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Syracuse Basketball: Boeheim and the Bogus NCAA

By David Stone

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Syracuse basketball coach Jim Boeheim’s nine game suspension was upheld, but he will be allowed to begin it immediately.

The announcement was supposed to come prior to December 1st. It didn’t. It was supposed to be reviewed and filed within 90 days. It wasn’t. Ok, so the suspension would surely be reduced as an overreaction by the NCAA, right? Nope.

Jim Boeheim’s nine game suspension was upheld by the NCAA Appeals Committee.

The silver lining however, is that Boeheim may begin the suspension immediately instead of having to wait for ACC play. So instead of having to miss nine ACC games, he will now miss just three, and six out of conference games including Georgetown on Saturday.

Anyone else feel like, once again, the NCAA committee just doesn’t get it? Basically what the NCAA are saying with this ruling is, “Oops, we messed up. You should have started your suspension immediately like Larry Brown. But instead of reducing it to compensate for the fact you’ll now miss ACC games, we’re just going to do nothing.” At least, that’s what it sounds like to me.

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So not only did the NCAA get it wrong initially, they also refused to rectify the situation and make it fair in line with previous punishment they’ve doled out. Talk about hypocritical.

By the way, for these nine games, Boeheim is not allowed to have any interaction with the team in any way. He’s still held accountable if something bad happens, but he can’t even be there in any capacity. Again, be more hypocritical NCAA.

Jay Bilas seems to agree that the appeals process is completely messed up. Bilas, a known enemy of the NCAA, sent out several tweets blasting the process and all those involved.

Had they dealt with this matter in a reasonable time frame (you know, the 90 days they claim to process all appeals in), Boeheim would have started his suspension at the beginning of the season. Would we still be 6-1? Who knows. What I do know is that I’d rather have him sidelined for nine non-conference games than six and three tough ACC matchups.

Not to mention, instead of giving Hopkins a few games against the likes of Lehigh and St. Bonaventure to warm up, he now gets thrown into the fire against Georgetown, in Washington, DC. That’s right, his first game is against Syracuse’s most bitter and hated rival. Wow, thanks a lot NCAA.

Oh, and those first three ACC games Boeheim misses? At Pitt, at Miami, home vs. Clemson. Those are two tough road games. Clemson should be easier, but then again they did beat us last year pretty handily. So thanks again appeals committee.

And thank you for acting like the bully dictator you always have been and for once again proving that you really have no clue how to run a college organization or make a fair initial ruling in a matter.

If I seem a bit agitated, it’s because I’m really sick of the NCAA as a whole and their approach to college athletics.

Next: SU enter the Top 25 Poll for the 1st Time in a Year

They make millions off of players, yet fight tooth and nail to not even give a small cost of living stipend to students. They can hold up a students eligibility for literally any reason they want, from questioning a single class taken years ago in a foreign country, to a six month witch hunt that turned up a whopping $165 in benefits given from a guardian. Yeah, apparently parents/guardians can’t give their kids money anymore if they are an athlete. That’s worth a 5-game suspension in the eyes of the NCAA.

In the end I’m not really surprised. With the amount of money and power being funneled through their corporate offices, it’s no shock that they have absolutely zero accountability and do whatever they want. I mean, isn’t that basically how capitalism works?

I just wish it didn’t end up costing student athletes and coaches in the end. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like that’s changing anytime soon. The best we can do is move on and look on the bright side. At least SU will only be without Boeheim for 3 conference games. I guess that’s a win… right?

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