More often than not, a game is just a game in basketball. But those rare times when it is not, reputations are quickly formed and particularly hard to shed. Be it Draymond Green’s “history of unsportsmanlike acts,” or James Harden being “a player willing to flop to draw a whistle and earn free throws.” These labels still fly around them. So, when a CBS Sports analyst raised similar concerns about Jeremy Fears, who is still in the NCAA, it demanded attention.

Gary Parrish gave an honest opinion on Fears’ actions and what they mean for the future on CBS Sports College Basketball: “Over the past week, I guarantee you Jeremy Fears isn’t the only basketball player who’s cheap-shotting other basketball players. Just like Dan Hurley is not the only coach on the sideline who sometimes does what he does.

“But once you develop a reputation for that, then people are looking for it, and they’re hyper-focused on it, and there’s a camera on you at all times, and there’s somebody out there watching every little moment to find any little thing that happens, and then it will get blown up. So if Jeremy Fears isn’t aware of that, he needs to be made aware of that.

“That, fairly or unfairly, you can’t get away with anything anymore without it becoming a bigger deal than it probably is. So be careful and don’t further damage your reputation because I really do think this is a thing in basketball. Grayson Allen has developed into a completely competent rotation player in the NBA. He’s having a nice career, but he is mostly known as a tripper. Like that’s just the truth.”

And there are real concerns that led to Parrish’s warning. Fears got a technical foul in Wednesday’s 76-73 loss to Minnesota for kicking Langston Reynolds backward. Officials didn’t see what Fears did, but issued the technical on review. Tom Izzo said his sophomore guard needed to “grow up a little bit,” and the coach was considering whether to bench him.

“You know what? If he plays that way, he deserves it,” Tom Izzo said. “He ain’t going to play that way if I bench him the next game.”

To top that, this was the second consecutive game in which a technical was given. The 20-year-old appeared to have intentionally tripped Wolverines star Yaxel Lendeborg during what was an intense matchup throughout No. 2 Michigan’s 83-71 victory last week.

What fans and critics now see is a pattern forming: one event becomes a story, which changes how people see things, which changes how officials and opponents react. For a young player like Fears, who might be aiming for the NBA, this escalation is a real threat.

And we already have an example of the same in Grayson Allen, who is currently a Phoenix Suns guard. Grayson Allen had intentionally stuck out his leg and tripped an Elon Phoenix player back in December 2016, an incident for which he later apologized.

This marked the third time Allen had intentionally tripped an opposing player in the span of a year back then. One ACC coach had told ESPN’s Andy Katz that Allen needs help to handle his actions. Further, when Allen was defending Santa Ana late in the first half of the Blue Devils’ 72-61 victory, Santa Ana drove past him on the baseline, and Allen stuck his right leg out, sending Santa Ana to the floor.

Allen was assessed a technical foul. He became emotional on the bench after he found out about the technical. On December 22, 2016, Duke suspended him indefinitely. And what followed was summed up best by Parrish himself:

“The way Allen fell apart on the bench, live on national television, suggested he knew he had just done the one thing he knew he could not do, and I don’t think he was worried about a suspension as much as he was bothered by the fact that the latest incident cemented his legacy.”

As per Forbes in 2018, despite barely playing for the Utah Jazz, rookie guard Grayson Allen continued getting booed in NBA arenas based on his reputation while at Duke.

Moving on, with everything going on, Michigan State can’t afford a distraction. Ranked Illinois is coming to town, riding a 12-game winning streak after an 84–44 win over Northwestern.

Jeremy Fears and Michigan State stumble right before Illinois arrives

Another disaster has hit Michigan State. Divine Ugochukwu, a sophomore guard, hurt his foot during the loss to Minnesota and will need surgery next week. Yes, he will come back in the spring. That’s a massive blow, given Ugochukwu played in 22 of 23 games, starting 12 of them. He averaged 5.1 points, 1.5 assists, and 1.5 rebounds.

Now, Izzo has to completely change the backcourt because he isn’t there. Jeremy Fears and others have to do more with less experience. And the timing could not be worse.

Michigan State has lost two home games in a row for the first time this season and is now 10-2 at home, along with 5-2 in true road games and 4-0 in neutral court games. They lost to No. 3 Michigan at home, 83-71, and then lost to Minnesota. Now they don’t have enough players.

Izzo is in a nightmare situation: he has to fix Fears’ discipline and reputation problems while also replacing a key player. The guard position is stretched thin, and there isn’t much depth to fall back on. Now, every mistake is more serious.

If this team wins or loses one game, everything changes about how they move forward in the Big Ten race.