Syracuse Basketball: Jim Boeheim rips into officials in Florida State game

Syracuse basketball head coach Jim Boeheim sounded off on the officiating crew in the Orange’s dominating win over No. 8 seed Florida State in the 2022 ACC Tournament’s second round on Wednesday afternoon from the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y.

Boeheim was asked about the one-game suspension delivered by the Atlantic Coast Conference to ‘Cuse senior shooting guard Buddy Boeheim, who punched FSU senior redshirt guard Wyatt Wilkes during the first half of a blow-out victory by the No. 9 seed Syracuse basketball against the Seminoles.

Speaking about this incident in his post-game press conference following the Orange’s nine-point setback to the No. 1 seed Duke in the ACC Tournament’s quarterfinal round on Thursday afternoon, Jim Boeheim said the officials in the FSU encounter failed to review the play after Buddy Boeheim punched Wilkes, who fell to the ground.

“They didn’t do their job, so Buddy got punished,” Jim Boeheim said, adding that “it wasn’t handled right, bottom line. Period.”

Syracuse basketball boss Jim Boeheim discusses his son’s suspension.

If the officials in the Florida State contest reviewed that play, it could have resulted in Buddy Boeheim receiving a flagrant 2 foul, and he would have been ejected.

However, Jim Boeheim believes that his son would have been eligible to suit up against the top-seeded Blue Devils. The Orange head coach also believes that even without Buddy Boeheim for a large portion of the Seminoles battle, Syracuse basketball (16-17, 9-11) would have prevailed.

Just to be clear, Jim Boeheim said in his post-game presser that Buddy Boeheim should have been punished for what he did. But Jim Boeheim says his son should have been out for the remainder of the FSU affair and then available to compete versus Duke.

I would tend to agree with Jim Boeheim here. I have no idea why or how the officials didn’t look at the play once Buddy Boeheim punched Wilkes, and he fell to the ground.

So nothing was done in the actual game, and then ACC officials came in after the fact and suspended Buddy Buckets, essentially ending his stellar ‘Cuse career with him sitting on the sidelines.

Buddy Boeheim, a member of the All-ACC first team in the 2021-22 stanza, issued a heart-felt apology on Twitter after Wednesday’s win, and he also apologized to Wilkes several times in the handshake line.

Additionally, Buddy spoke genuinely and at length about the matter in the post-game presser following the Orange’s loss to Duke. He apologized to everyone who he let down, including the many kids who look up to him.