Timing Is Questionable of Unnamed Sources in Alleged Syracuse Investigation
CBS Sports is reporting that the Syracuse menโs basketball team has been under investigation for years.
Senior College Football Columnist Dave Dodd, quoting an unnamed source, wrote that the school has received a letter of preliminary inquiry from the NCAA.
While specifics were not disclosed in the report, the source alleges that the inquiry ranges from Fab Meloโs academic eligibility and an alleged sexual assault involving three players in 2007.
This report comes almost a year after the story broke of Fab Meloโs ouster from the NCAA tournament due to academic ineligibility.
The University has not and cannot comment on any ongoing or pending investigation, nor will it confirm or deny whether said investigation exists.
Likewise for the NCAA. The article quoted NCAA spokeswoman Emily Potter as saying, โWe canโt comment on current, pending or potential investigations.โ
Essentially, based on unnamed sources, on the eve of the Syracuseโs round of 64 game against Montana, CBS reported a story that no one is claiming nor can anyone confirm or deny any part of the story.
Only time will tell if there is any validity to this story, but time is the operative word.
As in timing.
It was this time last year, or more specifically, one week before the Fab Melo story broke, that Yahoo! Sports reported an ongoing investigation against Syracuse regarding players using drugs and violations going unreported.
That story was written by Charles Robinson and Pat Forde.
Again, the story listed unnamed sources as its basis, but to drive the point home; the story also listed an unnamed player as a source.
According to that story, Syracuse confirmed that it reports issues with drug testing to the NCAA and that an investigation was ongoing, but that it did not involve current players.
One year later, we know as much as we did then.
A Syracuse fan might believe that there is a vendetta against Syracuse.
Considering the timing of the CBS story and the Yahoo! story, coupled with Seth Davis picking Montana to beat Syracuse and Doug Gottliebโs slighting of Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim's status as a great coach, the Orange might have a true enemy. After all, Yahoo! and CBS did strike a broadcasting deal last October.
I canโt say for certain that anything reported by any of the unnamed sources is credible, but neither can CBS or Yahoo! Thatโs the beauty of an unnamed source. A journalist can write anything he or she wants and credit an unnamed source and never have to address it again.
Iโm not accusing Dodd, Robinson or Forde of anything inappropriate, but the timing is a little funny.
Maybe I could find an unnamed source to tell me that Yahoo! and CBS are in cahoots.
Any takers?
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