The new ACC commissioner made the right, and gutsy, call.

One of Dean Smith’s favorite expressions was, “How you start is how you finish.” It meant his players should develop good basketball and personal habits early so it would be easier to be consistent in the long run.

Jim Phillips, the new ACC commissioner, got an early test of his management style at the conference basketball tournament in Brooklyn when it was far more popular to go the other way.

In the first half of what became a blowout win over Florida State, Syracuse senior scoring ace Buddy Boeheim delivered a forearm shiver to the stomach of an undeserving Seminoles player. No foul was called, and the officials did not halt play to check the monitor to see what had happened.

Had the refs reviewed the play, they undoubtedly would have assessed a flagrant foul on Boeheim and maybe even ejected him. The ACC allows post-game reviews on such incidents, and Phillips suspended Boeheim for Thursday’s quarterfinal against top-seeded Duke.

The Orange were routed by the Blue Devils twice during the regular season, so Boeheim’s absence will take away whatever long shot Syracuse had of upsetting Duke and move on to the semifinals Friday night. While the play should have been looked at during the game, Phillips set his personal precedent by handing down the suspension.

He will be criticized by Syracuse fans and some impartial followers for a penalty that doesn’t fit the crime. Phillips will have other such rulings to make as he settles into his new job, and this was the correct call.

Considering what happened at the end of the Michigan-Wisconsin game in the Big Ten, where he was the athletic director at Northwestern, Phillips really had no choice. Striking another player or coach has to be judged harshly since college basketball has spent decades cleaning up its game.

Just like the Big Ten had to suspend Michigan coach Juwan Howard for a far more deliberate action of swinging at an opposing coach, the ACC did the same with Boeheim, considered an exemplary player and student who made a mistake and later acknowledged it.

How Phillips starts will be how he conducts business in the ACC and how he finishes his hopefully long stay as the conference boss.

Good call, Commish.

 

Photo via Northwestern Athletics.

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