DIFFICULT CHOICE BETWEEN MULKEY AND HURLEY

 The voting booth is open. Please, mark your ballot for college basketball JERK OF THE WEEK … And, the leading candidates are:

1 – KIM MULKEY, LSU women’s team coach … who 

warmed up by dissing an ESPN reporter for making an 

innocent inquiry – at halftime of the SEC title matchup with 

South Carolina – about the physicality of the game. Then, 

after rival coach DAWN STALEY apologized for a nasty 

second-half ruckus that involved both teams, Mulkey took the 

low road, saying she wished USC’s 6-7 KAMILA 

CARDOSO had gone after 6-3 ANGEL REESE (instead of 

smaller FLAU’JAE JOHNSON who started the whole thing 

with an intentional foul). The inference was clear. Except … 

Reese, who was the controversial face of LSU hoops last year, 

was seen leaving for a neutral corner while several teammates 

engaged. Naturally, she took considerable heat for not coming 

to the aid of a teammate … Much later, Reese explained (well, 

sort of) on social media, writing (in part) … “As a person at 

my status, sometimes you have to walk away from certain 

situations.” Reese also wrote she had twisted her ankle on the 

previous play but that ... “I always ride for mine.” … No. 1 

South Carolina won 79-72 … and Staley, former U.Va., All-

American, said she hoped people “tuning in don’t think this is 

representative of women’s basketball. It isn’t.” … Meanwhile, 

the brother of LSU’s Johnson was taken away in handcuffs 

after knocking down a representative of the conference then 

stepping on her while attempting to join the altercation.

2 – DAN HURLEY, UConn men’s coach, who challenged a 

rival fan to “come on down here … and you’ll get hurt.” This 

was at Dunkin Doughnuts Center in Providence where 

Hurley’s defending national champions beat the hometown 

Friars 84-70 … Accompanied by a bunch of uniformed 

security personnel, he was caught acting like a slug by an 

enterprising TV cameraman. Later, at his post-game press 

conference, Hurley acted like the whole thing was no big deal, 

saying he told the fan (who was not caught on camera) he 

should “keep his mouth shut when you’re losing by 20 points. 

‘Just shut up and go away.’” … Too bad Hurley didn’t take his 

own advice. Then again he could have said, “Have another 

[Dunkin] doughnut … you fat pig!” … And somewhere JIM 

SCHOENFELD, original author of that line (while coach of 

the NHL New Jersey Devils, directed at ref DON 

KOHARSKI in a post-game skirmish) would have had a 

good laugh.

SPEAKING OF the Devils … they rolled over to the red-hot 

New York Rangers 3-1 Monday night but, in the aftermath, all 

anyone could/would talk about was the cheap shot that earned 

Ranger rookie MATT REMPE a four-game suspension. 

Actually, the 21 year old forward was lucky he didn’t get 

more … With 29.3 seconds remaining in the second period, 

the 6-8 1/2, 241-pounder, who has become a hero to the fight-

starved RangerNation for a willingness to take on all comers 

(well, almost all, anyway), ran NJ defenseman JONAS 

SIEGENTHALER and hit him with a glancing elbow to the 

head. Rempe received a five-minute major as well as a game 

misconduct then, uncharacteristically, wanted no part of a 

fight with the Devils’ KURTIS MACDERMID, who had 

tried to goad him into dropping the gloves earlier. “I don’t 

know what he was told,” MacDermid told reporters, “but he 

said ‘no’” … In the teams’ last meeting (Feb. 22), Rempe 

slammed into an unsuspecting NATHAN BASTIAN along 

the boards near the NY bench, knocking him out of the game 

and earning Rempe major as well as match penalties after a 

grand total of 13 seconds of ice time. Siegenthaler went after 

Rempe, who got in a couple of punches while the NJ 

defenseman covered up and never had time to remove his 

gloves … A few days later the Devils made a deal with 

Colorado for MacDermid, 29-year-old tough guy. He was 

waiting to avenge Bastian but never got the opportunity. Then, 

while leaving the ice, Rempe waved good-bye – a hockey no-

no … “I wish I had gotten to him earlier. … There’s a right 

way and a wrong way to do things. I lost a lot of respect for 

him,” MacDermid said later … On the NHL Network, MIKE 

JOHNSON, who played for four teams including Toronto and 

Montreal, agreed. “I didn’t like him waving at the bench … 

mocking them,” he said. “That stuff is not good.”…

 Suspension will cost Rempe $17,083.32 … which will go to 

Players Emergency Assistance Fund.

Until next time ...