Juwan Howard won't be calling the shots for Michigan for the remainder of the regular season after he got suspended by the university for throwing a punch in their postgame handshake with Wisconsin on Sunday.
The incident, which saw Howard hit Wisconsin assistant coach Joe Krabbenhoft after Michigan's loss, has stirred debates on whether the postgame handshake is still needed these days. One guy who agrees is Georgetown coach Patrick Ewing. He and Howard are both former NBA stars, so perhaps they're accustomed to not having a mandatory postgame handshake (via NBC Sports Washington).
“I don't like the handshake line. I don't like it because anything is possible. You're just getting through a heated battle, a heated game, and anything can happen to make things worse, which is what happened in that situation. If it's my call, I think we should just take away the handshake line. Just do like we did last year in COVID. You wave bye and you move on.”
While Ewing's remarks certainly have weight, taking away the postgame handshake would be going against tradition, as it is meant to display sportsmanship from opposing teams. While what Howard did was certainly uncalled for, it was more of an exception, not the norm. It was clear his frustrations got the best of him after Michigan got blown out.
Besides, Ewing and Howard also played for Georgetown and Michigan in college, so they must know how the postgame handshake is valued. The New York Knicks legend, however, said he doesn't remember doing it.
“When I played back then, I don't even think they had handshake lines.”
Howard was also fined $40,000 by Michigan.
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