Jan 5th, 2010
Let me get this straight: You were caught speeding while driving my car and I have to pay the fine? And the accountant who preceded me in the job screwed up the books, so I get fired? And the diners who were seated in my booth earlier skipped out on the check, so I have to pay their bill?
USC coach Kevin O'Neill had to tell his players there would be no postseason -- Photo by Robert Hanashiro/USA Today
That’s sort of what happened to USC, which is on an eight game winning streak, is 2-0 in the Pac-10 and looks like the conference’s best team at the moment but enters Wednesday’s game at Stanford with no chance of playing in the NCAA Tournament.
Because of a rules violation by O.J. Mayo, who played for the Trojans two years ago when Tim Floyd was the coach, USC decided to self-impose sanctions that include ban the team from postseason play this season.
Current coach Kevin O’Neill and three of his starters – Alex Stepheson, Nikola Vucevic and Mike Gerrity – were not at USC when the violation occurred. Gerrity, the point guard given much of the credit for transforming the team from a bottom-feeder to potential Pac-10 champion this season, transferred to USC from Charlotte last year for the chance to play a single semester of basketball for the Trojans. The Trojans are 6-0 since he became eligible Dec. 19, including a 22-point win over Tennessee, but his truncated season will end with the March 6 game at Arizona even if USC goes 18-0 in the conference. USC cannot even participate in the Pac-10 tournament.
“It’s not fair,” O’Neill said, “but when you think of it, life is not fair.”
And there is really no other appropriate punishment. Mayo and Floyd, the two people who seem culpable, are gone, so who else would get the sanctions? And the NCAA could impose additional penalties if it sees fit, so the pain could increase.
When O’Neill took the USC job following Floyd’s resignation, he knew sanctions were a possibility because the investigation was well underway..
“It’s like when my mother died,” he said. “I knew for about a year she was going to die, but that doesn’t make it any easier when it happens.”
It’s been an interesting stay in the Pac-10 for O’Neill. He was hired as an Arizona assistant two years ago, became interim head coach when Lute Olson needed a leave of absence and got the Wildcats into the NCAA Tournament, then was dismissed from the coaching staff when Olson came back after the season, although Olson never coached another game. O’Neill showed interest in the Stanford job that went to Johnny Dawkins, then took the USC job when Floyd resigned under a cloud. And now O’Neill has this. Well, it can’t be any worse than his final season at Northwestern (1999-2000) when the Wildcats went 0-16 in the Big Ten.
His mission now is to get his team motivated to play, starting with Wednesday’s game at Stanford and Saturday’s game at Cal. In the past, teams in this situation usually play just as hard, if not harder, than if a postseason berth were on the line, but no one can predict what the impact will be on USC.
All I know is that I am not paying for the meal of those folks who sneaked out of the restaurant.
