What part of "Don't throw things on the court" don't you understand?

Do you have so little respect for Coach Matt Doherty and the Irish seniors that you needed to take the game out of their hands?

But the most important question is: Why would you ever throw something onto the court?

When Jimmy Dillon, Skylard Owens and Todd Palmer walked off the court for the last time in their Irish careers, they should have saluted the students for their support.

Instead, they, like the rest of the team, walked off in disgust.

Can anyone blame them?

Dillon had left everything on the court. He picked up his fifth foul diving on the floor for a loose ball. His hustle and heart should have played a pivotal role in the game. Instead, a fan in the stands decided the Irish fate.

For the first time in years, the Notre Dame student body is a vocal presence at basketball games. Unfortunately, it has been known more for its stupidity and not for its cheering.

Thanks to the action of three fans who threw trash on the court, the media will once again blast the Notre Dame student body. Sports columnists around the area will call the Irish students "classless" or "immature."

In front of a national television audience, Notre Dame fans looked like a bunch of children.

"Maybe they shouldn't throw balls into the stands any more," Doherty said after the game. "It's too tempting to have a ball in your hands and not to throw it."

It's too tempting for a 6-year-old not to throw a ball. A college student should have enough self-control to refrain from throwing things.

All three people who threw items should hang their heads in shame. The first item tossed on the court was met with a warning directly from Doherty.

For some reason, two fans felt that warning did not apply to them.

The second thrower was lucky. Martin Ingelsby threw the foam ball tossed from the stands off the court before a ref saw it.

But the last item to fall from the stands was the most inexcusable and stupid event of the year for Irish fans.

Because some fan felt the need to ignore a direct request from Doherty, the game was taken out of the players' hands and put into a water bottle.

If the Irish find themselves NIT-bound, don't blame the ref who called the technical.

Blame the guy who threw the water bottle.

Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim said after the game that his team would have won the game with or without the technical.

Many Irish fans would love to be able to settle that question. But thanks to a fan who felt that he was bigger than the team, that question will never be answered.

For Dillon, Owens, Palmer and every senior in the student section, that student threw away much more than a basketball game; he threw away a proud ending to their home career.

"It's unfortunate that it had to come down to that," Dillon said. "But that's basketball."

That's basketball?

No. Basketball is played on the court by the players, not some guy in the stands.

• Throwing the game