Fifteen years ago I wrote a column just like the one linked to this post -- a column comparing Virginia's small forward Bryant Stith to other small forwards throughout the country. Stith was beloved -- a freshman hero of the 1988-89 team that went from conference cellar in '87-88 to the Final Eight during his first year, the leading scorer in both the '89-90 and '90-91 campaigns, a straight-up person, a fine student and the former valedictorian of his high school.
The point of the column: Stith had been overrated by the Virginia community but had also been misused by the Virginia staff as an outside-first player, instead of in the slasher-from-the-wing and offensive-rebounder roles that made him so effective in his freshman season. I noted that Stith was not a good passer by any means, had only so-so rebound numbers as a junior, had a lower FG% than usual, etc. Nonetheless, I argued that he was the best that Virginia had and therefore the team should have been using him to the best of his abilities on the baseline, not as primarily a third guard. The column's main flaw -- more argument about the comparisons with similar small forwards and not enough stress on the misuse of Stith.
Reaction was swift. First came the phone-call from the irate Virginia Sports Information Department and a 45-minute attempted scolding from one of the Assistant directors (he actually diffused his anger a bit when I conceded that the primary purpose of the column was to criticize how the team had used Stith, not Stith personally).
Then came the calls from irate fans.
Then came a call from the AP and an article on the column that appeared the day before the ACC Tournament, which quoted me.
And during the ACC Tourney, Dick Vitale blasted me on the air (not by name, just for writing the column).
So I know what Ethan Ramsey has gone through. He's the student who wrote the Gerry McNamara is Overrated column in a point-counterpoint for Syracuse's Daily Orange, which is one of the better student papers in the country (just like The Cavalier Daily). That column came out in February. And given G-Mac's struggles this year, his point is easy to sympathize with. Now Ramsey has been blasted in letters to the editor, email, and become a national story after Coach Boeheim's diatribe on Wednesday (which was really in response to an assistant coaches' poll calling G-Mac overrated but Boeheim blurred the line between the poll and the column). The poll results, which appeared in Tuesday's Syracuse Post-Standard, and the earlier column have been used to fire up the Orange during their Big East Tourney run. Meanwhile Ramsey has been criticized on ESPN and by Boeheim.
Personally, I don't fully agree with Ramsey: I've watched G-Mac for four years and there's no doubt that he's a cross-breed point guard and shooting guard who struggles with smaller quicker guards. But Mac's struggles this year do not come from an inability to create his own shot (he's not just a stand-still shooter, just watch the tapes of the SU-KU Final from 2003). Instead, they come from lack of trust of his teammates, who've been erratic at best (two words: Demetris Nichols -- Ramsey's claim that G-Mac may only be the third-best player on the team is far-fetched), and fatigue. G-Mac plays 38+ minutes per game and, because there's no other must-stop player on the Orange, he gets the primary attention from the opponents. He's been playing with a groin injury for at least five weeks, but that does not excuse G-Mac's early season struggles as he had to adjust to being THE MAN.
Nonetheless, I certainly sympathize with Ramsey. It's not easy to criticize the icon and walk away unscathed. But reasoned opinion in dissent (and his column is by no means unreasonable) is part of being a good column writer. Unfortunately, so is taking the flak.
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