NCAA Throws the Book at Syracuse Basketball

Citing a decade of violations in which the Syracuse University’s men’s basketball program was essentially out of control, the NCAA brought the hammer down on March 6th.

The sanctions include the vacating of victories won using ineligible players from the 2004-5 through 2011-12 seasons (a total of 108 victories), academic violations, failure to follow the school’s internal drug policy, impermissible benefits for athletes, impermissible athletic booster activities, and misconduct. The program will serve a five year probation period, and lose 12 scholarships over the next four years. Coach Jim Boeheim will be suspended for the team’s first nine ACC games next season, basically because he thumbed his nose at the NCAA and failed to keep his program in compliance with the rules. He also lost those 108 wins from his record; he was 2nd all time in wins, and now he’s sixth.

Syracuse knew that something was going to happen, and imposed a post season ban on the program, which the NCAA accepted as part of the sanctions. With the loss of three scholarships per year for four years, The school will likely not see the post season for several more years after that.