About two weeks after LaVar Ball pulled his AAU team off the court in protest of officiating, the coach of another high-profile high school star did the same last weekend.
This time, Class of 2018 five-star recruit Bol Bol was a member of the team whose coach pulled them off the floor. During last weekend’s Mid America Youth Basketball (MAYB) Championships in Kansas, Midwest Flight coach Monte Harrison pulled his team off the court after the officials called their sixth technical foul of the game. The team notably features Bol, the nation’s No. 4 player from the 2018 class, per the 247 Sports Composite.
According to the Wichita Eagle, Bol’s Midwest Flight team trailed Central Kansas Elite 71-61 with more than six minutes remaining in the national semifinals of the MAYB Championships. It was then that the team walked off the court at Goddard High School in protest of the referees, thus forfeiting the game.
The walk-off happened after an official whistled a Midwest Flight player for his second technical and then assessed Flight coach Monte Harrison with a technical – the team’s sixth of the contest. Before Central Kansas Elite could shoot its technical free throws, Midwest Flight players began to exit the court.
Harrison told the Wichita Eagle about his problems with the officials afterwards.
“We feel like it’s downright disrespectful the way the refs were treating us this week,” Harrison said. “Who calls (six) technical fouls? That’s crazy to be giving out that many technicals to kids. And then one of the refs told one of our guys to ‘Shut the hell up and play.’ Who does that?”
Harrison added to the Eagle that he believed Bol’s presence played a factor.
“This whole weekend we had referees coming up asking about (Bol) and it’s like they’re more worried about who he is then being professional and reffing the game,” Harrison said. “I know it’s exciting to see those type of players and we have some of the top kids in the country. But we didn’t bring our team down here just to be disrespected like that. We had the same thing happen to us last year.”
The opposing coach, Central Kansas Elite’s Clint Kinnamon, saw matters differently.
Kinnamon told the Eagle that Harrison and his squad were the ones not showing respect to officials.
“I have coached a lot of games and never have I ever seen anything like that before,” Kinnamon said. “Honestly, the amount of disrespect their kids and coach showed towards the officials was just wrong on so many levels.”
Bol, who transferred last winter from Bishop Miege in suburban Kansas City after leading the team to a Kansas 4A state title, is a rising senior at Mater Dei (Santa Ana, Calif.). He is the son of late NBA standout Manute Bol.