Wall St. Journal Exposes Timmeh's 'Recruiting' of Lil' Romeo

Timmmeh's shady recruiting tactics gets exposed in the Wall Street Journal. WSJ exposes Timmeh's "recruiting" of "Lil' Romeo":

Romeo Miller is a 5-foot-10 point guard with a bad knee. He has never played a full season of high-school basketball. This season, he averaged 8.6 points a game for Beverly Hills High School, which finished last in its league.

But next fall, the 18-year-old will suit up for the University of Southern California, a program in the tough Pac-10 conference. And he will receive a full basketball scholarship valued at $44,400 a year.

The scholarship, which is the talk of college recruiters, is a perfect L.A. story, intermingling money, show business and basketball. Besides being an average point guard, Mr. Miller is an actor and singer known as Lil' Romeo, and the son of a wealthy music mogul. Some question whether the Millers took advantage of their resources -- and their relationship with Demar DeRozan of Compton, Calif., one of the top high-school basketball players in America -- to win the scholarship over more talented and less privileged athletes.

Bob Gibbons, who oversees the scouting service All-Star Sports, says he was "shocked" when he heard about USC's offer. "It's very rare to give a scholarship to someone who may never play."

That scholarship is a valuable commodity. Like most Division I basketball programs, USC offers only 13 basketball scholarships a year. The award is based on talent and pays for tuition, fees, books, housing and meals. Nearly all of USC's current scholarship players were very accomplished high-school players.

Yet the school broke no rules, and Tim Floyd, USC's basketball coach, 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.

WSJ report has details the friendship between Lil' Romeo and DeRozan and implies how that might be the main reason this clown ended up as a "recruit" at SuC:

Mr. DeRozan has traveled with the Millers to tournaments around the country over the years. He has eaten holiday meals and slept over often at their house in Bel-Air. "A couple times I had to get him and it was like, 'Boy, you got to come home,'" says Frank DeRozan, Demar's father.

snip

Mr. Floyd was introduced to Percy Miller years ago in Louisiana. Last April, Mr. Floyd says, Percy Miller called while driving both players from a tournament in Fayetteville, Ark. Percy Miller said "Demar and Romeo are ready to make their decision, and would you like to have them both on scholarship?" remembers Mr. Floyd. "I said absolutely."

Lil Romeo claims he was recruited by other D-1 programs, but WSJ reporter actually did some investigate work and found out that was BS:
He also says that several universities offered him basketball scholarships, including Louisiana State and Arizona State. In an interview, he says "it was kind of a surprise" that he and Mr. DeRozan both ended up at USC. During a recent appearance on ESPN, Mr. Miller said that Florida State and UC-Berkeley were "in the mix as well."

John Brady, who was recently fired as LSU's basketball coach, says his staff did not recruit Mr. Miller. At Arizona State, "there was not serious recruitment," says a spokesman. Florida State and UC-Berkeley say Mr. Miller visited each campus. (However, both schools say there was no scholarship offer.)

Mr. Floyd says his staff had Mr. Miller on their radar before Mr. DeRozan signaled his interest. He 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."

That doesn't sit well with Don Wetherell. His son Ryan, a 5-foot-11 guard, was one of the best high-school players in Canada and earned a walk-on spot at USC the last two seasons. Mr. Wetherell says he asked the USC staff how Mr. Miller's arrival would affect his son, who had been told that he had a "good shot" at a scholarship next year. He says they told him Ryan may still get the award -- and that Mr. Miller got his because of his relationship with Mr. DeRozan. (Mr. Floyd could not be reached for comment.) "We're learning a lot," says Mr. Wetherell, who owns a beverage company in Calgary.

So are we. Here is the entire article.

Too bad we are never going to see report like that in the LA Times.