After a year of controversy surrounding SUNY Binghamton’s move to Division I athletics, and after issuing a vague “mistakes were made” explanation two weeks ago, the school announced Monday that its basketball team will not be participating in the America East tournament in 2010. According to an article by Doug Schneider in the Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin:
Departing BU President Lois DeFleur announced Monday night that the school has chosen not to participate in the conference’s annual postseason playoff, citing “controversy currently surrounding the program,” and “possible distractions.”
Distractions, indeed. Check out this ESPN segment on the controversy surrounding Bearcats basketball from last March:
Binghamton says that it decided to willingly withdraw from this year’s tournament, though New York Times article by Pete Thamel indicates that “Binghamton was pressured into withdrawing by other league members. The timing of the announcement indicated that Binghamton did not plan on withdrawing voluntarily from the tournament.”
America East said that it will refund Binghamton fans for the price of tickets they purchased to the tournament.
