Syracuse Basketball: Stupidity on social media has reached all-time high

I’m all for free speech, and I always respect the opinions and takes of my fellow Syracuse basketball fans, even when I adamantly disagree with them.

Social media, without question, has changed everything as it relates to sports teams and their fans, some of it for the better, and some of it definitely for the worse, in my humble opinion.

And I’ve gotten roasted pretty good on Facebook and Twitter on occasion since becoming the editor of Inside The Loud House nearly two years ago. I’m all for spirited, respectful debate, although I’ll never understand when fans call other fans mean-spirited names.

The same holds true when fans verbally abuse players and coaches. If you want to say that the Orange, for example, stinks during the 2021-22 campaign, that’s fair (and accurate, IMO). And if you want a new head coach and a new roster at the ‘Cuse, that’s totally fair as well.

Some Syracuse basketball fans are really, really angry these days, which is understandable.

But some of the stuff that I’m seeing on social media of late is sad, pathetic, comical and, frankly, absurd. Sure, I get that negativity among my fellow fans is likely going to increase, given that the Orange is in big-time danger of ending the 2021-22 term with a losing record, which would be a first under head coach Jim Boeheim.

On Monday, though, I came across a tweet that said, in essence, that Boeheim has done nothing for the ‘Cuse program in his 46 years at the helm on the Hill. I’m not going to name the person who posted this tweet, because I don’t want to single out any one individual (it could also be a “burner” account).

The point here is that the Syracuse basketball fan base, and those of other teams around the country which are struggling in 2021-22, has a ton of strong emotions running through its collective veins these days.

I get it. Since joining the Atlantic Coast Conference in 2013-14, the Orange hasn’t had more than one or two good regular seasons, although the team has been to several Sweet 16s and beyond.

Recruiting has taken a dip. Some fans want a new head coach now, not in a year or two or three. Some of these fans think that Boeheim’s recent comments about coaching his sons, and how special it was for him as a father, somehow showed that Boeheim wasn’t focused on winning games in 2021-22. He just wanted to coach his sons, they say.

That’s not my viewpoint of Boeheim’s coaching this stanza, although I do understand the frustrations of these fans. However, let’s have a little perspective here.

Boeheim has the second-most wins all-time as a Division I men’s basketball head coach. He has a national championship, been to five Final Fours and journeyed to 20 Sweet 16s, including a campaign ago.

If you want a new head coach, that’s all good, and you’ll be getting one at some point in the future. But to suggest that Boeheim has done nothing for the Syracuse basketball program over the past four-plus decades is an ignorant, comical, disrespectful and totally misinformed statement.