Greensboro College in the Hoops Spotlight/Guilford College in the Police Lineup

Back on January 6 the Greensboro College Pride men’s basketball team traveled to Southern Virginia Unversity and came back to the GC West Market Street campus with an 88-86 loss.  At that time this was only the second loss of the year for GC.  The Greensboro College Pride now stand at 13-4 after the tables were turned in favor of GC on Tuesday night at the Hanes Gymnasium.

Southern Virginia University is a small, relatively new school north of Roanoke in what most people in the great state of Virginny call, Southwest Virginia.  SVU is a Morman school with most of it’s players coming from Utah(six in fact on a roster of 14), and you won’t see any kids from Lynchburg, Blacksburg, or Christiansburg in the Knights lineup.  SVU has only been around for about 10 years and when speaking to coach Charles Jolley after the game at Greensboro College, CJ said SUV, wait, that’s SVU is still the new kid on the block.

Greensboro College was able to block out their earlier loss to the Knights and the Pride nearly ran them out of the Hanes Gym finishing off SVU 83-60.  The Pride were up by 14 at the half, 44-30, and GC coach Bryan Galuski was able to empty his bench and get playing for everyone that suited up.  Scoring- leader Lynn Bright only had to put up 6 points because the effort was so balanced.

Fan-favorite Theo Tamini who hails from West Africa even got in on the act with 4 big points and 5 rebounds.  Tamini is  very strong and works hard for the Pride when given the opportunity.  James Newman led the Pride with 12, while George Greene, Bryant Camp, and Adam Nicholson all added 11 each.

This was another excellent win for the Pride who have already won more games this season than they have in nearly 20 years and speaking of 20, the Pride will have the magic number of 20 wins on their radar as the season progresses.  I talked to GC Athletic Director Kim Strable during the halftime of last night’s game and he is very pleased with his school’s efforts, but Strable, when our dicsussion turned to the student assaults that happened over the past weekend at Guiford College, was not happy at all.   Strable said the Quakers have an all-out mess on their hands and this is not good situation and it is something that NEVER should have occured.

The Quakers at Guilford College preach for President George Bush to stop the killing in Iraq.  You will see bumper stickers on cars and other vehicles on the small campus off of West Friendly Avenue, declaring that PEACE is the answer and that force and hostility have no place in our society.  Someone better tell that to the three Guilford College football players that attacked and beat the daylights out of three Palestinian students in what is being called a HATE CRIME.

Michael Bates, Michael Robert Six, and Christopher Barnette were arrested in connection with the attack.  The Quakers exclaim a message of Stop the Violence, but the three football players were charged with assault and battery and ethnic intimidation against the Palestinian students.  Of the football players Barnette was an NCAA Division III All-American.  The All-American attacking the foreign students with brass knuckles, is that the way we spell social justice and diversity in our country?

I have talked with several members of the Palestinian Community and they are very upset with the way this is being handled.  The word I am receiving and I have contact with some very influential Palestinians is that the Guilford College football players must be expelled or there will a major demonstration in our City.  Either the football players go, or there is going to be some trouble.

Guilford College Athletic Director Marion Kirby and college President Kent Chabotar have some tough decisions to make.  There are some fine people who work at Guilford to make it a solid part of the community, including Randy Doss(who is a regular greensborosports.com reader), Ty Buckner(long-time UNCG SID), and David Walters(current Guilford SID).  We should not forget coach Kirby who has worked in this city for over 35 years.

The man who should face the music is Quaker football coach Kevin Kiesel.  He’s the man that is responsible for the football players and they are his charges.  Now these young men have messed up and they face crimminal charges and where is the football coach?  Coach, you brought these young men into the Guilford College program and now you must step up and show them the way out.  Expulsion of Bates, Barnette, and Six is the only solution and even then our All-American image has taken a beating along with our Palestinian neighbors.