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Michigan State Spartans Basketball: Garrick Sherman's Twitter Rant

Sherman's Twitter rant should probably make you like him more

By Joe Tuohey
Rich Barnes-USA TODAY Sports

So let's just get this out of the way:

Here's the thing: this admission from Garrick Sherman should make you like him more. Sherman averaged 1.9 points and 1.6 rebounds per game as a freshman in the 2009-10 season which culminated in a Final Four run. Durrell Summers averaged 18.8 points per game in the tournament, which was crucial to that run. My memories of Garrick Sherman before today were mostly that he turned the ball over too often, never developed the way I wanted him to, and ruined the pileup at the end of the Maryland buzzer-beater highlight by screaming into the camera. Now, he's single-handedly responsible for keeping Summers eligible during that tournament.

There are two qualms you could have with this admission. First, let's tackle the morality of the act itself. I guess I'm a sort of Kantian ethically, so my question is: would I be mad if I found out that an MSU opponent got away with smoking weed? Let's say we found out Shabazz Napier for UCONN was outed on Twitter for falsifying a drug test in 2014, and we were reasonably sure that it was for pot. This wouldn't bother me, simply because it's not a performance enhancing drug; it's not like we care if one of these guys got drunk the night before a game, which would have more significant effects. Have you ever tried playing pickup basketball while stoned (or drunk, or hungover)? It's difficult.

Now, if the drug test was skirted to avoid testing positive for steroids or something, then I think a moral indictment would be fair. In this case, nah. Plus, it's not like this was a surprise given campus rumors from the time period as well as stuff like this from Chris Allen and Korie Lucious. MSU basketball teams of that era were smoking pot, and you were blind if you didn't see it.

The second problem you could have with the admission is that the NCAA could start an investigation and potentially strip MSU of a banner. That's highly unlikely, and Garrick explains why:

There won't be fallout from this, despite the likely veracity of Sherman's claim.

Sherman's (drunken) rant was also not aimed at hurting MSU in any way. It was a pot shot at the NCAA, if anything:

So thanks for your help, Sherm! Way to take one (or perhaps more appropriately, drain one) for the team.

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