A lot of things don’t go how we plan them to, and this year’s basketball season is shaping up to be just one of those things.
When Roy Williams made the comment that this year’s basketball team was the “least gifted” he had ever coached, he wasn’t necessarily wrong. This year’s squad boasts some of the worst statistics in Carolina history, and with a seemingly inescapable string of injuries and bad losses, hopes of making the tournament this year are running thin.
However, this season wasn’t something that unraveled with the injuries. ESPN walked through recruiting woes, players who weren’t expecting to be “one-and-dones” leaving early for the NBA draft and timely transfers that lead up to this season being exactly what it is. But if you go to any of the Carolina Basketball’s social media pages, there are hundreds to thousands of individuals weighing in on the team’s current roster — and much of it isn’t positive.
Things including thrashing Roy Williams, calling for certain players’ scholarships to be taken away or demeaning notes on the team’s record.
In a bubble where the NCAA has managed to make collegiate basketball entertainment attraction, it is easy to forget that these players aren’t professionals. In fact, they are far from it; most have just graduated to adulthood, some are only 18 years old.
But they have experienced professional levels of fame, good and bad, without any of the payoff. The college basketball industry has made billions of dollars, and student-athletes will never see a penny of that profit.
Players have been briefed and trained on how to interact with fans on social media and at games, and it’s assumed they have experienced the attention long enough to pay no mind to it. However, with the losing streaks they’ve seen this year, anyone could only take so much of the constant commentary by individuals who have no understanding of the work the players put into the game.
At the N.C. State game, junior Andrew Platek admitted that State fans made comments that were very personal, which had crossed a line. He later said that “it was awesome to shut them up.” Senior Brandon Robinson shared similar feelings. He explained that when he checked the comments on Instagram following sitting out the Virginia Tech game, he noticed some fans thought he was faking, while others called him “soft.” He said it bothered him.
Many die-hard college basketball fans will come back to the age-old argument that it’s just a game, and the trash talk is just another aspect of that game. However, for players who put in hours of work, push their bodies to the limit and perform on one of the biggest stages in sports today — without compensation or even a guarantee of an NBA draft pick — having to deal with hate positively is just another item on their plate.
