At Syracuse, having someone do your schoolwork for you is not considered cheating.
So says Orange basketball coach Jim Boeheim.
The 70-year-old coach's comments might have elevated him equal to or above Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski for the most controversial comments of this year's NCAA Tournament.
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Boeheim spoke about the violations for which Syracuse was banned from the postseason last year at a Final Four news conference, USA Today Sports reported. The coach first spoke about regret and the punishment before falling completely off the rails.
"It's something I regret," Boeheim said. "I'm not happy about that. I don't think we gained any competitive advantage at any time in this whole case that we've been through for 10 years. I think it weighed on us for 10 years and affected recruiting for 10 years. That's just part of the punishment.
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"But when they say 'cheating,' that's not true. Rules being broken are a lot different. Cheating to me is intentionally doing something, like you wanted to get this recruit so you arranged a job for him, or you went to see him when you shouldn't. You called him when you shouldn't to gain an edge in recruiting to get a really good player. That's cheating."
Among the violations the school self-reported to the NCAA --- not that the NCAA discovered upon investigation, but that the school freely volunteered --- was the following, according to another USA Today Sports story.
"In January 2012, (former director of operations Stan) Kissel and a men's basketball receptionist violated ethical conduct rules when working to restore the eligibility of a basketball player. The staff members completed coursework for the player."
So that's just breaking a rule; it's not cheating?
Syracuse also self-reported that booster paid two men's basketball players and three football players more than $8,000 for volunteering at a local YMCA. If any of these players passed that information on to recruits, that would fit Boeheim's description.
Whether those players told any recruits is unknown, but the fact that it's possible should've given Boeheim pause before giving reporters a lesson of what cheating is and isn't.
Krzyzewski was caught in a lie after denying he lectured Oregon star Dillon Brooks about showboating when recorders picked up their conversation. Krzyzewski later apologized, saying he "reacted incorrectly."
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