Syracuse point guard Billy Edelin is unlikely to return to the men’s basketball team this season but will probably return next season, said Edelin’s girlfriend, a former Syracuse University student who has spent considerable time with the sophomore since he left the team.

The revelation is the first crack in what has been a brick wall of secrecy regarding Edelin’s situation. Edelin hasn’t played since before SU’s Feb. 10 game against Rutgers. Before that game, the university said Edelin would not play because of ‘personal reasons.’

Edelin’s girlfriend said the university will release a statement soon regarding Edelin’s basketball-playing status.

Family, friends and teammates have directed most questions to the Syracuse basketball team’s head coach Jim Boeheim.

Edelin declined comment to The Daily Orange on Tuesday night at about 7:30 outside of his South Campus apartment.

Edelin did not take one midterm at the regularly scheduled class time and hasn’t attended at least one other class at the regularly scheduled time since his unexpected absence.

Those surrounding Edelin have been courteous but guarded about what has taken place.

The unusual secrecy, it seems, has perked the interest of most, said Steve Davis, head of the newspaper department at the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications.

‘If you think about it, their profound failure to provide any information brings about the very result that they say they’re trying to avoid,’ Davis said. ‘Because when you give people nothing, people start saying, ‘You know, I wonder what’s going on there. You know, he’s been in trouble. Can he be in trouble again?’ He says he’s not in trouble, and I don’t think Jim Boeheim is a liar, but why should I believe him? When people don’t tell me anything, I get naturally suspicious.’

Boeheim even addressed some of the rumors in an interview on WHEN 620 AM, saying Edelin is having ‘no personal girlfriend problems.’

Suspicions arose in part because this is the third time in three years Edelin has been involved in controversy. During what would have been Edelin’s freshman year, the University Judicial Board suspended him indefinitely after two students accused Edelin of sexual misconduct. Charges were never filed.

Last year, Edelin missed SU’s first 12 games for participating in an unsanctioned recreational league.

Now, Edelin has already missed nine games this season. He traveled with SU on Feb. 2 to Connecticut but did not play. At Providence on Feb. 7, he came off the bench. Edelin has not traveled with the team since missing the Rutgers game.

‘They want people to come out and support the team, be forgiving of someone who’s had some personal difficulties, and he’s had some big ones,’ Davis said. ‘Guilty? Innocent? Somewhere in between? I don’t know. But that’s a context for this story. You can’t just take things out of context. So they sort of short-circuit the argument by saying, ‘Look, it’s personal. It’s none of your damn business.’ And leave hanging the presumption that (the media are) a bunch of flesh eaters.’

William Edelin, Billy’s father, has dealt with this criticism before.

William says he is more guarded now in part because the Edelin name was so damaged two years ago.

‘If you put yourself in our position,’ William said, ‘you’d be singing a different tune. Just because Billy is using his God-given ability to earn a scholarship, he still has a right to his privacy.

‘We are all humans. Simply because he is a top-notch basketball player, he is still a person. We don’t owe anybody anything. Our privacy should be taken into account here, not trying to scoop the other media.’

Edelin is the second Syracuse basketball player to be involved in an extended leave this season. Freshman guard Louie McCroskey was held out of SU’s first three games because of academics. At the time, the university released a statement saying McCroskey would be out for academic reasons, but it did not specify when he would return then either.

Edelin, who started 16 of the 17 games he played in this season, averaged 13.8 points and 4.2 rebounds.

Published on March 3, 2004 at 12:00 pm