{"id":2079,"date":"2015-03-17T22:48:28","date_gmt":"2015-03-18T02:48:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bigredsportsmachine.com\/?p=2079"},"modified":"2015-03-19T10:30:03","modified_gmt":"2015-03-19T14:30:03","slug":"tuesday-teabag-march-17-2015-syracuse-university","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bigredsportsmachine.com\/?p=2079","title":{"rendered":"Tuesday Teabag, March 17, 2015 – Syracuse University"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

“S” is for Sanctions.<\/p><\/div>\n

First, happy St. Patrick\u2019s Day!\u00a0 If there are any typos, it\u2019s not because The Machine\u2019s been drinking since noon.\u00a0 Second, happy March Madness!\u00a0 Still studying your bracket to find your upset special (you better pick at least two 12\/5 upsets).\u00a0 While you\u2019re focusing on the teams that are in the tourney, our Tuesday Teabag focuses on one that\u2019s not.<\/p>\n

By now you\u2019re well aware of the sanctions the NCAA imposed on Syracuse athletics.\u00a0 It\u2019s surprising\/sad that the football team was involved too.\u00a0 FYI, if you\u2019re going to cheat, you better at least be good.\u00a0 And no, winning the Pinstripe Bowl does not count.<\/p>\n

Anyway, just recently the NCAA laid the hammer on the Orange.\u00a0 Jim Boeheim was suspended for 9 games next season (pretty sure he wish that would\u2019ve started sooner so he didn\u2019t have to witness the beatdown against NC State), took away 12 scholarships, and vacated 108 wins, going back to 2004.\u00a0 Shit, even Otto got banned<\/a> from the mascot game.\u00a0 Boom.\u00a0 Just like that, Boeheim drops from the 2nd<\/sup> winningest Division I Men\u2019s Basketball Coach to the 6th<\/sup> (and Bobby Knight beats him again, this time without Keith Smart).<\/p>\n

\"Otto<\/a>

Otto got hosed!<\/p><\/div>\n

Boeheim\u2019s no stranger to The Machine.\u00a0 Last year, we gave him a Teabag when his temper tantrum<\/a> cost SU the game against Duke.\u00a0 This time, his actions (or non-actions) have cost him even more.\u00a0 Suspension, an unprecedented amount of wins vacated, and loss of scholarships affecting kids who weren\u2019t even at the school.\u00a0 Sounds pretty harsh, right?\u00a0 Well, The Machine says bullshit.\u00a0 Syracuse fans should be lucky the NCAA allowed them to keep its 2003 National Title.<\/p>\n

Sorry, but we\u2019re not buying your lame excuses.\u00a0 When your best defense is \u201ceveryone else is doing it\u201d you\u2019re shit out of luck.\u00a0 That didn\u2019t work when your parents busted you for smoking, that didn\u2019t work with your high school girlfriend, and it sure as hell doesn\u2019t work here.\u00a0 [cue Mom or prude high school girlfriend voice]:\u00a0 \u201cI don\u2019t care if everyone does it, that doesn\u2019t mean it\u2019s right.\u201d\u00a0 Now shudder that those two voices are similar.<\/p>\n

Look, if you told me that 95% of Division I schools violate the rules, I\u2019d say you\u2019re missing a few.\u00a0 There\u2019s a reason why no current coaches are slamming Boeheim\u2026because they know if the light\u2019s shined on their school they\u2019re screwed.\u00a0 But that doesn\u2019t mean there are no consequences for getting caught.\u00a0 In all facets of life where competition is a driving force, people are going to bend<\/span> break the rules to gain a competitive edge.\u00a0 Am I right, New England Patriots?<\/p>\n

An equally dumb argument is that Boeheim didn\u2019t know what was going on.\u00a0 Are you kidding me?\u00a0 Does Boeheim look like the kind of guy that has a loose, laissez faire approach to life?\u00a0 Sorry, not buying it.\u00a0 Coaches, by nature, are control freaks.\u00a0 College coaches even more so, as they\u2019re trying to mold teenagers into professional<\/span> student athletes.\u00a0 These guys know every detail of these kids\u2019 lives before they arrive on campus.\u00a0 They send scouts out all over the country to watch high school games, and spend countless hours recruiting players and convincing their families they should play at their school.\u00a0 You think that switch turns off once they get to college?<\/p>\n

Perhaps the dumbest argument is the one put forth by Dick Vitale.\u00a0 Dickie V gave an impassioned<\/span> ridiculous defense of Boeheim<\/a>, saying he was guilty of one thing:\u00a0 trust.\u00a0 Yeah, Boeheim unknowingly hired a bunch of evil doers.\u00a0 [cue Dickie V voice:]\u00a0 Come on!\u00a0 Are you serious?<\/p>\n

You have the Director of Basketball Operations (and others) accessing player\u2019s email accounts<\/a>, pretending to be the players and corresponding directly with professors and turning in assignments on behalf of players.\u00a0 Then you have Fab Melo.\u00a0 You know, your star player who can barely speak English.\u00a0 Don\u2019t you think Boeheim ever thought, \u201cgee, I wonder if Fab\u2019s inability to speak English is hampering his academic success.\u201d\u00a0 You need to read this Deadspin<\/a> article to truly appreciate the clusterfuck that went on with Fab.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s no way he doesn\u2019t know something\u2019s up.\u00a0 Giving him the biggest benefit of the doubt, Boeheim is at best willfully ignorant.\u00a0 But again, that\u2019s no excuse.\u00a0 You\u2019re the head coach.\u00a0 The buck stops with you.\u00a0 Plausible deniability is no defense.<\/p>\n

\"Wait,<\/a>

Wait, my players don’t go to class, receive improper benefits, and have their papers written for them? Noooo…<\/p><\/div>\n

Also, did anyone else find it a little disingenuous that Syracuse issued its self-imposed ban on postseason play during a year when their team sucked?\u00a0 They didn\u2019t need any ban on postseason play this year because they were never getting into the NCAA tourney.\u00a0 Can you be more transparent and self-serving?\u00a0 Syracuse waited for the most opportune time to self-impose its penalty, so it would do the least amount of damage.\u00a0 And, for the most part, it worked.<\/p>\n

Were the penalties a little harsh? \u00a0Maybe, but guess what? \u00a0They should be. \u00a0It’s called deterrence, and sending a message. \u00a0Taking away wins from coaches, tarnishing their legacy, hits them right where they feel it most, their ego. \u00a0And you need to have penalties that extend into the future (e.g. loss of scholarships). \u00a0The penalties must be severe enough so that’s it’s not worth the risk of cheating. \u00a0Even then, teams will still do it. \u00a0But if all teams were faced with are backward looking fines and penalties, that’s not enough. \u00a0And that’s why The Machine thinks maybe the penalties for Syracuse weren’t so bad after all.<\/p>\n

The only things affecting next year are Boeheim missing the first 9 fluff games of the season (pretty sure the Cuse can handle Colgate without Jim at the helm) and the loss of scholarships. \u00a0[Edit: \u00a0the suspension is for the first 9 conference games, so Jim will be on the bench against the Raiders]. That stings, for sure, but the 12 scholarship losses are phased out over 4 years. \u00a0It’s certainly not the “death penalty<\/a>” that Syracuse fans are now calling on other schools to receive. \u00a0Importantly, SU is not banned from next year\u2019s postseason, which is key.\u00a0 Syracuse has one of the best recruiting classes<\/a> in the country next year, so keeping their postseason eligibility was an absolute must in order to avoid any defections.<\/p>\n

And that\u2019s why no one should cry foul about the NCAA sanctions.\u00a0 Be thankful they stopped where they did.\u00a0 Did they take away too many games from Boeheim?\u00a0 Probably.\u00a0 But that won\u2019t matter when SU\u2019s in the Final Four next year.<\/p>\n

Enjoy your teabag.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

First, happy St. Patrick\u2019s Day!\u00a0 If there are any typos, it\u2019s not because The Machine\u2019s been drinking since noon.\u00a0 Second, happy March Madness!\u00a0 Still studying your bracket to find your upset special (you better pick at least two 12\/5 upsets).\u00a0 … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2079","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-tuesday-teabag"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2Bp3y-xx","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bigredsportsmachine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2079","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bigredsportsmachine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bigredsportsmachine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bigredsportsmachine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bigredsportsmachine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2079"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.bigredsportsmachine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2079\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2086,"href":"https:\/\/www.bigredsportsmachine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2079\/revisions\/2086"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bigredsportsmachine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2079"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bigredsportsmachine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2079"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bigredsportsmachine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2079"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}