The Cincinnati Bearcats @ Xavier Musketeers game degenerated into a bloody brawl with nine seconds left in the game. It was a very dangerous situation. Cincinnati's Yancy Gates threw a cheap shot punch and hit Xavier's Kenny Frease under the eye, cutting him deeply and badly. Gates threw at least four punches I counted, connecting on two. Follow this link to an animated gif of Gates' punch to Frease's eye. But Gates wasn't the only one to blame, as many players were involved from both sides, and Xavier's Tu Holloway may well have instigated the whole thing. Here is the video:
In my view, Gates should be declared ineligible for further participation in college athletics and his scholarship withdrawn for this incident. It is not just unacceptable, it was a deliberate, criminal act that could result in charges by the authorities in Cincinnati against Gates at minimum, and possibly others as well. Someone could have been killed in this brawl, and I'm not sure Frease's vision hasn't been compromised by the deep laceration he suffered from Gates' punch.
This was an incredibly violent event participated by much woofing between the two teams during the game, and is indicative about exactly what is wrong with wild smack-talk and jaw-jaw by both players and fans. It also shows the danger of allowing rivalries in sports to become too bitter and too deeply emotional.
This is a caution for every team, and every rivalry. I am positive that officials will be handing out technicals left and right for trash talk after this, and I think they should. This cannot be permitted to happen again. I don't remember anything in many years even approaching this level of violence.