Cal Basketball Shoves A Player In The Middle Of A Game, Avoids A Suspension

YouTubeCal basketball coach Mike Montgomery shoved star player Allen Crabbe during the second half of his team's game against USC on Sunday.

The shove "worked" (Cal went on a 44-24 run and won the game), but it also sparked a ton of debate yesterday about why this wasn't a bigger deal.

Cal athletic director Sandy Barbour and Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott both issued statements calling the shove unacceptable. Montgomery was "reprimanded" by the conference and apologized, but the specifics of the punishment weren't disclosed and Montgomery won't be suspended.

Crabbe said after the game, "It was coach using his way of motivating me. There was nothing wrong with it. It was just spur of the moment."

So all signs indicate that this incident is going to go away quietly.

But if Crabbe wasn't able to restrain himself, or the game turned out different, we'd be talking about this is a very different way today: