Once the fists started flying between Xavier and Cincinnati’s players, it looked like the players were in a bar fight - not on a basketball floor.
My parents are both alumni of Xavier University, and I have always been a fan of its basketball program.
But when the fight broke out, I was never more embarrassed to call myself a fan.
It was even harder to hear Xavier star senior guard Tu Holloway say the team is a bunch of “gangsters” in the locker room.
This is not the way athletes or students at a Jesuit, Catholic university should act.
Xavier may have won the battle, but the Cincinnati Bearcats seem to be winning the war.
The brawl has had opposite effects on both teams.
Xavier was undefeated and a top-10 team prior to the brawl. Since then, they have spiraled out of control and lost six out of their last 11 games.
Cincinnati banded together after the fight and has won 10 of their last 12 games.
The Xavier players need to right the ship or they will find themselves in the National Invitational Tournament rather than the NCAA tournament.
