Syracuse Basketball Players Pay Tribute To Bernie Fine

by Sean Keeley on Nov 20, 2011 1:18 AM EST

I'm sure you noticed the empty seat next to Jim Boeheim for most of the game between the Syracuse Orange and Colgate Red Raiders. You probably assumed it was Boeheim's doing, as a tribute to his friend and assistant Bernie Fine.

Turns out it wasn't Jimmy B's idea, it was Fab Melo's.

How bout that?

It was an idea, Scoop Jardine said, conjured up by Melo ― a player who viewed Fine as a role model.

"We told him we are going to play hard for him," Melo said. "And that's going to be the whole season."

"That's a guy we love and miss him on the team," SU center Fab Melo said. "So yeah, that was a tribute."

And Melo wasn't alone. The team was unanimous in its support of their coach against allegations of child molestation.

"Yeah, we left his seat open in honor of him. Everything we did tonight is what Coach Fine would have wanted us to do. We just have to keep playing great basketball and keep pushing forward and try to win every game...We got out of the game, we tapped the seat. It’s like giving him a high-five." - Scoop Jardine

"Every night we step out there, we're just going to play the way he would want us to play. Hopefully we're going to get him back soon." - Baye Moussa Keita

"My initial reaction was this can't be true. It must be a different Syracuse team somewhere else, it must be a different coach named Bernie Fine." - Brandon Triche

"It’s respect. He’s been here since Day One. We respect Bern 100 percent here. Bern’s a great guy. And he’s always looking to get us better." - James Southerland

"Bernie is a part of our family so it hurts, but we have to block it out and play basketball." - C.J. Fair

"I didn't even know what was going on. Is it true? Is that really Coach Fine? Things like this, you've got to have his back. And you've just got to continue to pray for him and hope everything work out and hope that everything going on isn't true. I just hope everything works out for Coach Fine, man. He's a great guy. He's been a great guy since I've been here. I'm always going to have him in my prayers, hoping everything works out great." - Dion Waiters

Posted by Lauren Long/Post-Standard

Local fans support team, university at first game after Fine allegations...Daily Orange

Local, national media descend on Syracuse to cover Fine allegations...Daily Orange

SU basketball fans voice support of Bernie Fine...Syracuse.com

Jim Boeheim wins as Bernie Fine's Carrier Dome seat sits empty during game against Colgate...Bud Poliquin

Orange win as town confronts allegations...FoxSports

Penn State student supports hometown team at the dome...9WSYR

Syracuse's depth key to its goals...ESPN

Rony Seikaly defends Bernie Fine...ESPN

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Comments

I like that Boeheim let his players answer questions

I feel like other universities would have tried to stifle their players.

by DMF on Nov 20, 2011 1:27 AM EST reply actions

Its like his Twitter policy

He believes in personal responsibility.

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by Sean Keeley on Nov 20, 2011 1:39 AM EST up reply actions

Yup

I love it. These young men are all 18+, legally adults, and he doesn’t bother babying them. There’s a lot to be said for that.

by DMF on Nov 20, 2011 1:41 AM EST up reply actions

I like it and I am surprised too.

I would have thought that this would be a classic example of a coach insisting on no comments, just tell the media you are here to play ball.

Its interesting and refreshing.

by NoXCUSE99 on Nov 20, 2011 5:38 AM EST up reply actions

From the second DO article listed...

According to news reports, Davis offered four sources to the media in 2002 and 2003 who he said would confirm his story. But, both ESPN and The Post-Standard have said none of those witnesses confirmed the allegations. Scott, of ESPN, said the news division would not comment on the nature of the information provided by those four sources.

Why isn’t ESPN commenting on what those 4 sources said in 2002/2003? Wouldn’t that be a valuable part of telling the complete story? I don’t even think we have confirmation if Lang was one of the four sources that Davis originally offered up. Also, we still don’t know if Davis and Lang got paid for their OTL interviews.

by DMF on Nov 20, 2011 1:40 AM EST reply actions

Personally?

I’m really warming up to the the “ESPN broke this so they had a hot scandal story that they owned” theory. If that’s true, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it is, if they know they’re on flimsy ground the less detail they actually put out there the better. If it all turns out to be a house of cards and it collapses on them, Bernie would be within his rights to sue ESPN’s assess off.

The thing that bothers me most about ESPN’s “well another witness came forward” is that that guy is Davis’s step brother. I don’t care Davis and Lange “aren’t close” it’s still suspicious. If Lang was someone that Davis didn’t know/wasn’t related too? Whole lot more credibility to their claims.

We will not rest until we see these capitalist octopuses annihilated.

-Che Marrone

by jpb531 on Nov 20, 2011 7:43 AM EST up reply actions

In related news

last night I had a dream that we found out that ESPN paid Davis and Lang $15 each for their interviews. How weird is that?

by DMF on Nov 20, 2011 12:22 PM EST up reply actions

OTL this a.m.

Anyone see ESPN this morning and Schwarz outside the Carmelo center answering questions from Bob Ley in the studio? He still had the same story to report, only this time he added that Davis hasn’t been following the story and was “shocked” that Boeheim denied seeing him in Fine’s hotel room. THEN Ley brought ESPN legal analyst Roger Cossack (one of the few talking heads left on that network who still has SOME credibility in my book) who said the Cuse stuff is infinitely different than what’s happened at Penn State. He added that Boeheim’s vehement denial of an actual claim makes the case all the more interesting, and he also said there are too many details that no one knows yet for the public to actual form a decent opinion.
The show also featured a Schwarz interview with Davis’ high school girlfriend who implicated Laurie Fine as thinking something may have been going on. Of all the people who we have heard from, it would be really interesting to hear what Bernie’s wife has to say.
On a different note, the amount of players and former coaches coming to Fine’s defense is a stark contrast to what happened with Sandusky at PSU. In fact, I recall seeing something that said some PSU players joked that Sandusky to him that he was kind of slimy, although I don’t remember where I saw that so I’m not sure if I should trust that. Simple fact is people are coming out of the woodwork defending Bernie. NO ONE defended Sandusky. That says something to me.

by SUalum2002 on Nov 20, 2011 11:54 AM EST reply actions