Mooke Jones’ career at Syracuse appears to be finished.
The man that graduated high school as the 34th best small forward in the country left the team back in January for what was termed ‘personal reasons’ at the time, but it now appears that there is more to the story than was originally reported.
Jones was suspended from Syracuse for a year for cyber-bullying.
From the Syracuse Post-Standard:A police report, dated Oct. 5, 2011, revealed that Syracuse Police responded to a domestic verbal complaint in which a 20-year-old woman accused Jones of posting unflattering information about her on his Facebook page and of harassing her with text messages.
The woman, whose name is redacted in the police report, said she and Jones had been involved in a two-year “on-and-off” relationship. Jones, the woman told police, “hangs out with a lot of ‘shady’ local Syracuse people” and she was afraid Jones might “have them show up at her residence.”
The woman said in the report that Jones was never physical with her and she “did not believe Jones would ever become physical with her.” But the woman requested an order of protection “just in case.”
Jones had was a red-shirt junior when he was suspended. Theoretically, when he is allowed to return to Syracuse following his suspension in January of next year, he’ll have one semester of eligibility remaining. But it is unclear whether or not he’ll be academically eligible to play after missing a year’s worth of school.
Jones is now the eighth Syracuse player in the last decade to find themselves accused of assaulting a woman while on campus. Billy Edelin was suspended from Syracuse in 2001 after two female students accused him of unwanted sexual contact. DeShaun Williams was tried, and acquitted, of punching a woman in the face during a bar brawl in 2002. Rick Jackson, Jonny Flynn and Scoop Jardine were accused -- and cleared -- of sexually assaulting a woman in 2008. Eric Devendorf was also accused of punching a woman in 2008, although he, too, was eventually cleared. And, of course, there is this Fab Melo incident from last summer.
Rob Dauster is the editor of the college basketball website Ballin’ is a Habit. You can find him on twitter @robdauster.