There were moments when you could sense the tenseness and trepidation of the media and their reluctance to pose the next question. It seemed like JB was poised to crush each and every one of them. I'm sure the members of the press were thinking " will he humiliate me for asking this question? is there anything inherently provoking in what I'm about to ask?"
It seems that Jay Bilas might be the only person in America that can ask questions of JB which relate to the NCAA investigation and the suspension, loss of wins, and it's effect on the Coach, team, and program.
Poliquin's article closes by saying nothings changed, and he states: "Defiant. Stubborn, Combative. Ornery. It was as if he'd never left.
Having watched all of this play out over the past 10 years you have to wonder about a few things. I wonder if it's this same temperament that rubbed the NCAA the wrong way and prompted them to so publicly humiliate Boeheim. I read the NCAA's findings and... well, essentially there is little if anything substantive which would seem to justify the severity of punishment which was seemingly targeted specifically at Boeheim, the "coach" in a very personal manner.
Some of it just doesn't add up. It's almost as if you are ejecting a player for a hand check foul. When you consider what happened at North Carolina with dozens of players who participated as a result of qualifying to remain eligible as a result of taking phantom classes that didn't exist. Where is the penalty for that? But that is a different issue.
JB has never looked comfortable with the press. He has improved somewhat over time but is still prone when aggravated to get that steely eyed pissed off look when he's asked a question that in any way impeaches him, his players, or the program. And when that happens it always comes off as looking ugly. I can only wonder how JB was when he was called in the 5 times to talk to the NCAA regarding the investigation.
My own opinion is that although JB can be ornery and combative, defiant and stubborn, he has at times, and certainly what has happened with the NCAA, been fully justified in his anger. I don't blame him for being pissed. I think he was given a really, really, raw deal by the NCAA and the taking of the wins is really a piss poor decision by the NCAA. We all know that he and we won those games but in the end what the NCAA did obviously hit it's mark because you can see how Boeheim bristles at even the thought of it.
It's hard to focus on running a program when there is is a fox in the henhouse of your program and it's amazing the program isn't in even more disarray than it is. I can understand why JB is so outwardly bent out of shape about anything connected to the entire NCAA debacle. He is certainly justified in how angry he is but at the same time I feel for the poor people in the presser that are just trying to do their job.
