warned.

But the crowd at Hilton was nothing unusual in college basketball. There were certainly as many boos and taunts directed at the ISU men in Lawrence as there were at the Kansas women in Ames.

The crowd at Phog Allen Fieldhouse gets just as loud (or almost as loud) as the crowd at Hilton, and the Kansas men’s fans were also upset and vocal about the officiating all night long.

The difference is the way coaches and players responded to the crowds.

ISU men’s coach Eustachy and women’s coach Bill Fennelly handle hostile situations with class. They don’t tolerate arrogance in their players, and they don’t allow it in themselves, no matter how angry the crowd is.

That’s a testament to the kind of programs Iowa State runs. But it should also be a wake-up call to coaches like Washington.

There was no reason to act like Washington did, and there was no reason to allow her players to act as they did. Their behavior makes them look childish, and it shows that they still aren’t accustomed enough to winning to be able to handle it.

A few weeks ago, a Cyclone player said the Kansas women were cocky, and the Jayhawks hung that newspaper article on the wall in their locker room to motivate them. It worked — they’ve beaten the Cyclones twice since then.

But maybe they can hang up this editorial in their locker room to motivate them to something far more important than winning two basketball games.

Class.

Iowa State Daily Editorial Board: Sara Ziegler, Greg Jerrett, Kate Kompas, Carrie Tett and David Roepke.