Earlier this year, I wrote that Josh Wright was a key to Syracuse's success this year. I believed it then, I believe it now. Which makes yesterday's news that Wright hasn't practiced all week and wasn't with the team disturbing, and detrimental to a team that is already lacking depth.
I'm not going to pretend I know what's going on with him, if he's having personal issues or something is going on in his life that he needs time to take care of, I hope he can get that straightened out. However, when players have gone through situations like that in the past (like Billy Edelin) Boeheim has gone to great lengths to defend the player and protect that player's privacy. That doesn't appear to be the case in this situation, given the coach's quote when asked about Wright:
Point guard Josh Wright, who has been a vacillating presence during the entire early season, did not practice last week. "So I assume," Boeheim said, "he's not going to play basketball any more this year."
That tells me Wright has walked out and hasn't really discussed it in depth with the coach. Quitting is such a chickenshit way out of any situation. Never mind the fans and idiotic bloggers who follow the program, he has a bunch of guys on this team that were depending on him and he let them down. To me that shows a real lack of character.
It's not the first time he's gone missing either - from the NCAA tournament game against Vermont, to various games this year (starting with the exhibition games) Wright has made a career of "going missing." Look, if you're not happy, examine your options and go elsewhere. In a conference like the America East or the MAAC, Wright could have picked a school played significant minutes, probably with a good deal of success. By coming back for his senior year and then quitting, he let his teammates down AND burned his last year of eligibility playing competitive basketball. So by being selfish, he basically screwed himself.
At least in this respect, I give Louie McCroskey credit, he obviously had a lot of problems with Boeheim, but he gutted it out, stayed for the year and was there for his team, then he left for a situation that was better for him.
The irony of the whole situation is that with the Devendorf injury, Wright would now be in line to play major minutes. At this point, I don't even think I want him back, because I hate the fact that they would be rewarding someone who holds his team and his coach hostage for personal reasons. I'd rather see a walk on who busts his ass in practice every day get some minutes, even if it means ultimately the team isn't quite as good.
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