Illinois Basketball: Alan Griffin’s apology is a growing moment
On Wednesday night, the Illinois basketball world witnessed a moment of growth for one of their young players.
Alan Griffin took to Twitter to post an apology letter to Sasha Stefanovic, Coach Matt Painter, the Purdue basketball team, the Illinois coaches, his teammates and to Illini Nation for the stomp that happened in the game on Tuesday.
This apology was needed as the incident was ugly. There is no reason for anyone on the basketball court to stomp on anyone. Griffin made a huge error.
But the first step in correcting everything is an apology. Boneheaded decisions happen, especially at the age of 19 years old. I can’t tell you how many dumb decisions I had made by that point. Griffin’s dumb decision was just on a national stage with hundreds of thousands of people watching.
The stomp was ugly, and Griffin should have been kicked out. I am still waiting to hear how many games his suspension will be, assuming there will be one. But there is, for a lack of a better term, a silver lining to what happened on Tuesday night.
Griffin has had incidents in the past where he has been chippy with his opponents. It has gotten to the point in some games where he has been separated from the guy he was getting chippy with so there wouldn’t potentially be further action taken. But it all culminated into the stomp on Tuesday. From this stomp, we can have a growing moment.
This stomp can wake Griffin up. I love his energy on the court, and his aggression for the ball is incredible. I don’t want that to ever leave his mentality. But that aggression can get out of hand sometimes. There is a way to hone that aggression for the good and leave out all of the nonsense that deals with bumping into opposing players or even stomping on them.
Next. 3 observations from the Illini win over Purdue. dark
I believe this apology and the proceeding suspension will help him hone that aggression. I remember Leron Black had a similar mentality on the court. He was able to hone his aggression with maturity and life lessons. I am hoping once all of this dust settles for Griffin, he will have learned a life lesson too.