Indiana star Oumar Ballo shared Thursday that he received death wishes, death threats and other “crazy” messages this season after his team’s Big Ten tournament defeat and after his transfer from Arizona.
Baro is considered one of the best-paid college basketball players this season after earning the All-Pack 12 honors two seasons ago, and says he was a target of online harassment repeatedly during the year he was called “mentally drained” during his time at Bloomington.
“What we’re trying to do is win for these people, but we lose one game, two games. The next thing we know is DM is crazy,” Baro said. “You know, like the threat of death and the hope of death, no one wants to live that way, and I hope people change that kind of thing.
“At the end of the day, we are humans and we have emotions. Do you know?
Baro’s comments repeated similar sentiments shared by Kansas’ Coleman Hawkins at the beginning of the week when the Wildcats fell to Baylor in the second round of the Big 12 tournament, perhaps on the wrong side of the NCAA Tournament bubble. Hawkins was in tears as he admitted that social media had an impact on his play this season.
“I really wanted to come and influence the program,” Hawkins said. “Sorry for crying, shit, this shit hurts, but I really wanted to influence the program, and some of the things you know were clearly not what we wanted.
“I feel like I’ve disappointed a lot of people. I feel like I did a poor job of getting people to talk about me. It affected my play and I just hoped I was successful because I was able to have a more successful year, not myself.
Indiana enters the selection 19-13 overall on Sunday, according to Jerry Palm, and will become one of the final four teams on the 68-team field, but they are in serious danger of lacking March’s madness. The team struggled with seven losses in eight games spans earlier this year, finishing 5-3.
Kansas lost six straights to start 2025 before a six-game win.
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Both schools are considered to be the most competitive in college basketball in terms of NIL resources. That is, both Baro and Hawkins are probably well compensated for their services. However, its economy and all the trickle-down effects that come with it exposed players to online badging from fans and gamblers.
“It’s too much to incorporate that for players and coaches,” Baro said. “I hope it changes because it’s time, they’re not helping us. They’re not helping us. …If you’re not rooting for us, leave us alone.
