Is Praise for Vivian Stringer Misguided?

I think just about everyone agrees that it was despicable for Don Imus to call the Rutgers women's basketball team "nappy-headed hos." And it seems like just about everyone agrees that Rutgers coach Vivian Stringer has handled the aftermath of that comment well.

But in his Kansas City Star column, Jason Whitlock begs to differ with that praise for Stringer. Whitlock called Stringer's public comments this week "a nationally televised recruiting celebration expertly disguised as a news conference." He added:

I watched the Rutgers news conference and was ashamed.
Martin Luther King Jr. spoke for eight minutes in 1963 at the March on Washington. At the time, black people could be lynched and denied fundamental rights with little thought. With the comments of a talk-show host most of her players had never heard of before last week serving as her excuse, Vivian Stringer rambled on for 30 minutes about the amazing season her team had.

When I first posted about the Rutgers news conference, I touched on that as well, noting that the event started at 11 a.m. but the school president, athletic director and coach talked for so long that the first player didn't speak until 11:42. Stringer has every right to stick up for her players, who were insulted by Imus. But I see where Whitlock is coming from, and I'd prefer to hear more from the players themselves.