Five for the Weekend: Miss. St. finds player crazier than Sidney
Mississippi State had to deal with another crazy player and Bruce Pearl held another cookout.
The SEC is wild, isn't it?
Let's do Five for the Weekend.
1. Did Mississippi State coach Rick Stansbury really enroll somebody more reckless than Renardo Sidney?
It appears so, yes.
His name is D.J. Gardner.
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| Rick Stansbury probably regrets lifting his Twitter ban. (Getty Images) |
It's the latest off-the-court issue to bring negative attention to the Bulldogs -- an embarrassment just like last year's fight between Sidney and Elgin Bailey.
2. So Stansbury never should've lifted his Twitter ban, huh?
I thought Stansbury overreacted when he banned his players from Twitter last season because I've long believed college kids should be allowed to be college kids. But I might be ready to reconsider that position. It's just a headache coaches don't need to deal with. You would think student-athletes, at this point, understand the risks of tweeting private and/or controversial things and realize that tweeting something stupid is really no different than looking straight into a television camera and saying something stupid.
But too many student-athletes are stupid and only in college because they can dunk a basketball, sack a quarterback or turn double plays. So they say and do stupid things all the time, and social media has a way of exposing it to the world.
Bottom line, I'd probably ban my players from Twitter, too.
It would go against everything I typically believe.
But who needs the problems Stansbury has today?
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3. Rob Dauster has looked at lots of different sites and updated his Class of 2012 consensus recruiting rankings. Shabazz Muhammad and Andre Drummond are No. 1 and No. 2. Do you agree with that sentiment?
Muhammad and Drummond should be No. 1 and No. 2, and I could probably take them in either order. Drummond has the higher ceiling, but Muhammad is great more consistently. Assuming they're in college, they'll both make huge and immediate impacts.
4. How funny is it that Bruce Pearl held a cookout at his home for media members to discuss his three-year show-cause penalty that came as a result of lying to the NCAA about a cookout at his home?
I can't imagine the NCAA laughed much, but I did. Honestly, when I first heard about it I thought the person telling me was joking. That's how unbelievable it is. But, remember, Pearl is the same man who once painted his chest orange for a Lady Vols game and once told fans his team was going to "kick Memphis' ass" despite the fact that Memphis was playing at home and, at the time, undefeated, ranked No. 1 and being led by the reigning Most Valuable Player of the NBA. (Worth noting: Pearl did exactly what he said -- kicked Memphis' ass.)
In other words, Pearl has always been bold. So we shouldn't be surprised that he's still bold as ever and handling things in an untraditional way. It's what makes B.P. B.P., for better or worse.
5. So you don't mind what Pearl is doing?
I do have one issue, and it's this: Pearl really ought to stop claiming he came back and told the NCAA the truth because of his conscience, because even if he genuinely believes that, almost nobody else does.
The truth is that Pearl told the truth at the exact same moment most people who lie decide to tell the truth, i.e., when they realize they're caught with no way out. Once Pearl knew Aaron Craft's family wasn't going to cover for him and tell the NCAA they'd never been to Pearl's home, Pearl knew he was out of options. And that's when he decided to tell the truth -- not a second sooner.
