You’ll note that this article is neither titled “In defense of Rashad McCants” nor “Rashad McCants doesn’t deserve to have his jersey removed.” That first title is an impossibility and the second one is a false statement, as illustrated by my colleague Jay the other day. But, just like in a lot of cases, just because he deserves having his jersey taken down doesn’t mean that the University should actually carry it out.
This comes down to optics. No matter what McCants says about the University, its basketball program, his teammates, or his coaches, he’s still just one individual.