Michigan Coach Suspended As Wisconsin Denies Any Guilt

Apparently, Wisconsin's coaches and players did NOTHING wrong in Sunday's post game altercation. Let me show you how wrong they are.

The fact that University of Michigan head basketball coach Juwan Howard was suspended for the remainder of the season by the Big Ten after slapping a University of Wisconsin assistant coach is not surprising.

However, the fact that Wisconsin denies any culpability in the fight is not only surprising, it's laughable.

Juwan Howard was way out of line throwing hands at opposing coaches Sunday. He should have been suspended and he admitted as much in his posted apology. Howard and the school were also fined $40,000.

Two Michigan players, Moussa Diabate and Terrence Williams were also suspended for throwing punches in the ensuing melee. I also believe that those punishments were fair.

Wisconsin head coach Greg Gard was fined just $10,000 for his part in the fight, while Badger player Jahcobi Heath received a one game suspension. Fair? I think the coach deserved a one game sit-out, but I'm cool with those punishments.

Where it gets weird is a statement released by the Wisconsin Athletic Department which seems to indicate their coaches and players did nothing strong in that fight, and in fact were trying to stop it from escalating.

And that, my friends, is a giant load of crap.

I will not excuse Howard's overreaction, but the Wisconsin coach did provoke by putting his hands on Howard, and his assistants and several players were caught shoving Michigan players well before Howard set things off with a slap to Joe Krabbenhoft's head.

Watch as Howard makes a comment, but then Gard grabs impedes his progress to get by.

Oh, I'm sorry is that Wisconsin's Heath in the video below landing a punch to a Michigan players face? That hardly seems like something you would do to "deescalate" a brawl.

In this video we see Krabbenhoft clearly shove a Michigan player which set Howard off. Again, I don't condone Howard's overreaction, but this isn't exactly "commendable" behavior either.

Poor Wisconsin, they didn't do anything wrong. Except maybe act like giant buttheads. Own up to your end of it.