If there's one school that needs to stay on the straight and narrow, it's Binghamton. The program has been in a freefall since its NCAA tournament appearance in 2009. Massive roster turnover, coaching changes and general tumult has burdened the America East program.

Now comes more bad news and press. Less than a week before practices begin (this Friday), the Bearcats have suspended two players -- a senior and a freshman -- following their arrests for disorderly conduct. The apprehension of Javon Ralling and Jordan Reed came early Sunday morning. For bad measure, Ralling also got hit with a resisting-arrest charge.

The university's daily newspaper, Pipe Dream, reports:

The athletic department released a statement Monday afternoon announcing the suspensions, which were enacted immediately in accordance to the department’s policy. The suspensions prohibit Ralling and Reed from participation in any team activity, aside from academic services provided through the Student-Athlete Success Center, until further notice.

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The arrests mark the latest in a slew of controversies surrounding the team, dating back to the scandal-ridden Kevin Broadus era that imploded four seasons ago. Last November, then-head coach Mark Macon announced the dismissal of senior Kyrie Sutton, the last player remaining from the Broadus era, following multiple arrests. After leading the team to a 1-28 regular season record, Macon himself was dismissed in April.

The hiring of Tommy Dempsey as head coach last spring was viewed by many as a fresh start for a team bogged down with the errors of its past. This weekend’s arrests could hinder that progress. But Elliott said it’s still too early to determine that.

“We regret that the situation occurred and that it did in fact happen,” Elliott said. “It’s disappointing but at the same time there’s a lot of information that we still don’t have.”

“What we did with this statement that we sent out was we wanted to provide all the information that we had up to this point,” Elliott said. “We’re still going to be gathering information and it’s kind of in process … We want to be up front, we want to be transparent about it and we want to let people know that it in fact occurred and to provide what we can provide at this point.”

Ralling and Reed are scheduled to appear in court on Oct. 17, and from there we'll see what they can salvage of their college careers. There is now a process to go through, as they'll take the legal system first, then eventually plead to be let back onto the team.

Dempsey will have an interesting decision to make.

In the university's statement, Binghamton athletic director Patrick Elliott said, "We are aware of the situation and regret that it occurred. We will continue to work with law enforcement and the student-athletes to gather information and understand what happened."

Fairly standard, but it is good to see Binghamton getting out in front of this right away. This isn't a horrid crime, it appears, but Binghamton just can't have this kind of stuff happening. It can't have its basketball players sitting in the back of cop cars. There is a rebuilding job in process, and that job is everything from morale to coaching to fundamentals to player behavior. It's going to take years for Binghamton to be viable again, let alone credible.

This is a setback for some schools. For Binghamton, it's the latest unfortunate transgression in a pattern of bad pub.