The West Virginia Mountaineers lost a heartbreaker on Friday night, dropping to 7-9 in the Big East with a 61-60 loss to the Marquette Golden Eagles. But it was what happened after the game that had West Virginia fans in a tizzy. Marquette head coach Buzz Williams began to two-step across the middle of the West Virginia floor as he approached the ESPN broadcast table for a postgame interview.
Coming on the heels of a frustrating loss, the dance in the middle of the floor, across the logo, and to John Denver's "Take Me Home, Country Roads" set the remaining student crowd off. Those students were conveniently placed right behind the broadcast table where Williams was headed to conduct his interview. On SportsCenter, Linda Cohn said that ESPN color commentator Bill Raftery was hit by something from the crowd.
Video of the dance:
Williams immediately recognized that he made a mistake, and apologized at the broadcast table. He also elaborated on that apology in the post game press conference:
"I apologize, if you could write that for whatever you write for. That was very unprofessional. I apologize, that's not a great representation - it's not a good representation, it's a bad representation of our program, our institution. So I apologize for that. I was just really excited, that was all. And how I grew up, it was really in the country and that was one of my favorite songs growing up and I realized as the riot was about to occur, that John Denver said 'West Virginia' in the song. I'm sorry."
For more news, analysis, and discussion on the Mountaineers, visit The Smoking Musket, SB Nation's WVU blog. For the perspective from the other side, check out Anonymous Eagle, SB Nation's Marquette blog. For all your Big East hoops news as March Madness approaches, follow along at Big East Coast Bias.