Analysis: Another alcohol related incident with IU basketball? Really?

At some point it gets ridiculous.

But I really thought “at some point” was the last time all of this transpired.

And yet here we are again with the latest news that Emmitt Holt and Thomas Bryant were cited early Friday for possession of alcohol.

I get that kids will be kids. I have two sons of my own. One has been out of college for two years and one is a senior in college this year.

I know that a lot of alcohol is consumed by people under the age of 21 on college campuses and everywhere else for that matter.

I get all of that. What I don’t get is how Indiana basketball players continue to put themselves into harm’s way. At some point, given all that has transpired in just the last 18 months with the Indiana basketball program, these guys HAVE TO BE SMARTER than this.

The IU athletic department put out a release around 5:30 p.m. ET Monday saying that they were aware that Holt and Bryant had been cited. They said they were in the process of gathering all the information.

Here is a definite with this situation: People are going to be quick to point the blame at Tom Crean and the IU staff. They’re going to blame the culture. They’re going to say that not enough is being done to make these guys realize how bad this looks for the program.

But at some point the buck has to stop with the individuals themselves. At some point, the accountability has to end there.

You would have thought that the announcement on May 15 that both Hanner Mosquera-Perea and Devin Davis had been dismissed from the program for “not living up to their responsibilities to the program” would have been all the wakeup call that these guys needed.

The dismissal came shortly after Davis was cited for possession of marijuana when police came to his dorm room. Mosquera-Perea was not cited but was in the room at the time.

But obviously dismissal from the team wasn’t enough of a deterrent. And that’s the most frustrating thing here. At some point, you have to ask the question ‘What is enough of a punishment?’

Probably the most disappoint thing here is to see that Holt is once again involved in an alcohol-related incident, no matter how small or minor some may think this may be.

It was less than a year ago that Holt was behind the wheel when Davis was struck by Holt’s vehicle on the morning of Nov. 1. Davis suffered a serious head injury that cost him the 2014-15 season. Holt was cited in that incident for illegal consumption of alcohol, a misdemeanor, and for operating under the influence of alcohol under the age of 21. Holt’s blood alcohol number was under the legal limit but since he was under 21 what is legal was a moot point.

Holt was suspended for four games – the two exhibition games and the first two regular season games.

And so that’s what makes today’s report even that much more troubling is that it happened again, so soon, to Holt.

I can’t repeat enough that I understand possession and consumption of alcohol by minors is something that happens daily on college campuses.

At the same time, these are not your average college students. These are students who are generally already under the microscope any way but in the case of Indiana basketball players it’s as if a high-beamed spotlight follows them around everywhere they go. They have to know that people are watching their every move and yet somehow, someway these things continue to happen.

Are they being set up somehow by other students? It’s a conspiracy theory but probably one that needs to be considered. Or are they just not careful and allowing themselves to be put in the wrong situation?

At some point this has to stop.

At some point it gets ridiculous.

The reality is “at some point” has long since come and gone.

What am I missing here?

@IndySportsHutch