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NCAA Reduces Penalties on SU Basketball, Upholds Cancellation of Past Wins

WAER Sports

  Syracuse University's appeal of the sanctions placed on the basketball program by the NCAA has resulted in a reduction of the number of scholarships lost and a drop in the fine being charged the school.  The infractions committee ruled on SU's appeal by giving back one scholarship-per-year.  The original penalty included the loss of 3 scholarships in each of the next 4 years for a total of 12.  That has been changed to 2 awards per year for a total of 8.  

In addition, the fines for money earned by participation in the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament was just about cut in half.  The committee agreed with the University's contention that $1.23 Million came from the 2013 tournament and shouldn't have to be forfeited.

"“The University is pleased with these two positive outcomes resulting from our appeal.  We strongly believed the original scholarship reduction penalty was too severe when compared to other infraction cases," said Senior Vice President for Public Affairs Kevin Quinn.  "Also, the scholarship reduction penalty directly impacts current and future student-athletes and their academic and athletic opportunities. We remain disappointed in the decision to vacate a significant amount of men’s basketball wins, a decision that was upheld."

Coach Jim Boeheim and the team will still have 101 wins vacated during the years covered by the infractions.  That reduces Boeheim's win total for his career from 969 wins to 868.  The coach still has a pending appeal over his suspension for the first 9 games of the ACC basketball schedule.

WAER FM 88.3 has coverage of all Battle for Atlantis Games

Boeheim and the SU basketball team are in the Bahamas over the holiday with games Wednesday, Thursday and Friday as part of the Battle for Atlantis Tournament.  The team started this year 3-0.  

Chris Bolt, Ed.D. has proudly been covering the Central New York community and mentoring students for more than 30 years. His career in public media started as a student volunteer, then as a reporter/producer. He has been the news director for WAER since 1995. Dedicated to keeping local news coverage alive, Chris also has a passion for education, having trained, mentored and provided a platform for growth to more than a thousand students. Career highlights include having work appear on NPR, CBS, ABC and other news networks, winning numerous local and state journalism awards.