USC finally gets the NCAA's punishment

Remember all that talk about how USC threw their basketball team under the bus to try and avoid the penalties they knew were coming against their football program?

I think the NCAA did, because they absolutely threw the book at USC football, including postseason bans, significant scholarship reductions, and having 13 wins vacated.

OJ Mayo and Reggie Bush will be remembered for all the wrong reasons at USC.
(photo credit: LA Times)

USC's basketball team avoided anymore serious penalties. If you recall, back in January, USC AD Mike Garrett self-imposed the following sanctions against the Trojan basketball program:

• All of USC's wins from the 2007-2008 season will be vacated from the record books.
• They lost a scholarship for both this season and next season.
• One less coach is allowed to recruit off-campus next summer.
• The total number of recruiting days USC is allowed to have for the 2010-2011 academic year was reduced from 130 to 110.
• A one year postseason ban, which cost them the Pac-10 and a potential NCAA bid last year (We were not happy about this).
  

In addition to the self-imposed penalties, the NCAA has levied the following (via Jeff Goodman):

• Four years probation from June 10, 2010 through June 9, 2014. (So don't mess up again -- for at least four years.)
  
• The committee stated that the program must also vacate all postseason wins, and conference tournament wins during the 2007-08 season. (I bet they will really miss that first round Pac-10 tournament victory.)
  
• Disassociation of the former men’s basketball player in question (Mayo) and the representative who provided extra benefits (Rodney Guillory). The disassociation includes the refusal of any financial or recruiting assistance, as well as other conditions. (I mean, this was obvious. They'd be fools to allow Guillory to come back -- again -- and I bet Mayo has forgotten where he even went to school by now.)
• Prohibition of all non-university personnel, including boosters, from traveling on football and men’s basketball charters; attending football and men’s basketball team practices; attending or participating in any way with university football and men’s basketball camps: including donation of funds; and having access to sidelines and locker rooms for football and men’s basketball games.

This last one is a bit tricky. Is the NCAA really going to be able to enforce all of that? What about the legitimate family and friends of the players, will they be allowed to make it down to the sidelines or come by and watch a practice during a visit? Are they really going to track every dollar that comes into the camps USC hosts? I highly doubt the NCAA has a lot of trust in the USC athletic department right now.

So like I said, USC really didn't get much in the way of additional penalties.

But there is another point that needs to be made. From Rush the Court:

Forgotten in all of this are three gentlemen who should be revered by any and all fans of USC basketball: Mike Gerrity, Marcus Johnson, and Dwight Lewis. They were the three seniors who lost their last opportunity to play in the NCAA Tournament because of the self-imposed postseason ban last season. Gerrity, who had just transferred in as part of his three-college career and performed beautifully for the basketball team, never got to play in an NCAA Tournament — all because the athletic department was seemingly hoping to reduce the eventual sanctions on the football side. We’re not saying they should have their jerseys retired, or anything, but USC basketball supporters should find a way to remember those fellows for a long, long time.

Its true. I know that the early part of the college basketball season is a distant memory for most people at this point, but USC was the story in college hoops for a good two week stretch. Once Gerrity got eligible, the Trojans won eight straight games, including a a twenty point win over Tennessee and a non-conference win against UNLV.

The Trojans went from one of the worst major conference teams in the country in the preseason to arguably the best team in the Pac-10. Granted, that isn't saying much with last season's Pac-10, but USC looked destined to be a tournament team.

And because of OJ Mayo and Ronald Guillory, they never got the chance.

I hope everyone around and associated with the USC basketball team remembers that.