Jay Bilas on Buddy Boeheim Suspension: 'Just Wrong'

The ESPN commentator does not believe Syracuse basketball's star should miss the Duke game.

Mike McAllister | Mar 9, 2022

Jay Bilas on Buddy Boeheim Suspension: 'Just Wrong' /

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ESPN's Jay Bilas posted a video on his Twitter feed Wednesday evening addressing Buddy Boeheim's suspension for one game that will cause him to miss the ACC Tournament quarterfinals matchup against Duke following an incident with Wyatt Wilkes in the Orange's win over Florida State.

"The suspension of Syracuse's Buddy Boeheim for what happened in the Florida State game is just wrong," Bilas said. "The ACC came in after the fact and decided to suspend Buddy Boeheim. It's disproportionate to the offense. Rules are rules and the rules of the game indicate that if play started after the fact, and the action could not be reviewed, that's final. And it was final. The referees could not review the play after play started again. They missed it, and that's fine. Now the ACC could condemn the action and issue a reprimand. But suspending Buddy Boeheim for the next game against Duke is disproportionate to the offense and I think wrong. That effectively ends Buddy Boeheim's career. It affects the ACC Tournament and I don't think it's the right thing. Rules are rules and those rules were written for a reason.

"If the referees by rule could go back and review the play after play had started, that's fine. Then perhaps it's a flagrant two and Buddy Boeheim is thrown out of the Florida State game. But after the game is over, then it's over. Just like you can't review somebody stepping out of bounds or review a charge/block call after the game, you can't review this. The question is one of proportionality. No one is saying what happened was right. It wasn't. Buddy Boeheim apologized and that's great. But the ACC should have moved on and Buddy Boeheim should be playing against Duke. This is the wrong decision made by the ACC. It's wrong because it's not proportionate. It's disproportional to the offense and it goes against the rules of play."

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Published Mar 9, 2022

MIKE MCALLISTER

Title: Publisher All Syracuse Education: Roberts Wesleyan College Location: Syracuse, New York Expertise: Syracuse basketball, football and recruiting. EXPERIENCE Mike McAllister has been covering Syracuse basketball, football and recruiting for more than a decade. Mike's career started with his own free blog as a way to vent following sporting events. Shortly thereafter, a network of basketball sites called Coast 2 Coast Hoops asked him to run their Syracuse site. That site was called Nation of Orange, and Mike quickly established it as a go-to for Syracuse fans. After running Nation of Orange for several months, a position with the Syracuse site on the Scout network became available. After one year as the recruiting expert with Cuse Nation, he was named the publisher. Mike oversaw the transition from Scout to 247Sports, and ran the site on that network for years. Presented with the opportunity to join one of the biggest names in the sports journalism industry, Sports Illustrated, Mike jumped at the chance. All Syracuse was started from scratch by Mike and the Fan Nation team. It has now become a staple for Orange fans of various sports. Mike has broken news on recruiting, Syracuse basketball and football team information and has established himself as the top recruiting inside in the market. He has appeared on local radio shows, television broadcasts, national radio shows and much more. Mr. McAllister has a Bachelor of Science Degree in Accounting and Information Management from Roberts Wesleyan College.