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.

Chapelboro.com does not charge subscription fees, and you can directly support our efforts in local journalism here. Want more of what you see on Chapelboro? Let us bring free local news and community information to you by signing up for our biweekly newsletter.

 

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

Related Stories
‹
Holding Court: 4 Huge Questions Lingering Around 2025 ACC Tournament
Here are four huge questions surrounding the 2025 Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament, which is being contested Tuesday through Saturday at the Spectrum Center in Charlotte
Art’s Angle: Project 6-0
Thanks to comeback kids Ian Jackson and Jae'Lyn Withers, UNC men's basketball earned a victory in the first of six must-win games.
Art’s Angle: Morning Hangovers
It is one of those Sundays in the contiguous counties of Orange and Durham, where both Carolina and Duke alumni and fans live and root hard. For 60-plus years, both of those fan bases have woken up with hangovers either from the frills of victory or the agonies of defeat. This year it is Duke’s […]
Here's the Complete Bracket for the 2023 ACC Men's Tournament
The 2023 ACC men’s basketball tournament is continuing all week in Greensboro. UNC, the No. 7 seed in the field, will play Thursday against No. 2 seed Virginia in the tournament quarterfinals. Come back to this page throughout the week for updates on the bracket! Friday morning update: Chalk won out in Thursday’s quarterfinals, with all […]
Chansky's Notebook: No Easy Start
Maybe Louisville and Virginia will beat each other up. There are two ways to look at Carolina’s first ACC Tournament game Thursday night at 9:30 p.m. One way is that it’s just too darn late to play basketball, which obviously the TV people don’t care about because the dreaded No. 3 seed has always been […]
Holding Court: A Bad Regular Season For ACC Hoops?
The truth hurts sometimes. During an ACC game recently, the announcers revisited a common theme from the last several months: Is this really a subpar season for ACC men’s basketball? “What we’re watching is truly special,” the play-by-play voice gushed, “yet, somehow, there’s been a lot of talk about this being a down year for […]
Chansky's Notebook: Still The Storyline
The ACC tourney docuseries sent Dean Smith out the right way. After watching the first two episodes of the 10-part documentary, I wondered how it would treat Smith’s last years on the bench after painting him as the coach who brought the ACC into the modern era. I was pleasantly surprised that Smith remained the […]
26-3 Second Half Irish Surge Dooms Tar Heels
Up 63-54 with 9:59 remaining, the rug was pulled out from under the Tar Heels.
Washington, D.C. To Host 2016 ACC Men’s Basketball Tournament
ACC Tournament back to the nation’s capital in 2016,” ACC Commissioner John Swofford said.
UNC Field Hockey Beats Virginia to Win 9th Consecutive ACC Tournament Title
Dani Mendez scored two goals to haunt her former team and lead UNC to a 4-1 win against Virginia in the ACC Tournament title game in Louisville Friday. The win is Carolina’s ninth straight conference championship and 28th overall. It’s also the 300th ACC title overall for UNC programs. 𝐖𝐇𝐎 𝐄𝐋𝐒𝐄 𝐁𝐔𝐓 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐓𝐀𝐑 𝐇𝐄𝐄𝐋𝐒 […]
›