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There are 342 teams in Division 1 College Basketball. Considering that only about 100 or so are competitive, you would assume that every school from the BCS conferences would rank high in the nation’s statistical categories. You would think right? Well, the Trojans are making new meaning of the word “disaster”, as they are 341st in scoring, 339th in assists, a solid 304th in shooting and dead last, yes dead last, in rebounding. Just to clarify once more, there are 342 teams in Division 1.

We all understand the Trojans’ injuries, how they lost Jio Fontan on a trip to Brazil and just recently lost Iowa transfer Aaron Fuller for the remainder of the season. But, you would think that just by means of running the system of a coach with the experience of Kevin O’Neill, that the Trojans would at least be formidable statistically. Right? I mean just going through the motions, they’d have to be better than Slippery Rock or some random liberal arts college in Podunk, Iowa. Continue reading this post »

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Tosh Lupoi has garnered much attention of late in the recruiting world. Lupoi, Rivals’ 2010 Recruiter of the Year and one of the newest members of Steve Sarkisian’s staff at Washington, has quickly taken the reins from Ed Orgeron as the Pac-12 Conference’s best recruiter. Before jumping from Berkeley to Seattle earlier this week, Lupoi was putting together arguably the most talented class in the history of Cal football, anchored by players like Shaq Thompson and Ellis McCarthy, along with a very probably signing of Arik Armstead. His move to Washington instantly turned everything upside down in the conference, as McCarthy then committed to UCLA, while Thompson and Armstead are currently in a state of flux. But in moving between inner division schools, Lupoi has created a very interesting recruiting war between not only his current and former employers, but between himself and USC’s Orgeron, as the Trojans look to capitalize on Cal’s misfortunes.

In this the third season of the Orgeron vs. Lupoi match-up in the recruiting war, the record between the two is surprisingly bleak. Taking only the Classes of 2010 and 2011 into account, according to Rivals, Lupoi and Orgeron have gone head-to-head on a recruit just twice, with Lupoi sealing the deal both times, signing both Todd Barr and Viliami Moala in 2011. Continue reading this post »

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Photo from 247 Sports, via SI.com

According to Joe Davidson of the Sacramento Bee, the Trojans are suddenly back in the Arik Armstead sweepstakes. Armstead made it clear back in the fall that he was displeased with USC over how they treated the injury of his brother Armond, who missed all of 2011. That displeasure led to him de-committing from the Trojans, and as recent as this week, it appeared likely that both Armsteads would play together at Notre Dame or Auburn. With Tosh Lupoi moving to Washington, Arik Armstead’s recruitment opened wide up, and open enough for Lane Kiffin to make plans to visit the Armstead home.

Davidson’s report from the Sacrament Bee in relation to the USC Trojans, after the jump.

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As part of an embarassing trend on Twitter, fans, students and boosters have begun to tweet recruits to both harass those who are considered wayward, and commend recruits who are considered to be interested or committed to their school. It would be ignorant to pin point this to one school, as all fan bases are guilty of tweeting, but unfortunately, it appears to be prevalent in the last week since Tosh Lupoi has left Cal, opening up all of their recruiting targets and commits. Because of this, many boosters and fans of Pac-12 schools have tweeted Cal commits and targets both encouraging them to attend their school, and discouraging players like Shaq Thompson and Arik Armstead over not considering schools like USC and UCLA.

While it would not be in the best interest of anyone to embed the tweets here in this article, we will however quote the University of Southern California’s brochure from the Office of Athletic Compliance, on how it relates to interacting with PSAs, or Prospective Student Athletes.

You may not have any contact with a prospect or his/her relatives. Prohibited contact includes correspondence, e-mail, communication via social networking sites (e.g., Twitter, Facebook) or Internet (e.g., Skype), faxes, telephone conversations and in-person contacts (both on and off campus). If a prospect (or one of his/her relatives) approaches you regarding USC, explain that NCAA rules prevent you from discussing USC with him/her.

Please, do not tweet recruits. It is not worth putting USC or any other school at risk of NCAA Rule Violations over something that can so easily be prevented. Read the USC brochure on compliance, or mull through the Oregon packet from their compliance department, as it is just as detailed, if not more so. If you see anyone tweeting recruits, please unfollow them and inform them of the rules.

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According to the university, former USC running back Stafon Johnson’s lawsuit against the school and a former employee has been settled. Johnson and has family had sued USC on the grounds of negligence in the weight room, regarding his horrific accident that took place during the 2009 season. The settlement announcement came on Wednesday, just over a year after the lawsuit was initially filed.

“The University of Southern California and former student-athlete Stafon Johnson wish to jointly announce that Mr. Johnson has resolved his lawsuit against the university arising out of his September 28, 2009 weight room injury,” the school said. “The parties have agreed that the terms and details will be confidential.”

During Stafon’s senior year with the Trojans, he suffered a weight lifting accident that not only almost ended his career, but it also almost ended his life. He was beginning a bench press set of 275-pounds, when the bar slipped from his hands and onto his neck, crushing his larynx. In the lawsuit, John alleged that then-assistant strength and conditioning coach Jamie Yanchar wasn’t paying attention to him while serving as his spotter, and that Yanchar was more focused on athletes in the weight room, safeties Will Harris and Taylor Mays.
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It’s widely accepted that USC got the book thrown at them when the NCAA penalized the football program before the 2010 season. A two-year bowl ban, 30 lost scholarships and an enforced roster of just 75 players is the heaviest penalty levied on an NCAA football program since SMU got the death penalty in the late 1980s. Today, however, the NCAA’s proposed new matrix on punishments for graded violations shows that if USC were to be penalized with the new standards, they’d be even further lambasted by the NCAA Committee of Infractions.

The proposed matrix, linked here, sets a tiered break down of infractions, along with concrete punishments to go along with each level. While the punshiments are significantly more severe with up to 50% scholarship reductions and a ban of up to 5-years, the NCAA at least makes progress at developing a concrete model rather than stressing the uniqueness of each case, which othen has created nothing but a varying fairness to the punishments handed down on a program. But as Bryan Fischer of CBS breaks down how the new policies would have affected USC,  it’s extremely startling how much power the NCAA is giving themselves. His quotes and more, after the jump.

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It’s been a wild day since Cal lost Tosh Lupoi to Washington this morning, and it’s been capped off with Ellis McCarthy leaving the Cal Gang and committing to UCLA during a home visit from UCLA’s Demetrice Martin. Confirmation of the huge committment comes from ESPN’s Greg Biggins, and now has the Trojans up for a stronger run at Aziz Shittu.

Just received a text message from Ed McCarthey, father of Ellis, confirming that his son committed to Demetrice Martin on a HV tonight

— Greg Biggins (@GregBiggins) January 17, 2012

McCarthy, a 5-star defensive lineman from Monrovia, becomes the first 5-star commit of the Jim L. Mora era and is only the Bruins’ second commit on the defensive line, after Eli Ankou committed to the Bruins back in July of 2011. McCarthy is the second lost recruit of the day for Cal, as Arik Armstead was set to announce his intentions tonight, but has delayed his decisions which points more towards a Notre Dame or Auburn enrollment, than a trip to Berekely.

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In a major Pac-12 shift of power, Tosh Lupoi, the conference’s best recruiter has been pried out of Berekely and is heading to Washington. Lupoi was the main reason that Cal was able to recruit as soundly as they have, currently sporting a Top 10 recruiting class for 2012. But with Lupoi out of the mix for the Bears, it opens the Pac-12 recruiting battles wide open between the top three recruiting schools, Cal, Washington and USC.

Exactly who might the Trojans be able to scoop up from Cal’s now broken recruiting class? The most likely name has to be Ellis McCarthy, who chose Cal over USC despite considering USC to be a favorite for at the beginning of his recruiting campaign. Not only does Lupoi’s departure come as a crucial blow to Cal recruits in general, but as a defensive line coach, a defensive tackle like McCarthy becomes all the more likely to jump ship. USC put their own dream recruiting tandem of Ed Ogeron and Kennedy Polamalu on McCarthy before he committed, and you have to expect that Lane Kiffin was deploy a full court press on McCarthy and other possible Berkeley defects.

More breakdowns on Cal commits and targets after the jump. Continue reading this post »

For those of you who have just been DYING to know what’s been going on with former Arkansas/USC quarterback Mitch Mustain, you will be pleased to know that filmmaker Matthew Wolfe has all the answers to this burning question.

Apparantly Wolfe is making a documentary about the former athlete, called “The Identity theft of Mitch Mustain”, and it starts right where Mustain’s career ended:

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via Examiner.com

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It’s no secret that the Trojans are lacking depth at running back, after the departures of Dillon Baxter and Amir Carlisle, along with George Farmer being tabbed to return to the Trojans’ receiving corps. That makes the recruitment of D.J. Foster, a 4-star running back/athlete from Scottsdale, all the more important. Once considered to be leaning towards the Cal Bears, Foster’s official visit to USC this past weekend has forced an even three-team race, with the Trojans gaining ground on Cal and Arizona State, according Greg Biggins of ESPN.

DJ Foster said he hasnt committed anywhere yet but #USC did move up to the top of his list with #Cal and #ASU, too close to call

— Greg Biggins (@GregBiggins) January 15, 2012

More on Foster after the jump.

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