Monday Hot Links

The Dark Side of College Sports

• NCAA investigators cast some light on their work and why certain cases (Bush, Mayo) drag on. [LA Times]
• Life on the summer-hoops circuit and pitfalls for rising stars. [LA Times]
• Prominent agent explains who runners are and what they do. [LA Times]

Football

• Mike Williams has lost 30 pounds, gained hope. [Tennessean]
• ESPN's season preview is out. Insider subscription required. [ESPN]
• In video game news, the Coliseum is the 11th toughest stadium in NCAA 09. [ESPN]
• Some interesting commentary about John McKay's scheduling philosophy. [SCPlaybook Forum]
• A pair of Trojans did radio interviews last week: Pete Carroll was on with Mason and Ireland (click here for audio, it's about 3/4 of the way in) and Mark Sanchez was on Dameshek, Denholm, and Long (click here for audio, it's about 3/4 of the way in). [ESPN 710]
• Guess who's selling a No. 10 USC jersey for about $20? [ESPN]

Hoops

• DeMar DeRozan says he's made the cut in the classroom. [Fox Sports]
• O.J. Mayo reportedly inked a $450,000 per year deal with Nike. [Burlison's World]
• Prospect Lance Stephenson is considering USC -- and Europe. [NY Times]

Elsewhere

• Travel costs for Hawaii's football team are astronomical, with trips to the West Coast costing as much as four times what they did last year. Ouch. [Honolulu Advertiser]
• An Oregon football player died in a river accident. [Seattle Times]

Comments

[AW]

It's just amazing that DeRozan has been delcared academically eligible in the middle of July.

Hasn't SC basketball learned their lesson with OJ and Jefferson yet? Obviously DeRozan could care less about school and grades. He's a one and done and as long as he can keep the under the table money and gifts quiet during the basketball season, he could care less what happens to the University when he goes pro.

If SC keeps recruiting these one and done players, it's eventually going to bite them really hard. The SC admin. could feign ignorance that we can't watch these guys 24/7, but after awhile that excuse gets old.

Just watch next year at this same time we're going to be taling about DeRozan and how he already had an agent giving him cash and gitts.