BREAKING: Tim Floyd paid Ronald Guillory

If Guillory's name sounds familiar, it should. He was the runner that got OJ Mayo and USC in the news prior to the 2008 NBA Draft. Apparently, Louis Johnson (the former Mayo confidant turned media-snitch that spawned the entire investigation) saw Floyd hand Guillory an envelope with "a grand" in it.

From Yahoo! Sports (the same outlet that broke the UConn recruiting scandal):

On Feb. 14, 2007, Johnson and Guillory packed up Guillory’s black Infiniti SUV and were preparing for the drive from Los Angeles to Las Vegas to attend the NBA All-Star weekend. Before they left, Guillory informed Johnson several times that he had to meet with Floyd so the coach could give him cash for the trip. Sometime between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m., Guillory and Johnson headed toward Beverly Hills to meet with Floyd. During the drive, Johnson listened as Guillory and Floyd exchanged several cell phone calls as Floyd explained where the meeting would take place.

Upon arriving in Beverly Hills, Guillory pulled up to a stretch of cafes in the downtown shopping district, where Floyd was waiting on the sidewalk. Because there were no parking spaces, Guillory asked Johnson to circle the block in the SUV until Guillory was ready to be picked up. Johnson exited the passenger side of the vehicle, at which point Johnson saw Floyd and the two exchanged greetings. Johnson then got into the driver’s seat and proceeded to circle the block while Guillory and Floyd met.

After approximately 15 minutes, Johnson saw Guillory waiting on the curb in front of the stretch of cafes and pulled over to pick him up. Once Guillory was inside the vehicle, he produced a white envelope with cash inside. Guillory told Johnson that Floyd had given him “a grand,” and Johnson was able to view $100 bills inside the envelope. He said he believed there appeared to be “substantially” more than $1,000, although he did not count the bills.

My initial reaction to seeing this article: no wonder Taj Gibson, Daniel Hackett, and Demar Derozan left school; and no wonder USC did not allow Renardo Sidney to sign an LOI. They had to have known that this was on the horizon.

Improper benefits in college basketball and college football is akin to steroids in baseball - everyone knows it is happening, but no one is truly willing (or able) to do anything about it.

To be honest, I couldn't care less. I personally believe that these athletes should be getting paid by the universities. I've written about it numerous times, but these kids (especially the stars at the big universities) generate a ridiculous amount of revenue for their respective universities. And what do they get in return? A scholarship for an education which will be largely useless to them.

For the majority of the kids playing D1 basketball, they are going to school because they want to be professional basketball players. While this is will only work out for a select few, it does not mean that the rest of the kids looking to further their "basketball education" cannot find a way to make a living off of the game. Be it as a coach, an announcer, a writer, a front office guy, a scout, a trainer (physical or skills wise), a ref, a player's assistant, a money manager, an agent, a runner for an agent (only half kidding here), there are a million ways to make money in the sports industry that does not actually involve playing the game.

Not everyone that goes to med school ends up being a neurosurgeon. It doesn't mean that they should find a different career because they may end up as a career nurse.

So if OJ Mayo, or any other player, pocketed some extra cash as a result of his talents, I don't see anything wrong with this.

You want to end all of this corruption? You want to get rid of this "black market" in college sports? Pay the kids that generate the money.