Marcus Smart could be playing in the NBA today instead of for the Cowboys of Oklahoma State. He was considered one of the top prospects for the NBA Draft last year but announced in April that he would be returning to Stillwater for his sophomore year saying that he wanted to help take the Cowboys to the Final Four before leaving college.
In 2013 Smart was the Big 12 Conference Player of the Year, a Consensus 2nd Team All-American and the USBWA National Freshman of the Year. Smart also played on the 2013 USA National Team that brought home the gold medal in the FIBA World U19 Championships. Quite a list of accomplishments for a young man who still has not reached 20 years of age.
The Oklahoma State basketball team is unlikely to make it to the Final Four this season after having lost 5 of its last 6 games and Marcus Smart doesn’t look like he is having too much fun this year either. I’ll bet the thought has crossed his mind about all that money he could be making in the NBA.
The situation came to a head over the weekend as Texas Tech was about to defeat the Oklahoma State in yet another tough loss and frustration was beginning to show. Then, when Smart ended up on the floor in front of the crowd after trying to block a shot under the goal things got out of hand.
A Texas Tech fan nearby said something to Smart when he was down on the floor that brought him up very quickly and resulted in Smart shoving the fan with both hands. The guy didn’t fall down or anything like that but still, a player pushing a fan in the stands got everyone’s full attention right away.
Within minutes the incident was all over the air-ways and the Internet. It went viral. At first it was reported that the fan, later identified as a devoted Texas Tech fan named Jeff Orr who was a familiar sight at the Red Raiders basketball games, had used a racial slur the infamous ‘N’ word, but later that was denied.
Whatever it was that the man did say, it turned the normally under control Marcus Smart into a raging bull. To put it in the vernacular, he was ‘pissed off’ and had to be led off the court by a member of the Oklahoma State coaching staff.
On Sunday afternoon Cowboys coach Travis Ford announced that Marcus Smart would have to serve a three game suspension for the act… you just can’t cross that line.
