That was sweet, sweet karma with Craft

[Czar]

Seriously bush league.

 

[CaptainJ]

I'm still not sure what Craft did that was so wrong to inspire this kind of hatred. He had a clean steal and breakaway to give his team a 3 point lead tonight, which it seemed at the time could be the key point in the game. It wasn't just him who was arguing with the refs either, there were 4 other OSU players on the court as well. I respect how he plays, even if it is an unpopular position.

 

[Cootface]

I'm still not sure what Craft did that was so wrong to inspire this kind of hatred.

I speak only of myself, but I hate Craft because he has the "reputation" for being a great defensive player when in reality he fouls the ever loving stuff out of the player he's guarding on roughly 93.4% of plays. Yet, because he has that reputation, refs (and announcers) give him a free pass. We saw it with his great "defense" on Scoop where he slapped the crap out of Scoops arm making the ball go out of bounds with no call and we saw it again on several occasions tonight, most noticeably on the breakaway by Robinson with a minute left where the refs and Kellogg (massive OSU homer) praised Craft for knocking the ball away when he committed about 4 different fouls that weren't called. I also loved the replay that showed all of those fouls in slow-motion HD, with the accompanying commentary by Kellogg about how he didn't know why Craft DIDN'T get a jump ball called.

This is a small microcosm, but THAT is why people hate that fouling, cheating, Butler, Pitt mofo (in my opinion).

 

[PoppyHart]

I'm still not sure what Craft did that was so wrong to inspire this kind of hatred. He had a clean steal and breakaway to give his team a 3 point lead tonight, which it seemed at the time could be the key point in the game. It wasn't just him who was arguing with the refs either, there were 4 other OSU players on the court as well. I respect how he plays, even if it is an unpopular position.

He made the aged-old mistake of WWW, or whining while (being) white.

 

[Cusefan95]

He made the aged-old mistake of WWW, or whining while (being) white.

That's , the guy is a shining example of everything that is wrong with how the game is called today. He commits a foul or two (or six...) on defense on every trip down the court. he should foul out five minutes into every game. He could be a purple Martian for all I care - he's the most overrated player ever.

 

[BlackKnight76]

He does throw a mean cut block

 

[Cheriehoop]

He does throw a mean cut block

I noticed that one - very obvious. Winner sometimes seems to be defined "will do anything and I mean anything to win". Taking a guys knees out - not cool.

 

[PoppyHart]

That's , the guy is a shining example of everything that is wrong with how the game is called today. He commits a foul or two (or six...) on defense on every trip down the court. he should foul out five minutes into every game. He could be a purple Martian for all I care - he's the most overrated player ever.

It's not like he's being talked about as an All-American. Not sure how he's so "over-rated." He was Honorable Mention all Big-10.

 

[PoppyHart]

I noticed that one - very obvious. Winner sometimes seems to be defined "will do anything and I mean anything to win". Taking a guys knees out - not cool.

Are you serious?

 

[Cootface]

He does throw a mean cut block

In his defense, the snazzy NCAA sponsored court CLEARLY took his legs out there. Nothing he could do but propel himself into the unprotected knees of the nearest Kansas defender. And yes, I know the KU guy stepped on his foot, but there were about a hundred things he could have done legally that wouldn't have given Thomas a wide open shot there.

 

[CaptainJ]

After watching how folks exaggerate about this play, I realize I should be less likely to agree with things here that I originally saw differently. Taking out his knees, really?

 

[Cootface]

After watching how folks exaggerate about this play, I realize I should be less likely to agree with things here that I originally saw differently. Taking out his knees, really?

I exagerated, I agree. Mostly brought on by the praise he gets for playing good defense while fouling people. In all honesty, I'm not sure how he wasn't on Pitt's radar. But hey, he got Bruce Pearl fired, so he can't be all bad, right?

 

[Niastri]

In his defense, the snazzy NCAA sponsored court CLEARLY took his legs out there. Nothing he could do but propel himself into the unprotected knees of the nearest Kansas defender. And yes, I know the KU guy stepped on his foot, but there were about a hundred things he could have done legally that wouldn't have given Thomas a wide open shot there.

Or have him going into the guy with the knee brace at knee level.

He just seems like one of those guys you want to punch in the face within minutes of meeting him. The fact he is a white dude with few skills that gets too much acclaim doesn't make it better.

As a Celtics fan, I have been sensitive to the whole "Larry Bird would be just another black player" commentary for a long time. When I see concrete evidence of this effect, AND I already want to punch the guy in the face...

It might create a lasting dislike for that guy disproportionate to his importance. (Craft is a very irritating nobody)

 

[Niastri]

After watching how folks exaggerate about this play, I realize I should be less likely to agree with things here that I originally saw differently. Taking out his knees, really?

Watch the clip again (somebody has it posted in this thread)! He hops on his off (non stepped on) foot towards the other guys legs. If you aren't cheating you aren't trying. However, that looks like an injury waiting to happen, and not to the guy diving at the other guys legs.

 

[hungrychuck]

What a shame this "heady" player didn't know the lane-violation rule.

 

[CaptainJ]

Watch the clip again (somebody has it posted in this thread)! He hops on his off (non stepped on) foot towards the other guys legs. If you aren't cheating you aren't trying. However, that looks like an injury waiting to happen, and not to the guy diving at the other guys legs.

Come on now, we don't know how his momentum was going exactly when he had someone unexpectedly twist his foot in real speed. I really don't think he was intentionally trying to take out a big guy's knees.

 

[Niastri]

Watch his off foot... I have watched the stupid gif a few times, and no doubt he hops forward in hopes of

Drawing a foul from the inadvertant foot step

or

Knocking the advancing player down.

Did he know the play was illegal in a lot of football situations? <shrug> Did he know that could hurt a guy in basketball? Hell yes.

 

[hungrychuck]

Come on now, we don't know how his momentum was going exactly when he had someone unexpectedly twist his foot in real speed. I really don't think he was intentionally trying to take out a big guy's knees.

He won't play in the NBA, but may have a future in Serie A.

 

[dinodak]

I just get tired of the media love of the guy. Example: near the end of second half, when someone knocked the ball out of his hands and he dove for the ball eventhough it wasn't off of him, the exchange between two announcers went something like:

Announcer 1: "Players typically don't dive after balls that they didn't touch..."
Announcer 2: "...unless you're Aaron Craft."

Whaaaa?

 

[Cheriehoop]

In his defense, the snazzy NCAA sponsored court CLEARLY took his legs out there. Nothing he could do but propel himself into the unprotected knees of the nearest Kansas defender. And yes, I know the KU guy stepped on his foot, but there were about a hundred things he could have done legally that wouldn't have given Thomas a wide open shot there.

You're right, he did get the side of his foot stepped on. In fact I'm surprised he didn't get hurt on that. He was determined to make sure a play was possible whatever it took -good or bad. Certainly made the dive and the timing more difficult. Glad Withey didn't get hurt. Kid does hustle and plays hard regardless of what people think of his tactics. He's effective in his role. Kid knows he's smart and has the confidence that he can out think and outwork opponents, seems to work for him more often than not but sure backfired on that last foul shot play. Polarizing, interesting player for sure.

We've had enough of our own polarizing players for a variety of reasons - Devo, GMac, etc, players who opponents and their fans loved to hate. Heck people on this board hated Jae Crowder who personally I'd love to have on my team. It's all perspective.

 

[Cheriehoop]

Are you serious?

I sure was, I saw it when it happened and immediately thought that. I admit I didn't see his foot stepped on in real time but I do think he was trying to slow down Withey so Thomas could get a shot off. Do I think he was purposely trying to injure him? No, but I think he was trying to delay Withey, a smart play, but it could have gotten someone hurt.

 

[alphaorange]

I sure was, I saw it when it happened and immediately thought that. I admit I didn't see his foot stepped on in real time but I do think he was trying to slow down Withey so Thomas could get a shot off. Do I think he was purposely trying to injure him? No, but I think he was trying to delay Withey, a smart play, but it could have gotten someone hurt.

I think you give him too much credit. He would have had to process getting his foot stepped on, formulated a plan of action and carried it out in a tenth of a second or less. I don't believe this to be humanly possible. But I could be wrong.

 

[Cheriehoop]

I think you give him too much credit. He would have had to process getting his foot stepped on, formulated a plan of action and carried it out in a tenth of a second or less. I don't believe this to be humanly possible. But I could be wrong.

Not to be dismissive but how long do you think it takes an athlete to make the judgement to block a shot, slide across the court to save a ball heading out of bounds, to throw the lob pass, go for the steal vs position defense, to give a strong but low push in the back to a player going for a layup/dunk or conversely to let the guy go and hold up on the chance of being called for a foul when he has 3 fouls etc?

 

[alphaorange]

Not to be dismissive but how long do you think it takes an athlete to make the judgement to block a shot, slide across the court to save a ball heading out of bounds, to give a strong but low push in the back to a player going for a layup/dunk or conversely to let the guy go and hold up on the chance of being called for a foul when he has 3 fouls etc?

You are talking about things that players are trained to recognize and react to as opposed to what happened. This would not fall into that category. This would fall into the category of completely unforeseen events. We are not talking about seeing a jab and countering. There was a lot of info to assimilate and then formulate an action and carry it out. Appearances say one thing but science says otherwise. No offense intended or taken. Agree to disagree, etc, etc.