One day after the NCAA handed down its strict decision in the Billy Edelin case, the same five-member reinstatement board demonstrated the leniency that Syracuse had hoped for.

And it only added to SU’s frustration.

That’s because the NCAA Student-Athlete Reinstatement Committee accepted North Carolina’s appeal to remove the suspensions against two players who, like Edelin, had participated in outside competition.

There were noticeable differences: in UNC’s case, seniors Will Johnson and Jonathan Holmes participated in a one-day, on-campus, 3-on-3 charity tournament. Originally, a one-game suspension was handed down. Edelin received a 12-game suspension.

Still, the inconsistency between the NCAA’s back-to-back rulings — Edelin’s last Thursday and UNC’s last Friday — illustrates the difficulty that comes when applying imprecise standards to very precise rules. It also infuriated some Syracuse officials.

‘UNC just got off the hook,’ SU Director of Compliance Rob Mathner said. ‘That just pissed me off because, yeah, the circumstances are different, but it’s still precedence. You can’t tell me that a 3-on-3 basketball tournament doesn’t trigger outside competition.’

Even UNC school officials admit that Bylaw 14.7.2 — which bans student-athletes from competing in non-school sanctioned events — was violated by the two players. The appeal was successful, they guess, because the tournament raised money for cancer.

Edelin, on the other hand, played 12 games in local recreational leagues.

‘We still had a violation — there’s no contesting that,’ said Lisa Deibler, UNC’s compliance director. ‘It’s just that, in this case, the NCAA reversed its decision after our appeal.’

Said Tar Heel Athletics Director Dick Baddour: ‘We believed we made a strong case. The tournament was so informal that it didn’t meet the definition of an outside competition.’

The NCAA has strict guidelines that outline what qualifies as outside competition. But with Edelin’s case, Mathner said, there was no prior incident that could be used as a framework.

Edelin, who faced a university suspension last year after two female students accused him of sexual misconduct, was withdrawn from school when he played in the recreation leagues.

‘The intriguing thing about this case was that this was the first time that a case like this with these exact same circumstances had been processed by the NCAA,’ Mathner said. ‘First time ever, so there was no case precedent.’

In the past, however, the NCAA has made several rulings about players who’ve participated in illegal games or leagues.

Eight years ago, the NCAA suspended two LSU basketball players for playing in a pick-up game with high school kids. In 1999, five Yale hockey players were ruled ineligible for between one and five games because they participated in an amateur spring league. And regularly, the NCAA must rule on foreigners who’ve played in overseas leagues before coming to America.

There are limitations, though, to the number of games a player can miss for playing pro ball in Europe. Edelin faced a one-for-one penalty, meaning his suspension will last one SU game for every one of his rec games.

‘You could play 40 games in a pro league in Europe and miss eight games maximum,’ Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim said. ‘It’s absolutely beyond anything I’ve seen in my life that they could give (Edelin) a one-game-to-one-game suspension.’

Yet others aren’t surprised with the way the NCAA resolved Edelin’s case.

‘Based on the NCAA’s track record,’ Deibler said. ‘They normally handle these cases with a (one-for-one suspension). It’s nothing new.’

Asst. sports editor Darryl Slater contributed to this story.

Published on November 20, 2002 at 12:00 pm