Andrew Harrison's age does not excuse idiotic slur toward Frank Kaminsky

INDIANAPOLIS – Around the Kentucky program they'll describe Andrew Harrison as uniquely competitive and occasionally emotional, much of which plays out on the court.

He can be great. He can be, to put it mildly, a handful. He tends to wear his emotions – good, bad and ugly – on his sleeve for all to see.

Racist? No, not that.

Capable of doing something really dumb like muttering an expletive and a racial slur directed at Wisconsin's Frank Kaminsky into a hot microphone on the dais of a Final Four postgame press conference that is being broadcast live on national television?

Yes, that.

"First," Harrison stated in a series of tweets early Sunday morning, "I want to apologize for my poor choice of words used in jest towards a player I respect and know. When I realized how this could be perceived I immediately called big Frank to apologize and let him know I didn't mean any disrespect."

"He reached out to me," Kaminsky acknowledged Sunday. "We talked about it. It's over. Nothing needs to be made of it."

But a little later in the day, Kaminsky elaborated on the situation.

"I'm glad he reached out," Kaminsky said. "He's a nice kid. He said he really respects me and he really apologizes for what he said. I could tell he was sincere about it."

Let's start with this: Harrison is 20 years old and prone to mistakes, but that doesn't explain or excuse this one.

Harrison did not handle the end of Wisconsin 71, Kentucky 64 very well. Not on the court, where his often clutch play in those situations failed him. At one point John Calipari pulled him from the game, sat him on the edge of the raised court and spoke directly to him, in what was an apparent attempt to calm him and remind him of the game plan of getting the ball inside.

It didn't get any better when the final buzzer sounded and Harrison, among other Kentucky players, bolted for the locker room, refusing to stick around to shake the Badgers' hands. And not when Harrison and others ignored Kentucky assistant coaches who were chasing them down trying to get them to return and do the sportsmanlike thing instead of just quitting on the entire program.

None of that was good. However, none of that compares to what happened at the press conference.

It's best to attempt to take race out of the equation here, although considering this is a discussion of race in America, many will struggle with it.

Yes, if Kaminsky, who is white, had said the same about Harrison, who is black, then this would have been an even bigger, angrier deal.

That's just reality though. Trying to play victim and whining that one group of people doesn't get as condemned as your group of people when saying a bad word is a waste of time. If that's the greatest affront facing your particular social group, then count your blessings.

Harrison's comment, while a racial slur, likely wasn't rooted in racial anger anyway. This was immaturity and embarrassment. He wasn't creative enough to put Kaminsky down any other way, so he fell to the lowest rung on the ladder, a rather absurd one too since, as noted, Kaminsky is white.

This was about not respecting a guy who just torched your team for 20 points, 11 rebounds and two blocks; this was being bitter about a player who, much to Harrison's chagrin, will go ahead of him in June's NBA draft.

This was just being an idiot.

You can apologize for Harrison and say, hey, 20-year-olds do stupid things and ask, "didn't you ever say something that dumb or offensive at that age?"

Except, other 20-year-olds have never said something like that at an NCAA basketball tournament press conference. This wasn't a microphone shoved in a kids face in the locker room. This wasn't an overheard comment. This was after an NCAA-mandated cooling off period, a cart ride to a big room, a climb up a flight of stairs and a seat under an array of lights staring out at scores of reporters and cameras.

The setting changes everything. Yes, Kentucky had a heartbreaking loss that ended their season and the player was upset about it. There are 67 teams each year in the NCAA tournament that will suffer that fate, though. There is a press conference after every single game filled with heartbroken 20-year-olds and no player on any of them has ever said what Andrew Harrison said into that microphone.

There was nothing special about Harrison's frustration level. There was nothing particular about the loss.

This is all on him.

Still, apologies should count, so let that one. If Kaminsky said he's good with it – not that the victim here usually has much choice – then so be it.

Turning Harrison into a piñata for varying forces on acceptable racial language doesn't seem reasonable either.

This really wasn't about race.

This was about a guy who has long believed he has all the answers just not finding out the hard way, in the toughest of moments, that there is a lot more to learn.

Maybe this time, for Andrew Harrison, this lesson will finally take.