Arizona Basketball: Former players, fans and Zona Zealots react to Dick Vitale again
By David Rosen
In the midst of the NCAA beginning their investigation into Arizona, Dick Vitale voiced his opinion and got a lot of reaction on Twitter
For a while now, Dick Vitale seems to continue to voice his opinion about Arizona Basketball on Twitter. While he says that Coach Sean Miller is a favorite of his one minute, the next minute he will Tweet the opposite.
Whether it’s something he has against Arizona or just doesn’t get it, Vitale continues to say things that get people reacting on Twitter – and not in a positive way. Dickie V is now tagging Zona Zealots in his posts hoping to get a rise out of us and our followers.
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I have personally been called out by Vitale a few times on Twitter for voicing my opinion. Now yes, Twitter is a place you can converse, but for someone in his position, representing ESPN, reacting and saying the things he does is not a good look for that network. It’s not like that network has much credibility anyways when it comes to Arizona Wildcat basketball reporting.
Vitale repeatedly defends other schools and coaches who have been found guilty. One of those being from former Louisville head coach Rick Pitino, who was involved in several different scandals and investigations, including his lack of oversight in a 2015 sex scandal of his own players and a separate investigation about bribes to recruits – yeah Vitale defends this guy, wow!
Former players, fans and even our Zona Zealots crew reacted to his latest “spiraling out of control” comments. Vitale even called out Zona Zealots. Of course, we had to respond:
I would love to hear what @APlayersProgram coach has to say about the actions of members on his staff / Mark Phelps / Book Richardson ! According to the @NCAA isn’t he accountable ? The @ZonaZealots can not be happy over these reports .
— Dick Vitale (@DickieV) February 7, 2019
No one is happy about all the drama, but here’s the thing, you & your buds make it seem lik UA is the outlier, when in actuality this is commonplace in NCAA. If UA, Ville, etc. got busted, you think it only stops there? Maybe you need to pull your head out of the sand too
— Eric Townsend (@EricDTownsend) February 8, 2019
We are passionate, just as every fan base is. But our anger and frustration comes @espn @Mark_Schlabach continuing to run their mouth and go wild with false information yet are very quiet about all the other schools and those mentioned in court.
— Mark Barrera (@mtb0880) February 8, 2019
Vitale just doesn’t know when to stop. When former players starting reacting, you know he is getting out of control. Former Wildcat Brandon Ashley voiced his opinion and former Wildcats Max Wiepking, Jacob Hazzard and football player Jake Fischer reacted as well:
I'm not here to argue or debate with you and my intentions are never to be disrespectful. With that being said, calling for the Arizona AD to take action while simultaneously endorsing a coach who was involved in multiple scandals at Louisville for the Ucla job seems biased.
— Brandon Ashley (@_Bash21) February 8, 2019
These two put it perfectly. Can’t have it both ways, Vitale. You are either with us or against, can’t have both viewpoints at the same time. Personally, he has lost all credibility when it comes to anything, Arizona related or not. How can someone say the things he says, look back at them and be okay with it. Possibly he is following in the footsteps of hugely prominent government officials on Twitter, or he just enjoys poking the bear? Who knows.
There are so many other schools involved in corruption, but Vitale continues to use Arizona as an example. None of the other big name schools that have been involved. Why? At this point, I honestly have given up trying to figure that out. What I have figured out is that Vitale won’t be satisfied until Miller leaves. I hate to say it, but it’s looking that way.
This reply and the response by Vitale is just mind-blowing:
My friend u have no clue what I am about/I don’t hate anyone / that word is not part of my life . U just like many diehard fans don’t like the TRUTH / just reporting the FACTS / do u read what is going on Ass’t fired / ass’t arrested / a 3rd mentined in federal trial / get real
— Dick Vitale (@DickieV) February 8, 2019
What TRUTH Vitale? Please tell everyone what this truth is. Show me the proof. Show me please, I think everyone wants to know what this “truth” is. You just don’t get it, that’s okay. When all this is said and done, you will find out the truth and that’s going to hurt
Like Ashley, I don’t like going after someone, but this just needs to stop. Vitale, if you do happen to read this I am asking to please stop. Please stop just going after Arizona if you don’t want to come across biased. There are other schools in the country besides Arizona under scrutiny with guilty pleas, look at USC why don’t you? You aren’t calling on Lynn Swan to fire Andy Enfield. Why not?
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Perhaps it’s a case of Occam’s Razor, the simplest explanation is the truth. Maybe Vitale is just helping ASU’s Bobby Hurley (Duke Blue Devil) get rid of his rival that tends to win a Pac-12 Championships and gets a ton more attention than ASU? At Zona Zealots, we are all about positivity, but sometimes we just need to speak the truth. We are hoping you can do the same Vitale.