USC Lost Two Basketball Scholarships

The Trojans lost two men's basketball scholarships thanks to a low score in the Academic Progress Report, but it had nothing to do with the early departures of O.J. Mayo and Davon Jefferson.

The scholarships were actually cut this past season, 2007-08, because of previous low APR scores. It wasn't too evident on the court because the team had a number of walk-ons (including Daniel Hackett, whose tuition is covered by the school because his father is an employee of USC) and only 11 scholarships were handed out.

By the time things are sorted out this year, the school could be back up to 13 scholarships -- the full complement allowed by the NCAA.

USC was one of only four penalized teams to make the NCAA tournament.

Sports Illustrated has a general story about the latest APR and Ben Bolch will have a story specific to USC later today on latimes.com.

UPDATE:

USC was informed of the punishment in the fall and given the option of taking the hit this last season or next season. The school decided to take the hit sooner rather than later.

The lost scholarships were a result of Gabe Pruitt, Lodrick Stewart and Nick Young not attending classes after the 2006-07 season.

USC officials are optimistic that things will improve next year because Mayo and Jefferson did complete their classes this semester. Kyle Austin transferred, but that will not affect the team because of a new NCAA rule that allows a player with at least a 2.6 GPA to transfer to another 4-year institution.