Purdue guard Chris Kramer is over being hit in the nose with Manny Harris' elbow
Last year against Purdue, Michigan's Manny Harris was ejected after throwing an elbow that hit Boilermaker Chris Kramer square in the nose.
Nearly a year later, Harris and Michigan return to Purdue. The man likely guarding Harris again Saturday? Kramer.
The senior from Huntington, Ind., is over the elbow, though. It doesn’t mean he stops hearing about it.
Last year, both Michigan coach John Beilein and Purdue coach Matt Painter said they didn't feel Harris connected with Kramer with any ill intent.
“A lot of people talk about it. It’s like ‘Oh, how’s your nose?’ I’m like ‘It’s straight. I got it fixed,’” Kramer said. “But sure, my nose got broke by an elbow by Manny Harris. Intentional, not intentional, I don’t care. It happened. I moved on. He moved on.
“Our teams are both elevating their games. That’s last season, we’re trying to play for the present. No hard feelings or anything like that.”
Kramer played the remainder of last season with a mask. He told Purdue’s student newspaper, the Exponent, that he won’t bring the mask back or even wear it in warmups to remind Harris on Saturday.
Michael Rothstein covers University of Michigan basketball for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at (734) 623-2558, by e-mail at michaelrothstein@annarbor.com or follow along on Twitter @mikerothstein.
Comments
saginaw
Sat, Jan 23, 2010 : 4:40 p.m.
I don't like the way Kramer plays, but is smart to let go of this.
GoBlue2009
Sat, Jan 23, 2010 : 12:57 p.m.
"Vicious," what a joke. It's a common move in basketball. Squaring yourself to create space from the defender. I hope all these Wolverine haters feel really good about themselves, that you've solidified your masculinity by going on another team's website to talk trash. You'll never find a Wolverine on a Buckeye or Spartan blog, and therein lies the difference.
wersch213
Sat, Jan 23, 2010 : 10:59 a.m.
Michigan was doing great against Purdue last year until that call. Ejecting Manny was a terrible call. If anything, call a technical or flagrant foul in that situation. This is Big Ten basketball for gosh sakes. Anyway, that bad call turned the game in Purdue's favor. Maybe this year the refs will call the game somewhat down the middle...but they haven't in any other game so why should this one be different.
leathercouch
Sat, Jan 23, 2010 : 4:38 a.m.
it will be interesting to see if he plays as tight on defense as he did last year.
leathercouch
Sat, Jan 23, 2010 : 4:36 a.m.
in the context of the game it was. Kramer was on him like glue all the first half and it was pretty chippy all game by both teams. i think there was another elbow throw that game as well by someone else. (if my memory is correct) yea it was a fast play but it wasnt intentional to the point of actually hitting him but intentional to the point of sending him a message with his elbow out to back up a little bit. its not natural to catch the ball where he dig and swing as high as he did just to face the basket. it wasn't a cheap play by any means and no way should he have been tossed because of it. it was a very physical game and unfortunately a guy got his nose busted for playing really good defense. he definitely was inside of mannys head. and yes, i agree the level of defense has gone down significantly in basketball over the years. really most of the fundamentals have gone down. its really fun to watch a team actually play good man-to-man defense because it doesn't happen much anymore where everybody can man up without a weak link.
Michael Rothstein
Sat, Jan 23, 2010 : 2:24 a.m.
Leather, Watching the play again today (I wasn't covering Michigan last year) I don't think it was intentional at all. The elbow was pretty high but Kramer was also in a defensive stance and trailing Harris a bit. So it's understandable to see how it happened as Harris went to square himself. It's actually somewhat surprising those hits don't happen more often, but maybe that speaks more to the quality of defense played by a lot of basketball players these days more than anything else. It should be interesting to see the reaction Harris gets at Mackey on Saturday.
leathercouch
Sat, Jan 23, 2010 : 1:31 a.m.
haha that was a nasty elbow i remember watching that game. but its part of the game. if you are guarding super tight you better expect elbows to fly and forarms out when your guy has the ball. its a compliment to the defending player. he did his job. although the elbow was a little high and the intent was to prove a point he most likely didnt actually mean to hit him. more to brush him back (similar to a high and tight fastball in baseball) sometimes they connect and its ugly when they do but good thing they arent holding grudges in the media at least.
deeg
Fri, Jan 22, 2010 : 6:59 p.m.
Kramer's the kind of guy you hate when he's not on your team. When I watched it live and numerous replays afterward I still think he went down real fast, too fast. Suspicious? Oh yea.. He embellished the whole thing and took a dive. He's smart and a great competitor and got in Manny's head and won that battle.