MVN - Most Valuable Network

Lil’ Romeo Brings Rhymes, Poor Basketball Skills To USC

A 5-foot-10 point guard with a bad knee is slated to receive a full basketball scholarship from USC. This person’s high school team finished last in its league this year, and he only averaged 8.6 points per game on the season. He has yet to complete a full season of high school basketball, and only played in eight of his team’s 27 games last year.

And yet, Trojan head coach Tim Floyd believed this person was worthy of one of his 13 allotted basketball scholarships.

Meet Romeo Miller, better known as Lil’ Romeo. He’s released five successful rap albums (one of which has sold nearly three million copies), and starred in his own television show on Nickelodeon. And, oh yeah, he’s the son of the famous rapper, Master P.

Romeo obviously wouldn’t have had a problem paying for college, yet he’s receiving a full ride to USC. There’s also no shortage of point guards with a lot more talent out there. So why is he getting one of USC’s few scholarships?

Floyd…makes no apologies about Mr. Miller’s potential to sell tickets. “We may have more 11- to 17-year-old girls in the stands than we’ve had in the past,” he says.

[Floyd] describes Romeo as a “good little player” who must improve to get court time. Fame was a factor, he adds. “The more buzz you can create, the more news stories you can create, the better served you are as a program.”

Floyd has gone off the deep end, folks. Since when to Division I teams resort to gimmicks like this to create some buzz and interest? He could have given the scholarship to someone who could have developed into an impact player…instead, he gave it to a rapper who will never receive significant minutes (although he could end up selling a few extra tickets).

Is there something wrong with this picture? Publicity stunts like this are for minor league baseball teams, not major NCAA basketball programs.

Also, what’s with Floyd’s desire to get more teen girls in the seats? Mr. Floyd, I’m Chris Hansen from Dateline NBC. Why don’t you have a seat.

This entry was posted on Saturday, March 8th, 2008 at 10:08 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.