The moment that OJ Mayo committed to be a Trojan, you knew it and I knew it…something wasn’t right. The most highly recruited players in the country just don’t change their mind at the last second and decide to go to a program with zero basketball tradition. It just doesn’t happen.
The smoking gun in this instance is $1000. That is how much money that now former head coach Tim Floyd allegedly gave to Rodney Guillory, who helped convince Mayo to play for USC. Guillory was also receiving money from BDA Sports for his efforts with Mayo.
People have been scratching their heads for a long-time on why Mayo would want to go to a school like USC. It really just didn’t make much sense. When he made his decision to go to USC, he left Kentucky, Louisville, Kansas State and Florida at the alter. Don’t be too surprised by Kansas State. Remember, that was the year that Bobby Huggins was their coach and was able to land Michael Beasley. Did Floyd really think he would get a way with this? OJ Mayo had never really even considered USC.
Floyd will be lucky to get a job at a Division 3 school after this is all over. No school will look to hire him, for fear that he will bring his seedy dealings with him. Indiana tried to give a second chance to NCAA recruiting violator of the decade, Kelvin Sampson, and that blew up in their face. No way anyone hires this man.
As for USC, they can expect the boom to be laid down by the NCAA. This program will be lucky to win 10 games over the next couple of seasons. No recruit will even consider going to a place that will not be allowed to play in the postseason for the next few years. The only thing that could save USC is the NCAA’s propensity of being mentally retarded. So far they have been unable to follow through on their investigations into USC’s football program and its recruitment of Reggie Bush.
The one who will skate free on all of this will be OJ Mayo. He will be made a villain out in LA, until the Lakers bring him in to play for them in a couple seasons…much like Chris Webber in Detroit. Fans booed him mercilessly after it came to light that he accepted $250 Grand from a booster, which ultimately led to decommissioning Michigan’s postseason eligibility. Then, he signed on with the Pistons and all was promptly forgiven. Mayo probably won’t have to worry about too many boos at the Staples Center, because Lakers fans are half-asleep, and nobody is at Clippers games. To avoid the criticsm, Mayo will simply need to steer clear from commenting sections on blogs and away from NBA/NCAA message boards that rail him for taking money while in college.
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if World Wide Wes had been involved, this never would have surfaced. that was Floyd’s real mistake. mizerle06(Quote)
they gotta nail the football program next. sparty(Quote)
USC sucks at basketball, but they have a pretty good NFL team. Fiesta Trio(Quote)
Players get paid in the NFL, so why is USC in trouble? Fiesta Trio(Quote)
you can’t spell “Southern Cal sports is rife with cheaters” without “USC”. mizerle06(Quote)
You also can’t spell fuck USC without USC.
/stolen from miz knightwhosaysni(Quote)
Now they just need to bring down Calipari. knightwhosaysni(Quote)
+2.7 knightwhosaysni(Quote)
Do we really blame a poor kid from the ghetto from accepting thousands of dollars to go play for a college? We all know that nearly every big time college football and basketball program cheats a little. It is just one big hypocrisy. cycledan(Quote)
This whole thing reminds me of when the Olympics only allowed amateur athletes to play. Of course we knew that the Soviet and Chinese competitors were anything but amateur. I heard so many silly reasons why pros shouldn’t be allowed to compete for the “integrity” of the games – whatever that meant.
Now anyone can compete and guess what? The Olympics are more interesting than ever.
We should do the same with Div IA, BCS or whatever we call it. The top divisions should be allowed to pay a fixed salary to their scholarship athletes for playing ball. cycledan(Quote)
where is the hypocrisy? sparty(Quote)
cycledan, that is completely different topic. fact is, that the rules are in place. sparty(Quote)
Just because there’s a salary cap doesn’t mean teams still wouldn’t cheat. Just ask the late 90s Denver Broncos. knightwhosaysni(Quote)
they do…their salary is called a scholarship. it’s semantics. mizerle06(Quote)
aren’t they allowed to work now too? sparty(Quote)
This story is pretty funny now:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/21/sports/ncaabasketball/21usc.html?_r=2&ref=sports&oref=slogin&oref=slogin Geoff(Quote)
yep; and in Oklahoma, they don’t even have to show up to the job to get paid.
/or was that Ohio State? either way… mizerle06(Quote)
Geoff, i meant to work that story in, forgot about it. thanks for the link. sparty(Quote)
I don’t understand Floyd’s motivation in all of this. He got OJ Mayo for one year and didn’t even get out of the First Round of the NCAA Tournament. Seems like an idiot for risking his coaching career for that kind of payoff. cbh49er(Quote)