Syracuse, N.Y. — The NCAA acknowledged in an eight-page document Wednesday that its Committee on Infractions "abused its discretion" when it docked the Syracuse basketball program 12 scholarships over a four-year period, an unprecedented penalty.
The initial penalty of three docked scholarships for four seasons, a total of 12, was the largest number of scholarships that a basketball program had ever been docked and matched the longest scholarship penalty ever handed to a college basketball program.
With Syracuse's successful appeal, the current penalty of two docked scholarships over four seasons — a total of eight — is more in line with previous cases involving scholarship reductions.