The news cycle over the past few days was one for the ages. The Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed, Caleb Williams rocked a pink phone case, and the walls of justice have started to close in on Diddy. In the mix of that news was the headline that Diddy’s drug mule, Brendan Paul, was arrested by federal agents at Miami-Opa Locka Executive Airport on Monday. He was attempting to board a private jet with Diddy when the 25 year old was cuffed for possession of marijuana and cocaine.

There’s a lot of questions that you probably have surrounding the situation. Who is Brendan Paul? Why was he working with Diddy? Did him and Diddy ever have sex? I don’t have a lot of answers. What I do know, however, is that Brendan Paul played for coach Jim Boeheim at Syracuse. In his two seasons with the Orange, Paul played in 16 games and scored 3 career points. He later transferred to Fairmont State University in West Virginia where he played in 35 games over two seasons scoring 51 points and nabbing 23 rebounds.

Paul may have been a below average college basketball player, but he was an above average criminal. It makes you wonder, where did he learn from? Maybe it was his college coach of two years, Jim Boeheim. For those who don’t know, in 2019, Jim Boeheim struck and killed a 51 year-old man when he was driving on Interstate 690 in Syracuse, New York. Even though he was never charged with vehicular manslaughter, it was proven Boeheim was speeding. Could Paul have learned his criminal behavior from Boeheim? The timeline is damning.

The Time Line

Fall 2018: Brendan Paul enrolls at Syracuse after graduating from Brewster Academy. He walks on to the Syracuse basketball team.

October 25th, 2018: Syracuse kicks-off their 2018-2019 season with a win over Saint Rose.

November 11th, 2018: Brendan Paul plays in his first game. He clocks one minute of play time in a win vs Eastern Michigan.

February 20th, 2019: Syracuse beats Louisville at home 69-49. Brendan Paul plays one minute in the contest. A few hours later, Jim Boeheim strikes and kills 51 year old Jorge Jimenez with his car at 11:22 PM resulting in his death.

March 2nd, 2019 to March 9th, 2019: Paul plays in three more games following the incident. Obviously, this is Boeheim putting more trust in Paul as he begins training him to become a criminal, like himself.

November 23rd, 2019: Paul plays the most he’s ever played clocking in with two minutes in a 97-46 win over Bucknell. With an entire offseason under their belt, the crime duo of Boeheim and Paul has grown stronger and Boeheim is rewarding Paul with more playing time.

February 26th, 2020: Boeheim sees Paul start to break through after he bangs a three in a 72-49 win against Pittsburgh.

March 11th, 2020: Paul plays in his final game as a member of the Syracuse basketball team. One can only assume that Paul completed his criminal training under Boeheim and to make sure that no one is able to connect the two as eventual criminal accomplices, Boeheim makes Paul transfer to Fairmont State.

Fall 2020: Paul enrolls at Fairmont State University in West Virginia. This feels like enough distance to fully separate the two criminals. Smart move.

March 8th, 2023: Jim Boeheim coaches his final game for the Orange. Syracuse loses 77-74 to Wake Forest.

March 25th, 2024: Brendan Paul is arrested at by federal agents at Miami-Opa Locka Executive Airport. He’s cuffed on possession of marijuana and cocaine.

Here’s the thing. A lot of people probably think I’m blaming Jim Boeheim for Brendan Paul’s criminal behavior. Obviously I’m not doing that. I’m merely pointing out that Boeheim did spend a considerable amount of time around Paul around the time that Boeheim got the urge to become a criminal. And it’s easy to see that Boeheim wouldn’t want to corrupt his son Buddy. That’s where Brendan Paul, a walk-on who’d do anything to get on the court, accepted Boeheim’s request to become a trained criminal. Again, just speculating. But it does feel sinister if you ask me.