OPINION

By Spencer Hall

updated 1:36 p.m. ET May 13, 2009

After approximately 15 minutes, Johnson saw Guillory waiting on the curb in front of the stretch of cafes and pulled over to pick him up. Once Guillory was inside the vehicle, he produced a white envelope with cash inside. Guillory told Johnson that Floyd had given him “a grand,” and Johnson was able to view $100 bills inside the envelope. He said he believed there appeared to be “substantially” more than $1,000, although he did not count the bills.

This is not a transcript from a court case involving illegal narcotics, but is instead an excerpt from Yahoo's story on Tim Floyd, O.J. Mayo, and an alleged flow of cash from various sources -- including the USC men's basketball coach -- to a very talented recruit apparently all too happy to cash in on his skills on the black market of amateur athletics.

The story is a long and convoluted one, potentially. A "runner" named Rodney Guillory was allegedly (lot of those here) paid to push O.J. Mayo towards representation with Bill Duffy Associates, a sports agency Mayo eventually signed with out of USC. In the scheme as described in the report, BDA funneled money through Guillory, who then took this $200 -- 250K and used it to supply Mayo with a living standard distinctly above those of his USC classmates.

None of this information about Guillory is new.

It aired on Outside the Lines a year ago, and mirrors prior allegations about Guillory and his relationship with former USC players Jeff Trepagnier and Tito Maddox.

The new bit comes with the introduction of Floyd into the story, depicted in former Mayo confidant Louis Johnson's description as handing cash to Guillory as they prepared to travel to Las Vegas for the NBA All-Star Weekend. Various terrifying federal entities are very interested in the story -- especially the IRS -- but one organization here needs less evidence than the Feds to come down on Floyd and USC, and that is the NCAA.

The feared "lack of institutional control" charge is essentially a judgment call for the NCAA, and combined with the somewhat similar Reggie Bush case could make it easy for the NCAA to sanction USC's athletic department.

Worse still, someone just published a story about Tim Floyd handing a basketball player money in an envelope through a runner who then pimped him to professional represenation.

This will turn out badly no matter what happens because a.) the college basketball community will condemn him for his actions to little effect, or b.) USC's recruiting will improve because in the sketchy world of college hoops recruiting, the rumor of cash being handed out might actually help Floyd get potential prospects to commit.

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