Clippers' Eric Gordon added to USA Basketball minicamp

Clippers guard Eric Gordon will participate in USA Basketball's minicamp it was announced today.

The camp will be used to help identify candidates to join United States teams that will play at the 2010 World Championships and 2012 Olympics.

Gordon and Golden State forward Anthony Randolph are the most recent additions to the tryouts in Las Vegas this week. There will be training sessions on Thursday and Friday, then an intrasquad scrimmage on Saturday.

The tryout roster stands at 23, including former UCLA teammates Kevin Love and Russell Westbrook, and Gordon's new Clippers teammate, No. 1 draft pick Blake Griffin.

Gordon and Randolph were added after Portland's Brandon Roy and LaMarcus Aldridge, Houston's Trevor Ariza and Boston's Glen Davis pulled out.

Gordon averaged 16.1 points a game as a rookie last season.

-- Mike Hiserman

New USC coach talks about relationship with O.J. Mayo

Newly introduced USC basketball Coach Kevin O'Neill spoke on Monday about former Trojans star O.J. Mayo. The two spent last season together with the Memphis Grizzlies but didn't talk much about college hoops.

"We would bust each other up about 'SC and Arizona, 'We beat you there,' " he recalled. "The thing that O.J. was always very, very, very adamant about was that it was a great experience. He enjoyed being here, he enjoyed the people that were here, he enjoyed playing for Tim [Floyd]. I heard nothing but good things about USC from O.J."

Otherwise, O'Neill insisted that they only talked about Grizzlies basketball.

O'Neill didn't speak with Mayo about his new job, either. "You don't reach pro guys in the off-season," he quipped.

Asked how short-term players might fit into his program at USC, O'Neill said that it's a part of the deal. "I think you have to recruit those guys. They're great players. It's important that you recruit guys that can help you win. Those guys are part of the basketball culture."

O'Neill's experience with short-term stars is limited to Jerryd Bayless at Arizona. "He was a great player, a great contributor to the program, and a great guy to coach," he reflected before adding, "You also need to recruit some program players, too -- guys that are there for four years."

-- Adam Rose

Photo: Kevin O'Neill after a news conference introducing him as USC's new men's basketball coach. He worked for one year in the NBA with former Trojans star O.J. Mayo. Credit: Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times.

No reason to wait for NCAA report on USC Hoops -- it's over

It doesn't really matter now what the NCAA does -- or doesn't do -- to USC basketball.

OK, it does. If the NCAA comes down hard on the program in the case of O.J. Mayo, there will be scholarship losses, vacated games, history to be written and a lot of explaining to do.

In a sense, though, the basketball program as it wobbles now is effectively finished -- and you get the sense embattled Coach Tim Floyd knows it.

Sometimes, all it takes is the specter of scandal to bring a kingdom down. People are fleeing USC so fast you would have thought Floyd's fast-break had been replaced with a swine flu outbreak.

This isn't a SMU-like death penalty sentence for USC; it's a death watch sentence.

Floyd delivered the quote of the year Monday night at a Trojan booster affair in Pasadena -- and nothing needs boasted more right now than USC basketball.

"Kansas has two players who would have been NBA lottery picks, Cole Aldrich and Sherron Collins, and they are returning to school," Floyd said. "Our guys get an offer from Islamabad and they're gone."

The veil of possible NCAA sanctions has decimated Floyd's plans of building USC into a national powerhouse. It's incredible to think how quickly it dissolved. Daniel Hackett had the ball and was on his way to the game-tying basket in a second-round NCAA regional game against Michigan State.

USC basketball lost control of the program not long after Hackett lost control of the ball. Michigan State escaped with the win, advanced all the way to the NCAA finals and will likely be preseason No.1 next year.

USC was talked about as a possible Top-10 pick, if all the pieces came together.

Instead, USC went all Humpty Dumpty.

Hackett, DeMar DeRozan and Taj Gibson all declared for the NBA draft. When fresh reports surfaced about Floyd allegedly handing Mayo an envelope containing $1,000, the situation became toxic.

Recruits are starting to get Steve Martin happy feet. Renardo Sidney, a shaky prospect in the best of institutional control times, bailed to Mississippi State. USC lost a medial supply company: Johnson & Johnson. Marcus opted to turn pro (Hello team Islamabad?) even after receiving a sixth year of NCAA eligibility. Noel, a top recruit, was granted his release.

If you think opposing coaches aren't using the potential NCAA sanctions against USC, well, silly you.

Days, or weeks, or months before the NCAA renders its verdict, USC basketball, as you knew it, is dead. The Trojans would be silly to fire Floyd now because, the way things are falling now, you can just let gravity take its course.

It's over for USC basketball -- even IF the NCAA clears Floyd of wrongdoing.

In the 1980s, after being acquitted of larceny and fraud charges, former U.S. Labor Secretary Raymond Donovan famously remarked: "Which office do I go to to get my reputation back?"

Same for Tim Floyd. No matter what happens, it's too late. USC's mission statement now has to be to save football at all cost -- even if the price is basketball.

It's beyond nuance and subtext now -- everything's gone straight to CYOB.

This summer will be spent waiting for the NCAA to report ... on USC football.

The report on USC basketball is already in.

-- Chris Dufresne

        

As for NCAA hoops sanctions, what about the winners?

History suggests the best way to avoid punishing NCAA sanctions in college basketball is to win the NCAA title.

Anything short of that, and watch out: The NCAA will strip-mine your trophy case, order your banners out of the rafters and make you vacate the Final Four premises.

Isn't it curious (OK, cynical, too) that the NCAA record book is filled with sanctions and asterisks but One Shining Moment has always survived?

I bring this up in light of the recent NCAA allegations against Memphis. Think about how close Memphis came to winning the national title in 2008. Memphis SHOULD have won. John Calipari's Tigers blew a late lead and then allowed Kansas' Mario Chalmers to send the game into OT with an impossible three-pointer. Kansas went on to win.

Think about if Memphis had won. The allegations that point guard Derrick Rose had someone take his qualifying SAT would also have an NCAA title hanging in the balance.

Memphis answered the NCAA allegations Tuesday  Memphis claims it didn't know Rose's test score was invalidated until after the championship. We'll have to see how it all sorts out.

If the NCAA hits Memphis with major sanctions, the Tigers will likely have to vacate their title-game appearance.

Reaction: Big Derrick Deal. Rose became the top pick in the NBA draft, Calipari cashed out for the best job in college basketball -- Kentucky -- and Memphis basketball will carry on in some way, shape or reform.

Would there have been an NCAA probe had Memphis defeated Kansas? Come on, now, that's really jaded journalism.

It's just curious, though. UCLA never got penalized for 11 national titles it won but had to vacate its 1980 title-game LOSS to Louisville. That taught the Bruins a lesson they never forgot.

Michigan got to keep its 1989 title but had to vacate its "Fab Five" Final Four appearance of 1992 and '93. Shame on you Wolverines.

Calipari is shooting for the rare "vacate double-double." His Final Four Massachusetts team of 1996 had to give it up for sins committed by Marcus Camby. Ohio State's 1999 Final Four loss to Connecticut has literally been purged from NCAA annals. Same goes for Minnesota (Clem Haskins) in 1997. Apologies to all the non-championship NCAA violators we don't have space to mention.

In fact, when Ohio State returned to the Final Four in 2007, the school could not even mention the 1999 Final Four appearance in its game notes even though dozens of us who were there clearly remember, for Pete's sake, Scoonie Penn and Michael Redd taking the court in St. Petersburg....

So be warned, all you sneaky sneaker wearers: Win the NCAA title -- or else.

-- Chris Dufresne

  

Former USC basketball player shares more on Tim Floyd and O.J. Mayo

While graduation ceremonies were held on USC's campus this Friday, alumnus Chris Penrose was working up Figueroa in a downtown L.A. office high rise. As a former member of the Trojan's basketball team, he took some time to share his perspective on recent allegations that coach Tim Floyd handed money to O.J. Mayo's handler.

Penrose made the squad as a walk-on before Tim Floyd set foot on campus, and continued for two years under the current Trojan coach. He served as a recruiting host and helped new players (including Mayo) move in and get accustomed to college life during his final summer on campus.

In the interview, Penrose talks about seeing Rodney Guillory around the dorms, what it was like inside Mayo's room, what he thinks of Louis Johnson, and how the school's compliance office educates players on NCAA rules.

-- Adam Rose

Besides being a former player and a writer for WeAreSC, what's your official relationship with the USC basketball program right now?

I have no other relationship with the school. I was a student there, I played basketball there for four years. I still have friends who go to school there. Obviously I'm very close with everyone in the athletic department and USC basketball program, but there are no official ties in terms of employment or anything like that.

You've spoken on ESPN radio about Louis Johnson's allegation that Tim Floyd gave money to Rodney Guillory on Valentine's Day of 2007, and pointed out that it was a travel day for the basketball team. The team's itinerary indicates that practice at USC was in the early afternoon and the plane left a few hours later. With those parameters, a morning meeting seems feasible. Why don't you think it couldn't have happened on a travel day?

USC insider speaks out about Tim Floyd and O.J. Mayo

USC has a strict policy against commenting on active investigations, so we won't hear anything official about Louis Johnson's recent allegations that basketball coach Tim Floyd gave cash to Rodney Guillory, one of O.J. Mayo's handlers.

But we've got the next best thing thanks to a tip from Conquest Chronicles, a blog closely monitoring the situation.

Chris Penrose, a former Trojan basketball walk-on from 2003 to 2007 (Floyd began joined USC in 2005), is a writer for WeAreSC.com and posted his initial reactions to the allegations:

The date that was given for Coach Floyd personally handing money to RG conflicts with a practice that we had before we caught a flight to Tucson to play U of A the next day.

I dont think any college basketball coach in the country would meet an advisor of a recruit to give them money in a public, well documented place like BH [Beverly Hills].

I was Coach’s right hand man during my senior year with all our new recruits (since I was going to be a GA [Graduate Assistant] with the team the next year), I knew all the ins and outs of O’s recruitment. There was nothing that we or the university itself did that was illegal AT ALL!!!

It's tough to say if the travel schedule ruled out a morning rendezvous, but maybe there's proof in USC's travel records. It would be nice if somebody produces a paper trail ... the team's schedules, somebody's cellphone or credit card bills ... something. In the meantime, Penrose says, "This entire thing is comical."

-- Adam Rose

Photo: USC's Chris Penrose as a senior. He doesn't buy Louis Johnson's allegations against coach Tim Floyd involving Rodney Guillory and O.J. Mayo. Credit: Christine Cotter / Los Angeles Times

Did Tim Floyd pass the bucks to O.J. Mayo's handler?

Ahh, the days of innocence. Those were about a week ago, when it was just the Dodgers and Lakers contending for biggest train wreck in LA.

Is the Trojans' train heading off the tracks, too? Choo choo ...

Louis Johnson, a former member of O.J. Mayo's inner posse, is alleging that Trojan basketball coach Tim Floyd made a significant cash payment to Rodney Guillory, Mayo's handler. Johnson first made the revelation to federal authorities a year ago, and would face criminal charges if he were lying. He has subsequently repeated his claims to the NCAA. As usual, there are more questions than answers.

Pac-10 All-Conference teams announced

Question: How many UCLA and USC players were named to the league's 10-man first team on Monday?

Answer: Darren Collison.

That's right. The senior UCLA guard was the lone first-team Southland representative on the conference's all-league squad,voted on by Pac-10 coaches.

Washington, California, Arizona and Arizona State all had two players named to the first team.

Taj Gibson and Daniel Hackett of USC and UCLA's Josh Shipp were named to the conference's second team. Gibson, a junior forward, earned Pac-10 defensive player of the year honors.

Click  here for the complete list.

Player of the year: Arizona State sophomore James Harden.

Coach of the year: Lorenzo Romar of Washington

Freshman of the year: Washington guard Isaiah Thomas.

Interestingly, neither of the local phenom freshmen recruits, DeMar DeRozan of USC or UCLA's Jrue Holiday, made even honorable mention all-conference.

Last year, O.J. Mayo of USC and UCLA's Kevin Love were named first-team players as freshmen.

--Chris Dufresne

Photo: UCLA's Darren Collison stands alone among local basketball players. Credit: Harry How/Getty Images.

Getting dialed in with O.J. Mayo

Same old O.J. Mayo.

When the Memphis rookie spotted me across the locker room before the Grizzlies' 118-95 victory over the Clippers last night at Staples Center, he smiled and dropped a courtesy "Mr. Bolch" salutation.

He wasn't smiling a few minutes later when I asked him about all the cellphone numbers he had given me that didn't work, but I saved that topic until the end of our brief conversation.

We mostly talked about a sterling season in which the 6-foot-4 shooting guard is a leading candidate for rookie-of-the-year honors and how NBA life differed from his one and only college season.

Asked whether he preferred life as a professional ballplayer or a college ballplayer, Mayo didn't hesitate. "This," he said. "It's way better. The NBA is what you work for all your life."

Mayo acknowledged that he felt less pressure with the Grizzlies than he did with the Trojans, who made him the focal point of a team that otherwise lacked star power. Memphis is having a horrible season, but the expectations aren't nearly as high as they were at USC.

'Hello, may I please speak to O.J. Mayo?'

For someone who insisted on calling me "Mr. Bolch," O.J. Mayo wasn't showing me a lot of respect.

Twice after he departed USC, the one-and-done shooting guard gave me bogus cellphone numbers. OK, so maybe "bogus" is a bit strong. They might have belonged to members of his entourage, but they certainly didn't appear to be his.

I thought we had a good working relationship. He always greeted me with a smile and called me by my last name -- even when I asked him not to -- throughout the one season I covered him as a Trojan. Even when I wrote that he didn't make the impact he had hoped in his college career, his demeanor never changed.

So when he gave me his cell number without a moment's hesitation following an interview in May, I figured it was legit. Especially since the number had a West Virginia area code. Mayo even cut off a member of his entourage who had attempted to give me a different number.

A few weeks later I needed to reach Mayo to follow up on the NCAA investigation into whether he had accepted improper benefits from an agent's runner. Boy, was I in for a surprise when I dialed the number.