Just heard Bill Cunningham (not the most reliable source) claims that Syracuse has a basketball player ineligible for the tournament. No more details were given.

Anyone heard anything reliable to confirm or refute?

Fab Melo. Out for the tournament due to being academically ineligible.

Turns out it is Fab Melo. I have to change my brackets.

http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketba...le-tourney

"Despite earning a No. 1 seed in this year's NCAA tournament, Syracuse now faces an uphill battle in their quest for a national title.

The Orange (31-2) announced on their website Tuesday that sophomore center Fab Melo will not participate in the tournament due to an "eligibility issue.

"Given University policy and federal student privacy laws, no further details can be provided at this time," the site said."

(03-13-2012 01:46 PM)bearcats23 Wrote:  Fab Melo. Out for the tournament due to being academically ineligible.

Woah. Time to change up the bracket.

Kansas State over Syracuse just became not such a rare pick, there goes my "sleeper" upset.

Ok it's march 13 and Syracuse is on semesters, no? Hmmm. Seems like a lot of shady stuff up there at that newest ACC school (junior cheater league to SEC).

So how the hell did he magically become eligible for most of the BE season. What a joke. Like I said earlier when he was ineligible, how do you clear up an eligibility problem? Either he passed his classes or he didn't.

Glad he was there when we beat them.

Well our elite 8 game just got easier.

(03-13-2012 02:05 PM)Bearcat2012 Wrote:  Well our elite 8 game just got easier.

I like that kind of thinking.

This really opens up the East Regional. UC potentially has an incredibly tough road to New Orleans, but it just opened up a little bit.

...They were pretty good without him.
I don't know how much of a difference that really makes.
For as much hype as there is, surrounding Melo, he really isn't a very dominant player; on either end of the floor.

Had they announced this over the weekend, would they have lost their #1 seed? Quite possibly and the cover-up of those facts will be interesting to watch as their program starts to unravel. Saw some Syracuse fan on the ESPN board taking shots at UC and Louisville as "thug" programs in the Big East championship. With this revelation, positive drug testing and their assistant coach issues...those who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.

I agree with Butterfly. I don't think Melo makes that much difference. He was average. Not really a huge part of their offense. Is a big presence on defense.

It's not like Kenyon Martin going down which affected UC's #1 seed.

I think it takes Syracuse from the best team in the region to the second best team in the region. But it brings them a lot closer to the rest of the field. It is a big deal, but you are right chatter, not nearly the big deal that UC losing Kenyon was.

(03-13-2012 02:30 PM)indycat Wrote:  those who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.

Or have sleepovers with kids.

wow

It's good to see the rest of the world hasn't forgotten about our ill-fated 2000 tournament run.

"Losing Melo at this juncture isn’t exactly a devastating blow on the level of Cincinnati losing Kenyon Martin to a broken leg in the quarterfinals of the 2000 Conference USA tournament. That cost the Bearcats a No. 1 seed — a fate that, who knows, might have befallen Syracuse had it known (or revealed) Melo’s ineligibility before Selection Sunday."

http://ncaa-tournament.si.com/2012/03/13...-syracuse/

Syracuse is sketchy.

Cuse could still make a nice run. Melo is an important role player though, and in a tournament without much margin for error its a significant loss.