O.J. Mayo was on the Dan Patrick Show this morning and denied ever taking any money before or during his college career at USC.

Mayo insisted that he did not receive any extra benefits at USC and felt bad that Tim Floyd has to leave USC over the scandal. Mayo's main reasons for attending USC:

"It's the best babes in the world. Sunny weather. Academically it's great there."

To listen to the full interview, click here.

O.J. Mayo says he didn't get paid at USC [cnnsi]

So to help break it down, here’s one man’s take on three key developments:

1. Todd McNair, star witness
According to reports, the NCAA’s Committee on Infractions spent the better part of two days grilling Todd McNair, the incumbent USC running backs coach. That’s a clear indicator that the Reggie Bush situation is the centerpiece of the NCAA’s probe. McNair was Bush’s position coach in 2004 and ‘05, so if any school employee knew what Bush and his family were up to, it had to be McNair, who’s like a father figure (or at least a big brother) to his charges. The extent of what he knew is critical to the case, particularly in determining how severely USC should be punished. This was extremely serious stuff, so much so that McNair “lawyered up” for the hearing. It’ll be interesting to see how, if at all, McNair’s involvement affects his future at USC. He technically remains part of the staff, but Lane Kiffin hasn’t finished putting it together, and it’s conceivable he will be “encouraged” to sever all ties to Bush (although Kiffin was part of that staff as well, and he will insist that all staff decisions were made solely for football reasons).

2. Floyd: Friend or foe?
Among Saturday’s star witnesses was former basketball coach Tim Floyd, who appeared on behalf of USC but also to defend himself. Given that he steadfastly has denied the allegations against him and reportedly continued to do so Saturday, one has to wonder if Floyd’s version of events was consistent with the school’s — and if there were discrepancies, how much that will work against USC. Floyd didn’t exactly leave on the best of terms with Mike Garrett, although the two shook hands at the hearing, according to this story. (We can only presume that handshake rivaled Bill Belichick-Eric Mangini I on the awkwardness scale.) Regardless of how the committee viewed Floyd’s testimony, my best guess is that the NCAA won’t penalize the basketball program beyond the self-imposed sanctions already in place. At the time, Garett said they were “consistent with penalties imposed at other NCAA member institutions which have been cited with similar rules infractions.” If they weren’t, someone should be fired.

3. Longest. Hearing. Ever.
The quote of the weekend came from David Price, the NCAA’s vice president of enforcement, who, besides having a cool job title, described the meeting as “my longest in 11 years” of duty. That, plus the ballyhooed seven boxes of documents wheeled out of the conference room, has led to speculation that USC could get hit harder than Garrett and others anticipated. (This New York Times account delves into the more-boxes theory and includes a quote from recruit Seantrel Henderson’s father, who says his son’s decision about a school might, for lack of concrete information, come from the gut.) But given that the investigation took nearly four years, maybe we shouldn’t be surprised that the hearing felt that long. It’s obviously a complex case, perhaps one whose outcome hinges on witness testimony. The results might not be revealed for 10 weeks, also an abnormally lengthy period, at which time USC finally will learn its fate. My prediction, for whatever it’s worth: The football program will lose scholarships and will have to vacate victories — including the Jan. 4, 2006, BCS title game — but won’t face a postseason ban.

More USC football posts:

USC vs. the NCAA: What does it all mean? is a post from: USC

In the meantime, here's a refresher course on the most high profile, longest-running college football scandal of the decade:

• The Charges: Documents and numerous sources have connected Bush to more than $300,000 in improper benefits from competing camps attempting to woo one of the nation's biggest stars as a client during his sophomore and junior seasons in 2004-05. Between marketing pro Mike Ornstein (an ex-con for whom Bush interned in 2005) and fledgling partners Michael Michaels and Lloyd Lake (another ex-con), Bush was reportedly funneled airfare, limo rides, clothes, expensive hotel stays, $13,000 to buy a Chevrolet Impala and weekly payments of at least $1,500. There was also the infamous 3,000-square-foot home in Spring Valley, Calif., purchased by Michaels, where Bush's mother and stepfather allegedly lived for a year, amounting to about $54,000 in free rent they promised to repay when Bush turned pro.

Michaels and Lake raised reporters' eyebrows after Bush chose Ornstein as his agent in 2006, evicting Bush's parents from the home and preparing multimillion-dollar lawsuits against Bush for fraud. Michaels eventually settled out of court for $300,000; Lake's case against Bush is still creeping forward through a thicket of appeals and depositions reportedly halted by gun-wielding goons.

The most stinging charge the NCAA can levy against USC itself is "lack of institutional control," which became a very real possibility when investigators reportedly combined the Bush probe with their investigation into former Trojan hoops star O.J. Mayo, whose already-notorious handler was caught so red-handed in alleged cash exchanges with ex-coach Tim Floyd that the school went ahead and preemptively flogged itself with a self-imposed postseason ban in exchange for (they hope) leniency from Big Brother. Combined with the program's unusual openness to celebrities and outsiders of all stripes under Pete Carroll, the longstanding innuendo about its generally cozy relationship with agent-type life forms, the fishy rent arrangement between Bush teammates Matt Leinart and Dwayne Jarrett and its own investigation into a suspicious SUV driven by outgoing tailback Joe McKnight (who forebodingly arrived at SC labeled as "the next Reggie Bush"), it's not hard to come to the conclusion that the athletic department is (or was) something of an open market.

• The Defense: The hitch in the "prosecution," from the NCAA's perspective, has always been less about proving Bush was on the take -- almost no one at this point would even attempt to make that argument with a straight face -- than making the crucial leap from innuendo to proof against the university itself. Both Carroll, as he was leaving the school to take over the head coaching job at Seattle, and new coach Lane Kiffin (Bush's offensive coordinator in 2005) have recently pleaded ignorance; Kiffin, attempting to quell the doubts of top recruit Seantrel Henderson earlier this month, reportedly told Henderson's family the program should be fine "because there was no knowledge of anything going on by the staff." New Pac-10 commissioner Larry Scott, who can presumably cite the results of the conference's internal investigation in his sleep, said earlier this week he doesn't expect serious sanctions.

If the NCAA is able to tie the Bush and McKnight cases to the more brazen Mayo hijinks under a single, "lack of control" umbrella, it may not have to charge USC with anything except negligence -- i.e. not knowing that ex-cons are buttering up star players is as bad as ignoring or facilitating it -- to justify a heavy-handed response. If not, the burden is much tougher; as NCAA Executive Director David Price reminded Don Yeager for Yeager's book on the scandal, Tarnished Heisman, the NCAA wasn't able to go after Michigan when it learned former Heisman winner Charles Woodson had accepted money from an agent while playing for the Wolverines because it couldn't prove anything against the program: "We had no information that there was any institutional knowledge; therefore, we did not take any action against the institution or even bring charges."

On that front, the most damning claim against USC is Lake's allegation in Yeager's book that he was in the room with Bush's stepfather as he discussed the sketchy housing arrangement with Carroll over the phone. Other evidence is similarly vague and circumstantial, such as various rumors that coaches and administrators (including Carroll and athletic director Mike Garrett, another former Heisman winner) were tipped off about Bush's arrangements, were well-acquainted with the sleazier elements on the fringes of the program and were often in position to notice Bush and his family spending well above their means. Running backs coach Todd McNair (twice convicted himself on suspicion of breeding dogs for fighting during his NFL career) has been accused of socializing with sketchy characters who wanted access to players and with Bush during at least one of his high-priced hotel stays.

Even if you could prove that kind of chatter, it doesn't amount to much in the way of a smoking gun. So far, there is no firm evidence in any published reports to date that anyone at USC had direct knowledge of improper benefits to any football player, which probably means the NCAA doesn't have it, either.

• The Fallout: Long-held visions of white-gloved men marching out of Heritage Hall with Bush's 2005 Heisman Trophy and/or the 2004 BCS championship trophy are misplaced, not least because the NCAA has no control over either. BCS power brokers or the Downtown Athletic Club of New York may confer later to dole out their own brand of justice, but the worst the NCAA will do in the way of that kind of symbolism is "vacate" wins from the wildly successful 2004-05 seasons -- a popular punishment lately, employed against Oklahoma, Florida State and Alabama in the last four years, but a relatively empty one when it comes to deterrence. If this case is about anything from the NCAA's point of view, it' has to be preventing a dozen more like from breaking out across the country.

As pointed out earlier this week, and the L.A. Times chronicled on Wednesday, significant sanctions -- postseason bans, television bans, aggressive scholarship reductions -- are almost unheard of against Division I-A football programs, Florida States and Central Floridas alike, over the last decade. After 20 years of consistent, meaningful probation against powerhouse programs (outstanding teams from Alabama, Auburn, Florida, Miami, Texas A&M and Washington were all held out of bowl games in the eighties and nineties, to name only a few, and SMU's program was famously disbanded for two years at the height of its success), the heavy hand disappeared almost entirely under late president Myles Brand, who came into office in 2002 with two major teams (Alabama and California) serving bowl bans and oversaw the administration of exactly zero over the next seven years. If the Infractions Committee finds USC guilty of any serious infraction, it could easily look to make an example of the Trojans to rebuff that increasingly soft image. There's no evidence it's prepared to do that.

If they get off scott-free, or with just a token slap on the wrist, well, I'll be getting a lot of infuriated comments about the miscarriage of justice, and the NCAA's credibility as a consistent, potent enforcer of its own regulations -- rightly or wrongly -- will be at an all-time low. That's not a comment on anyone's innocence or guilt; behind closed doors, the actual facts may not warrant a significant punishment. But when a case is allowed to sprawl and flourish for this long as the exemplar of open, arrogant defiance in the eyes of fans and media, anything less than a sledgehammer is inevitably going to be greeted like the O.J. verdict. Even if it wins in front of the NCAA, I don't think there's any way SC can come on top of the PR battle.

If that is not enough, here are three links from the LA Times regarding the hearing. They give you a timeline of events, Gary Klein gives you his perspective and former basketball coach Tim Floyd might get a chance to clear his name.

USC faces NCAA for day in 'court' [espn]
Timeline of USC troubles [LAT]
USC goes before NCAA infractions committee [LAT]
Tim Floyd may get his forum with the NCAA [LAT]

"Speaking for the people I served on the committee with, we wouldn't go through the time, effort and sacrifice we go through with this procedure and do it for number of years if there was one sliver of a different set of standards for one institution versus another," Yeager said. "The whole process would fall apart. That's completely out of there. That doesn't happen.

"There are institutions that do a better job with their cases. But if there was any hint of (bias), people would close their books, walk out and never come back."

Cynics will make of that what they will, but the record over the last 10 years backs up Yeager's insistence on consistency: Since 2000, the NCAA has treated practically everyone with a light touch, regardless of size or influence. The last teams to face a television and postseason ban in football -- a staple of major sanctions throughout the '80s and '90s -- were Alabama (a repeat offender) and California in 2003. Over the last five years, the Association's once formidable wrath has amounted to scholarship losses so minor they can often be applied retroactively to less-than-full recruiting classes, or "vacated" wins, a purely symbolic slap on the wrist. (And in Oklahoma's case, one that was later revoked; Alabama is hoping for a similar reversal in its textbook fraud verdict.) Central Florida and Texas Tech -- hardly powerhouses even within their own states -- were treated with kid gloves when the NCAA announced probation ("i.e. don't screw up again") against both schools for various recruiting sins earlier this month. The next program that's significantly affected on the field or in the coffers will be the first in a very long time.

Even if the copious media reports into the Bush case are only half true, the allegations USC will be defending itself against this weekend are more serious than the charges in any other recent case, not least because they cross multiple sports and potentially implicate the entire athletic department -- one of the reasons SC preemptively flogged itself with a self-imposed postseason ban in basketball in response to the pay-for-play allegations against former hoops star O.J. Mayo and since-fired coach Tim Floyd. But if the Trojans get off light -- or even scott-free, as unlikely as that seems following a four-year investigation -- it seems far less likely to be because of any kind of "bias" or profit motive than just another case of general toothlessness.

Excerpt: ``I'd like to ask the people who have tended to judge me based on that departure and the allegations is (that) I knew about those allegations six months before they came out.
``If I felt like I had done something wrong, why would I not have left when I was offered the Arizona job and the Memphis job, to run away from the issue like others have done in our business? I stayed because I knew that I had not done anything wrong. All I asked for was support and loyalty in return, which I received none.''

Today should be a day to celebrate SC hoops for being the surprise story of the Pac-10, winning eight straight games and sweeping the Arizona schools to go 10-4 overall and 2-0 in the Pac-10.

Instead, news came out yesterday that after an internal investigation the school has decided to impose sanctions on the USC men’s basketball program for NCAA violations related to the O.J. Mayo era.

These sanctions include no postseason for this years team (no NCAA, NIT or Pac-10 tournament), a reduction of scholarships and erasing all wins from the 2007-2008 season. There is no word yet on whether they NCAA will add to on to the current sanctions after they complete their investigation.

When asked for a statement on the sanctions, former coach Tim Floyd and Mayo each had no comment.

USC punishes itself for rules violations [espn]

Though I was a little more optimistic than most of the college basketball media who predicted the Trojans to finish 9th in the Pac-10, I didn’t expect much from a program reeling from an NCAA investigation, the loss of a coach who took them to 3 straight NCAA tourneys (Tim Floyd), the loss of 3 pivotal players to the pro ranks (all underclassman- Derozan, Gibson, Hackett) and the loss of a top 15 ranked recruiting class. Combine that with season ticket sales off over 55% and it is easy to assume the demise of USC basketball was in full effect.

However, ESPN analyst Doug Gottlieb was correct when he said “tales of the demise of USC basketball are greatly exaggerated.” during USC’s victory over than #20th ranked UNLV in the finals of the Diamondhead Classic.

5 reasons why Trojan fans should plan regular trips to the Galen Center during the Pac-10 season:

1- The “Last chance” Team: Unlike the USC football team, the basketball team is full of players and coaches who have one of the key ingredients to overachieving: something to prove with no expectations.

The Trojans are led by first year journeyman coach Kevin O’Neal who desperately wants to re-ignite his career and a coaching staff held over from the Floyd era that is looking to impress other programs before O’Neal brings in his own guys.

The team boasts three transfers in Alex Stephenson from North Carolina, Marcus Johnson from Connecticut and Mike Gerrity from Pepperdine/UNC-Charlotte that are at the end of disappointing careers with one last chance to right the ship. Marcus Simmons and Nikola Vucevic still have sour tastes in their mouths for being underutilized on last year’s team.

When you combine players and coaches in a situation where no excuses are left, a strong will to win can develop. Everybody worked very hard in the off-season and now with the team at full strength, they play tenacious defense and are not only competing with top 25 teams, they are beating them.

2- Best Frontline in the Pac-10: It is scary to think how good this team would be if the program didn’t fall under NCAA scrutiny last year with Tim Floyd. Despite all of the losses, the Trojans possess a dominant frontline.

-more on the frontline, Gerrity, etc after the jump

For the first time since 2001, the Trojans are not playing its last regular season game for the right to go to a BCS bowl. A Trojan win over Arizona in the Coliseum on Saturday puts them in the Holiday Bowl, most likely against Nebraska. A loss and they fall from a tie for 2nd in the Pac-10 standings to 6th and most likely a Poinsettia Bowl Bid which would represent a significant fall from the top of college football world.

4 keys to a Trojan victory:

Trojans must tackle well and get hands up against quick hitting offense: Arizona has the most dynamic offense in the Pac-10. It is a combination of offensive coordinator Sonny Dykes pure aerial Texas Tech style offense (former Texas Tech offensive coordinator) combined with Head Coach Mike Stoops smash mouth style of football.

The Wildcats loves to dink and dunk in a passing game that features tons of screens, bubble screens, swing passes and quick reads while also balancing the attack with a power run game behind a veteran offensive line. Arizona has 5 Wide Receiver with more than 30 catches and has adjusted to a 4 wide receiver set very well after losing All-American Tight End Ron Gronkowski to a back injury before the season.

Redshirt sophomore quarterback Nick Foles, who took over starting duties in the Wildcats' fourth game has been outstanding throwing for 17 scores and just seven interceptions, while completing more than two-thirds of his passes in the Wildcats' short-game passing attack. Arizona's quick-hitting style has kept the sack totals down - the Cats have allowed just 11 sacks in 2009.

keys to victory continued after the jump...

Watch the video before you scoff at the headline.

Totally cool, totally under control, the former-USC basketball coach is totally unfazed by the swamp donkey that is trying to blindside him with a food court chair.

Well done Mr. Floyd.

Tim Floyd: The Tom Cable Antithesis [Herm's Perm]