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O.J. Mayo (Official Thread)

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cnnsi.com

7/10/06

Camp Buzz

• Day 3 of the O.J. Mayo Commitment Watch came and went Saturday with again no official college announcement. When and how he'll make his announcement continue to be the biggest questions of the camp, but so far all he's done is prove that in addition to being arguably the best player in the country, he's unquestionably the best player at avoiding the media.
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link

7/10/06

Day 3 evening reports from the ABCD....

OJ Mayo - #85 – Hawks - #1 Rivals.com
Cincinnati, OH – 6’5” – 2007

Not Mayo’s best game last night (seems to be the story of his camp.) He was most impressive on the defensive end, as he can be a real stopper with those long arms and even better foot speed. Offensively, he was mediocre, trying to be a bit too flashy, and making some ill-advised passes.
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At this point, I wish I cared...he did nothing to cement himself as the top player in the '07 class. I know this might seem crazy but after this weekend of camps, I would take Eric Gordon over Mayo in a heartbeat.
 
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Foxsports

7/11/06

Mayo saga just getting started

Two things became clear after spending four days at the Reebok ABCD Camp.


1. There is no clear-cut number one player in the country.

2. The entire O.J. Mayo saga is a fiasco.

Let's start with the best player in the camp. Kevin Love put up the best numbers (a camp-leading 38.8 player rating), but he wasn't really his dominating self after the first game of the camp on Thursday.

Mayo was consistently good throughout the camp, but not spectacular. He showed flashes of what a No. 1 player in the land is supposed to be, but it wasn't reminiscent of LeBron James, Dwight Howard or Greg Oden.

Derrick Rose. Well, you can forget about that one. It doesn't matter how injured he was on Friday. He came to ABCD for a chance to go up against Mayo and he didn't even give it the old college try because of an ankle injury.

Bill Walker has earned just as much right to the top spot as anyone else. He plays as hard as anyone, is more athletic and has a much-improved mid-range jumper.

The bottom line, though, is there just isn't a top player in the land. When we polled a dozen high-major Division I head or assistant coaches who have seen all the elite players at one time or another, there were six players who received votes: Mayo, Love, Walker, Rose, Kyle Singler and Michael Beasley.

No announcement


As far as the Mayo saga is concerned, the North College Hill (Ohio) guard said he'd make an announcement at ABCD about his college decision.

It never happened.

In an exclusive interview on Thursday morning, Mayo said that USC would be the destination and even gave comments to support the decision. His summer teammate and friend, big man Aaron Pogue, confirmed the decision as well and will also go to USC.

"It's a great opportunity," Mayo said about USC on Thursday morning. "It's a nice campus, they have a good incoming class and it'll be easy to get players to come out there to help."

"I'm going to get it over with this weekend," Mayo said.

Mayo kept saying he'd make a public announcement by the end of the camp, but the sticking point was to have his mother in attendance for the news conference. She never arrived and the only news conference held by Mayo and his other highly touted teammate, Bill Walker, was a laughingstock in which no recruiting questions were allowed.

The problem with Mayo's situation, like many other top players nowadays, is not Mayo. It's those around him. He's being pulled in numerous directions and really doesn't seem capable of even making simple decisions.

While Mayo has said he'll commit to USC, there's no telling what's going to happen and if he ever even has a news conference to announce the decision.

No defense


Moving onto the all-star games, it was no different than in past year's. Plenty of points, dunks and no-look passes and no defense.

The black team, led by Syracuse-bound point guard Johnny Flynn's 23 points and seven assists, edged out the yellow team, 170-165.

J.J. Hickson finished with 22 points and eight boards while Love added 14 points, a dozen rebounds and five assists for the black team.

Corey Fisher (Villanova) led the yellow team with 28 points and six assists while Walker added 24 points, Tracy Smith finished with 22 points and eight rebounds and Mayo added 17 points and seven assists.

In the underclassman all-star game, New York native Devin Ebanks led the maroon team to a 127-122 victory with 19 points and seven boards. Terrell Vinson added 16, Roberto Nelson 15 and both Chris Braswell and Kenny Boynton chipped in 14.

Dante Anderson led the white squad with 22. Olu Ashaolu finished with 19 and nine boards, Renardo Sidney had 14 and 10 rebounds and Brandon Jennings scored 14 points and dished out 12 assists in the losing effort. Jeff Goodman is a senior college basketball writer for FOXSports.com. He can be reached at [email protected].
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SportingNews.com

7/11/06

Sifting through summer camp gossip
July 10, 2006


There were almost as many rumors bouncing around the Nike All-American Camp and Reebok ABCD Camp last week as there were basketballs. Coaches love their game, almost as much as they love to gossip.

These were my favorites of the whispers that passed through the stands as the two camps transpired.
In order:


2. O.J. Mayo would be announcing his commitment to Southern California. Basis in fact: 9. Officials at ABCD genuinely expected Mayo to make his commitment to the Trojans public at a camp press conference, but he demurred, reportedly because he would like his mother to be in attendance when he does announce.
There is little doubt he has told USC he is coming, though, and since he cannot do anything official about this until November, the lust among those who follow recruiting to hear him say the words is rather humorous.
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There is little doubt he has told USC he is coming, though, and since he cannot do anything official about this until November, the lust among those who follow recruiting to hear him say the words is rather humorous.
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So the other night I call Donatos and order a pizza. Half an hour later this 17 year old kid shows up at my door in a Donatos uniform. I ask if he has my pizza and he says "I might, and I might not. Then again I might have given it to one of your neighbors." For the next two hours I asked him all sorts of questions to try to figure out if he had my pizza and what he had done with it. He kept changing his answers and even when I begged him to level with me he wouldn't.

I suppose I could have gotten another pizza somewhere else, but Donatos is rated among the top pizzas in Columbus.

***

Is that any more absurd than what we put ourselves through in recruiting?
 
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No news is still big news with Mayo at ABCD Camp

cnnsi.com

7/14/06

t1_mayo_si.jpg



Moments after Sunday's senior all-star game at the Reebok ABCD Camp in Teaneck, N.J., had been decided by the ridiculous score of 170-165, O.J. Mayo sat on the Gold team's bench and blithely signed autographs for a half-hour. A 6-foot-5 combo guard who recently completed his junior year at North College Hill High just outside of Cincinnati, Mayo was not given one of the game's MVP awards. Many experts would argue he wasn't the best player in camp. Yet the pen-wielding youngsters had their own ranking system, and Mayo's was the autograph they wanted. Whether he likes it or not, this is O.J. Mayo's reality.

The virtuoso talents behind that celebrity were on display again at ABCD, but that was only a small part of Mayo's story last week. Off the court his week was filled by confusion and rampant speculation about the status of his college recruitment. The circus was just the latest sign that the dysfunction in Mayo's inner circle is taking its toll.

The craziness began a few days before the camp started, when several Internet reports indicated that Mayo had committed to USC during an unofficial campus visit last month. The reports further claimed that Mayo was going to make his decision public at ABCD. Mayo did have a press conference last Thursday, but that session turned into a farce as soon as one of the camp's directors opened by amateurishly instructing the press not to ask Mayo any questions about his recruitment.

The word filtering around the camp later was that Mayo wanted to make an announcement but was implored to wait until he could talk it over with his mother, or at least make sure she was present. When the camp closed three days later, Mayo's mother was still in West Virginia, he still had not made an official announcement and he sounded like one would not be forthcoming anytime soon.

"I'll decide when I decide," Mayo told me on Sunday. "I'm in no rush. I have the rest of the summer and my senior year of high school ahead of me. It's a touch and feel thing. When I feel it's the right time, that's when I'll do it."
This does not mean the early press reports were completely wrong. Mayo has, in fact, been telling the USC coaches for months he wants to go there.

He likes the idea of playing in Los Angeles, but he wants to go to a program without a lot of winning tradition because he prefers to start one himself like he has done at North College Hill.

Still, a player telling coaches he wants to go to their school is like a man who tells his girlfriend he wants to get married. Saying it is one thing, getting down on one knee, putting a ring on her finger and walking down the aisle is quite another. When I asked Mayo if he liked USC, he said yes, but he was still considering Florida and Kansas State. That doesn't sound like a firm commitment to me.

On the home front, Mayo is supposed to be under the full-time care of his summer coach Dwaine Barnes, a longtime family friend whom Mayo has often called "my grandfather." Barnes applied to be Mayo's legal guardian before Mayo transferred to North College Hill three years ago (Mayo's mother lives in West Virginia). Yet Mayo confirmed to me last week that Barnes has actually been living for some time in West Virginia, not in Ohio.

Think about that for a moment. Here's an 18-year-old athletic prodigy, a national celebrity who is constantly scrutinized and blandished with temptations, and he lives by himself in the middle of Ohio? With so little guidance from trustworthy adults, it's no wonder Mayo is making increasingly bad decisions. He was suspended three times by his high school this past year alone, the last one coming in April following an altercation with a female student.

Despite those suspensions, Mayo said last week that he expected to be back at North College Hill for his senior season. That, however, was before his best friend and high school teammate Bill Walker, a 6-6 high-riser who had a fabulous week at ABCD, was ruled on Monday by the Ohio High School Athletic Association to have exhausted his eligibility. It's doubtful Walker would return to NCH if he can't play ball, and it's inconceivable that Mayo would go back there without Walker.

As if Walker's ruling didn't complicate things enough, Mayo has also had to deal with a rift in his camp pitting Barnes and his mother against Rodney Guillory, an event promoter based in L.A. who has become Mayo's close friend and mentor. (Guillory also has a dodgy past. Six years ago, his relationship with Fresno State's Tito Maddox and USC's Jeff Trepagnier led to suspensions for both players after the NCAA determined Guillory had been working as a runner for an agent.) As one person close to the situation said, "It's like the Hatfields and the McCoys." For now, Mayo has let his mother know he trusts Guillory and he will decide on his own where to play in college.

The distance between Mayo and Barnes was made public in April when Mayo left Barnes' AAU team to play for a different program at a tournament in Houston. When I asked Mayo if he definitely planned on playing with Barnes' team this summer, he replied, "It's definite to me. I guess I'll have to talk it over with my mom." The building estrangement is bad news for Kansas State coach Bob Huggins, since Barnes is the driving force behind the chatter that Mayo was destined to play at K-State. Huggins has been instrumental in lining up local support for Barnes' summer basketball program. Multiple sources have also told me Barnes has received money from North College Hill's games. I'm guessing the NCAA will start sniffing down that money trail at some point.

At this moment, it's hard to tell whether Mayo is honestly confused about what he wants to do or whether he's intentionally throwing outsiders off the scent. "I don't trust a word he says," a recruiting expert told me. Yet, I have seen Mayo interact in enough situations to understand why so many people come away impressed with his character. "He's a great listener, he never talks back, and he's always trying to get better," said former Wright State coach Paul Biancardi, who coached Mayo's team at ABCD last week.

Another camp observer who has dealt frequently with Mayo echoes those sentiments. "He's one of the most mature kids at his age I've ever met," the person said. "He has a strong vision of what he wants to accomplish, and he's extremely driven and competitive. Even in that ridiculous [ABCD] all-star game, at the end there he was guarding as hard as he could and trying to win."

When he finally finished his postgame autograph session, I asked Mayo what was next on his agenda. "It looks like I've got to work on my jump shot," he said with a grin. "I'll go back to the lab when I get home."
That attitude bodes well for Mayo's basketball future, but as he left New Jersey it was hard to shake the disquieting feeling the USS O.J. was fast becoming a rudderless ship.

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"An event promoter based in L.A. who has become Mayo's close friend and mentor"? On top of that, this guy has a "dodgy" past for dealing with agents. This has all the makings of a disaster. I hope for Mayo's sake that he is able to find some trustworthy guidance out there.
 
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sportingnews.com

7/18/06

Where will the big prospects end up?

July 17, 2006



Is he committed? Is he not committed? That is the question concerning the country's No. 1 prospect, O.J. Mayo. Despite reports from various media outlets that Mayo had given a commitment to Coach Tim Floyd and Southern Cal, the answer right now is that Mayo is not committed to the Trojans. At the recent Reebok ABCD Camp in Teaneck, NJ, Mayo told Rivals.com that he has not committed to USC. He also denied that a private commitment with USC existed. Instead, he said that USC is one of three schools on his short list, which also includes Kansas State and Florida.

Kansas State has long been the rumored college destination of Mayo and his AAU teammate and former high school teammate Bill Walker. I say former high school teammate because Walker, the No. 2 ranked prospect in the country, was recently ruled ineligible for his senior season because he had played varsity basketball as a freshman for his former school in Kentucky before transferring to North College Hill High School in Cincinnati and repeating his ninth grade year. According to Ohio high school rules, once you play varsity as a freshman, your four year clock begins. Walker, who will not be allowed to play a fifth year as a senior at North College Hill High School, is presently on record as planning to attend North College Hill.

Expect a deluge of recruiting interest from prep schools to descend on Walker and Mayo, who has had disciplinary run ins at North College Hill.

Now back to Kansas State. Coach Bob Huggins established a relationship with Walker and Mayo while he was the head coach at Cincinnati. Huggins has already landed a commitment from Michael Beasley, the No. 4 ranked prospect in the 2007. Huggins hiring Beasley's former AAU coach Delonte Hill away from Charlotte, where Beasley was formerly committed, helped secure the commitment. Huggins is also in good shape in the pursuit of Herb Pope, the No. 7 ranked prospect in the 2007 class.
Despite the visit of Mayo to USC this summer and the talk of his desire to enhance his marketability by playing in the bright lights of LA, odds are still high that Walker will head to the Little Apple even if Mayo heads west.
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cstv.com

7/24/06

At The Big Time Classic in Las Vegas this weekend...

D-1 Greyhounds 83 - Mean Streets 82
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The game was close throughout as Eric Gordon made a lay-in with just over five seconds left in the game to put his Mean Streets team up by an 82-79 margin. But, the hero, became the goat, not by his action, but by a questionable call. As O.J. Mayo stuck his seventh three of the game to tie it with 2.9 seconds left, the trailing official called Gordon for a foul when he waved his hand in Mayo's face as he shot the trey. According to press people with a better view on press row there was 8-12 inches between Mayo and Gordon. But, the call was made and Mayo stepped up and ended this thriller at 83-82 in favor of his D-1 Greyhounds.
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Let's look in to the numbers in this one as the guards put on a stellar show. O.J Mayo was at the top of his game, looking once again like a man who wanted his spot back as the number one prospect in the glass of 2007! He finished with 26 points, hitting 7 of 8 from beyond the arc, handed out 6 assists (could have had a couple more if his teammates hadn't missed a couple dunks) and didn't turn the ball over once against the pressure brought by Gordon, Rose, and Company! He took the challenge and always seemed to have an answer. If Gordon finished with a dunk or an off-balance drive, O.J. came back and stuck three or made a spectacular half court pass to Tyus or Walker for the slam. He was simply magnificent.
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Mean Streets' duo wasn't to be outdone, and they were spectacular in their own right. Eric Gordon was on fire leading all scorers with 28 points and impressed me with his ability to finish in traffic. He just seemed to will the ball into the hole on a number of occasions powering the ball into the cylinder. His added strength has made him almost unstoppable when he set up dribble drive with his sweet outside stroke.
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His backcourt running mate Derrick Rose put all questions to rest whether he can bring it when faced with one of the nation's best. He was as impressive as anyone on the floor. The guard from Chicago had a triple-double versus Mayo and company scoring 21 points, pulling down an amazing 14 boards and handing out 12 assists. He showed that he can break down pressure and cut through the press like a hot knife or make the spectacular oop pass with the best. Truly he brought his "A" game!
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Mayo got solid support from Bill Walker and 6-8 Alex Tyus, who both finished with 14 points, while 5-8 Josh Miller added 12 points and 7 assists to the Greyhounds' victory.
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On the Mean Streets side, 6-4 Tony Topps was really solid dropping 18 points including four long range threes, while 6-5 230-pound warrior Tim Flowers added 10 points and pulled down 14 boards for the Illinois squad.<O:p></O:p>
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