Here is what common sense tells us about what happened in Lubbock, Texas over the weekend:

1: When Marcus Smart the Oklahoma State forward fell into the crowd initially, he never made contact with Jeff Orr. Smart started to retreat after Orr said something to him that was so stirring, he immediately went back to confront Orr.

2: Orr claimed that he called Smart ‘a piece of crap’ and did not use a racial slur, and yet Orr agreed to stay away from Texas Tech for several games including away games.  I’ve been to quite a few college basketball games, and I know that players are accustomed to a lot worse than ‘piece of crap.”  I don’t think that Orr would stay away from his so called favorite team if he all he did was heckle Smart.   Case in point, it’s a common occurrence for other Big 12 coaches to warn players who play against Tech about Jeff Orr specifically.  The school has known about his antics for years.  But since he gives a lot of money to the program, no one has confronted him about heckling 18-22 year olds.

3.  The Big 12 made a decision about both Smart and Orr licktey split, before Monday.  If middle aged Super Booster Orr hadn’t said anything crazy, he wouldn’t have agreed to stay away from the remainder of Tech’s game.  Smart acknowledged Orr by name in his statement of remorse.  How does that happen? Tech obviously didn’t want to offend Orr and Smart took all of the heat upon himself.   The tape that was released by the Big 12 only had partial sound to it.  We only heard part of what was said not all.

I see this as a clean mop up by the Big 12 and Texas Tech.  A finely wrapped present of keeping scandal away from the school and moving on as quickly as possible.   Perhaps Olivia Pope was called and succeeded at fixing another problem.