Cuse fan got excited when news broke before the Louisville game that Baye Moussa Keita and not Fab Melo would be starting. Finally! We all knew Keita had earned his way into the line-up and Boeheim would see that Melo just doesn't deserve a spot in the starting rotation.

And then we heard Melo was not going to play at all. And not for physical reasons. And we realized that Keita had in fact earned nothing, he was simply the beneficiary. Still good and worthwhile, but not what we were thinking.

As for what Fab did. Well, he missed practice due to family problem. What's so bad about that? Certainly that's not DNP-worthy on a team that is already depleted to the core with big men.

Did I mention he didn't tell Boeheim he was going to miss practice that day? That's a no-no, Fabby.

Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim said Melo, who has been struggling all season, was held out of Saturday’s game after missing practice on Thursday or Friday.

Melo said he didn’t tell the SU coaches his reason for missing practice until after Thursday’s practice.

"I didn’t tell them,’’ Melo said. "(Boeheim) knows I have problems with family, but I didn’t tell him.’’

When asked if Melo would play against West Virginia on Monday, Boeheim's response was "He’s done playing...for now." So...no? I'm guessing no.

That makes Melo the second former-starter to immediately disappear from the lineup, following James Southerland. Has this been a weird season for Syracuse's starting lineup or what?

And that also begs the question, "If I told you in November that Baye Moussa Keita would start a game for Syracuse this season, what foreign object would you have hit me over the head with?" Weird, weird season.