Syracuse penalties are stiff
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For a while now, Syracuse and head coach Jim Boeheim have known that NCAA sanctions were on the way for various academic and off the floor violations. In an effort to gain favor, the Orange had already self imposed a 2014-15 post season ban. Friday, the NCAA released its sanctions and while the NCAA didn't add on any further postseason bans, they did come down hard. Especially in regards to recruiting.
To be clear, Syracuse was given more than just recruiting sanctions. Boeheim will be be suspended the first nine games of the 2015-16 ACC season. Over 100 Syracuse wins have been vacated, the university was placed on five years of probation and, along with paying fines for games in which ineligible players were used, Syracuse must return funds they received playing in the 2011, 2012 and 2013 NCAA tournaments.
Reports of academic impropriety, extra benefits for players and failure by the school to follow its own drug testing policy aren't exactly the types of things any program wants out there in the public eye.
While those penalties and details are harsh and embarrassing, they aren't going to hugely impact the day to day operations of the program in the future. Sure, Boeheim takes a loss in the personal win column, but that doesn't hurt his ability to coach down the road. But, the recruiting restrictions that were placed on Syracuse could have a huge impact on future coaching efforts.
The key components in play here are that Syracuse will lose 12 scholarships over the next four years -- beginning in 2015-16 but can be deferred for a year -- and that they will be allowed only two off campus recruiters from June 1, 2015 through May 31, 2017. Those two penalties could be quite significant.
Essentially, Syracuse will now be reduced to playing with 10 scholarship players for a total of four years. On top of that, the program's ability to go out and evaluate players to use those reduced scholarships on will be hampered because they can only have two coaches on the road.
Most likely, Syracuse will defer the penalty to begin in the 2016-17 season. Actually, they pretty much have to because there is simply no way for them to get down to 10 scholarship players without eliminating some current players or signed recruits.
Syracuse is slated to return nine scholarship players next season and they have signed a top 10 recruiting class with four-star prospects Malachi Richardson (No. 31), Tyler Lydon (66), Moustapha Diagne (No. 69) and Franklin Howard. So, for one year the Orange should be fine.
Where it gets tricky is the 2016-2017 season. Currently the Orange have one commitment from the high school class of 2016 in top 40 small forward Matthew Moyer from Ohio.
Counting Moyer, the 2015 recruits and those players already on campus with remaining eligibility, Syracuse has 12 players projected to be on scholarship. That's two over what they will be allowed so something will have to give. Perhaps sophomore Chris McCullough will make a strong enough return from injury to leave for the NBA in the spring of 2016. Perhaps DaJuan Coleman, who will be a redshirt junior, will decide to move after next season. Maybe there will be a transfer. Maybe Moyer will decide to reopen things because of the apparent crunch.
There are a lot of ifs, maybes and perhaps clouding the future use of scholarships and that's where the problem lies. With only 10 scholarships to work with and already being over, Syracuse is going to have to get creative from here on out. Actually creative isn't the right word, more like selective.
In future recruiting efforts Boeheim and his staff are going to have to be extra sure about the players they take and they will have little margin for error. There's not going to be much room to take prospects who they feel might not be ready right away but have a chance to develop. If players leave early or decide to transfer, there's a chance that they won't have been able to scout enough players to make a totally informed decision on who they pick to replace them.
The possibilities and difficulties are endless and puts the Syracuse staff in a really tough spot on the recruiting trail the next few years. And that's without the mention of how competing programs are going to use all of this against them down the road.
We won't truly know the impact of these sanctions for a few years and until the Syracuse staff has had a chance to adapt. However, upon initial review the probation, lost money and details of what happened sound bad but it is the recruiting sanctions that will ultimately have the greatest impact on the program moving forward.
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