The University of Pennsylvania is facing plenty of heat during March Madness - and for good reason.
On Thursday night, No. 14 seed Penn were defeated 105-70 in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament by No. 3 seed Illinois. The Quakers kept things relatively close in the first half before being outscored by 25 points in the final 20 minutes. So why is there outrage over this game? Well, some students at the arena crossed the line with their behavior.
During the late stages of this opening-round game, Penn students started shouting this message at the Illinois team: "That's okay, that's okay, you're going to work for us someday."
As you'd imagine, countless basketball fans had an issue with this chant. Not only does it comes across as incredibly disrespectful, it's just flat-out unnecessary.
© Bob Donnan-Imagn Images.
"This isn’t savage. It’s distasteful. Penn students shifted to classism because their team lost a basketball game," one person wrote on social media.
"Can’t be more arrogant & unattractive while lacking any sense of sportsmanship while losing," a second person commented. "Ivy League culture at its finest."
"Acting like Illinois isn’t a top ranked school for business and engineering is hilarious," another person argued. "There’s gotta be more Penn students working for Illinois grads."
"One of the most irredeemably cringeworthy chants in professional sports," a social media user added. "Only broken out by the absolutely biggest losers who are fans of losing teams."
Illinois is still dancing.
The Fighting Illini received strong performances from Kylan Boswell, David Mirkovic and Keaton Wagler during the opening round of the tournament. They combined for 60 points against the Quakers.
Next up for Illinois is a showdown with No. 11 seed VCU. Tipoff is set for 7:50 p.m. ET.
Illinois is hoping to make the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament for the second time in the past three years.
