ILLINOIS STAR FACES RACIST ABUSE ON SOCIAL MEDIA
Illinois big man Kofi Cockburn is the second player to face racist comments on social media following a loss in the NCAA Tournament.
Cockburn shared on Instagram a racist social media post directed at him after the top-seeded Illini lost Sunday to No. 8 Loyola Chicago.
Cockburn, who was born in Jamaica but later moved to New York, posted a screenshot of the post and responded by writing: “I blame his parents.”
Cockburn’s post came a day after Ohio State’s E.J. Liddell received threatening and insulting social media messages following the second-seeded Buckeyes’ loss to No. 15 seed Oral Roberts. He posted images of the messages, including one that said “I hope you die I really do.” Other messages included racist insults.
“Honestly, what did I do to deserve this?” Liddell posted on Twitter. “I’m human.”
Ohio State has contacted police about the language directed at Liddell.
Last roundup
Just like that, the college career of Cade Cunningham appears to be over.
The 6-foot-8 freshman point guard scored 24 points in Oklahoma State’s 80-70 loss to Oregon State in the second round late Sunday night. The first-team AP AllAmerican, who led the Big 12 in scoring, is expected to be a high pick in the NBA Draft — possibly No. 1 overall.
And though he didn’t commit either way when asked if it was his last game, Cunningham spoke as though he’s looking beyond college. “It’s been special,” he said of playing at Oklahoma State. “I think that’s the best way to describe it. I think the biggest thing is I surrounded myself around great people. More than anything, that’s the thing I’m most proud of. That’s the thing, I feel like I’ve grown up the most by being around good people who pushed me to be somebody good on the court and off the court.
“I’m going to miss it, for sure.”
Garza gone, too
The NCAA Tournament lost one of its biggest names and best players with Iowa’s loss.
Two-time All-American Luka Garza closed out his stellar career with the Hawkeyes in impressive fashion, tying the school NCAA Tournament record with 36 points on 14-of-20 shooting. He is the first player since Oklahoma’s Blake Griffin in 2009 to hit 70 percent of his shots with at least 20 attempts in an NCAA Tournament game.
Garza is a front-runner to win all the major postseason awards and moves on to preparing for an NBA career. He leaves Iowa as the seventh-leading scorer in Big Ten history at 2,306 points.
The 6-foot-11 senior got emotional after he left the floor in Indianapolis after his final game, wiping tears as he hugged teammates and coach Fran McCaffery on his way to the bench for the last time.
Notable
Joe Boylan, a popular radio voice for Rutgers basketball and an assistant coach when the team made its only Final Four appearance nearly a half-century ago, died. He was 82. Boylan had a stroke Wednesday and died Sunday.