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Men's basketball

Jay Bilas discusses future of Syracuse men’s basketball team following NCAA sanctions

The recent penalties assessed to the Syracuse men’s basketball team may affect the way the team can recruit, but won’t have a devastating effect on the program, said Jay Bilas, a college basketball analyst for ESPN.

As a result of its investigation into Syracuse University, the NCAA handed down penalties to the school’s men’s basketball program that include five-years probation, wins vacated and a nine-game suspension for Jim Boeheim during the first-half of the 2015-16 Atlantic Coast Conference schedule.

But many have said the most damaging punishment is the loss of scholarships for the program. SU will lose three men’s basketball scholarships each year for four years, starting with either the 2015-16 year, or with the 2016-17 year. Overcoming these punishments will be difficult, but not impossible, Bilas said in an interview with The Daily Orange on Tuesday.

“The penalties are less significant than the cloud that’s been hanging over the program for the last seven or eight years,” Bilas said. “Overall I think they’ll be fine.”

He said the scholarship reductions will likely affect the way the program recruits players. He said since the Orange will have fewer scholarships available, it will have to be “a little more judicious about recruiting.”



“Ironically it encourages the program to go toward more one-and-done caliber players and turn the roster over faster,” he said.





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