Syracuse basketball hit hard by NCAA ruling

Say goodbye to Syracuse as a national basketball power.

Two seasons removed from an appearance in the Final Four, Syracuse was smacked around Friday by the NCAA, which ruled that the school failed to control and monitor its athletic programs and that longtime basketball coach Jim Boeheim failed, over a 10-year period of violations beginning in 2001-02, to promote an atmosphere of compliance in his program.

The penalties issued by the NCAA’s Committee on Infractions are harsh, especially where the basketball program is concerned. In addition to a five-year probation period, Boeheim’s program will lose 12 scholarships over the next four years — a massive number — and be forced to vacate more than 100 victories. The 70-year-old Boeheim will serve a nine-game suspension during Atlantic Coast Conference play next season — if he’s still at Syracuse, that is, in what would be his 40th season as coach.

The NCAA’s findings against Syracuse — some of which were self-reported by the school after its own investigation — involved academic misconduct, impermissible benefits and violations of the program’s policy on drug testing.

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