EDITORIAL: The New UNLV of Rhode Island — Bryant Basketball
Wednesday, March 09, 2022
Most people have not seen Bryant University basketball in all its glory, but last night much of the country did.
Or at least they read about the Bulldogs this morning, for all the wrong reasons.
TMZ featured Bryant with the headline, “TOPLESS FAN THROWS DRINK ON MAN...In Wild Skirmish At Game.”
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTFor those following the program, the national embarrassment was not that big a surprise. Bryant is becoming Rhode Island's little taste of the UNLV program of the 1970s and 1980s -- known for winning and embarrassing controversies.
Today, Bryant is a program so desperate for relevancy that it has turned over the University’s reputation to the likes of coach Jared Grasso, Peter Kiss, and a drunken student section.
The nation got to see the “bravado” of coach Grasso yelling and sweating all over the ESPN broadcast.
The ESPN audience also saw the complete lack of sportsmanship by Kiss -- Bryant’s leading scorer -- who taunted and mugged for the TV audience.
Kiss is at his third college, suspended at other times and -- recruited by Grasso -- is becoming the face of everything wrong with the desperation at third-tier college basketball programs to be "big time."
Bryant was "big-time" Tuesday night. Or more accurately, huge -- a huge embarrassment.
Kiss has been in college basketball since the fall of 2016 (not a typo).
America saw the shameful behavior of Kiss before the fight — taunting, showboating, flexing, push-ups. And all of it is part of the Grasso game.
Kiss started as a freshman at Quinnipiac in 2016-2017. He then transferred to Rutgers and redshirted in 2017-18. He played at Rutgers in 2018-2019, and then the next season 2019-2020 he was out at Rutgers. Rutgers then-Head Coach Steve Pikiell said in a statement at the time released by Rutgers communications, "We appreciate his contributions to our program, support his decision and wish him future success."
Kiss was then off to Bryant and play for Grasso.
How much do the rest of the Northeast Conference coaches respect Bryant and Kiss?
It's pretty obvious. Kiss led the nation in scoring -- and was not selected as the league’s player of the year.
The brawl was humiliating to college basketball and to Bryant. But not quite all of it can be blamed on Grasso.
Who came up with the brilliant idea of putting the two schools' student sections next to each other with no security separating them, or selling alcohol or letting students in who were clearly intoxicated?
Oh, how the staff meetings in Smithfield on Wednesday must be flying!
Bryant did everything it could to build a winning program fast and it did, all the way to the homepage of TMZ.
Bryant is headed to the Big Dance, Grasso will get offers from other schools, Kiss is a two-year rental, and Bryant's reputation is headed to the toilet.
It brings a new definition to March Madness.
Editorial Note: Kiss is playing in his second year at Bryant.
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