Animosity

On Saturday Xavier faced rival University of Cincinnati in a game that ended 9 seconds short due to a fight which broke out at the very end of the game. Comments by kilPatrick in the pregame may have caused tension when he stated his beliefs about the level the team was at, singling out another player from the rival team saying Hollaway wouldn't make the bearcat starting lineup. Though it looks like Xavier began the fight with the shove at the end of the game that cleared the Cincinnati bench that may not be the case.

Xavier vs University of Cincinnati

the list of suspensions however were not that long with Yancy Gates and two others receiving 6 game suspensions for the Bearcats and Xaviers Tu Holloway receiving a one game suspension with two others receiving four game suspensions.

suspensions

I personally feel there is a growing amount of violence in sports especially professional and I feel players especially like Yancy Gates who threw a blindside punch bloodying the eye of a Xavier player should be punished more harshly than they are. Violence like that should not be a part of the sport and any player, not clearly defending themselves but being the source of aggression should lose any scholarship they have and be kicked off the team the rest of the season at least. I believe if we increased the severity of the punishment athletes would think before acting.