Iowa men's basketball coach Fran McCaffery obviously was already tired of talking about the dirty play of center Adam Woodbury by the time he got to his postgame news conference on Sunday, so he took it out on the reporter who asked about it.
Woodbury all but blinded Melo Trimble after the Maryland guard had made three straight shots late in the first half of Iowa's one-sided victory, which wouldn't have raised an eyebrow if Woodbury hadn't done the same thing to a pair of Wisconsin players earlier this season.
That time, ESPN commentator Dan Dakich implied that Woodbury's eye pokes were intentional and called for him to be suspended, which drew an angry public response from McCaffery and a strong defense of Woodbury.
This time, McCaffery bristled at a local reporter for asking if why "this keeps happening" and told him to "Ask an intelligent question." When the reporter asked why it was not an intelligent question, McCaffery replied "Because I said so" and quickly brought an end to the interview session.
Clearly it was not McCaffery's finest moment. The question was legitimate, and he didn't want to answer it, but belittling the reporter simply made him look defensive and made his player look more guilty.
Did Woodbury poke Trimble in the eye intentionally? Who knows?
Does his coach condone that kind of behavior? He certainly didn't act like a guy who cared a bit that his team twice injured one of the top freshman players in the Big Ten with very rough plays Sunday.
McCaffery has been quoted in the past as saying that he likes "rough play," though it was in the context of criticizing another team for what he felt was overly aggressive behavior. Apparently, he doesn't hold his players to the same standard.
While you're evaluating whether Woodbury's actions in the Wisconsin and Maryland games were intentional or just clumsy, consider that he had been caught previously grabbing the arm of opposing players during game-opening jump balls to improve his chances of getting the tip.
When video evidence proved that case, McCaffery publicly said that he ordered Woodbury to stop that illegal behavior.
This time, McCaffery seems to be protesting too much, which can only make you wonder where his players are learning this stuff.