As he took to Twitter to blast the program in which he plays, as well as his head coach, Granger boys' basketball star Deng Deng said he is suspended for the Lancers' regular-season finale tonight against Cyprus.
In public messages posted to Deng's page on the site throughout Tuesday, the Sudanese refugee complained about Granger's coaching. In various statements about Schneider, Deng blasted the coach for not understanding him, and made multiple statements that could be interpreted as threatening, including that he wished he had punched Schneider in the face.
The tweets were all deleted by 3:30 p.m. Thursday and replaced by an apology in which Deng said, " I want to apologize to My coach and my school and teammates. Also my family for my dumb actions. This will never happen again." He added: "I will learn and move on from this mistake."
In an interview with The Tribune Deng said, “It was a spur of the moment thing. I didn't mean for this to get blown out of proportion.”
Schneider said Deng's suspension was the result of an incident in Monday's practice and indicated that he would not further discipline his star guard for the comments he made online.
"I think that's the reality of today's world with Facebook and Twitter and 16- and 17-year-old kids who are emotional," Schneider said. "I guess that's how they express themselves now.”
Schneider said Tuesday afternoon that Deng remains a member of the Granger basketball team, but that could change.
“At this point in time he is,” Schneider said. “It's up to him … He has some choices to make.”
The coach declined to give further details on what occurred between he and Deng or what the player's status might be going into the 5A tournament, repeating, "That's up to him."
Granger has had a bit of a resurgence this season, led by Deng. The Lancers are 8-12, after a run of 9-33 in the last two season, and will likely earn the No. 4 seed from Region 2 into the tournament.
Deng, considered a Division 1 prospect, also plays for the Compton Magic AAU team, coached by Alex Austin. Austin said Deng would be lucky if he were not further punished for his tweets.
“He could've ruined his high school and collegiate career," Austin said. "There's nothing that Deng can say right now that will make him look good in all of this. That comment was inexcusable and I don't endorse that behavior from my players.”
Deng got words of support and warning from other prep basketball players Tuesday.
West point guard Tyrell Corbin and Deng's Compton Magic teammates sent the player a message that said, “honestly I think you need to go apologize and get buckets in the state tourney.”
But Deng's overall dissatisfaction with Granger was evident throughout his posts. In others he said he intended to graduate early next year and, lastly, said he deeply regretted his decision to attend the west-side high school.
“Coming to GRANGER=biggest mistake of my life,” Deng wrote. “oh well this season is coming to a end quickly great time.”
— Bill Oram and Tony Jones
