College Basketball By The Tweets: Cameron Crazy Chants, Notre Dame, Nerlens Noel, and Nate Wolters
Posted by Nick Fasulo on February 13th, 2013
Nick Fasulo is an RTC correspondent who writes the column College Basketball By the Tweets, a look at the world of college hoops through the prism of everyone’s favorite social media platform. You can find him on Twitter @nickfasuloSBN.
When NC State beat Duke in Raleigh back in January, fans rushed the court, C.J Leslie was deemed a hero, and we were all supposed to think it was an ACC power-shifting victory for the Wolfpack. Then Mark Gottfried’s club took a return trip to Durham, and were beaten decisively, restoring reality and balance to the top of the league. Following the game, this was the scene at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
Rushing the court twitter.com/thedevilwolf/s…
— Ben Swain (@thedevilwolf) February 8, 2013
Yes that’s right, just another day in the office for the Blue Devils
A Faux Chant About Tyler Lewis’s Grandmother
There’s nothing worse than a baseless rumor that lives and dies on Twitter… but when one occurs in the college basketball world, we have to at least trace its arc. Following said loss to Duke last week, NC State Wolfpack fans, or alumni, or beat writers, or maybe just Blue Devil haters, started something nasty declaring that the Cameron Crazies started a chant about Tyler Lewis’s grandmother, who passed away just days before. Totally awful, right? Absolutely, but ultimately something totally awful that likely never actually happened. The seeds were planted after it got in front of a former Wolfpack star with a bit of clout and a few thousand followers.
I hope the “national media” or Swofford makes a deal about the #cameroncrazies chanting “How’s your grandmother” to Tyler Lewis. RIP ma’am
— Julius Hodge (@Follow24Hodge) February 8, 2013
Within minutes many had immediately jumped at how horrible it sounded, while some took a second to think that it was probably not true.
First tweets about Tyler Lewis chant came from @vortmax and @_austin_parker. Were either of you at game?
— Shane Ryan (@ShaneRyanHere) February 8, 2013
Checking their timelines, and neither seem confident enough to deliver an earnest and clear response. So from there, all the Dookie fans got defensive, and rightfully so, and pretty quickly it was clear that this was a Twitter troll with a very short life span.
No, we didn’t. RT @alexkennedynba: Tyler Lewis’ grandmother died last Friday. Duke fans chanted “How’s your grandma?”
— Crazie-Talk (@crazietalker) February 8, 2013
RT @joeovies: RE: Tyler Lewis chants – folks on press row from multiple locations would have noticed something like that.
— Rob Dauster (@RobDauster) February 8, 2013
And finally.
So everyone says that Tyler Lewis ‘grandma’ chants didn’t happen except NC State fans and a student reporter for the NC State school paper.
— Rob Dauster (@RobDauster) February 8, 2013
Apparently Duke chant was actually “past your bedtime.” Incredibly lame, but still better than incredibly cruel.
— Mike Rutherford (@CardChronicle) February 8, 2013
Sigh. Oh and, by the way. Rodney Purvis checked Twitter, saw what was going on, posted his thoughts completely based on hearsay, looked like a clown, then deleted his tweet. All in the span of 45 seconds.
Rodney reads Twitter RT @rpurvis_0: Duke fans are some disrespectful clowns. Who chants about a kids grandmother who passed away recently?
— Crazie-Talk (@crazietalker) February 8, 2013
Let’s face it, NC State was just bitter. This did not happen or it would have had legs in the general media over the following days. The Cameron Crazies have hurled some not-so-flattering chants at opponents over the years, but rarely have they leapt over the line like this.
The Knee Buckle Heard ‘Round #BBN
That sequence right there with an Archie airball, Poythress missed layup and Archie charge sums up both of their seasons
— Matt Jones (@KySportsRadio) February 13, 2013
That was a tweet published by Matt Jones, the online face of Big Blue Nation, at the same moment Kentucky star freshman Nerlens Noel was in pursuit of Florida’s Mike Rosario. At the time, Jones and every Kentucky fan thought their team had problems: Archie Goodwin’s inconsistency, Alex Poythress being one of the most non-assertive McDonalds All-Americans in history. Et cetera. But those problems pale in comparison to what the Wildcats now face, as Noel’s block on Rosario in transition resulted in piercing howls after his knee buckled when landing on the ground.
Can’t help but wonder if we just saw the last of Nerlens Noel in a #Kentucky uniform…
— Anish Shroff (@AnishESPN) February 13, 2013
Without Noel, I’m struggling to see any NBA lottery picks on the court for Kentucky.
— Ben Swain (@thedevilwolf) February 13, 2013
Nerlens Noel should have shaved ‘NIT’ in the back of his head.
— Casual Hoya (@CasualHoya) February 13, 2013
Yeah. I would say now Kentucky has real problems.
Notre Dame Wins The Worst Best Game Ever
It was ugly, but you had no choice but to watch it. You wouldn’t show the game film to children as a model for fundamentals, but you would use it as an example for playing to the final buzzer. Notre Dame’s upset over Louisville Saturday night was pretty much the 2012-13 college basketball season in a nutshell: unsightly but thrilling. The sentiments from those watching were pretty consistent, and grew increasingly incensed and delirious.
After one overtime…
This game sucks so bad, and it won’t end. This is a classic game that SHOULD be awesome, but is horrible. Yet I cannot look away
— Shane Ryan (@ShaneRyanHere) February 10, 2013
After two overtimes…
I give up.
— Mark Ennis (@Mengus22) February 10, 2013
After three overtimes…
This is the worst triple overtime game I’ve ever seen. Yet I can’t look away.
— Zach Hayes (@zhayes9) February 10, 2013
After four overtimes…
THIS IS HILARIOUS
— Eamonn Brennan (@eamonnbrennan) February 10, 2013
AAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
— Eamonn Brennan (@eamonnbrennan) February 10, 2013
After the final buzzer…
I’ll never forgive the Joyce Center for not selling alcohol.
— Mike Rutherford (@CardChronicle) February 10, 2013
And suddenly it was 1:00 AM and nobody was quite sure what they just witnessed or if it was worth the angst.
Indiana – Illinois
Whether it was an upset or not – No. 1 Indiana was beaten by Illinois, yet retained its No. 1 ranking in the AP Poll – last week’s game between the Hoosiers and Fighting Illini was one of the most dramatic of the season. After blowing a 10 point lead with four minutes to play, Indiana allowed little old Tyler Griffey to trip into a game winning lay-up. Tyler Zeller got lost and the senior from Wildwood, Missouri, became the BMOC. Or did he…? Not sure if this is true or misleading, but very intriguing if so.
What does Tyler Griffey do after beating Indiana? Apparently sits by himself outside clys. #yesiamserious twitter.com/alexburt1/stat…
— Alex Burt (@alexburt1) February 8, 2013
Meanwhile, while Griffey was sitting by his lonesome, many were wondering what to make of this Fighting Illini team. Illinois. You go and lose to all these crappy teams and then you beat Indiana? Be consistent, be the team you can be
— ＡＵＳＴＩＮ ＥＳＴＥＲＳ (@Austin_Esters) February 8, 2013
Now what do you do with Illinois? Just think Illinois has wins over Indiana, Ohio State, neutral Butler and at Gonzaga.
— Andy Katz (@ESPNAndyKatz) February 8, 2013
The viral photo of the week in sports probably goes to John Groce and his son. Even Hoosier fans were gushing over it.
Ok, that’s adorb RT @sportscenter: Illinois head coach John Groce rejoices with son Conner after upsetting #1 Indiana. twitter.com/SportsCenter/s…
— Coley(@HoosierParlance) February 8, 2013
Nate Wolters’ Biggest Fan Loses His Ish
If you peruse the blogosphere, then you know that the great Matty Norlander is a huge fan of South Dakota State’s Nate Wolters. He’s unquestionably the unofficial president of #NatersGonnaNate fan club, touting the scoring acumen of this harmless looking but scrappy guard who is the full embodiment of a mid-major star long before anyone else was paying attention. So when Wolters dropped a career-high 53 points against IPFW on Thursday, it was the long-awaited opportunity for Norlander to gush poetically about his favorite player. But not so fast my friend.
Just lost my entire Wolters story/quote with a webpage crash. Fellow bloggers feel my pain. I just wasted an hour of my life.
— Matt Norlander (@MattNorlander) February 8, 2013
In the end, Norlander had to ditch his story with direct quotes and settle with a high level “yeah me and Nate chatted about stuff and it was neat” post. Big bummer. I guess Wolters will have to hang 60 on an overmatched opponent before the season is over.
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