To the surprise of no one, OJ Mayo was accepting tons of cash while in high school and at USC. One of the people heavily involved turned on him, including damning receipts, wire transfers, and details backed up by many others involved.
I have no clue how USC has avoided even a slight reprimand over the Reggie Bush fiasco, which I could have sworn was coming to a head late last year with someone agreeing to talk finally, but if they don't get the hammer for this the NCAA is worthless.
It's not Alabama State bad, a school which did enough to actually get the NCAA to officially break out the "lack of institutional control" last week, but it's getting there.
Mayo was getting paid off years prior to going to USC, probably when Floyd was still in the NBA, so I won't kill them on this. Why they won't go after USC over Bush? Money. This isn't the NCAA of 15-20 years ago that killed SMU, went after Oklahoma, Miami and Alabama football, and took down Kentucky basketball for good measure. Does any major program get banned from bowls/NCAA tournament or TV anymore? Now, if you are a minor program in the Sun Belt or a SWAC type league, the NCAA will come down from the mountain and smite you and display to all their mighty power, but, those are schools that don't bring in money.
Actually I put more blame on USC since Mayo was getting paid off before coming there. After what went down with Bush, and the rumors about this kid for years, for them to not pay closer attention is ...well it says to me they have no intention of even trying.
I think that while the NCAA hasn't been willing to go strong against a major program lately that with all the negative stuff going on they will at some point soon unexpectedly nail someone to shock the system back into shape.
At least I think they're going to HAVE to do so if they want to regain any control.
It is possible. The Bears and Lions each have six out-of-division games left. If the Bears lose all six, they will have nine losses regardless of how they do in their own division.
Thread rated: 3.34
#