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Friday, March 29, 2024
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UB Fans: More Jeer Than Cheer?


On Sunday, Feb. 9, Mid-American Conference game officials requested to the event staff that two separate groups of University at Buffalo students be ejected from Alumni Arena during a women's basketball game between the Bulls and the Northern Illinois Huskies.

Allegedly, the students were making inappropriate comments to players and coaches from NIU. The students from the first ejection had been kicked out of one other game previously (a men's game). The second group had not.

"We are all a little confused over the second ejection," said UB Director of Athletic Communications Paul Vecchio. "From our point of view, we did not necessarily agree with the officials' call. We are, however, on an internal fact-finding mission to figure out what the problem was."

The officials - Cary McGehee, Mickey Mental and Michelle Delduco - were unavailable to the media - as is normal - following the game to comment on their decision. Director of MAC Women's Officials Ron Applegate was on hand for the contest, but he declined to comment on the actions taken, stating that his report - as usual - had been given to Stephanie McDonald, Director of Sports Programs and Women's Basketball Operations.

"We were not happy with what happened during the game," said Vecchio. "We don't feel comfortable that the officials are going to be given ultimate permission to eject our students. If we had to do it all over again, we would ask more questions to make sure that everyone was on the same page. At the same time, we need to do a better job of crowd control."

"I don't think I've seen it be as personal as it was today," said Huskies head coach Carol Hammerle. "I think that's the difference. I think you can make comments to people, but when you start using their name it's just being hurtful. It's uncalled for."

UB Senior guard Kate McMeeken-Ruscoe had a different perspective

"Do you know what other bands and crowds do to us?" said McMeeken-Ruscoe. "We go on the road and get abused. The Toledo band was telling us we were a bunch of cows the minute we walked into the arena. They even called one of our girls 'Roly-Poly' the whole game. At Kent State the fans talked to me the whole game about my time in Hawaii. They would tell me I was selfish for having two last names, that I wear long socks to hide ugly legs, stuff like that."

Which begs the question: Are Buffalo fans really out of line, or is the student section status quo for the conference?

"This one place a couple of years ago rode me from the time I walked into the building to the time I walked out. Not my players, me. And I have never been to an arena where they have thrown out a fan," said women's basketball head coach Cheryl Dozier.

A written statement about what UB believes is acceptable and not acceptable can be found as students walk along the indoor track to the student section. It reads:

"The Mid-American Conference and the University at Buffalo promote good sportsmanship by its student athletes, coaches and fans. We request your cooperation by supporting the participants and the officials in a positive manner.

Profanity, racial or sexist comments, the throwing of objects or other intimidating actions will not be tolerated and are grounds for removal from this arena."

The question is whether UB students have crossed that line and if they are any different from students at other MAC schools.

"Everything else (other than the things listed above) must be fair game because we're hearing all of it on the road," said men's basketball head coach Reggie Witherspoon. "Sometimes we hear some of the other stuff too. From what I'm told by the assistant coaches and trainers there are some pretty vulgar and nasty thing said on the road."

"I don't know if it's any different," said Dozier. "We've had the opportunity to be at some unbelievable venues this year to listen to fans. I mean, we were at Duke with the Cameron Crazies for a men's game. The biggest thing about what they do is that it's clean; nothing was vulgar from what I could hear."

"I think that's the message the administration is trying to send here. They want our students to come out to the games and have fun and create a great home-court atmosphere for us, but they also want to do it the right way," she said.

"I don't hear the specifics from our fans, but I know what life is typically like on the road," said Witherspoon. "I don't hear much once the game starts, but from what my assistant coaches and the trainers say, it gets pretty intense. A couple of years ago we even had a player grabbed by a couple of members of the student section during the game, and nothing was done to those students."

"As a coach, you know when you go into an opposing gym, you know you're going to get ridden," said Dozier. "You've got to let that stuff go in one ear and out the other. You have to have a thick enough skin that you don't even pay any attention to it. You have to be able to do that, if you can't, you shouldn't be in the job that you're in."

Despite the situations that have occurred at Alumni Arena this year, Vecchio said the university does not want to discourage students' attendance of and participation in the men's or women's basketball games.

"We want students to come and have a good time and create a great home-court atmosphere, but we also want them to do it within the boundaries that UB and the MAC have created," said Vecchio.

"Seeing the student section filled up against Cornell gave me chills," said Witherspoon. "It was such a thrilling thing to see the spirit and the enthusiasm from the students. That's what home court is supposed to be like. We would have lost that game worse than we did if it hadn't been for the students.

"For us to have an advantage, we just need loud participation from our students," said Witherspoon. "We need them to be particularly loud when the opposing team has the basketball so they have trouble communicating. The biggest advantage is when they get incredibly loud on defense and that gives us energy."

"The message that we're trying to send is this: Be a factor, but do not be crude. Do not make a fellow student or alum embarrassed," said Vecchio. "I really hope the students are not just there to insult the other team. I hope that they are there mostly to be supportive of our team."




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