Bleacher Report - Articles by Jason

USC To Plead Ignorance On Basketball Program's Existence

Jason — Wed, 21 May 2008 22:33:00 -0400

LOS ANGELES—According to multiple sources close to the NCAA and USC's Athletic Administration, USC is preparing a unique defense against accusations that O.J. Mayo accepted over $30,000 in illegal benefits while enrolled. This defense will include the assertion that USC was unaware it even had a basketball program.

When reached for initial comment, Mike Garrett responded, "Wait, we play basketball? Really? I thought that was just Pete Carroll playing a big practical joke on me. I mean, honestly...have we ever been good at basketball?"

When a reporter pointed out to Garrett that USC made the Sweet 16 last year, Garrett asked, "Is that like the Orange Bowl?"

On campus, students were apparently even less aware of the fact USC had a basketball program. When asked about Davon Jefferson, sophomore Brandi Myles, a Laguna Hills native, said, "I thought he was just here on some sort of special-needs scholarship. You mean he actually played basketball?"

NCAA officials are expected to take a serious look at USC's athletics department, especially given the recent troubles with Reggie Bush, a star on USC's football team.

Still, Myles Brand did seem to offer some hope for USC officials.

"Mike told me it was all a big misunderstanding," Brand said. "He thought the Galen Center was built solely for the use of the women's volleyball team and to waste some bricks."

OJ Mayo: Dealings Not a Surprise

Jason — Mon, 12 May 2008 22:55:00 -0400

How do I know?

I refer you to this article from 2006, penned by Gregg Doyel:

Still stinging from 2005 Heisman Trophy winner Reggie Bush's collegiate dealings with agents and marketing reps, Southern California can expect more NCAA scrutiny if star basketball recruit O.J. Mayo becomes a Trojan in 2007.
Mayo, who is expected to sign with USC in the spring if not during the early signing period next month, is being mentored by a Los Angeles-area promoter whom the NCAA labeled as an agent's representative in 2000. That was the year Mayo's new mentor, Rodney Guillory, helped get two college basketball players -- including one from USC -- suspended for several games.

That's right. USC's compliance office knew all about Guillory in 2006 - they would have even been more acutely aware of his dealings, given than they had already been burned by Guillory in 2000. Oh, there's more:

Before Mayo signs, USC would be wise to look hard -- very hard -- at the Guillory connection. Looking the other way may have helped put USC knee-deep in the Ornstein-Bush mess; sources say Ornstein found his way onto the sideline for USC football games as a guest of Dana and David Pump, Adidas kingpins who once used Ornstein as an auctioneer for their annual fundraiser.

Connect the dots. One way or another, Ornstein met Bush and ultimately became his marketing rep. Bush signed with Adidas. The NCAA is looking into what illegal benefits, if any, Bush received from Ornstein while still at USC.

Now Mayo -- the Trojans' top basketball recruit since Paul Westphal -- is being advised by Guillory. And Guillory not only was once labeled by the NCAA as an agent's representative, but helped get a former USC player (Trepagnier) suspended.

Irony doesn't begin to describe this situation.

What happened? Well, USC didn't look very hard. Or - at the very least - they didn't try very hard to look. Arguing that somehow USC wasn't aware of these activities (or at the very least, should have been aware) takes a level of cognitive dissonance that's almost psychologically imbalanced.

OJ Mayo not a hero. News at 11.

Jason — Sun, 11 May 2008 12:14:00 -0400

So it turns out OJ Mayo may not be quite the angel that everyone over at USC promoted him as this year...

Former USC star O.J. Mayo received around $30,000 in cash and gifts while he was in high school and his one year in college, ESPN reported, citing a former associate of the player.

Golly, I'm shocked.

Rodney Guillory, a Los Angeles event promoter, gave Mayo the cash and gifts using money given him by a sports agency named Billy Duffy Associates, ESPN reported, citing Johnson.
BDA gave Guillory around $200,000 before Mayo came to USC, ESPN reported, although Guillory used most of the money for himself, Johnson said, ESPN reported. In exchange for the gifts, Mayo agreed to allow the agency to represent him when he turned pro, ESPN reported, citing Johnson.
Mayo played his freshman season at USC and has entered the NBA draft, hiring Calvin Andrews of BDA as his agent.

It will be very interesting to see how USC and Floyd respond to this. Again, this isn't entirely USC's fault, but the appearance of impropriety from both the basketball program and the football program certainly doesn't leave the best first impression.

And you know the old saying—"where there's smoke, there's fire". I would hardly consider it a coincidence that these questions are coming from both the football and basketball programs, especially given the fact that the basketball program doesn't generate nearly as much animosity as the football program.

UPDATE: Here's the video from Outside the Lines that broke this story. There's more to come with this, I'm sure.

UPDATE #2: I'm sure we all remember this, don't we? The long and the short of it was that Mayo was spotted with court side Lakers tickets, and later—Carmelo Anthony had supposedly come forward to claim that he gave the tickets to Mayo, so no problem.

Guess who Carmelo Anthony is represented by? Bill Duffy Associates—the same agency in which Mayo has now signed and which is fingered in the OTL report as funnelling money and gifts to Mayo. Yep, that seems totally legit.

College Football: Have We Learned Nothing from the Last Two Years?

Jason — Tue, 06 May 2008 19:50:00 -0400

Apparently, Dennis Dodd has not.

Dodd came out with his first pre-season ranking earlier today, and while I'm certainly thrilled that Georgia is not at #1 (I'm kinda of the mindset that starting at #2 or #3 is better - high enough that one loss isn't going to kill us - not #1 so we don't have a giant target splayed across our midsection), Dodd's choice of #1 team is....uh...well...curious, to say the least:

Ohio State is No. 1.

Hmm. OK. Odd. You did watch the past two national title games, correct? You know, the ones where it was fairly obvious that Ohio State didn't even belong in the championship game, correct? Surely, Dodd's reasoning must be that Ohio State has plugged some holes and stands a chance in the national title game, correct?

Well.....uh....no.

Ohio State? Jim Tressel has coached his Bucks to three of the last six BCS title games, winning one, so let's not go into full mock mode here. However, the Big Ten has become so soft that even if Ohio State loses to USC on Sept. 13, it should be able to recover to play for the national championship.

That's right. Ohio State is #1 because the Big Ten sucks, and uh...Ohio State should win the bad Big 10, so they probably will go to the national title game...so, uh...let's just rank them #1 and see where that goes.

I'm not quite sure in what universe this makes sense. I have no problem with ranking Ohio State #1, but to essentially announce that your reasoning for this is because the Big 10 is so God-awful that Ohio State will win it easily, then you make absolutely no sense.

I mean, argue that the Big 10 is going to be better. Argue that Ohio State will defeat USC. Make some sort of sense, for God's sake.

Well, there was a hedge:

This being Ohio State, though, there's always a chance -- make that a probability -- for a third consecutive national championship for the SEC. The Bucks are 0-9 against the SEC in bowl games and Georgia is sitting there at No. 2 ready to rip out its chunk of scarlet-and-gray flesh.

So....you think they're going to lose as well? Then why rank them #1?

Some more gems from the article:

Florida: "The only questions are the defense and how to keep Tim Tebow upright and healthy." Oh, that's it? So that's like pretty much everything, right? Hey, UCLA's only questions are their offense and how to keep whatever QB doesn't happen to be injured upright and healthy. Can we rank them #7?

"Tailback Emmanuel Moody had some problems picking up the spread in the spring." This is because Urban Meyer does not know what to do with running backs. He looks at them every spring, turns to his offensive coaches, and asks, "Why do we have a fifth wide receiver standing in the backfield?"

Bruins' QB Injuries: Worse Than Originally Thought

Jason — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 19:40:00 -0400

So, I'm sure you've heard this news already:

"Ben said he just planted his foot and something popped," Neuheisel said. "We'll have to do X-rays and MRIs before we know the extent of that injury. Pat aggravated a knee, so we'll see."

Both Ben Olson and Patrick Cowan were injured during practice on Thursday - literally five minutes apart from each other. They both were carted off the field - on the same cart.

Those injuries? Aggravations? Spring injuries? Not a chance in hell.

Pat Cowan's MRI shows damage to his left ACL and his medial meniscus. He will be reexamined when the swelling decreases.
Ben Olson's X-ray shows a fracture in his right 5th metatarsal. It is possible that he may have a screw put in the bone. He will be sidelined 6-8 weeks.

Cowan's 2008 season is effectively over. Olson is out for at least three months, which means he may be in jeopardy of missing the first couple of games. Dohn had a follow-up post in which he implied that Ben should be ready to go by August mini-camp, but I'm starting to believe there's a real injury issue with Ben Olson and it may be time to start looking elsewhere for quarterback help - meaning, it's time to start getting a real good look at both Craft and Forcier and see what they're capable of.

Worst case - assume that both Olson and Cowan are out for the season, and you're looking at a quarterback rotation that consists of Craft, Forcier and Rashaan, with the possibility of not red-shirting Crissman (although that would be, in my mind, kinda' crazy. I'd try to save Crissman's redshirt at all costs).

Aaron Murray picks UGA

Jason — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 16:06:00 -0400

In case you haven't heard, PWD has the details:

The general consensus is that this is a huge, huge pick up for Georgia. Not only do they grab a top flight quarterback, a position the Dawgs need to sign this year, but we get one from Florida's back yard. It's not often that UGA goes heads up with the Gators for a Florida guy and the Dawgs land him. It happened today.

Murray's a mid-year graduate, which means he'll be at spring practice next year. He's the #8 ranked quarterback in the 2009 class, which puts him solidly in Elite 11 territory.

I'd be interested to see what spurred the decision to Georgia - UGA wanted to sign a couple quarterbacks this year, and possibly, UCLA wasn't quite as attractive an option with both Nick Crissman and Chris Forcier to compete with in the coming years. It still would be nice for UCLA to pick up a QB commit this year, so we'll see where they head to next. (As a point of reference, Crissman was the 8th-ranked QB in the 2008 class, so him and Murray are graded out at pretty much the same level).

This is a great pick-up from Georgia out of Florida's backyard, however. This is Georgia's second - and likely final - recruit for the 2009 class. 13th-ranked Zach Mettenberger is also a Georgia commit.

UCLA continues its slow start on the recruiting front. It'll be interesting to see if the staff can pick it up later this year, given all the work they've likely had to undertake merely to install their respective systems.

UGA and UCLA Recruiting Update

Jason — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 00:53:00 -0400

Well, it's not often that both Georgia and UCLA are on a final list for a particular recruit, but I guess that's what landing Norm Chow will do for a school.

At any rate, it's been reported by Scout that Aaron Murray, a QB out of Plant City, FL will be making his college decision at a press conference on Thursday.

Hell, he's got a 2/3 chance in my book. Just don't pick wrong, son.

Why? Well, his other school's Florida.

Arizona State vs. Georgia

Jason — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 19:47:00 -0400

Obviously, I'm very excited about this game.

Have you got your tickets yet? Good.

Tempe is....well, a suburb of Phoenix. It's not exactly a 'true' college town, in the sense that it's pretty close to a major metropolis. Still, there's plenty of fun things to do in Phoenix over the course of a weekend. Phoenix is only about a 4 hour drive from Los Angeles (at least, if you drive the way I do), so I still have not settled on whether to drive to Phoenix or to fly. I'm waiting to see where gas is going to end up before I make that decision.

This happened about a month ago in Los Angeles. So really, stop complaining about your $3.50 gas. It's getting to the point where I'd run over my grandmother for $3.50/gallon gas.

That said, ASU fans are quite entertaining. If you're familiar at all with the College Football Tour Guy on SI.com, he originally had an unaffiliated site that visited each and every Pac-10 school. His choice in Week #1? Arizona State. The following video will explain why:

Just go to 2:08 in the video and watch.

The larger question: What sort of game can UGA expect out of Arizona State? Well, that largely depends. Arizona State is still a growing team - especially on defense. Their pass defense was generally regarded as terrible last year, although Erickson did a fantastic job of plugging many holes on the offensive line. And y'know, the fact that he actually settled on a quarterback and didn't change his mind the next day probably also had a little bit to do with the Sun Devils' success. And him keeping his job and stuff.

I saw ASU in person at the Rose Bowl last year - when they came back from behind to beat UCLA, 24-20. The key to defeating ASU is very simple: get Rudy Carpenter dirty.

Gameplan A. Pretty much all you need against ASU.

Much like this year's UCLA Bruins (and....well....let's be honest, pretty much all UCLA teams since 2002), Arizona State's offensive line is terrible. I believe Rudy Carpenter was sacked about a billion times last year.

Wait, how many is a brazilion? Oh, billion? How many is that? Like 12?

Actually - no, it's not 12. It's 54 times. That about 5 times a game. Uh, ouch. ASU doesn't have what we on the East Coast would call 'a power running game' - it's more of a shifty running game, although they did put up good numbers last year. However, their leading rusher, Ryan Torain, has left for greener pastures in the NFL. Literally.

Completely unrelated corollary number one: nothing in Phoenix is green. It's all dust and cacti.

And strip malls. Lots and lots of strip malls.

And now - overpriced condos! Seriously, I think the chamber of commerce in Phoenix would shower you with free strippers if you bought a condo while you're in town this September. And yes, there's plenty of strippers to accomplish this task. Especially in Phoenix.

Anyhow, Torain will primarily be replaced by Dimitri Nance. Nance filled in once Torain got hurt last year. And of course - a healthy Keegan Herring. Between Herring and Torain, I would consider it a bit of a wash - however, Herring is exceedingly shifty. He's Reggie Bush-lite, and he has got some amazing closing speed.

Will weather be a factor? I doubt it. It's plenty hot in Georgia during the early fall - late September in Phoenix is quote toasty - try an average high of 96 and a low of 73. Woohoo! Stay hydrated, kids.

Tailgating? Tailgating is lame at Sun Devil stadium for a couple of reasons.

First, you're only allowed to set up 3 and a half hours prior to the game. With an expected kickoff at 5PM PST, this means, by default, you're not even going to be allowed to set up to tailgate until 1:30PM.

This, in a word - sucks.

However, there is hope! Last year, ASU hosted an evening game against USC on Thanksgiving, and ASU officials opened the parking lot at Sun Devil Stadium for tailgating at 1:30 PM (kickoff 6PM). So, they gave four and a half hours. Which means, best case: we might be able to set up just after lunch.

No, I'm sorry. You don't. (HT: PWD)

Secondly, tailgating on campus at ASU doesn't really occur. You're only technically allowed to tailgate in the parking lot at Sun Devil Stadium. I've done this - once. 100 degree heat + black asphalt does not equal fun, just so you know. Bring an EZ-UP.

What else do you need to know? Technically, you're not allowed to drink liquor. Only beer and wine or allowed (this is largely ignored), but helpful safety tip to prevent the cops from hassling you: don't display bottles of Jack Daniel's on your tailgating table. Keep them in the cooler.

Also, once the game starts - you're not allowed to keep drinking. If you have friends who make it out for the game who don't have tickets and want to watch out in the parking lot - that's fine. Cops will be looking for people drinking once the game has started. If spotted with adult beverages, you will get a ticket.

Why all the rules?

Arizona has really draconian alcohol consumption laws. It will make enjoying a game as though you were in Athens darn near impossible.

The stadium itself is on the north side of campus, tucked in between a ridge, and largely isolated from the rest of campus (meaning there's nothing else around it except for the parking lot). You're going to be a doing a lot of walking on black asphalt in 100 degree heat before the game. It's not really going to be pleasant.

I would heartily recommend Mill Avenue as an alternative before the game, and maybe heading out to the stadium right before kickoff.

But other than that, enjoy! All in all, Sun Devil fans are quite fun and realistic about their team - certainly more so than Arizona fans, who have one of the most hilarious superiority complexes on the face of the planet.