Throughout his esteemed career, Temple coach John Chaney has never hesitated to speak out against what he perceived as injustices, whether they were related to race, politics or refereeing.
He has engendered enormous respect in this basketball hotbed for his forthright integrity, and his bold and impassioned manner.
Yet, even by his own unapologetically aggressive standards, Chaney admitted he went too far on Tuesday night by using a player he identified as a "goon" to commit hard fouls in a tense 63-56 loss to city rival St. Joseph's.
Chaney suspended himself for Temple's home game on Saturday against Massachusetts, and he has called his behavior "reprehensible." Yet, the self-imposed penalty has not made the incident go away.
John Bryant, the St. Joseph's forward who was pushed to the floor during the period of intentional fouling, suffered a nondisplaced fracture of the right arm near the elbow, university officials said Thursday night. The earliest he can return is three or four weeks, which may mean his season is over.
Phil Martelli, the St. Joseph's coach, said Thursday without being specific that the matter may not yet be resolved. A St. Joseph's official said administrators from both universities were in conversation.
A Temple official close to the discussions, who did not want to be identified, said the university did not plan further sanctions against Chaney.
"You make a decision, and if you think you've done the right thing, you live with it," the official said. "I don't think St. Joe's or Temple wants this to have more legs than it has."
Still, questions have been raised about whether Chaney should have been allowed to decide his own punishment, whether the one-game suspension was sufficient and whether a series of recent divisive incidents involving him suggested that he was having trouble controlling his anger.
A debate also ensued about whether Temple and Atlantic-10 Conference officials, along with the news media, were treating Chaney too deferentially because of his stature as a Hall of Fame coach.
"John, who has done so much good, gets away with a lot of stuff because people like him," Governor Edward G. Rendell of Pennsylvania, an inveterate Philadelphia sports fan, said Thursday in an interview with WIP, a local sports-talk radio station. "Had it been someone like Bobby Knight, who the media hates, I think they would have been calling for him to be banned forever from basketball. Hypocrisy exists in every field of endeavor. If the media likes you, you get a lot more slack than if they don't like you."
Ivan Radenovic drained two clutch free throws in the waning moments of overtime, as No. 9 Arizona exacted revenge and escaped with a 57-56 victory over Washington State at Friel Court on Thursday.
Channing Frye led the way with 26 points for Arizona (24-4, 14-2 Pacific 10), which has won seven straight. Radenovic and Hassan Adams each added 10 points for the Wildcats, who dropped a 70-63 home tilt to these Cougars on Jan. 29 for one of their only two losses in the league this season.
Senior standout guard Salim Stoudamire, who entered the game averaging 18.6 points per game, was held to just eight points in the victory.
Thomas Kelati led the Cougars with 16 points on 6-of-14 shooting. Derrick Low contributed 12 points for Washington State (10-14, 5-10), which has dropped four consecutive contests.
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