Syracuse Basketball: With Alan Griffin, NCAA actually did something right
By Neil Adler
The NCAA, thankfully, made the correct move in granting immediate eligibility to Syracuse basketball wing Alan Griffin.
Alan Griffin can officially compete for Syracuse basketball during the 2020-21 campaign, as the NCAA, amazingly, did something good.
I say this with a hint of sarcasm, because the NCAA is often criticized – and deservingly so – for amounting to a fairly incompetent organization.
However, in the case of Griffin, a talented transfer from Illinois, the NCAA gets a tiny applause from me for handling this situation in the appropriate manner.
Earlier this month, I penned a column in which I said that it would prove absolutely absurd if Griffin didn’t land a waiver from the NCAA to have immediate eligibility with the Orange.
That’s because Griffin elected to transfer from Illinois out of the Big Ten Conference to the ‘Cuse. His hometown, in Ossining, N.Y., is much closer to the Hill than his former school, and that’s an important element, due to the novel coronavirus pandemic.
A ton of other traditional transfers of late had secured waivers from the NCAA to play in the upcoming stanza, and there is no logical reason why Griffin shouldn’t have acquired one, too.
When it comes to the NCAA, though, common sense doesn’t always factor into the equation. As it pertains to the 6-foot-5 Griffin, logic fortunately prevailed, and the outlook for Syracuse in 2020-21 just got much sweeter.
Syracuse basketball guard/forward Alan Griffin can play this season, thanks to a smart move by the NCAA.
A stand-out at Archbishop Stepinac High School in White Plains, N.Y., Griffin will have two years of eligibility with the Orange. “I’m very relieved to have that taken care of,” Griffin told cuse.com regarding his NCAA waiver process getting completed. “It’s something I’ve been looking forward to since I came to Syracuse.”
The same holds true for every ‘Cuse fanatic out there, as Griffin will play a key role in helping to replace the void left by former Orange star Elijah Hughes, who departed Central New York following the 2019-20 term in pursuit of a professional career.
Griffin, an efficient scorer and rebounder who shoots quite well from beyond the arc, wholeheartedly deserved a waiver amid the pandemic. And the NCAA, which it doesn’t often do, got this one right.