ESPN's Jeff Borzello surveys other coaches after the KSU @KU melee

In addition to Jay Bilas great article posted here by mpeterson44, ESPN's Jeff Borzello talked with "a dozen coaches at different levels of college basketball with two questions: 1. What was your take on the final play of the game that led to the brawl? 2. Are you going to have a conversation with your team on what happened and how to prevent incidents like this from happening in the future?'

It's a shame ESPN put it behind the ESPN+ pay wall instead of having it available to the general public. The article goes against the "Bad KU" main stream media theme, saying KSU was the instigator of the incident more than KU.

For those who have ESPN+, here is the link to the full article.

For those who don't, here's the...

ARTICLE RECAP (text in "italics" are coaches comments; other text is quoting or paraphrasing of Borzello)

1. Going for a steal and layup while down 20-plus is entirely unnecessary.
"It's false hustle. You're beat! How about playing better defense when the game is being decided?"

"It's bush league. I'm glad he blocked it. It's bulls--- [for De Sousa] to stand over him too though."

2. Coaches generally thought de Sousa was in the right to chase Gordon and try to block his layup... and unanimous in saying his taunting and standing over Gordon was just as bad as Gordon's steal.

"The steal when they were down 30 (sic) and trying to dribble the clock out instigated it. The block and staredown were a result of that play. Both were wrong."

"It's a double-edged sword. You want your guys to play until the final buzzer. But when you're down 20-plus points, you have to let the clock run down. When [the KState player] stole the ball, the Kansas player did what he was coached to do. He played until the final whistle. Where he went wrong was with the taunt. You're already up 20-plus. Take the block at the end of the game and celebrate the win."


3. There were several different points in the lead-up to the brawl that should have prevented it from getting out of control.

"You need other guys not to escalate it that aren't involved -- which is what happened. There's also a s--- ton of suits [assistant coaches and support staff] at the end of the Kansas State bench that should have been all up in between them. You gotta have your antennae up. We're the adults.

4. Moving forward and preventing this from happening again is the hard part. Nearly every coach said that they talk to their teams about how to act and react at the ends of games, how they need to stay on the bench -- but sometimes, things happen and lessons go out the window.

"I think it's talked about with every team all year. You don't try to score on a team on the last possession when the game is over. And you also don't try to get a steal on defense, either. The game is over. When it does happen, either way, it's just a kid trying to get attention."

"We always speak to our team about being calm and in control of the moment, no matter what happens. Of course emotions run high, especially in rivalry games, but nonetheless we always emphasize not letting the moment make you do something you'll regret. Can they be prevented? I don't think so. It's a fight. They happen. Emotions run high. Competitiveness is real. So, unfortunately, at times kids* lose their mind in the moment." [HE: Bilas in his article notes they are not kids, they are young men. "Calling them "kids" infantilizes them. After all, the NCAA calls this Men's Basketball and not Boys' Basketball or Kids' Basketball."]

Outside of harping to their teams about winning and losing with some level of class, there isn't much the coaches said they can do.

"You would hope that something of this magnitude could be prevented. I know how high emotions get and things can spiral downhill in a hurry. I will definitely bring it up with my team today and reiterate how to handle being in those situations -- up or down."