Some business. The Orange destroyed Villanova Wednesday night at the Wells Fargo Center. Boeheim's team is 18-0 and ranked No. 1 in the nation. Judging by the number of orange-and-blue shirts and caps in the crowd, going undefeated is a pretty good way to paper over even the most disturbing scandal.
There was serious soul-searching and debate about whether Penn State's football team should have participated in a postseason bowl game, even with Paterno and Mike McQueary gone from the sideline. There will be no such discussion here. Boeheim will be coaching in the NCAA tournament and, judging by the looks of his team, very possibly in the Final Four.
As with Penn State, Syracuse's players are blameless in all this. Indeed, their perfect season looks even more remarkable when you factor in the distractions and turmoil created by the accusations against Fine. The veteran assistant was fired last month after initially taking a leave of absence.
"We know we can't worry about those types of things because there's nothing we can do," Syracuse's Dion Waiters said. "We just had to stick together. It made the family bond that much tighter with each other, focusing on Syracuse basketball and not the other stuff."
Even without the Fine mess, Syracuse's dominance would be bittersweet for Philadelphia hoops fans. Long before this game, the Orange had a 3-2 edge on Big East rival Villanova. That is, Boeheim has three Philadelphia players on his roster to Jay Wright's two. (Thanks to Mouphtaou Yarou, Wright has a 1-0 edge on Boeheim in players from Benin.)
Wright has done very well, of course, working his areas of strength in North Jersey and New York. But it's obvious that his current squad, struggling along at a very un-Wright-like 8-9, would be markedly better with Scoop Jardine; Rakeem Christmas; or, especially, Waiters.
