Barring a miracle, a depleted Syracuse basketball roster will end its disappointing 2021-22 season on Thursday afternoon in the ACC Tournament’s quarterfinal round, and Orange senior shooting guard Buddy Boeheim will see his ‘Cuse career end while sitting on the sidelines.
If I can be frank, this is beyond sad. Boeheim, a top-15 scorer in the history of the Orange program who led the Atlantic Coast Conference in scoring in the 2021-22 regular season and was named to the All-ACC first team, is an unbelievably likable and hard-working young man.
Buddy Boeheim gets hit with a one-game suspension for his flagrant foul. Won’t play tomorrow against Duke.
— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanHoops) March 9, 2022
It was warranted, but I will say this: In all my years of covering basketball, I’m not sure I’ve come across a nicer kid than Buddy Boeheim. He made a mistake. It happens.
Even really, really good people make mistakes sometimes, though. And Buddy Boeheim made a huge one when he punched Florida State senior redshirt guard Wyatt Wilkes during the first half of the Orange’s dominating victory against the No. 8 seed Seminoles on Wednesday afternoon in the ACC Tournament’s second round.
Boeheim, who from my perspective has tons of integrity, apologized to Wilkes several times in the handshake line after the ‘Cuse triumph, and Boeheim issued an apology via Twitter as well.
‘Cuse head coach Jim Boeheim came to his son’s defense in his post-game press conference, calling Buddy’s punch “inadvertent.” As a father myself, I can totally understand Jim Boeheim defending his player, who also happens to be his son.
But Coach B got absolutely trashed yesterday after the FSU contest on social media by fans and others, and multiple college basketball analysts took issue with Jim Boeheim saying the punch was “inadvertent.”
Syracuse basketball senior guard Buddy Boeheim will not play versus Duke.
So now the Orange (16-16, 9-11), already without injured junior center Jesse Edwards and injured freshman forward Benny Williams, won’t have its best player when the No. 9 seed ‘Cuse squares off with the No. 1 seed Duke at the 2022 ACC Tournament from the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y.
Given that the Blue Devils (26-5, 16-4) have already dominated Syracuse basketball twice in 2021-22, winning by 20-plus points each time, it’s unsurprising that Duke is a heavy favorite in its Thursday match-up with the Orange.
I watched a lot of college basketball on Wednesday evening, and I listened to a number of analysts say that they believe the ACC’s decision to suspend Buddy Boeheim for one game was the right move.
However, ESPN analyst Jay Bilas took to Twitter and said the league’s decision was an overreaction, and that what Buddy Boeheim did was wrong, but that the suspension was disproportionate to the offense. Even Wilkes said he thought Boeheim shouldn’t be suspended.
Personally, I feel that Boeheim should have been issued a flagrant foul during the Florida State encounter, and I would have even been okay with him getting kicked out of that game.
But the officials didn’t do anything, and then the ACC stepped in after the fact and suspended Boeheim, essentially ending his Orange career. That was pretty much the nail in the coffin on a terrible 2021-22 stanza for the ‘Cuse.
I’ve been on social media and in chat rooms a lot since this incident occurred. Some Syracuse basketball fans say that the ACC is biased against the Orange program, Jim Boeheim and the Boeheim brothers. Others feel that Buddy Boeheim deserved the suspension.
One of my fellow ‘Cuse fans made a terrific point on Twitter. She said that if a Duke player did what Buddy did, we would all want that Blue Devils player suspended and out for the teams’ game on Thursday afternoon. She’s totally right.
This whole situation is awful. Buddy Boeheim made a bad decision, and he’s paying the ultimate price. It saddens me that his wonderful Orange career is likely to end this way.