USC: Trojans Banned from Post-Season Play for This Season

USC will curtail its recruiting activities for two seasons and ban the team from post-season play this season as part of penalties associated with violations related to former Trojan O.J. Mayo, according to a FoxSports.com report.
The Trojans won’t play in the Pac-10 Conference Tournament and won’t accept invitations to post-season tournaments this season. In addition, USC loses one scholarship for this season and next season, removes one coach from next summer’s off-campus recruiting trail, and trims the team’s recruiting days from 130 to 110 for the 2010-11 season. And finally, the team will vacate all 21 wins from the 2007-08 season, Mayo’s only year with the Trojans before he left for the NBA. He now plays for the Memphis Grizzlies.
The self-imposed penalties are a product of the university’s investigation into Mayo’s recruitment. According to a former associate of Mayo, the booster who helped steer Mayo to the Trojans received hundreds of thousands of dollars from a sports agency. In addition, reports indicated that former Trojans coach Tim Floyd paid the booster, Rodney Guillory, $1,000 in cash for his work to convince Mayo to come to USC. Flord quit as USC coach in June after the allegations surfaced.
Coach Kevin O’Neill replaced Floyd, and he has the Trojans off to a 10-4 start, including 2-0 in the Pac-10. He said he recognizes the university’s need to punish the team. He expressed disappointment that his team won’t have the opportunity to compete in the post-season but added that the Trojans will treat every game like a post-season match up.