It was not too long ago that Syracuse University was all over the news due to the sexual abuse accusations levied against former assistant basketball coach Bernie Fine. But these days, people are not hearing or reading as much about the whole sex crime scandal. Why is that?

One reason might just be the ebb and flow of the new cycle. Bernie Fine was a hot item for about two weeks, but after that, other news events popped up. The Costa Concordia crashed off the coast of Italy, the Republican nominees continue to debate and stump in primaries and rumors began to percolate that Facebook might finally go public. In short, life went on.

Also, the fact that one of the four accusers admitted to lying and that another admitted to doctoring emails to bolster his claim against Fine hurt their credibility and removed a little of the scandal and immediacy from the situation.

Another reason is that the Syracuse men's basketball team's season began, so when people did talk about Syracuse, they were talking about the team's chances in the NCAA tournament. Like many criminal cases, the Bernie Fine case is proceeding slowly and people apparently wanted something new and positive to talk about. That might be why people were more interested in talking about the basketball team's chances of winning than they were about Bernie Fine.

This might all change once there are developments in the Fine case to report upon. But who knows? Maybe once that becomes old news, people will move on to new topics of discussion for a second time.

Source: The Syracuse Post-Standard, "Shifting focus: Experts discuss causes of lessened Bernie Fine coverage," Ryne Gery and Debbie Troung, Jan. 24, 2012