Each Friday during the summer, The Juice Online will be looking back to some of the biggest story lines in the 2012-13 Syracuse sports year. This week, we take a look back at a CBSSports.com report about the basketball team being under investigation.
For the second straight year, a report surfaced about the Syracuse basketball team being under investigation.
In 2012, Yahoo! Sports wrote that SU was the subject of an ongoing NCAA inquiry into possible violations of its drug policy. This March, prior to the start of the NCAA tournament, CBS Sports reported that Syracuse had received a letter of preliminary inquiry from the NCAA.
The Post-Standard reported that it involved a “wide-ranging investigation that includes the handling of Fab Melo’s academic eligibility and a 2007 alleged sexual assault case involving three players.”
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“As we said last year at this time, we are collaborating with the NCAA as part of an ongoing inquiry,” said Kevin Quinn, Senior Vice President for Public Affairs at Syracuse. “Given this process is ongoing, we are unable to comment further at this time.”
Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim didn’t offer much more.
“Doesn’t bother me. Not at all,” Boeheim said prior to Syracuse’s NCAA second round game against Montana. “We’re concerned about playing Montana. What people write or say, you know, there’s 30,000 people at the (Carrier) Dome yelling at me all of the time.
“People yell at their television sets. I tell them I can’t hear them, but they still yell at their television sets. There’s no distractions for me or these players. There’s no distractions for them.”
Other than that, Boeheim offered little insight into the story.
Said Boeheim: “I can’t comment about something that’s just talk.”
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WHAT THEY SAID:
At this point, it shouldn’t surprise you that Syracuse had a bombshell drop the day before they were to begin NCAA tournament play. That’s just how it works in Upstate New York. I was just shocked that Fab Melo wasn’t ruled ineligible again. This time, however, things look like they might be a bit more seriously, as CBSSports.com and Syracuse.com are both reporting that the NCAA is starting to dig around the hoops and the football program. — Rob Dauster, NBC Sports
At this point, Syracuse and Boeheim have been dodging a lot of bullets. Even if all these issues are resolved in a palatable manner for the program (Fab Melo suspended; Flynn, Jardine and Jackson put on probation, and ordered to attend counseling in domestic violence) they are still issues that need resolving. Boeheim seems to scoff and point to his and his program’s continued presence as some sort of trump card because they are still present. — Sean Newell, Deadspin
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