30 biggest college basketball scandals of all time

28. O.J. Mayo gets paid by boosters while at USC

This is the other common theme that will appear throughout the list: college athletes getting paid by boosters while they attend school. Any types of these payments, whether it is cash or gifts like cars or housing, are clear NCAA rules violations but happen anyway as boosters try to help their favorite schools win at all costs.

While most of the scandal attention at USC was focused on the football team, which saw Reggie Bush and Joe McKnight receive impermissible benefits while playing for Pete Carroll’s Trojans, the basketball team got mired in its own controversy. The headliner for that scandal was guard O.J. Mayo, who spent only one year at USC.

Mayo was a prolific scorer for the Trojans, leading the team with 20.7 points per game, and helped USC get to the NCAA Tournament, where they lost in the first round to Kansas State. That performance helped make Mayo a lottery pick, but it was later revealed that he had received money under the table while he was at USC.

This came courtesy of L.A. based events promoter Rodney Guillory, who received more than $200,000 from a Northern California-based agency. Guillory then funneled some of the money to Mayo by giving him cash, clothing, and a flat-screen TV.

After learning of Mayo’s illegal benefits, USC self-imposed a number of sanctions, including a postseason ban in 2010 and vacating all 21 of the wins it accumulated while Mayo was a member of the program. The NCAA accepted USC’s discipline and didn’t apply any further sanctions, which set a template for programs to follow over the next decade.