I think that's an absurd generalization.
Coleman took a ton of heat from local fans for hitting the Cornell kid. It was CORNELL!
Pearl hitting Ewing is equivalent to Frank shoving that ncstate player in your mind? Not comparable in any way. Those games were freaking wars.
Mouthing off, jumping on tables, preening, glaring etc...doesn't equate to placing a hand on another player.
Let's start with correcting your memory of the Cornell game with some facts: Coleman wasn't even on the floor when the fight happened. What he did had nothing to do with playing in the heat of the battle. He came off the bench to join the fight as did players from both teams. It was Brower who went crazy. In fact, post game while JB didn't condone the fight, he didn't back away from it either. Here's his
quote: "I think when people hit you, you tend to lose your temper.
It's something that shouldn't happen but when people elbow you it does happen. When you get fouled physically it tends to lead to that kind of thing. It's not good.
It's not something you want to see in the game of basketball or any game but tempers do flare in the heat of battle."
Not exactly Coleman, Brower, Seikely, Hughes, Duncan, etc. getting a lot of heat publicly from JB. Actually, it was Cornell fans who brought the heat, not local fans. And the Cornell players pretty much took it in stride. Both teams were regretful but not exactly apologetic.
On Pearl and Ewing, I never said that fight was equivalent to Frank's shove. Somehow you think that a game has to be a war before it's legitimate for a player to react to something physical. You implied that players have to reach a certain stature before they can fight back. That's bs. I'm saying players reach that level by solid play and standing up for themselves. They go hand in hand.
As for mouthing off, jumping on tables, preening, glaring, etc. last I looked it was that kind of behavior that refs now try to cut out, knowing that it can sometimes escalate. Never said anything about that or conflated the two.