You might remember USC’s Leonard Washington as the guy who committed one of the dirtiest plays of the year last season, running down the court and hitting Blake Griffin square in the junk. But today, the 6-7, 230-pound sophomore was told that he won’t even have a chance to get back on the court and redeem himself until 2010, after being declared academically ineligible for the first semester.
While this revelation must be infuriating for new coach Kevin O’Neill, robbing the Trojans of another player from last season’s team after DeMar DeRozan, Taj Gibson and Daniel Hackett all declared early for the NBA Draft, he did receive some good news this morning when he found out that senior Maurice Jones from Arthur Hill High School in Saginaw, Michigan verbally committed for next season.
Despite an ankle sprain that sidelined him for a month, Washington averaged 9.8 points and 6.7 rebounds per game last year, and will definitely be missed as USC tries to make some noise in a historically weak Pac-10 this season.
Source: Los Angeles Times