The UNC-Syracuse Final Four matchup is a bad look for the NCAA
As Theo Pinson and Isaiah Hicks linked up for the alley oop that effectively set up a North Carolina-Syracuse Final Four matchup late on Sunday evening, I envisioned the lights suddenly flickering in NCAA president Mark Emmert's house. And as "Tubular Bells" played and Emmert stare wide-eyed through his own icy breath at the Tar Heels gleefully celebrating their regional championship, he said these words, only loud enough for himself to hear: Why them? Why these teams?
While I don't claim to be able to see into the depths of his soul, it's not a leap to imagine that Emmert isn't pleased with Syracuse and North Carolina representing the NCAA on its biggest stage. Taking into account the mountain of evidence, It's really more of a hop.
For starters, North Carolina recently uncovered 18 years of academic fraud. When the investigation was re-opened last year, Rashad McCants-- the second-leading scorer on Roy Williams' 2004-05 championship team-- said that he once made the Dean's List for a semester during which he didn't attend a single class. How? McCants and many others were ushered toward fugazi "paper classes" to fluff their GPAs and keep them eligible at the expense of actual schooling, which means that a lot of them are out in the world now, equipped to do nothing. Some of those former athletes are now suing the university over receiving no education.
North Carolina was finally charged with the dreaded "lack of institutional control" last June, but the NCAA has been sitting on their hands ever since. Any potential punishment was somehow pushed back by the discovery of even more institutional fraud in other sports, though Emmert assures us that the investigation is nearing its end.
Syracuse isn't any better. They've got a rap sheet over a decade long including but probably not limited to violation of their own drug policy, athletes receiving "impermissible benefits," and of course, good old academic fraud.
The NCAA did hand head coach Jim Boeheim a nine-game suspension this season and hit Syracuse with some scholarship losses. But lo and behold, the Orange are going to be there in the Final Four, right next to the Tar Heels.
Not a great look for an organization that loves to stress the student in "student-athlete."
UNC will take on Syracuse this Saturday, April 2, 8:49 p.m. EST on TBS.
