Players and explanations involved in Syracuse men’s basketball’s vacated wins revealed
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Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim said recently on the Doug Gottlieb Show that none of the vacated wins involved drug violations.
Terrence Roberts, Billy Edelin, Dion Waiters, Fab Melo and Mookie Jones were the five players involved in violations that led to Syracuse vacating 101 wins. The Orange’s 2016-17 media guide identified those five players as having their individual statistics vacated by the NCAA.
Roberts and Edelin were involved in the 60 wins that were vacated from 2004-07 due to receiving illegal payments. Waiters, Melo and Jones’ involvement in academic issues led to 41 wins vacated from 2010-12.
The NCAA’s report on Syracuse was released on March 6, 2015 and included references to Jeff Cornish, a booster of the program involved in paying players. He paid three football and two men’s basketball players from a bank account titled “AAU-DCCT” a total of $8,335 and used the tax ID number of the Tri-Valley YMCA, where he worked, to do so, according to the report.
From May 2004 to July 2005, Cornish deposited more than $300,000 into the account and paid SU players, athletics staffers and a basketball staffer’s rent for a month, according to the report.
In 2010-11, Jones played in 13 games, which led to seven vacated wins that season. Waiters played in 34 games in 2011-12 while Melo played in 33 and Jones played in 12. SU vacated all 34 wins that season. According to the NCAA’s report, they received illegal assistance on academic work from people around the program, falling under the category of “impermissible academic benefits.”
About three weeks ago, it was revealed how many games and in which years the 101 vacated wins came from. Now, it’s known which players were involved and why, based on the years these players played and how they’re described in the original report. The NCAA’s initial report, however, did not name the players specifically, while the team media guide does.
The news aligns with what head coach Jim Boeheim said recently on the Doug Gottlieb Show, that none of the vacated wins involved drug violations.
Updated yearly records following vacated wins:
2004-05: 12-7 (15 vacated, 27-7 previously)
2005-06: 0-12 (23 vacated, 23-12 previously)
2006-07: 2-11 (22 vacated, 24-11 previously)
2010-11: 20-8 (seven vacated, 27-8 previously)
2011-12: 0-3 (34 vacated, 34-3 previously)
Published on November 4, 2016 at 3:19 pm
Contact Paul: pmschwed@syr.edu | @pschweds
