Baylor phenom and women’s hoops: poor sportsmanship in the making

Sickest moment in women’s hoops, Baylor phenom‘s punch takes women’s hoops in a poor position. Good story about a potentially violent new hoop star. Very ugly moment of the women’s hoops.

Baylor Phenom Brittney Griner Women's Hoops

Baylor’s 6-foot-8 phenom Brittney Griner lets her temper get the best of her in a game. Good story about a potentially violent new hoop star. “Baylor phenom’s punch gives women’s hoops a black eye” might have been a better title.

Baylor phenom’s punch gives women’s hoops a black eye. Girls basketball has finally started to gain the publicity and coverage it deserves, and it needs exciting players like Brittney. Boys brawl all the time during sporting events, and they are rarely out for the rest of the season. Most likely Jordan was being outplayed and positioned on the post by a superior player and in frustration she slung Brittney across the floor. Whatever the punishment is – it should be equal for both players – Brittney just landed a better shot. Oh, & I did play basketball – a post player, as a matter of fact – Brittney’s frustration that led to a punch was just a freshman’s mistake – she just hasn’t learned to get her paybacks less conspicuously 🙂

Already a YouTube sensation in high school as a result of her unprecedented size and dazzling repertoire of dunks, 6-foot-8 Baylor phenom Brittney Griner readily embraced the label of women’s basketball’s next crossover star.

The national spotlight came sooner than expected on Wednesday night. Too bad it was because of her temper instead of her talent. 

Incensed after Texas Tech’s Jordan Barncastle flung her across the paint while grappling for position in the paint midway through the second half, Griner retaliated with a fierce right fist to her opponent’s nose. Officials stopped play to review the tape for about 10 minutes before assessing a flagrant and technical foul against Griner and ejecting her from the game.

“There’s no place for that in sports,” Baylor coach Kim Mulkey told reporters after the game. “I will deal with Brittney Griner, and it won’t be discussed in the media. You saw the game, leave it at that. Not [Texas Tech coach] Kristy Curry, not me, not any coach or any player will ever be proud of what took place on that floor tonight.”

Mulkey suspended Griner for two games on Thursday evening, Baylor’s regular-season finale against Texas A&M and its first Big 12 tournament game next week. That’s more than the NCAA-mandated one-game suspension for “fighting action” requires yet far less than the eight-game penalty star Oregon running back LeGarrette Blount served last year after a similar incident in which he punched a Boise State player in the wake of the season opener

Barncastle shot all four free throws after exchanging her bloodied jersey for a new one, but she left the game for good immediately afterward. She remained on the bench, a tissue stuffed in her swollen nose to keep it from bleeding.

“My only concern is Jordan Barncastle because she might be out the rest of the year,” Curry said. “It’s so unfortunate on both sides.”

What transformed Griner into a mini-celebrity in high school were YouTube videos of her numerous dunks. The clips showcased Griner’s size 17 sneakers, 88-inch wingspan and surprising coordination, drawing millions of viewers including curious reporters, coaches and even Shaquille O’Neal.

“Brittney just brings something to the game that, honestly, I don’t think we’ve seen,” HoopGurlz analyst Mark Lewis told the Houston Chronicle in 2009. “You can go back and look at a Candace Parker or go even further back and look at a Cheryl Miller. They changed the game, but there’s been another Cheryl Miller. I think Brittney Griner may come and go without there being another Brittney Griner for a long time.”

The incident will overshadow what has been an outstanding freshman year. Griner has lived up to the hype, leading Baylor to a 22-7 record and a top-15 ranking. In a below-the-rim sport often derided as dull compared to the men’s game, Griner had established herself as the rare above-the-rim player, averaging 19 points and 9 rebounds as a freshman and dunking effortlessly several times.

Griner will surely miss more than one game for her punch, perhaps even for the remainder of the season. No matter when she returns, however, the stigma of this incident will stick with her much longer.

How dramatic can that moron Texas Tech coach be (must be in the Lubbock water system)…”My only concern is Jordan Barncastle…she may miss the rest of the season.” Really? Because it looked to me that she was laughing it up on the sideline. Oh, that’s right, you suck so your season is over anyway…I forgot.

Not the worst thing in the world. Maybe this will teach that TTech player to think next time he tries to tackle someone in the paint. “Out the rest of the year”? Come one; it was one punch/forearm shiver that was inappropriate, nothing more.

I think that might be the kind of intensity (minus the fisticuffs) that will get viewers. Pay attention to the next game aired for the Baylor women’s team and the spike in attendance. A punch to the snot box is better than non-passionate play anyday.

I am a coach. I hit up B Grinds alot as well. So, of her I am a fan. I rock her 42. Am I mad? A bit. More so at the other player though. Toughness is one thing but trying to injure someone on purpose is a ball game that calls for you being checked. Just so happen, B Grind is hood, and just showed the world of female ballers, she may be light in the azz now, but, even still there will be no disrespect. On Purpose. Never [profane]k with a gentle giant because your nose will be broken. I can’t hear what the coach said, but I will at some point. With that said, if Kim isn’t completely backing B, there is a problem! You just don’t do that, and you don’t support it on either bench. Totally uncalled for. Lastly, I am willing to bet that B’s freshman year is done. What a blow that would be for the NCAA’s. If that’s the case, the sorry azz idiot that tried to hurt her should be gone as well!

The rest of her high schooll career. No excuse. She is too big and too strong to get away with flagrant unsportsmanship conduct. A serious or permanent injury is a distinct possibility of such actions. If BG wants to fight like a man, join the mens league. The fans should make a more serious assesment of such action ands stay away from her games.

If she was not meaning to throw B Grinds the way she did, her reaciton would be uncalled for, but Texas player swung her on purpose and it got the best ouf B Grinds. I dont think she deserves to get suspended unless the other player gets suspended as well. The media should stop making B Grinds look bad as well, they should also point out why did she react the way she did. THe media should teach the society from this incident, that players who stand out from their peers are under pressure and opponents try everything they can to bring their mental game through physical instigation. Its alot of perssure for this young player and we all should help by not supporting media’s coverage on this story.

I am not just trying to be mean, but maybe it was roid rage. Griner looks more muscular than most women, even other female athletes. Listen to Brittney’s voice in interviews. She sounds like a man. She has the muscle structure of a man. She has the low body fat percentage of a man too. In this day and age, it is hard not to suspect steroids or human growth hormone.

the referees could have stopped that sooner any competior male or female will react to being manhandled.bittany has to realize because of her superior size and ability teams will try to frustrate her that way,some coachs may even send players after her that way.she must realize that only brittany’s action can determine who she is,and not let a inferior player get her kicked out of the game.

HUH, to all you people who think this was just part of the game. LOL. A cheap shot to the nose by a 6’8 inch freak. Thats a big b—-. She was throwing elbows before she got slung around, give me a break. She obviously has mental problems and cannot compete without acting childish and throwing a punch. What an idiot. SHE HAS TO BE SUSPENDED FOR THE YEAR especially considering their is not much season left, maybe this will teach her a valuable lesson that will help her in the future. Also, if I was that girl that got hit, I would file criminal assault charges on Bigfoot for the cheap shot. Anybody who thinks otherwise, check your morals, ethics, and brain at the door.

You don’t get to say this incident “gives women’s hoops a black eye” if you never paid any attention to it before. If this is the only type of thing that will get them some press, then why not?

The worst thing an athlete can do? you mean except hockey players, right? Or baseball players, who get in fights all the time and are only suspended for a few games. Griner was wrong to hit that girl, but she was responding to what looked like an attempt to pin her. Was the other girl called for a flagrant foul?

Honestly i think she deserved to be punched … try and throw someone around and get put in your place… as reffering to the NCAA women soccer game late last year … if one of the players on the opposing team had busted that girls nose … no one would be saying anything as she deserved it … same point here … girl tried to act tough and throw someone around and was put in her place

Baylor phenom and women’s hoops: poor sportsmanship in the making. Throw her off of the team, eliminate her scholarship and press assult charges.

Why is an assult like this just passed off as being acceptable behavior. If it happened on the playground (with video and all) there would be a conviction for assult. Same rules apply on the college basketball courts too do they not?