A bench-clearing brawl forced officials to cancel the final 9.4 seconds of Xavier's 76-53 victory in the contentious crosstown rivalry game with the Bearcats. The No. 8 Musketeers are 8-0 while Cincinnati is 5-3.
I have never been this embarrassed in my entire career. It's a complete embarrassment. Toughness is doing the right thing. ... If my players don't act the right way, they will never play another game at Cincinnati.
Both commissioners are waiting to see what Xavier and Cincinnati decide about further penalties. But, according to the source, there will be further suspensions forthcoming for players on both teams, in addition to the NCAA-mandated one-game suspensions.
Cincinnati coach Mick Cronin certainly indicated he is going to take strong action. In his postgame news conference, Cronin said, "I have never been this embarrassed in my entire career.
"It's a complete embarrassment," Cronin said. "Toughness is doing the right thing. You take your ass-whipping and go home. If my players don't act the right way, they will never play another game at Cincinnati."
Cronin led the Bearcats to the NCAA tournament for the first time in his five seasons last March and received a three-year contract extension in April. Cronin said that he and the school president will watch the tape and determine which players "remain on the team."
Xavier officials weren't as strong -- yet.
"I'm not in a position to be a decision maker," said Xavier coach Chris Mack by phone from the Cintas Center. "We'll address the situation and see what our conference feels is necessary. The bigger thing is that our kids in this situation need to learn how to handle themselves and not let that happen again.
"No one wanted the game to end like that," Mack said. "We wanted to have our seniors celebrate the Crosstown Shootout."
By Andy Katz
ESPN.com
Press Confrence
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