Oklahoma State’s Markel Brown(22) and Phil Forte(13) hold Marcus Smart(33) after Smart shoved a fan during their NCAA college basketball game in Lubbock, Texas, Saturday, Feb, 8, 2014.Watching the Marcus Smart situation unfold Saturday evening brought back some similar memories to Josh Deming. They weren’t good ones, either.
Eyebrows were raised over the weekend when video footage showed Smart, a Oklahoma State sophomore guard, going after a fan late in the Cowboys’ eventual 65-61 defeat at Texas Tech. After blocking a shot, Smart tumbled into the foot of the stands and then jumped up and pushed self-anointed Texas Tech “superfan” Jeff Orr. He said he heard Orr make a racist remark.
The potential first-round NBA draft pick was separated quickly from the situation.
Sunday evening, Smart was given a three-game suspension, while Orr – after saying he made a mistake but denying making racist statements – volunteered not to attend Texas Tech games the rest of this season. The conversation has turned toward the behavior of fans at games, as well as players in games at all levels.
It hit pretty close to home for Deming. Back on Nov. 11, 2004 – eight days before then-Indiana Pacer Ron Artest’s infamous “Malice in the Palace” incident – Deming was part of a nasty situation when his Concordia College team from Selma, Ala., took on Faulkner University in an NAIA game in Montgomery.