College Basketball Fans React To Coleman Hawkins Cheering On Illinois

But as one of the highest-paid collegiate athletes in the country, Hawkins will seemingly receive criticism for anything he does. Granted, the Wildcats are coming off a blowout loss to Wichita State Saturday night, where Hawkins had just six points on 22 percent shooting.

"Dude is pulling $2m to average 9.7ppg, shoot 50% from the FT line, and lead the team in turnovers," one user said. "My K-State wife hates you playing for her team and wants a refund.

As usual, Illinois fans were pleading for Hawkins to return to Champaign. They can't help but imagine the benefits for both parties if the star forward didn't depart.

Ironically, they were more supportive of Hawkins in the comments than the Wildcats fans. Perhaps it's the recency bias or coasting on the memories of the past, but Illinois fans have seemingly supported Hawkins since arriving in Manhattan.

"He’s not closeted. He openly roots for them, and attended a game in an Illini letterman jacket," one fan said. "I’m glad he’s rooting for us!"

The Wildcats play the Cincinnati Bearcats (10-1) on Dec. 23 at 7:00 p.m. This will begin their slate of conference opponents.

Jayden Armant is a graduate of the Howard University School of Communications and a contributor to Kansas State Wildcats on SI. He can be reached at jaydenshome14@gmail.com or follow him on Twitter @ jaydenarmant.