Leadership by Comittee: Southerland's second half surge leads Syracuse

Should we have really counted out Syracuse?

Trailing by eight midway through the second half against a UConn team that hasn't lost a postseason game since 2010, Syracuse used it's staunch defense and well-balanced offense to defeat the Huskies, 58-55. This was the sixth time since the beginning of 2012 that the Orange have had to rally back from a second half deficit in order to earn the victory.

Part of the reason they are able to do this on a consistent basis is because they have so many different players who are capable of being the superstar for a night. Opponents cannot possibly lock down on seven different players. UConn had to ride on the coattails of Jeremy Lamb and Shabazz Napier. Syracuse rode on the shoulders of whoever was hitting shots.

(Photo Source: AP)

And on Thursday afternoon, James Southerland was hitting his shots.

"That's the beauty of our team, we guys, if we're double-teamed, we don't have to think twice about passing", said point guard Brandon Triche, who finished with seven points and seven rebounds. "Guys like James, guys like C.J. can knock down shots. We have so many great players, the best one is who ever is open, and James was getting his today."

Southerland finished with only ten points, but the timeliness of the baskets increased his performance value. All ten of his points were scored in the final eight minutes, including a 3-pointer that gave Syracuse the lead for the first time since the first half.

"It felt really great out there," Said Southerland. "Especially being at home and all. It's good my teammates are here for me, they're not giving up on me just because I missed two shots, and it feels good.

But what happens when they get down by too much? Can you consistently rely on erasing second half deficits?

"No matter how much, eight points with 12 minutes to go. That's a lot of time. If we was playing well, we probably could have gone up 20," Said Triche. "Again, tonight it was James. Dion played great too. But anybody on this team can get buckets."

Once again, it's superstar-by-committee for the Syracuse Orange. "It was just a matter of going with the two guys that were playing better," said Jim Boeheim during the post-game press conference.

"Some games it's been those two (Dion and James), some games it's been Scoop and one of them. But today Scoop wasn't making shots, and I thought that the two best offensive players we had were those two guys," Boeheim continued. "I thought Michael Carter had a great first half. He made three great passes, and I thought Rakeem, we're using him coming in at center. He was huge in the first half."

We are enamored with the individual superstar. We want there to be one guy. One LeBron. One Kobe. One Jimmer. One Kemba.

But Syracuse has made a living this year off of finding a new player to lead the way every game.

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Jim Boeheim seems like he would be fun to go out drinking with

Jim Boeheim is nothing if he's not frank.

The man tells it like it is. He's not afraid of laying into a writer or making fun of a question he gets asked at a press conference. Twice last season, we dedicated an entire post to a gem of a Boeheim press conference. And who can forget this epic rant about Gerry McNamara being overrated.

The fans and the writers that are unaware of Boeheim's quotable tendencies got a face full of it this afternoon when Jon Solomon, a writer for The Birmingham News, was present for the Syracuse coach's speech at the Monday Morning Quarterback Club in Birmingham.


"If conference commissioners were the founding fathers of this country, we would have Guatemala, Uruguay and Argentina in the United States," Boeheim said. "This audience knows why we are doing this. There's two reasons: Money and football."

And it only got better from there.

"We're going to end up with mega conferences," Boeheim said, "and 10 years from now either I'm going to be dead wrong -- and I'll be the first to admit it -- or everybody is going to be like, why did we do this again? Why is Alabama playing Texas A&M this week and going to Texas Tech next weekend? And why is Syracuse going to Miami in basketball this week and next week they're going to play Florida State?"

Is he the only person in college athletics with any kind of sense? It appears that way. Boeheim also had plenty to say about the money that will be made by the schools, although he did stop short of saying that the players that earn all of that money never see a dime.

"It's interesting because 30 years ago schools made X amount of money," he said. "Twenty years ago, they made 2X. Ten years ago, they made 4X. Now they're going to make 6X. And you know what? They're going to end up breaking even, just like they did 30 years ago."

"At the end of the day, there's a school with a billion-dollar budget and they're talking about making an extra $4 million. What does that really mean when your school's budget is a billion dollars? It's just what has happened. People feel like they have to get these mega conferences. Whether they're right or wrong, we won't know for a while."

Boeheim did say that there would "be some heartbreak" over losing longstanding rivalries and conference affiliations with some of the other programs that founded the Big East -- he used St. John's and Georgetown by name. But his biggest concern -- playing a conference tournament in Greensboro?

"It's a great place for a tournament," he said in regards to the potential for the ACC to hold their tournament in Madison Square Garden. "Where would you want to go to to a tournament for five days? Let's see: Greensboro, North Carolina, or New York City? Jeez. Let me think about that one and get back to you."

You think this guy wants to see the Cuse leave the Big East?

And since you can never leave a gold mine untapped, Solomon ended his piece with a quote from Boeheim where he said John Calipari and Rick Pitino aren't on the same level as Bob Knight but think they are.

Good luck, ACC scribes. Be aware of what awaits you.
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Jim Boeheim turns in another epic press conference

Last week, it was Boeheim picking on a couple of Syracuse Post-Standard beat writers. This week, its Boeheim going off about, well, "bull sh!t", the Danny Parkins show, and liking to talk.

The guys over at Soft Pretzel Logic did the leg work transcribing the quote, and they also have a full interview (in podcast form) of the press conference posted on their site, but here are, word for word, the goods dispensed by Mr. Magoo Boeheim last night:

Reporter: You came up with an overtime win at home [against Rutgers on Saturday], and then a tough, tough game on the road here. Do games like this help you at this stage of the conference season?

Boeheim: I think that's all [cow-based fertilizer], you know. All that stuff, it's all [cow-based fertilizer]. We could play next week and get in the same game next week and lose. We could have ten of these in a row and win them, then get in a tournament and have one and you lose it. It's all [cow-based fertilizer].

You get in these games, somebody's got to make a play. Whichever team makes a play - we were fortunate that we had the cushion, you know. I was really upset when we let Stokes have that three. That was just a really bad defensive play.

We've made them this year. We mess up on offense, and our guards didn't pick Stokes up. That was just a fatally bad play. If they'd have picked Stokes up there, it might not get down to where it was. That was just a really bad mistake, and you can't make those mistakes.

We had two-on-ones and fastbreak opportunities and, you know, we made some bad mistakes. It's hard to keep doing that. We can't keep doing that.

Reporter: Does this league toughen a team up or beat a team up?

Boeheim: I don't know. That's like that other question. You can't - it's not that it's bad. It's just that the whole thing about toughening a team up, I don't think it hurts you. They see they can make a play. But it's like schedules.

They say, play a tough non-league schedule and it will help you for the league. Georgetown had the toughest non-league schedule in our conference and what did they start out in our league? 1-4. We had a fairly easy one and we were 5-0.

Does that mean our schedule wasn't tough enough? Or it took a little bit longer to kick in that it wasn't tough enough? That's all nonsense. It's what kind of team you have. You play a fairly decent schedule, whatever it is. You could play 14 easy games and a couple tough ones just to see, and then you can start playing.

I mean, what happens the year you start out with a tough game? You didn't have anything to get ready for. All that stuff is just, you know - it used to be that it wasn't so bad because we just had you guys. Now you've got all these people doing this all the time. Now you've got eight million answers to one question that only needs one answer.

We've got a talk show guy in Syracuse who never comes to press conferences, and he says, "They don't ever ever ask Boeheim the tough questions." So I called him. On the air. I said, "Okay, ask me a tough one."

[He said] "Well, what do you mean?" I said, "No, ask me a tough question. You know."

He said one week I took [Brandon] Triche out when he hit two shots. I said, "Well his back was bothering him, and he said he had to come out for a minute."

[And the talk show host said] "Oh. I didn't know that."

[To which Boeheim replied] "No [fertilizer]."

[The talk show host then said] "But you know, I'm not a journalist."

I said, "You didn't have to tell me that. I already knew that."

Reporter: I just thought I'd ask.

Boeheim: I like to talk.

This guy is out of his mind. I love it.
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Jim Boeheim comments on his post game rant

By now, you have all likely seen Jim Boeheim's rant at Mike Waters and Donna Ditota, who cover Syracuse basketball for the Syracuse Post-Standard, after Monday night's game against West Virginia.

If you missed it, the video can be found here, but essentially, Boeheim snapped because this preview of last Saturday's game against Louisville mentioned that Boeheim had lost six straight (now seven straight) games to Rick Pitino.

Boeheim clarified those comments on The Score 1260, a sports radio show in Syracuse:

"I find it very unusual that in your hometown paper they're going to write about a specific coaching matchup. … It was about fairness and it was about, I don't believe you can pick a segment just like if you do 100 straight radio shows, you’re going to have a few bad ones in there. … I think it's bad if someone writes just about your bad ones and doesn’t balance it with other matchups or other things that are good."

[...]

"I asked [the reporter a question]. You guys ask me questions all the time, that's part of my job. When you get asked a question back, you react like you do, you don't like it. But you know why? Because the media probably has the thinnest skin of any group in the world. Not in the country, in the world."

Matt Jones over at CBSSports loved Boeheim's rants (For those that don't know, Jones took pleasure in ripping apart any media criticism of the Kentucky Wildcats while he was running Kentucky Sports Radio.), saying "even though their profession is built on the notion of questioning those in power, if the microscope is ever turned back upon them, the media inevitably recoil."

Boeheim read something he didn't like, he challenged it, and he moved on.

On the other hand, Waters and Ditota do have a job to do, and what they said -- at least in this blogger's opinion -- wasn't out of line. Making note of the fact that a Louisville has beaten Syracuse in six straight games to back up a point that the Orange do not match up well with the Cardinals is valid. Pitino and Boeheim don't change the systems that they run. Louisville still presses and shoots a lot of threes, Syracuse still plays that 2-3 zone. Syracuse had been struggling against pressure defense and defending the three.

Maybe the only thing we should take out of this is that as long as you aren't the target of his tirade, Boeheim isn't boring to cover.
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Jim Boeheim tees off on beat writers in post-game press conference

Jim Boeheim has a reputation for being a bit ornery, especially when it comes to dealing with the media. That was on full display in the press conference after Syracuse's win over West Virginia.

With his team having lost six of eight, criticism has become more prevalent in some of the Syracuse papers. Over the weekend, he apparently was upset with the way that Syracuse Post-Standard beat writers (Mike Waters and Donna Ditota) handled a preview of the Louisville game where it was mentioned that the Cardinals have beaten Syracuse six (now seven) straight times. Best I can tell, this is the preview that Boeheim references.

Full video of the presser and excerpts after the jump:



-"When we lose a couple, we're not playing right. People think the season's over. The season's over when we play 18 games in the league. We have four more games left by that count. People start talking about the end of the world around here when it starts raining. It rains a lot here. I think we need to keep prospective a little bit."

-"There are some coaches in the hall of fame that I've beat 80 percent of the time. And you're going to look at a couple of coaches that beat me? I've coached against Rick Pitino when he was at Providence five times and once at Kentucky where we were 6-0 against them. One of his teams went to the Final Four, we beat them three times. So now we're all the sudden going to put in the paper that I've lost six straight to Rick Pitino? Why don't we put that I beat him six straight? Go ahead. That's really good. Why don’t you keep doing that? That’s really good. I appreciate that."

- "I don't think it's fair to take a snapshot. You write, what, a 100 articles a year for the paper? 150. 200. Someone looks at six or seven of them and says, this is bad. Is that a good judgment of your career? No. I don't think so. I don't think that’s how you judge people, or coaches or players. I don't think that’s what you do. But that’s the way it's done around here. Doesn’t mean I'm going to like it. Doesn't mean I'm not going to stand up here and let it go. Because when I let thing go like that, it will be time for me to leave."

- Boeheim then had the following exchange with Ditota and Waters, first asking if they knew what his record was against former West Virginia and current Michigan head coach John Beilein:

"No idea," Ditota said.

"Well, then you don’t know your business," Boeheim said.

"Why would I know that? Why would I know John Beilein's record against you? When is the last time you played John Beilein?" Ditota said.

"This year," Boeheim said. "Mike, you know?"

"I don't think he's ever beaten you," Waters said.

"Yeah, you don't think," Boeheim said. "You're right. That's the way they work here. They think that’s cute."

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Jay Mariotti bashing and a defense of Jim Boeheim

Jay Mariotti is a punching bag for those in the blogosphere.

I guess its my turn to weigh in.

You see, Mariotti was sent to cover the Sweet 16 games in Salt Lake City last night, and he apparently spent most of the game, well, not watching. This shouldn't come as a surprise to you. Mariotti has a bit of a reputation for doing these things.

It also should come as no surprise to you that his column actually turned out pretty decent because, like him or not, the man can write.

I'm not going to bash Mariotti for not watching the game from his courtside seat. Any of you can figure out it is a disgrace to the sports writing world when he does this. If you are not a big enough fan of sports to appreciate the fact that you get paid to sit in the best seat in the house to watch what amounted to two fantastic games, than I cannot comprehend why you are in the profession. (Ok, that was a little bit of a bashing, but I'm just jealous. I wish I was at that game last night.)

I'm also not going to bash Mariotti for jabbing Syracuse in the ribs when they didn't know Ronald Nored's exact 3PT%, because I think it goes without saying that it is more important that the Syracuse players simply know that Nored is not a very good three point shooter than the fact that he hits 19%, not 15%, of his threes.

No, I'm going to let those things slide off my back, and instead focus on this line at the end of the article:

You sensed a changing of the guard, too, between the two coaches. Boeheim thought this might be his second national title team, but now, at 65, with Johnson and Rautins leaving and 34 seasons and 1,122 games in his pocket, it might be time to consider retirement and an ESPN studio seat.

Hold on a second.

Did Mariotti just say that he thinks Boeheim needs to hang 'em up?

Because that would be crazy if he did, right?

Because Jim Boeheim didn't lead a team that no one had in the top 25 to a Big East regular season title, by two games nonetheless, right? He didn't take a team that lost Jonny Flynn, Eric Devendorf, and Paul Harris and make them a #1 seed in the tournament, did he? Because this #1 seed was loaded with McDonald's all-americans, and didn't have any kids that Boeheim turned from high-major after thoughts into quality players in the Big East, correct?

Oh, I get it.

What Mariotti was saying is that Boeheim should leave before his reputation is tarnished since Syracuse is losing Andy Rautins, Arinze Onuaku, and in all-likelihood Wes Johnson. He doesn't return his back court of Scoop Jardine and Brandon Triche, a good post player in Rick Jackson, and one of the guys that will be all over 2011 breakout star lists in Kris Joseph.

He also isn't bringing in a recruiting class that is headlined by a class of 2010 star in 7'0" Fab Melo and top 50 recruit Dion Waters.

In all honesty, I don't know what Mariotti was getting at, but he wasn't the only one talking about Boeheim today.

Honestly, its ridiculous that anyone is questioning the resume of Boeheim. He's been to the tournament 16 times in the last 21 years. Here are the results:

2010 (1-seed): lost in Sweet 16 to Butler
2009 (3-seed): lost in Sweet 16 to Oklahoma
2006 (5-seed): lost in first round to Texas A&M
2005 (4-seed): lost in first round to Vermont
2004 (5-seed): lost in Sweet 16 to Alabama
2003 (3-seed): won the national title
2001 (5-seed): lost in second round to Kansas
2000 (4-seed): lost in Sweet 16 to Michigan State
1999 (8-seed): lost in first round to Oklahoma State
1998 (5-seed): lost in Sweet 16 to Duke
1996 (4-seed): lost in Championship to Kentucky
1995 (7-seed): lost in second round to Arkansas
1994 (4-seed): lost in Sweet 16 to Missouri
1992 (6-seed): lost in second round to UMass
1991 (2-seed): lost in first round to Richmond
1990 (2-seed): lost in Sweet 16 to Minnesota

While there have been a couple of times when he teams failed to live up to expectations -- 1991 and 2005, specifically -- he also took a #4 seed to the title game and won a championship with a #3 seed.

And while he loses three of his top four scorers if Johnson bounces to the league, he also brings in a talented recruiting class, has a star waiting in the wings with Kris Joseph, and a couple of talented youngsters keeping the bench warm -- Mookie Jones, James Southerland, DaShonte Riley -- while they bide their time waiting to get minutes.

Unless Boeheim decides that it is time for him to retire, he won't be going anywhere.

And any and all speculation to the contrary isn't worth your time.
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Jim Boeheim could land 2010's best recruiting class

Yesterday, we wrote about how the Duke Blue Devils have a chance to land one of their best recruiting classes in recent memory.

Well, Coach K hasn't been the only guy doing impressive things on the recruiting trail.

In fact, the Devils may not end up with 2010's best recruiting class. If all things go according to plan, that title may go to Syracuse and Jim Boeheim.

It starts with Fab Melo, the 7'0" Brazilian center that is widely regarded as one of the best bigs in the class (7th by Scout, 16th by Rivals). It was thought that Melo was all but a lock to play for Rick Pitino in Louisville before he committed to the Orange two months ago.

Jim Boeheim has landed one of Syracuse's best recruiting classes.
(photo credit: AP)

There's more. 6'3" guard Dion Waiters, a consensus top 30 recruit (28th by Scout, 29th by Rivals), committed to the Orange over a year ago. Boeheim has also garnered commitments from 6'7" wing CJ Fair and 6'10" big man Baye Moussa Kieta, both of whom were ranked in the top 150 by Rivals.

But Boeheim isn't done yet.

Over the weekend, 6'8" point forward Tobias Harris (5th by Rivals, 9th by Scout) was on campus for his first official visit, and reportedly had a great experience. Harris is a New York native (albeit from Long Island) and plays on the AAU team the Unique All-Stars with Fair and Melo. While he has yet to say that Syracuse is his leader, there is already speculation that he will end up in upstate New York when it is all said and done.

What does this all mean?

Boeheim has gone on record saying that he thinks freshman PG Brandon Triche may be better than Jonny Flynn. If he can get juniors Rick Jackson and Wesley Johnson, a transfer from Iowa State who many believe will be one of the best players in the Big East this year, to return to school for their senior seasons, the Orange will be shot right back to the top of the conference in 2010 even if they don't land Harris.

But imagine if they do.

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Who will be next season's Public Enemy #1?

Greg Paulus graduated. So did Tyler Hansbrough. Steph Curry has entered the draft and signed with an agent.

Now comes news that Eric Devendorf, the guy that every loved to hate, has officially signed with an agent, ending his collegiate career.

Eric Devendorf has signed with an agent.
(photo credit: USA Today)

The Orange, who reached the Sweet 16 as a #3 seed after making a run to the Big East tournament finals, were an early Final Four favorite in 2010. They had everyone of significance coming back, plus they were adding wing Wesley Johnson (a transfer from Iowa State that tore up Syracuse practices this season).

But then a weird thing happened. Jim Boeheim all but ushered his top three scorers out the door. He "recommended" that Jonny Flynn enter the draft, and essentially forced Devo and Harris to leave school.

Flynn made a good decision to leave. With so many potential first rounders pulling out of the draft, Flynn has an outside chance of sneaking into the lottery, and is pretty much a first round lock.

To be honest, I think Devo was gone regardless. He graduated this past year (he was a junior in basketball terms because he missed a season with a knee injury), has a kid, and couldn't seem to keep himself out of trouble. Devo is a long shot to be a first round pick, and there is a good chance that he goes undrafted on June 25th. He is not big, strong or quick enough to play in the NBA, and while he is an excellent shooter (especially in the clutch) and solid playmaker, he won't be able to defend NBA wings. But his game (if not his attitude) is perfectly suited for Europe, and I would expect him to make a nice living over there for years.

The curious one is Harris. Most people expected him to be a one-and-done guy coming out of high school, but playing in the Big East really exposed Harris's weaknesses. While he is an excellent athlete, aggressive on the glass, and a solid defender, he is only 6'5" and lacks the handle or the jumper to play the perimeter in the league and he is a terrible decision maker. He really could have used another season to hone his skills.

So why did Boeheim show these guys the door?

Well, for starters they needed the scholarship space for their incoming class (and for Johnson).

But more than that, it just seems that Boeheim never really liked this group, especially Harris. According to Andy Katz, after the season, Boeheim didn't hear from Harris, who was in the coach's doghouse for much of the second half of the season, for three weeks. Boeheim also gave this quote to Katz:

We lost three starters but I'll take Wesley Johnson over Paul Harris and Andy Rautins over Eric Devendorf. In some ways, Triche will be better for us. He's really good.

While Boeheim may be correct, I don't think I would want to stay and play for a coach that has no qualms with blasting his former players in the media like that.

The Orange should, however, still compete atop the Big East next season. They return an excellent front line with Arinze Onuaku and Rick Jackson and Rautins was really impressive down the stretch last season as more than just a shooter. If Triche and Johnson can come in and be as good as Boeheim is saying they are, don't be surprised if this Cuse team makes another Sweet 16 trip.
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Syracuse Orange: Without a sure-fire lottery pick on their roster, the Syracuse Orange have been one of the trendy picks for 2009-2010 NCAA champion. I mean, they made it to the finals of the Big East tournament and reached the Sweet 16 of this NCAA tournament this season.

But just because you aren't projected as a lottery pick doesn't mean you won't declare for the draft.

Earlier this week, news came out that Jonny Flynn, Jim Boeheim's stud point guard, would be declaring for the NBA Draft, although he won't be signing with an agent. This makes sense for him as most have him going somewhere in the middle of the first round. Hell, Boeheim even pushed him to leave.

(photo credit: Syracuse.com)

Thursday, reports started to trickle out that Eric Devendorf and Paul Harris would also be declaring for the draft, but they would, in fact, be signing with an agent.

As far as academics are concerned, Devo is a senior and is on track to graduate in May (for all the negative things said about him, Devo managed to graduate from Syracuse in four years - how many college hoopers can say that?), although he does have one year of eligibility remaining. With everything he has gone through in his four years at Syracuse, and given the fact that he has a daughter, can you really blame the guy for wanting to get out and start making some money? I doubt he is cut out for the NBA (simply just not athletic enough), he is a smart basketball player with a great jump shot. I'd be willing to bet he heads to Europe and makes six figures.

Paul Harris is a different story. Harris has a shot at turning himself into a first rounder. He has the body and the athleticism to be a good small forward in the NBA if he can get his jump shot and handle to NBA caliber. But Harris and Boeheim seemed to be feuding a bit at the end of the season. Harris put up some great numbers, but never was a good decision maker. It seemed like, at some point, Boeheim became fed up with it and began yanking Harris from the game early and often.

Regardless of the reasoning, Syracuse stands to lose their three best players from last season's team. You can end all that national title talk now.
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Eric Devendorf: Suspension Revisited

We've touched on this before (here and here), but this Eric Devendorf saga took another turn as Jim Boeheim vehemently defended his player to the media and denounced the impending suspension.

Here is video of the interview:

You can't really blame Boeheim for taking his player's back. And you really cannot be mad at him for being upset when the Syracuse judicial board basically said that his player's were lying, both to them and to the district attorney under oath.

When it comes down to it, he makes a very good point. This girl's story has changed a number of times. At first it was a closed fist he hit her with then it was an open had. She said he approached her but the players say she approached them. She said that she did not know any of the people, did not know Devendorf, and did not know that there were basketball players there, but she had dated two of the players (Boeheim leads you to believe that one was Arinze Onuaku), and AO lives with Devendorf.

This is clearly not a cut and dry situation, and it absolutely is more complicated than a simple he-said-she-said issue. I don't want to come off as saying that I believe the players were lying (because I don't), but I can definitely see how a judicial board could interpret three of Devendorf's teammates taking his side and defending him as "orchestrated statements".

In itself, this seems to be the type of thing that would warrant some type of probation or community service - there is a serious lack of evidence on either side (which is why the DA declined to press charges), all involved parties were more than likely intoxicated (it was 3AM on a Friday night/Saturday morning outside a frat house on a college campus), and the girl's credibility is just about non-existent.

So what is comes down to is Devendorf's credibility and prior behavior. Boeheim said that he was on probation. The Syracuse Office of Judicial Affairs handbook lists three different types of probation (scroll down to Part 10): social, residential, and disciplinary. Only disciplinary probation lists extended suspension or expulsion as a punishment for further violation.

If you scroll down to 10.6, the handbook gets into standard sanctions for violence-related violations. From the Handbook:

Category:

Physical harm or threat of physical harm without a weapon resulting in little or no physical injury to involved persons.

Sanction:

• Disciplinary probation, suspension, or indefinite suspension as determined by the case manager or hearing board
• Participation in the Anger Management Program
• Options Program referral, if alcohol or other drugs were a factor in the incident
• Minimum of 80 hours of community service and/or other educational sanctions as deemed appropriate by the case manager or hearing board

For a student already on disciplinary probation:

Further violations may result in immediate suspension, indefinite suspension, or expulsion from the University.

There are two things that I take from this entire situation. One is that it sounds like Devendorf has been in trouble before at Syracuse, and that more than a punishment for this specific offense, Devendorf is being punished for his body of work, so to speak. The other is that Boeheim has had bad experiences in dealing with the Judicial Board in the past. By all accounts, it seems like an organized kangaroo court.

So this is what I will leave you with. I stand by my statement that Devendorf should have been held out of games while his appeal is pending, if for nothing else being dumb enough to put himself into this situation. But given the circumstances in this instance, I can't say I wouldn't do the same thing if I were in Boeheim's shoes.

When it comes down to it, if Devendorf does end up getting suspended, I don't think he has a right to be mad at anyone except himself. If you are on probation at school, and you know that one more offense could result in a punishment like this, why do you let yourself get into this situation? Why do you even get involved in an altercation with this girl? Why not just walk away from her? Yes, she more than likely shoulders just as much blame as Devendorf does and should also face some kind of punishment, but do you think she has anywhere near as much to lose in this situation as Devendorf does?

Like it or not, athletes at big time schools get held to a higher standard than regular students. They are the face of the university and their athletic abilities generate an unbelievable amount of revenue for the school. In general, I find it unfair that athlete's get held to this higher standard. But this is the world that we live in, and these guys will have to adjust off the court, just like they have to adjust if they are facing some junk, triangle-and-two defense on the court.

If this was Devendorf's first time in trouble, I would say forget it - make the kid do a bunch of community service, let Boeheim run his tail off in practice, give him some probation, and don't punish him too harshly for making a dumb decision when he was drunk. But this was not his first offense. So if the Judicial Board decides that they want to throw the book at him (however unfair that decision ends up being given this offense) it is his own fault for putting himself in that situation.

All of that said, I don't think Devendorf should be suspended for the rest of the season. But if he is already on probation, what else can you do? Is it fair to allow Boeheim to deliver a punishment of, say, five games? Normal students do not get that luxury. It's not like the Judicial Board can go to a frat president and say "we will allow this kid to stay in school if you suspend him from a month's worth of keggers". If the suspension is upheld, then what it would come down to is basically a one-semester suspension.

Is that really all that unfair? Continue reading...