General

USC’s Sanctions Shaft Seniors, Should Be Rejected In Favor of Half-Decade Of Purgatory

Jan 5, 2010, 10:00 PM UTC

â†µ A couple days ago, USC announced self-imposed sanctions for theirâ†µbasketball program including a one-year tourney ban starting right now.â†µTo USC's credit, this tourney ban actually looks like it will have someâ†µteeth. The Trojans are 10-4 with nice wins over Tennessee, St. Mary's,â†µand Arizona State. They have a couple ugly losses and are currently just 51st in the â†µKenpom rankings, but USC's on an eight-gameâ†µwin streak and are clearly a team with a shot at making the tournament.â†µ

â†µâ†µThis makes USC’s ban more consequential than, say, Indiana’s. In theâ†µaftermath of the Kelvin Sampson sanctions/program implosion, theâ†µHoosiers accepted a one-year postseason ban in a year they knew fullâ†µwell would be terrible. They went 6-25. They also managed to backdate APR scholarship penalties arising from theâ†µmass player defections after Sampson’s firing. When Michigan finally gotâ†µhanded sanctions for the Ed Martin scandal, they took a one-yearâ†µpostseason ban when they were terrible anyway and managed to squeeze aâ†µfour-year scholarship reduction into two years by leaving three openâ†µslots in the year they had the ban and returning to the NCAA hat inâ†µhand, asking pretty please. To its credit, the Trojans appear toâ†µbe giving up something of value. â†µ

â†µâ†µBut this is also to their detriment. Andy Katz caught up with the three USC seniors who findâ†µthemselves just playing out the string now and got the sort of quotesâ†µyou’d expect from them:â†µ

â†µâ†µâ‡¥“My heart sank for a second,” said senior point guard Mikeâ†µâ‡¥Gerrity. ... “I was frustrated. That’s what you play collegeâ†µâ‡¥basketball for -- to play in March.”â†µâ†µâ†µNew USC coach Kevin O’Neill is displeased, too: â†µ

â†µâ†µâ‡¥â†µâ‡¥“It isn’t fair to be honest with you. It’s like going out to dinner.â†µâ‡¥Sometime people eat and somebody else pays the check and that’s kindaâ†µâ‡¥what unfortunately has happened with us. I feel terrible for our playersâ†µâ‡¥because we have really good, hardworking guys that deserve opportunitiesâ†µâ‡¥but life isn’t fair and sometimes it stinks and you just gotta deal withâ†µâ‡¥it.”â†µâ‡¥

â†µâ†µâ†µThere’s zero evidence that anyone else on USC’s team did anythingâ†µwrong, and yet they get the shaft. â†µ

â†µ

â†µIs there a way to fix this? I think so. It has the dual benefits ofâ†µbeing kinder to the kids and harsher to the adults who let the situationâ†µget so out of hand. The NCAA should reject USC's self-imposed sanctionsâ†µin favor of three things that will simultaneously reward the currentâ†µmembers of the program and punish the people in charge of it:â†µ

â†µâ†µâ‡¥implement a two-year tourney ban starting in 2012
â†µâ‡¥waive the mandatory redshirt year for current USC players who wishâ†µâ‡¥to transfer
â†µâ‡¥remove scholarships for a long time, again starting in 2012

â†µâ†µâ†µDelaying USC’s penalties would allow the current upperclassmen toâ†µfinish out their careers without succumbing to nihilism. It would allowâ†µfreshmen and sophomores to leave for another program without penalty.â†µAnd it would provide some serious long-term pain to a USC program thatâ†µabsolutely deserves it. Players would leave, recruiting would craterâ†µand USC would experience the half-decade of crappy basketball having theâ†µhead coach directly pay a runner deserves. â†µ

â†µâ†µWhat the Trojans have proposed is a selfish attempt to get the painâ†µover now so the adult-type substances in the room can move on with theirâ†µcareers as quickly as possible, no matter the impact on the kids.â†µFlowery words from members of the USC athletic department won’t changeâ†µthat. Delayed action leaves a richly deserved cloud of woe over theâ†µbasketball program and allows the doe-eyed innocents to head forâ†µ(metaphorically) greener pastures. â†µ

â†µ

This post originally appeared on the Sporting Blog. For more, see The Sporting Blog Archives.

See More: