The last two weeks have been quite an emotional ride for BYU Basketball and their fans. A week and a half ago we experienced the biggest win I can remember when we went into San Diego State's home court and pantsed them in front of the nation. It seemed like a perfect storm as several teams ahead of us in the polls lost that weekend. The polls game out that Monday with BYU as #3 in both major polls and talk of #1 seed in the NCAA tournament.
Most people know what happened next. On Tuesday BYU announced that one of the star players, Brandon Davies, would be dismissed for the remainder of the season for an honor code violation. This news was hightened because of the tremendous success BYU was having--every sports site and many news publications were talking about it. For the next several days people expressed their opinions on BYU's honor code, the action taken, and how it was handled. Somewhat surprisingly to me, a lot of the reception was good. People applauded BYU for sticking to the rules they had set in place, even if it meant giving up the chance at a national championship, or even Final Four appearance. Of course, we'll never know if BYU really was that good with Davies, and we're yet to see how far they go without him.
I am proud of my Cougars. As a BYU student, I knew very well what the honor code was from the beginning and was reminded of it constantly throughout my education. I've read some comments supposedly from former BYU students that say they know a lot of people, or they themselves, would break the honor code often and never got caught. Even saying that it was common place at BYU. I beg to differ. I do think that if you really knew where to look you could find inappropriate parties in the area. But as someone that attended BYU, I know it would be very hard to stumble across them if you're not trying. I never did. It's hard to believe the people that say BYU doesn't enforce the honor code in most cases.
I feel for Brandon Davies and hope that he takes Reno Mahe's advice, or Mekeli Wesley's advice, and learns from his experience and becomes stronger. I hope he's back at BYU too. I was sincerely happy to see him back on the sideline and participating in the net cutting this last game against Wyoming.
I'm excited to see how BYU is going to rebound as they take on some tough opponents in the MWC conference tournament and the big dance. (They did rebound against Wyoming, yes, but come on. It's Wyoming. Not a good measure of how we'll do down the stretch.) It starts tomorrow with a game against TCU. Below are some links to some of my favorite articles or videos the last week.
Both ESPN analysts praise BYU for sticking to the rules that they set.
http://espn.go.com/blog/collegebasketballnation/post/_/id/24584/video-first-take-debates-byus-honor-code
Why the BYU controversy is good for college sports
http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,2057184,00.html?xid=fbshare
CBS Sports declares Jimmer the player of the year
http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball/story/14788241/national-awards-jimmer-clear-choice-as-top-player
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I like how you threw 'pantsed' into your blog (although I still think the proper word is depantsed)!
ReplyDeleteI agree with you Jordan. I feel like if you wanted to break the Honor Code at BYU, you had to go looking for it. Of all my 30 roommates, I think I only had 2 who had problems with the Honor Code and that was with attending church every week.
ReplyDeleteA lot of the commentary I've seen has bee pretty positive. However, this past week my husband's professor went on a rant how ridiculous it was that BYU kicked Brandon Davies off the team. Some people just don't get it.
I also agree Jordan. And I agree with your word-usage of pantsed--was it Jim and Nathan who always said depantsed, or was it also Kevin?
ReplyDeleteChristina (and Jordaon), Fun blog! Christina I miss you girl! I hope life is treating you good. I'm glad I can catch up with you on your blog now. Take care!
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