Comments (11) | Add a comment
Ed Graney
UNLV must come down stronger on Willis
UNLV athletic director Jim Livengood has stated often lately that he wants his department held accountable for its actions.
Good.
It's simple then: If the suspension of senior guard Tre'Von Willis remains at three games (laughably including two exhibitions) and he is allowed to play beginning Nov. 17 against Southeastern Louisiana, UNLV should be perceived as having a basketball program soft on discipline and not interested in making the appropriate statement for what won't be tolerated from its players.
You have to know who you are in these situations, and just because an on-campus compliance officer determined the standard discipline for a player with a misdemeanor charge next to his name is missing 10 percent of a season's games doesn't mean it's a fitting punishment for Willis or any player wearing a UNLV jersey.
How do you want your program perceived, because for all the wonderful things that define UNLV basketball -- its history of winning, its passionate fan base, its endless chain of terrific players -- there is a negative stigma attached to it that, while having faded over the years, might never disappear.
Jerry Tarkanian sued the NCAA and won more than $2 million. You don't hear about that, but mention one photo of a hot tub and the critics come from all corners.
It's not fair.
It's bigger than that.
It's perception, which is far more relevant today.
I don't know Willis well enough to say whether his apology Tuesday was sincere or not. I don't know how truly contrite he is after pleading no contest to misdemeanor battery-domestic violence. He might be entirely truthful, embarrassed, ashamed. He might not be. He might care deeply about making better decisions in the future. He might not at all.
Lon Kruger said the three-game suspension is just a beginning point, that if Willis doesn't comply with all phases of his discipline, he could miss more time.
But the UNLV coach knows more than anyone that public perception in these cases begins and ends with playing time. It's also the only thing a player cares about, the one thing that when withheld might teach a strong enough lesson that he (and others) don't repeat such off-court transgressions. It's what others will notice first -- how much time does he lose?
Counseling sessions and community service hours are court-mandated actions that, while they will hopefully help Willis understand the seriousness of his actions, will be performed out of view from most.
It does matter that UNLV plays Wisconsin in its third regular-season game. Maybe it shouldn't, but it does, because if Willis plays against the Badgers here Nov. 20, against the first real opponent on the schedule, those in charge should have saved their breath Tuesday. All the tough words will become meaningless.
It was amazing Kruger said with a straight face that the three-game suspension would include two exhibitions, although I'm sure they are partying like maniacs at Grand Canyon and Washburn today at the thought that Willis won't be playing his 20 or so minutes in such glorified scrimmages.
I don't know what happened between Willis and Skye Sanders in June. You don't. Two people in the world know, and when her version states he choked her for more than three minutes and his version is that he merely grabbed her hand and never touched her throat, there is a big enough discrepancy to think the truth lies somewhere in the middle.
But this is not a misdemeanor of petty theft or public intoxication. This is putting your hands on another in anger, and that shouldn't play well anywhere at any time.
You don't bury Willis for Tuesday's court proceedings. You don't take from him his entire senior season. But you make a legitimate statement about what he did, and a proper one would be having his 2010 debut fall on Dec. 1 at Illinois State.
It would leave him 24 games and the conference tournament and any postseason games UNLV earns. It would cost him six games, including Wisconsin and the 76 Classic Tournament.
(Notice I did not mention the exhibitions, because before they were included in the suspension Tuesday, I was sure the funniest thing I would hear out at UNLV this week was football coach Bobby Hauck closing practices for the UNR game at the chance a few media members might actually choose to attend.)
Willis deserves the opportunity to make things right in his life and as a representative of UNLV basketball. He deserves a chance to prove his was a serious lapse in judgment and not be defined by one terrible choice. Livengood and Kruger deserve the opportunity to show how they want their basketball program perceived by making the tough but correct choice of extending the suspension.
"The program was damaged by Tre's actions," Kruger said. "This is not insignificant."
Matt Shaw failed an NCAA-administered drug test for marijuana and lost his senior season. Willis pleaded no contest to misdemeanor battery-domestic violence, and the punishment begins at three games, including two that mean absolutely nothing.
Kruger is right. It's not an insignificant thing. Now, he and Livengood get the chance to prove it.
Because if this stays at three games including two exhibitions, well, keeping a straight face out there is going to become harder and harder when they talk about being held accountable.
Las Vegas Review-Journal sports columnist Ed Graney can be reached at egraney@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4618.
Trending topics:
Comments
Terms & Conditions
The following comments are provided by readers and are the sole responsiblity of the authors. The Review-Journal does not review comments before publication nor guarantee their accuracy. By publishing a comment here you agree to abide by the comment policy. If you see a comment that violates the policy, please use the Report Abuse button.
Some comments may not display immediately due to an automatic filter. These comments will be reviewed within 24 hours. Please do not submit a comment more than once.
Note: Comments made by reporters and editors of the Las Vegas Review-Journal are presented with a yellow background.
RSS
Twitter
Facebook
hapychapy03,
Can you please give us some facts on what Skye's "not so perfect background" is? You seem to know something we do not.
UHHHH...UNLV has ot been soft..In fact Kruger has ruled with a Iron fist. And Ina case where the facts arent in, I dont thik it is too lenient. ( I sure hope your not basing this on this womans allegations...she doesnt strike me as very believable. )
Tre keep your head up and bounce back.Everyone makes mistakes. It is not what you did it is what you will do next.People are so full of crap with there holier than thou attitudes but everyone has a skeleton. Tre is a young man who made a mistake and should be given the oppurtunity to redeem himself.
The NCAA should govern the punishment across the board for everyone and take schools out of the process.
I have a feeling that Skye and her DA probably consulted first on presenting a plea offer due to Skye being four months pregnant. She probably didn't want to go through a trial.
Mr. Graney, Unlv should come down harder like the review journal did to John Smith and his dui? He could have killed somebody.
I could see a four-game suspension starting with the regular season. A Big Ben Theory. And the threat of banishment looming over his head as well.
Mr. Graney is just another reporter putting himself in the news because he's too lazy to report it. Also, Virgil, Tre is from Fresno not Memphis. That shows me how much you know about this situation. If you don't think mising three games, even if two of them are exhibitions, will do damage to team chemistry and getting into game shape. Ask some players if it would be good for a player's readiness if they sat out the preseason. They may be blow out games, but a team learns to play with one another in game situations and not practice. Every team looks great in paractice. Finally, Ed loves to dump on UNLV and he has shown it for years. He's an untalented writer who, time and time again, has to make himself bigger than any story by acting the DEvil's advocate. It gets old after a while, Ed. Get a new schtic, please.
The truth is, even though he pleaded no contest, no one knows if Willis is guilty or not. Just because one pleads no contest or guilty does not mean that he/she 'is' guilty. What I do know is that:
1) their stories are vastly different.
2) where are the bruises on her body, specifically on her kneck?
3)Willis has no past or record from which to judge his current actions as being repetative.
4) she does, having one look at her facebook page tells me a lot about her character.
5) they both agreed in their statements that she laughed at him when he tried to express to her that he wasn't receiving enough attention from her. I honestly couldn't say for sure that she was being apathetic or that her intent was to demoralize him with mind games but.......it sure does sound that way.
Anyone capable of such actions, as mentioned above, is more than capable of contriving the entire story for a purpose that is unknown. Could Willis have done everything the police bought into from her? Of course he could have. Anything is possible. Just not likely IMO.
My whole point is that I'm ok with his slap on the wrist from UNLV considering his public punishment was based on circumstantial (at best) evidence. There are so many wholes in her story that a severe punishment would be a knee jerk reaction no matter what Ed or the moron Cokin says. They want a blanket punishment from the NCAA when it is near impossible to do so when EVERY circumstance is different, which is why no such rule exists.
BTW, try doing 100 hours of community service and 6 months of anger management Ed and let's see how soft you think that is.
UNLV's athletes? Virgil, please don't equate was Trevon Willis did to the entire sport's program at UNLV. Also nobody will entirely know what happened except for Skye Sanders and Trevon Willis, who still says he did not choke her. And while the punishment I believe is to weak, I also realize that Skye Sanders has a not so perfect background.
Once again the stain of questionable behavior of UNLV athletes is making headlines. Waist for the first nationally televised basketball game and you will hear commentators zero on this Willis incident; it will again open debate about UNLV's athletes and related problems. Under Tarkanian we had a huge shameful blot on UNLV and everything related to it. This Willis character should be sent packing back to Memphis from which he came. We don't need student-criminal-athletes filling our sports teams just so UNLV can win. Winning is not everything, but integrity and a positive reputation certainly is!