It seems Florida's Joakim Noah can't help but find himself in, ah, "unusual" baseline altercations with non-players.
In Lexington last Saturday, Noah responded to a Kentucky cheerleader waggling her blue-and-white pom-pom in his face by swatting at it in disgust. Against Vanderbilt, Florida's 7-footer found himself playing "Grabsies" with Vanderbilt head coach Kevin Stallings after the leather passed out of bounds but remained in Florida's possession.
Have a look-see (thanks to mjd for the improved video):
Fact #1: WTF is Stallings doing holding onto the ball? Hey, Coach, that round brown thing isn't for you. Give it to the player, or give it to the ref!
Fact #2: This is one of the weirder things I've seen in college basketball this year. Okay, ever.
Looking for Unusual Baseline Encounters? Joakim Noah Is Your Man
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2/17/2007 7:48 PM ET By Ryan Ferguson
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Comments (Page 1 of 7)
I think the refs should receive a boat load of letters regarding the actions of Vandy's coach. For goodness sakes he hit Noah...my opinion he should have been removed from the game...the coach....who does that??? He should never have touched the ball to begin with...I'm simmering....I feel bad we lost but we were outplayed....Vandy showed smoking offense and we couldn't buy our 3's....hopefully our team will learn and win out....and Vandy's coach needs to review his attitude...very disappointing to watch...Go Gators!!!
The coach had no right to be anywhere near that ball and that should have been called as a technical Foul.
Noah had every right to have acted the way he did.
If the roles were reversed, and it was a Vandy player and Billy Donovan, no one would care.
Gator fans...stop crying ... Noah, just showed his bad attitude again just like when he swiped at the Kentucky cheerleaders pom-pom.
The ball must go to the referee before Florida takes possession. I'm sure both Coach Stallings and Noah are unhappy with their own actions -- the coach should have given the ball to the referee and the player should not have tried to grab it from him. Vandy played a great game. Everyone should move on.
Noah is a big baby
They got their butts beat and everyone wants to talk about the Vandy coach and the one moment during the game.
Take your ass whipping and shut up!
Much ado about nothing. I watched the game and the ball went out of bounds directly to the VU coach and Noah was in between Stallings and the ref. A player must receive the ball from the ref. before inbounding it in that situation and Noah grabbed for it before the coach could hand or throw it to the ref. Both parties reacted childishly after that and we'll probably never know where the main blame lies for that. If it was cut and dry either way I'd perhaps feel differently(unless I was wearing blue or gold colored shades).
I'm a Kentucky fan and I wish Noah would have slapped that cheerleader last week. That was a pretty crappy thing to do.
As for today, I didn't see Noah do anything wrong to begin with, then he got mad. I'm sure if Stallings would have said "hey, i've got to give it to the ref" then nothing would have happened. Instead he slapped Noah's hands, and Noah responded by looking at the ref and implying "WTF?" Noah did get a bit mad after that and reached around for the ball, which wasn't exactly the right thing to do, but I don't think I would have reacted differently after having the opposing team's head coach slap my hands ("MINE! Not yours!"). I also find it hard to swallow that a tech wasn't called on someone for all of that.
#3 - You're the one with the bad attitude. Stay off our site with negativity. This is our place to vent on what should have been called a technical on the coach. HE WAS WRONG!!!! It was Florida's ball and Noah was trying to move on...with the game. The coach was a jerk.....just like you...
I have never seen anything like that. The Vandy coach should have been ejected from the game. It is clear he wanted to get his defense set before the inbound. I hope that he is suspended for atleast 1 full game. It also proves 1 thing, Florida can be beat.
Things happen in the heat of the moment that shouldn't.Everyone involved regrets their actions I'm sure.It is the refs job to retrieve the ball,so if anyone could have prevented this it was them.By the way,the officiating was terrible- again.What an atmosphere yesterday!I feel fortunate to have been there and witness our biggest win of the year,to this point.Gator fans you have a great team and this is just one loss so move on.Go Vandy and to the fan who said good luck in the NIT as we were crossing West End
-we will be in the Big Dance with you guys.Oh by the way,good luck Vols in the NIT.
I say WTF, lol, to "JOY comment # 9". Blogs are for opinions and considering the many totally irrational but maybe well intentioned "reader comments" i'd have to say # 3's was extremely mild! You on the other hand need to grow up. Thanks for my minute in the sun and the good laughs i get from reading these blogs.
40 years back coaches should have been forced to sit on their benches & not been part of the game. Sit them down permanently & the sidline garbage ends once & for all.
I swear that Noah is the most feminine (looking AND acting) player the NCAA ha seen in a long time. It's very disturbing.
Hey Joy, what is this "we" crap? Where is the number on your back? Typical Gator fan/alumni, always believing they were on the court/field playing too. Let's look forward to next week when y'all have something else to complain about due to your own performance on the court/field.
Firstly...get a f!@@##$% haircut...you look like a freak..try looking like an athlete..and then acting like one...grow up you big ass baby...Gators are done
First of all Stallings shouldn't be grabbing the basket ball and holding it that way. But having said that, its even more regrettable that for a guy with so much talent, trouble seems to "find" Noah. He will no doubt find trouble throughout his career.
I'm a gator fan and I have to say Vandy brought it, BIG TIME! I hope this is a wake-up call for the gators and they will play out the rest of the season and tourney like they're on a mission. The refs let the game get away from them and not calling the Vandy coach for the ball holding situation was wrong. The ref need to be reprimanded, the Vandy coach needs a single game suspension (for using the "F" word), and Vandy needs to be reprimanded for storming the court (player safety).
THE COACH WAS WRONG WRONG WRONG HE SHOULD BE SUSPENDED FOR HITTING A PLAYER. WHAT A BULLY I'M TAKING MY BALL AND LEAVING. FINE HIM ALSO.
It's obvious many of you have forgotten that the teams sit on the Vanderbilt baseline instead of sideline.
The coach was SUPPOSE TO BE THERE.
The ball bounced towards him and he picked it up.
If he would have just let it bounce off of him, the referees could easily call a delay of game.
The next thing he's suppose to do is give it to the referees.
He never got the chance to do that because Joakim Noah is trying to get the ball away from him hitting him in the process.
The coach responded as anyone would, "Get your [explicit] hands off of me".
He slapped him back.
It would have never happened in any other court in America except for Vanderbilt.
Noone is really at fault but Noah could have waited for the Vanderbilt coach to give the ball to the referees.
There are specific courts in college basketball and as a college basketball player, you should know the kinks to them.