1. In response to increasing criticism leveled against them (and ESPN), The Post-Standard posted a column attempting to explain its handling of the Bernie Fine case and in particular their decision to hold on to a taped recording that is the closest thing we have to a smoking gun for 8 years. It is an interesting read and look at ethics and the business of journalism. We won’t come out with our thoughts on the matter in this space and will instead encourage you to read it and come to your own conclusion. We will say that the case is more nuanced than some members of the media are making it out to be.
2. If you are looking for a read through on how the Fine scandal will affect Syracuse as a university your best bet would probably be Penn State. While the Fine scandal does not appear to involve anywhere close to as much of the university administration as what happened at Penn State we would imagine that high school applicants and their families might view both schools less favorably after the scandals. However, according to Penn State’s undergraduate admissions office, applications as of this past Friday are up 4% for the school overall and 2% for the State College campus. Some of this may be due to the current state of the economy where more Pennsylvania residents may be looking to go there with the in-state tuition and solid academic reputation. As the article notes, the true effect on the applicant pool may not be felt until May 1 when applicants are required to give their deposits to hold their spots for the upcoming fall semester.
3. With the Fine scandal sucking up all the media coverage in the Syracuse area, the news that Fab Melo had received an adjournment contemplation of dismissal (translation: stay out of trouble for a year and the charge will be expunged from his record) for charges stemming from an incident in May where he was accused of damaging the car of his girlfriend at the time. Melo, who had a disappointing freshman season, is off to a slow start again this year as his increased production is more a result of increased playing time rather than a noticeable improvement in his game.
4. West Virginia filed a motion in Providence, Rhode Island to dismiss the Big East’s lawsuit that had aimed to prevent the school from leaving the conference before the conference’s mandated 27-month waiting period was over. Now this is where it gets a little complicated: the Big East’s lawsuit was essentially a countersuit against a lawsuit that West Virginia had filed in a West Virginia court requesting the ability to leave the conference before the 2012-13 season instead of having to wait for 27 months. In this latest lawsuit (full 133-page PDF here), West Virginia is essentially claiming that the case in Rhode Island should be dismissed because that court has no right to rule over a West Virginia institution particularly when there is a similar case going through the courts in West Virginia.
5. Temple will be without the services of Michael Eric after he suffered a right patella injury during a practice on November 25. The school expects Eric to miss six to eight weeks while he recovers from the unspecified injury. It is worth noting that he had to sit out 10 games last season after he fractured the same patella. This season, Eric was averaging 10.5 PPG and an Atlantic-10 leading 11.3 RPG. The loss is especially hard on the team, which lacks another player over 6’6″ who isn’t a freshman. If Eric makes his recovery as expected he would miss about one-third of conference play so it is possible that the Owls could still be near the top of the conference as the season winds down.

nvr1983 (1398 Posts)

This entry was posted on Thursday, December 1st, 2011 at 5:00 am by nvr1983 and is filed under morning 5, Regular Features. Tagged: bernie fine, fab melo, michael eric, penn state, syracuse, temple, west virginia. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.