Bracket buster. Cinderella team. A feel-good story?
The Syracuse University men’s basketball squad is headed to the NCAA Final Four and you can call them what you want. Because just one year ago – and it’s funny how fast people forget – this basketball program was punished for cheating.
Yes, cheating. No one likes that moniker.
Syracuse placed a self-imposed postseason ban on its men’s basketball team last February in response to an NCAA investigation into potential past infractions by the team. The ban included the 2015 NCAA tournament, ACC tournament and NIT. How do people not remember this?
“I am very disappointed that our basketball team will miss the opportunity to play in the postseason this year,” coach Jim Boeheim said in a news release 13 months ago.
Fast-forward to Sunday night and Boeheim’s tune sounded like this: “I’ve never been prouder in all my 40 years as coach of a basketball team as I am of this team tonight,” Boeheim told the Associated Press.
It is quite amazing the difference just one year makes.
Read more: March Madness starts but picking a perfect NCAA bracket is not going to happen
The Orange went from watching post-season action from their couch last year to barely earning an at-large bid as a bubble team on Selection Sunday earlier this month to now earning a Final Four appearance in the Big Dance.
And that’s not to say this current campaign has not been a bumpy road. The Orange (23-13) dropped their first four ACC games. Boeheim, himself, was suspended for nine games as part of the NCAA investigation that found a history of improper benefits and academic misconduct stretching back years.
Then Syracuse lost five of six toward the end of its schedule, including a 72-71 loss to Pittsburgh in the conference tourney. But once the Orange got their at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament, they somehow found a way to turn it around.
Syracuse becomes the first No 10 seed to make it to the Final Four and just the fourth double-digit seed to accomplish the feat. It’s the lowest seeded team to reach the national semi-finals since 11th-seeded VCU in 2011.
How did they do it? The youngsters have helped and that is what is even more mind-boggling.
Despite last year’s post-season ban, Boeheim already had the top recruiting class in his 39 years as coach signed for this season. Products from that now-freshman class – Malachi Richardson and Tyler Lydon – have played intricate roles during this tournament run and starred during a surprising 68-62 victory over top-seeded Virginia in the Midwest Regional final.
So let me get this straight:
Step 1 Your team is banned from last year's post-season for essentially cheating (it does not matter if the punishment is self-imposed – that's like pleading guilty before the trial).
Step 2 But it's OK because your outstanding recruits do not factor in a program's integrity before (or after) signing a commitment letter.
Step 3 The coach is suspended nine games during the current season (see Step 1).
Step 4 Your team limps to a sup-par regular-season record but still manages an at-large bid for the field of 68 at the NCAA Tournament.
Step 5 Win four straight games against top teams and advance to The Final Four.
Who ever told you cheaters never win?
Granted, each of the players on this current Syracuse team were still in high school for the ‘improper benefits and academic misconduct’ the NCAA investigated. This is a different squad compared to the previous team(s) that were plagued.
But before you go jumping on the feel-good Syracuse Cinderella bandwagon, just keep in mind what this program did to get here.
agray@thenational.ae
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