USC's Mayo may have violated NCAA rule

Southern California freshman standout O.J. Mayo might have violated an NCAA rule by accepting free tickets to Monday night's NBA game between Denver and the Los Angeles Lakers from Nuggets star Carmelo Anthony.

Mayo told reporters Tuesday he had received the tickets, which were located behind courtside seats near mid-court at Staples Center and had a face value of $230 each.

"We don't know the specifics of the situation and won't be able to comment," NCAA spokesman Erik Christianson said Wednesday in an e-mail to the Associated Press.

USC sports information director Tim Tessalone declined comment on behalf of the university.

NCAA bylaw 16.11.2.2.3 states that student-athletes may not receive "free or reduced-cost admission to professional athletics contests from professional sports organizations, unless such services also are available to the student body in general."

The NCAA could consider Anthony a friend who gave Mayo the tickets rather than a representative of the Nuggets, perhaps making the matter legal by NCAA standards.

Mayo, averaging a team-leading 19.7 points and 4.6 rebounds, said Anthony made the offer of tickets at a party he hosted Sunday night.

"I was talking to him like, 'Man, you're out pretty late.

"You've got a game tomorrow night against Kobe (Bryant),"' Mayo said. "He said, 'Nah, it will be all right.' And then he asked, 'You want to come to the game?' And I was like, 'Sure.' "

MAJERUS' ABORTION REMARK

A Roman Catholic archbishop said Tuesday that he will ask officials of Saint Louis University to take "appropriate action" against its basketball coach, who said in a television interview that he supports abortion rights.

One of the game's winningest coaches, Rick Majerus made the comment at a weekend rally for Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton.

St. Louis Archbishop Raymond Burke declined to say what the action against Majerus should be, saying that was a decision for the Jesuit university. But he said the coach is a leader and shouldn't support views in opposition to church teaching.

"I'm concerned that a leader at a Catholic university made these comments. It can lead Catholics astray," Burke said by telephone as he attended March for Life anti-abortion events in Washington. "I just believe that it's of the essence for people to understand as a Catholic you just cannot hold these beliefs."

Burke said he will seek to speak with university president Rev. Lawrence Biondi, when he returns to St. Louis.

During an interview with KMOV-TV at Saturday's Clinton rally in suburban St. Louis, the first-year Billikens coach identified himself as a Catholic and called himself pro-choice. At first when asked for his views on abortion, he said he didn't want to "go there," but then said he is personally "pro-choice."

SLU spokesman Clayton Berry said Majerus was at the rally as an individual, not as a representative of the school.

Majerus has one of the best winning percentages among active college basketball coaches with a 432-154 career record. Most of those wins, and a 1998 Final Four appearance, came at the University of Utah.