It was revealed this week that former USC basketball star O.J. Mayo accepted numerous gifts, in the way of $30,000 worth of gifts, during his high school career and at USC.
It’s worthy of genuine outrage that a player like Mayo, whose troubles and triumphs are so well documented, could slip through several investigations by the NCAA, Pacific-10 Conference and USC scot-free and able to collect his millions in the NBA, while his teammates will suffer because of him.
Instead, the player who was going to be the program’s savior may have just delivered it into NCAA purgatory.
Mayo received gifts such as cell phones, hotel rooms, clothes, airline tickets and a flat screen TV for his dorm room, among other gifts, a former member of his friends told ESPN.
But did we expect anything else from Mayo, the player who has been in print and on the radar of coaches since he was in sixth grade? The same Ovinton J’Anthony Mayo who exploited loopholes to play varsity basketball just a year later? The same player who led three different high schools in three different states to state titles?
No.
Should USC have?
No. And that’s why no one should feel sorry for the Trojans, either, especially after the reports and investigation by the NCAA that former tailback Reggie Bush accepted gifts from an agent during his stay in Los Angeles.
While Mayo’s talent is undeniable, so is his habit of bringing programs unprecedented success before leaving them for greener pastures. While he didn’t quite reach the success at USC as he had at his previous stops, he sure didn’t forget the second part, bolting for the NBA in April. The agent he hired was from the same firm that has allegedly been funding him all along.
Nice knowing ya, Trojans! Keep in touch, well, unless it’s about those sanctions you’ll probably get.
Will the NCAA do anything about it? Some penalties would seem to have to come out of this, right? Then again, using the Bush precedent, maybe not. It goes without saying that if Mayo’s penchant for taking gifts isn’t punished, then it will be a discouraging sign for college athletics, as well as the Pac-10.
As for Mayo himself, he probably doesn’t care. He did what he needed to do: Raise attendance, get more Trojan games on TV and woo more potential recruits to the team.
Mayo probably doesn’t care that his team will lose a scholarship or two next year.
Why would he care about his teammates after he broke the jaw of fellow guard Daniel Hackett last summer?
Remember, this is the player who recruited schools, not the other way around. He wanted to play in a big market, to get the most exposure as possible. Now, USC’s feeling that attention – and not the way it wanted.
The way USC runs its programs is even more of a reason to stand behind the type of program Ernie Kent is building. The Ducks were the only team in the Pac-10 to be in the top 10 percent of the nation for their Academic Progress Rate. The type of success that recruits like Mayo promise can be hard to resist, but it’s tough to bet a program on the troubled reputation of one player.
As USC just found out, he might just leave you one – and done.
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