OT: Iowa State player eye gouges BYU player

[Kitaman]

Ive seen a lot of basketball but have never seen a player do this:
Looks intentional to me.

 

[upstater]

What is intentional? The eye gouge or the foul? The foul might be intentional, but come on, the eye gouge wasn't. He was putting his hands up for a hard foul.

 

[GlastonTim]

By seeing his reaction to it being called a flagrant foul I don't think it was intentional. No reason to do it.

 

[pj]

What is intentional? The eye gouge or the foul? The foul might be intentional, but come on, the eye gouge wasn't. He was putting his hands up for a hard foul.

How do you know? Basketball players are trained to keep their arms vertical or to play on the ball. You don't try to obstruct vision close that close to the basket, and if you were trying to obstruct vision you would use the palms, not point the fingers toward the eyes. Maybe he was exhausted and couldn't lift his arms high enough, but it's possible he was trying to poke the guy in the most vulnerable spot.

 

[upstater]

How do you know? Basketball players are trained to keep their arms vertical or to play on the ball. You don't try to obstruct vision close that close to the basket, and if you were trying to obstruct vision you would use the palms, not point the fingers toward the eyes. Maybe he was exhausted and couldn't lift his arms high enough, but it's possible he was trying to poke the guy in the most vulnerable spot.

I don't think he was trying to obstruct vision. I think he was going for a hard foul. In other words, he's not trying to keep his hands vertical on purpose. He's trying to prevent a shot while committing a foul.

 

[CAHUSKY]

Looks like he tried to quickly raise his arms to play defense and poked him in the eye. Brutal result but no malicious intent from my perspective.

 

[Kitaman]

Well since that's the first time many have seen something like that, and there was no attempt on the ball, I find the foul suspect.

Trust me, if it happened to Nolan, people would say it was intentional.

 

[Excalibur]

Obviously an intentional foul, but no evidence that the eye rake was intentional. In fact, calling a flagrant 2 there is really suspect. The referees let the injury and the crowd dictate their call. Bad job . . .