USF's Mercer, Crater arrested, suspended

USF basketball guards Mike Mercer and Anthony Crater have been suspended from the team indefinitely after being arrested late Friday night near campus and charged with a misdemeanor count of possession of marijuana.

"This kind of behavior is unacceptable within our program," Heath said Saturday morning in a statement, which cited "a violation of team rules" for the suspension. "We are reviewing the situation and once we have more information and all the facts, we'll have further comment."

Neither guard is currently playing for the Bulls. Mercer, a 22-year-old junior, suffered a season-ending knee injury last month, while Crater, a 19-year-old freshman, is sitting out the season after transferring on Jan. 5 from Ohio State. Both remained in jail Saturday morning, held on $500 bond. The Bulls have a noon game today against No. 20 Villanova.

This is the second late-night arrest for Mercer (left) since he transferred to USF after being dismissed from the basketball team at Georgia in December 2007, putting his future with the team in doubt.

According to police reports, both players were arrested by Hillsborough County Sheriff's officers at 11:56 p.m. Friday at the intersection of Bruce B. Downs Boulevard and Bearss Avenue, close to USF's campus.

A blue Dodge Charger driven by Mercer, going north on Bruce B. Downs, "crossed three lanes of traffic and cut in front of" the arresting officer, causing him to brake, according to the arrest report. The car was pulled over at 11:15 p.m., and the officer reported "the smell of marijuana was emitting from within the vehicle." A search of the vehicle produced a "brown marijuana cigarette" under the passenger seat, where Crater (pictured below) was sitting, and both players told police they had knowledge of the marijuana and were "about to smoke it," according to the arrest report.

They were booked into the Orient Road Jail at 2:05 a.m. Saturday morning. The formal charge against each is possession of marijuana less than 20 grams, a first-degree misdemeanor which often results in community service, court fees and probation.

Marcer also was arrested in September for public consumption of alcohol, also a misdemeanor, though charges have since been dropped after successful completion of a pretrial misdemeanor intervention program. Mercer's discipline from Heath for his previous arrest did not include suspension from any games.

Both players could be competing for starting roles next season. Mercer started all four games he played in before suffering his knee injury, averaging 8.5 points. Crater is expected to challenge for the starting point guard job next season.

Comments

[David Weber]

Reality- is John Henson enough of a star?

A star player in Tampa Bay would never, ever consider USF without a major cause to stay home. And even then, UF would probably just be too strong. And then a guy like Henson with national attention will obviously pick UNC (or another powerhouse).

We need the state of Florida to produce more Joneses- as in, more athletic bigs like Solomon and of course, more scorers like 'Nique. 3-star guys that can play in the Big East, and with time, become quality players. For the star players, we'll have to count on transfers. I hate doing that, but it's the only option. Hopefully in the future, there will be fewer Mercers and more Gransberrys.

Fukk Yall...People Get Blunted.... Noop My Dude...He cold...let that man blow his trees then go hit 30 on dey opponents

Posted by: Gutta Baby | January 26, 2009 at 07:44 AM
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Here we have the perfect example of the type of people USF needs to distance itself from. This is a basketball program at an institution of higher learning, not some ghetto community center.

[Reality]

Bullwinkle,

Don't you understand, he has to win, so he has to bring in players at any cost.

We all think we cannot get great players here,unless they have a problem, so it is condoned and even championed by some.

We are at a crossroads as far as basketball is concerned. What we need is for the Tampa Bay area to produce a superstar player, and for him to stay at home and build something. The last superstar player this area had was Casey Sanders, and you see how his college career ended up at Duke. That was a LONG time ago.

[Bullwinkle]

"This type of behavior is unacceptable at USF". Whatever Heath, then why did you take him in the first place when he already had a history of this "unacceptable behavior"?

[Gutta Baby]

Fukk Yall...People Get Blunted.... Noop My Dude...He cold...let that man blow his trees then go hit 30 on dey opponents

[Reality]

Greg,

Is Crater's AAU coach clean?

I hate how these AAU coaches and hanger-ons run the show more and more.

If anyone is bored and wants to read about why UCF will never win C-USA, check out some stories about Worldwide Wes. Between him and the President of Fed-Ex, you can guarantee a dynasty in Memphis for as long as Coach Cal is there.

[baller888]

Crater was only doing what is AAU Coach and mentor taught him! The one that has made so many great decisions for him!

[Observant]

The only reason any UCF fans would post on here would be to say that they clearly have the better AND CLEANER basketball program. Other than that, they shouldn't comment on this at all.

[Al]

Athletes are role models, time to let these two go!

Posted by: Chalko | January 24, 2009 at 11:34 PM

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Role models for who?

[Steve O'Neal]

Chalko, I had to read your post twice. Actually having a comment that was thoughtful and without ridiculous sarcasm. WELL SAID. You're right that while we might not think that smoking weed is a really bad thing. They did make a contract with the school and team. This violates the terms of that contract and should carry consequences. I would look at Craters situation as his 1st chance, with maybe allowing a 2nd chance with a very short leash. Mercer already had his 1st chance here, not even counting the problems at UGA. So I would have no problem with his dismissal from the team. Again, if you are the "Chalko", nice post.

[Greg Auman]

Sarasota, nice job finding that quote. I'd forgotten about that. Again, this kind of thing is a risk when you bring in a player with the baggage that Mercer had coming in. I'm not aware of any arrests, but there were certainly concerns about conduct before he got to USF.

[Greg Auman]

I don't like the "previous" and "next" deal on the comments moving to multiple pages. I'll look into it, but I think it's a Typepad decision that's likely implemented on all blogs. I'll see if I can get it reverted back.

RR, I didn't delete any comments today. The blog has an auto spam filter that pulls some comments before I see them, so that could be the case. Usually it's just a George Carlin type list of expletives that triggers the filter though ...

[Sarasotabull94]

i see stan's handling of mercer following his 2nd arrest in the last few months is working.

last winter, stan said about mercer: "Sometimes a change of environment can be really helpful for a kid," Heath said in December of bringing Mercer to USF. "... We had a nice talk about his commitment to the school and being totally committed to our team, and he's on board. He's excited about it, and we're excited to have him."

epic fail.

[Ken]

Greg, what's with this "more ->" thing now when you get more than 20 or so replies?

[Chalko]

I agree with all of you that their charges are not all that severe. However, when they are attending school for free and playing college athletics, they are held to a higher standard. Even if the common student gets arrested, they risk being thrown out of school. Athletes are role models, time to let these two go!

[usfreaper]

You can take the kid out of the "hood," but you can't take the "hood" out of the kid sometimes. Hate to see it, but both have got to go to at least keep integrity!

[RR]

Greg....

I've posted two very fair and unoffensive comments today, and both have been deleted.

What gives??

Was it because it showed up that I was in NYC? I was flying today and using the WiFi @ JFK.

[Greg Auman]

Woody ... you think Chris Howard will hand it to him? He's scored in double figures in four of the last five games, averaging five assists in Big East play. Not saying he can't beat Howard out next season, but no competition?

[woodyI]

Hey, the good news is, "Noop" won't have to worry about any competition for the point guard spot next year

[Windbane]

Road Runner: campaigning against all athletics at USF.

[John Allen]

I'm John Allen and I approve your message.

[RR]

Lovely.

I'm beginning to think it would be best to just drop all athletics at USF.

Academics only.

[Al]

Lucky (for him) the driver (Mercer) wasn't arrested for DUI

[Al]

Too bad the sheriff didn't have them wear Bulls jerseys...as someone said, anything that puts the Bulls in the spotlight is good PR!

[Craig]

This idiot transferred just so he can get arrested?

[702JV]

Who cares if it happens at college campuses all across the nation, it does not make it right! That is no excuse. Who cares if it is illegal, which it is, taking drugs is against team rules. These two acted in a selfish manner, did not put the team first, and got caught for it.

Secondly, both look high has a kite in their photos.

[David Weber]

See ya Mercer. This guy was a huge character risk, and he failed. If a good player gets kicked out of an SEC school, he should immediately be considered damaged goods, because that means he did something REALLY bad.

When we took him, I remember I said that Stan's reputation is riding on him. Add in a guy who has only been around for 2 weeks, and Stan has some serious explaining to do.

Mercer needs to be off the team immediately. Not sure what to do with Crater. If Mercer gets one pass, than so should Crater (but only one). It isn't a problem program yet, but this is type of thing that can quickly spiral out of control.

Of course, the simple solution for the basketball team is to not smoke pot. If you don't have any pot on you, you can't be arrested for possession. Seems simple enough, and yet thousands of people every year are dumb enough to keep taking the unnecessary risk.

[TJ]

Dumbest thing he did was cut across three lanes and in front of the cop........now that's just stupid

[theman]

Au revoir Mr. Mike Mercer.

[Don G]

JT, while I agree with your main point that these misdemeanor problems did not harm anyone and young people make errors in judgment and mistakes are part of growing up, however, the law is the law and we shouldn't be giving college-aged people the perception that laws can be subjectively disregarded. In last couple decades, there's been an attitude that people shouldn't be held responsible for their actions and it's not a healthy social policy nor one we would teach our kids if we were responsible adults. You are right re: that this issue is not uncommon in college and shouldn't be an opening for some to discredit USF athletics.

[JT (Atlanta)]

Haha... if only all of you posters cared enough to pay attention to our team on the court.

Young men are kind of known for doing stupid things like this, no? Nobody was harmed. The two young men will be forced to make restitution to the community by the justice system and Coach Heath, and we should move along. Despite the perception of some, neither our football or basketball team can be considered a problem program.

[Don G]

Apparently, Mercer has some substance & partying issues that requires immediate counseling and disciplinary action in order to salvage his playing career and his life. Most of us drank too much in college and as younger men and that shouldn't destroy anyone's career; however, based on Mercer's problem at GA and now these two incidents, there has to be some consequences to his actions and a standard set for him & the team.

[The Champ]

You lay out a Rat Trap and you catch a Reality.

I was waiting for your response and how predictable it was.

Stan ran a clean program at Arkansas except when Eric Ferguson was arrested on a misdemeanor drunken driving charge back in '05.

If he was run out of Arkansas for that then why in the hell is the current Hog coach still coaching there? How many of his guys have been in trouble in less then 2 years as Hogs' coach?

Come on man just because you hate Heath is no reason to keep lying on the man, or maybe it is in your case.

Btw Reality you have been around college campuses more then me and you know that I'm right about what I said in my earlier post. It's just the way some of today's youth behave.

[Bull Hooper]

the haters will celebrate!

I say, let's go whoop Villanova.

but, i will add, at Tuesday's game, Mercer, Crater and Verdejo were all on the sidelines, but Verdejo appeared to be keeping his distance, and i sensed some sort of disapproval of the other two... standing distant from the other two, shaking his head at them at one point, trying to ignore them... maybe this is why?

yes, this is very bad. but we STILL have a game today... an opportunity.

and, may as well add, a lot of people, including myself, think what they were arrested for should not be a crime, unless they were operating the vehicle in an unsafe manner. This aint Marvin Taylor.

but it's still the last thing we need right now.

[Reality]

The Champ, I am speechless in reply to your post.

Now you folks see why Stan was escorted out of Arkansas.

The sad part is that he is not even winning, if you are going to bring in question marks, then you need to at least win.

[Don G]

Based on scenario as printed, the arrest at that busy intersection either resulted from an officer seeing one or both smoking joint while car was moving/at a stop, or good chance there was surveillance at a known location or on person who sold the pot to them. After they drove off, they got busted later down the road.

[The Champ]

Oops!!! Make that gun carrying thugs. I forgot about G.A.

[Mike Lakeland]

Wacky to-backy!

[The Champ]

I'm not defending their actions but USFMikeB I say welcome to the world of college basketball. Stuff like this and much worse seemingly happens at colleges across the nation. It is rare very rare that coaches get rid of players of this caliber because of a misdemeanor arrest. I can't say Heath won't do it, but if he did it wouldn't be keeping with the norm.

Honestly stuff like this don't faze me because I'm used to it. I don't know a single campus void of drug dealers, drug users, and gun caring thugs.

was BB waldon with them?

[Little Timmy]

UCF will be all over this in 1... 2...
3...

It's pathetic really, but even Obama did some drugs in college. lol

[flsportsfan83]

Not true, If only one had the weed on them they would be the only one arrested. Now if it was in the car and both were in reach of the weed then they could both be charged.

[USFMikeB]

In these kinds of cases, usually only one of the people was carrying the drugs and they charge both anyways. So, as more info comes out, it will be interesting to see who was holding the weed.

I just don't understand how these kids don't understand that they're being given a free shot at an education and a chance to play ball, yet they've gotta go and screw it up by being STUPID.

Whoever had the weed should be cut from the program. If they were both smoking it, they should both be cut from the program. Draw the line in the sand Coach Heath, this isn't acceptable behavior, even if they aren't on the court right now.

[Bullsusf00]

Welcome Mr. Crater. Glad to see that you've made yourself at home in your first few weeks at USF.

[cg]

drop basketball and raze the dome

Dumb and Dumber!

[Greg Auman]

There's a Chris Howard story in today's paper. It's been somewhat obscured by the Ajayi news and this arrest. Here's a link:

http://www.tampabay.com/sports/basketball/college/article970007.ece

[paul wall]

any basketball news thats good? ajayi out for the season, and mercer and crater being stupid

[Astro]

And with that I think Mercer is gone