Mike White (Florida Athletics Photo)
One overlooked part of the NCAA Tournament to me was the stand Florida coach Mike White took by not playing forward Omar Payne in a 75-70 win over Virginia Tech Friday after the cheap shot Payne threw at Tennessee’s John Fulkerson in the SEC Tournament. ‘
Payne initially threw an elbow toward Fulkerson’s chest, then threw another elbow that connected with Fulkerson’s jaw and knocked him straight to the floor. Fulkerson missed the rest of the game as well as Tennessee’s game the next day against Alabama. He also was unable to play in the Vols’ NCAA tourney loss to Oregon State Saturday.
Payne called Fulkerson to apologize and also posted an apology on social media. Big deal, right. He should have been suspended for the flagrant elbow but was not by the SEC. Instead, White had to do the right thing and keep his player on the bench.
“Definitely a teaching moment,” White said after the game. “It wasn’t overly difficult. It’s difficult that he can’t play, obviously, but it was the right thing to do. That’s it. Omar handled it like a champ. Omar is very remorseful. We all make mistakes. He’s a great young man. We were able to overcome, fortunately, without him, who I thought could have obviously helped us in a lot of ways today.”
One key here is that White said it wasn’t “overly difficult” not to play Payne. Players need to learn they are responsible for their actions and being remorseful is not enough.
White said there was no agreement with Tennessee to hold Payne out if Fulkerson could not play in the NCAA.
The coach even hoped the overtime win was a learning time for his players as well as what he did with Payne, who was allowed to play in the second round against Oral Roberts.
“Did we take a step (forward)? Yes, for sure, but this team like all teams need to learn how to continue to be more consistent with their focus, with their poise, with their controlling of emotions,” White said.
Hopefully, not just Payne but others learned about “controlling” emotions after White did to penalize his player for a reckless, dangerous act that cost Fulkerson a chance to play in the NCAA and hurt the Vols. That’s why not playing him in the opening game was the right thing for White to do.
