ACC Roundup - Syracuse Reaction

The reactions continue to come in about Syracuse's self-punishment in an attempt to avoid worse from the NCAA.

The 'Cuse, 15-7 and dealing with a limited lineup and a thin bench, has excused itself from post-season play.

It's like a Jerzy Kozinski thing because Syracuse won't say what it's punishing itself for and it's punishing itself by denying itself something it can't have anyway.

Mike DeCourcy is not at all impressed and calls the move "a disgrace."

Jay Bilas, who has become the go-to man for criticizing the NCAA, doesn't disappoint, telling the Syracuse paper that "[t]he problem these guys have is the NCAA is not going to sanction their own," Bilas said. "When is the last time you heard (NCAA President) Mark Emmert say a negative word about (former Penn State president) Graham Spanier? They don't do that. They don't say bad things about each other.

"What they do is they shame the coaches and the players. That's what they do. They are not going to admit they have done something wrong. It's amazing how, in our system, the head coach is supposed to know everything, right? It's a strict liability thing. If something happens, the head coach knew or was deemed to know.

"When things went wrong right down the hall of the NCAA president, what did he say? He said 'I'm not responsible for knowing what goes on on the shop floor.' They have the perfect system. They are not accountable for anything. University administrators are not accountable for anything. Coaches and players are. And that's not a good system."

On the other hand, ESPN's Dan Dakich says Boeheim should be banned, not Syracuse. He argues that the way to correct the excesses is to ban coaches. And he's pretty funny about it too:

"For the most part, coaches are stone idiots. Let's just totally be honest. So many assistant coaches couldn't make a dime doing anything other than trying to lie to kids to get them to come play college basketball. Head coach is the same thing. If you threaten them with a loss of their livelihood, because there's not a coach out there — not one — who could make as much money doing anything else other than coaching. ... Urban Meyer is not making more money doing anything else other than coaching. Jim Boeheim isn't making more money in a business community or selling shoes. Coach K isn't making more money doing anything other than coaching.

"We should have cheated at Bowling Green. I wish we had. If I ever coach again, I'm cheating my brains out. Coaches contracts are unbelievable. Think about it: Rakeem Christmas, who had nothing to do with it, he can't play in the NCAA tournament, but Jim Boeheim, (it doesn't) affect him. He gets a break. He'll probably be on ESPN's or CBS' coverage."

Now that's golden.

Over on the radio, ESPN's Mike & Mike say there's no reason to punish innocent players.

Not surprisingly, Boeheim defends: "You can't wait and say, 'We'll take it next year.' You have to take it. Everybody is talking about the record, and that doesn't matter...Everybody says we haven't beaten a ranked team, well, we've played two. Villanova was in overtime at their place and they're in the top five or six in the country. So why can't we beat a good team? We are not out of it. Do you know how many teams think they can go to the NCAA now that have eight, nine losses? It's ridiculous to say we can't go...We have every chance to go to the NCAA and the NIT, and we would certainly go to the ACC. We're giving up something right now. It's a serious punishment. It's a harsh punishment...Some people think that it's no loss that they can't go to the ACC Tournament or an NIT. Well, yeah, that is a loss. Your younger players need to play in an ACC Tournament. It's good for them, and it's good to play in the NIT. We don't have all veterans. We have one senior. So a team like our team, if we were in the NIT, could play three or four games, and that could be valuable."

He's got a point about the NIT and the ACC, but still, you couldn't pick a better year for this if you're Syracuse.

One and done/early entry is a fact-of-life now and it's always fun to see guys shake hands with the commissioner on draft day. And you do see some significant success stories.

But you also see headlines like these:

• Brandan Wright: Brandan Wright scores two points
• Elliot Williams Will Sign 10 Day Contract With Hornets
• Phoenix Suns send Tyler Ennis back to NBA D-League

Say what you will about Boeheim, but he told the truth about Ennis's NBA prospects and he got really raked over the coals for doing it.

State fans may be forgiven for having doubts about ACC officiating, since the Pack has been on the wrong end of several situations in the past few seasons.

Most recent example: Wake's Devin Thomas got away with a flagrant foul in this weekend's game.

Wth four free throws(another foul was called) and possession, it could have been a six or seven point swing. State was down 86-79 after the other foul shots were hit.

Obviously it was a huge blow and yet another reason for State fans to feel cursed.

The ACC apologized to State and admitted the error.