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O.J. Mayo (Official Thread)

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Foxsports.com

7/26/06

Love, SCA teammates too much for Mayo
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LAS VEGAS - OK, if you'd been struggling of late for a nice working definition of "letdown," I hope you were one of the 4,000 or so fans crammed into Foothill High's main gymnasium Sunday night for the Reebok Big Time pool play "showdown" between the Southern California All-Stars and Cincinnati-based D-1 Greyhounds.


And for the hundreds who were denied entrance into the building and the opportunity to feel like a sardine, you didn't miss much. At least, not if you were anticipating wall-to-wall thrills and start-to-finish excitement.


You got those two things if you watched D-1 and the Chicago-based Mean Streets Express game played earlier that morning, which featured three of the best high school guards ever on the floor at the same time and an ending that — wait while I pull one of the reliable clichés out of the repertoire — "had to be seen to believed ... and even then you weren't quite sure that you believed what you'd just seen."

I knew things were going to be a bit dicey during warm-ups when Greyhounds' forward Billy Walker was sitting on the bench with a forlorn expression on his face.

Oh, please don't tell me he's not going to ...

And no, he didn't play in the game, apparently with a banged-up knee suffered in a game played Saturday.

I'm not sure even his aerial antics would have made much difference in the outcome Sunday night, although we could get a chance to see if the teams hook up again in the tournament's championship game Sunday night and he's (relatively) healthy.

But without him on the floor and with guard O.J. Mayo looking almost mortal after a performance earlier Sunday against the Chicago team that has probably already morphed into legend (more on that later), D-1 has D-Zero chance of knocking off the Southern California club.

Mayo missed six of seven shots, Kevin Love and Renardo Sidney combined for 17 points and 10 rebounds, and Brandon Jennings had seven assists and two steals and SoCal was up 41-21 at intermission.

That only a few hundred (including players from the Mean Streets Express and Michigan Hurricanes teams that had hooked up previously) departed before the second half started is either a testament to a lot of fans' dedication or to their wanting to get a better return on their $10 admission (in the form of a few more Love rebounds and outlet passes, Sidney dunks and Jennings' lob passes).

If it was the latter, they weren't disappointed.
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</TD></TR><TR><TD class=caption>Without teammate Billy Walker, O.J. Mayo looked human against SCA on Sunday night. (Scout.com / Special to FOXSports.com)</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
Love, Sidney, Jennings & Co.'s eventual 31-point (84-53) victory belied the fact that their team looked anything but invincible in its 77-72 win earlier Sunday morning against the Michigan Hurricanes.

I'll skip any details on that one since I've already forgotten them. The game was just another reminder why Love (29 points, 12 rebounds and four or five "I can't freakin' believe he just did that!" outlet passes) — who is expected to announce Tuesday that he will sign with UCLA in November — is without peer as a high school post player in the Class of 2007.

The best game I saw Sunday, one that could hold up as the "I'm so glad I didn't miss it!" game of the summer, was the Greyhounds' 83-82 victory over the Express.
Let's cut to the chase: If you're looking for my verdict on the showdown between the two best (by a landslide) point guard prospects in the Class of 2007, Derrick Rose of the Express (and Chicago Simeon) and Mayo (Cincinnati North College Hill), the edge went to ... Mayo.

And he bagged that advantage long before his stunning 3-pointer with 2.9 seconds, while being brush fouled by Eric Gordon, and ensuing free throw gave his team the victory and left no one in the packed building whining about wanting their $10 back.

Rose is exceptional and would have rated among the top two or three point guards in any class of recent memory.

He's good enough to lead a college team to a national title and will be some NBA franchise's first-round pick some day.

But he's not on the same plateau as an overall player (and prospect) that Mayo is.

But that's no shame because neither are Brandon Roy and or Randy Foye, the first two guards picked in the draft last month.

But Rose (21 points while being credited, perhaps liberally, with 14 rebounds and 12 assists) and Gordon (who had 28 points in this one and totaled 95 in three pool-play games) did more than enough to lead their team to victory — if it hadn't been for Mayo's heroics — and justify their status as two of the top five prospects in the senior class.

It's too bad that Walker (wobbly but putting in a game effort despite the knee injury suffered the day before) wasn't up to snuff.

If he is by Wednesday, we might get to see something approaching a competitive championship final against you-know-who.

And maybe what would transpire in that one would provide us with a few more nice definitions.
Inducted into the USBWA Hall of Fame in April, 2005, Frank Burlison is Scout.com's national basketball expert and is also a columnist for the Long Beach (Calif.) Press-Telegram. He can be reached at [email protected].
 
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7/31/06

Mayo Show is next big thing

Talk for years about the hoops phenom keeps pressure on the high school guard.

Andrew Carter | Sentinel Staff Writer
Posted July 30, 2006

LAKE BUENA VISTA -- The O.J. Mayo Show was about to begin.

That made guys on the other team nervous. They were thinking the same thing: "We're about to play Superman."

It was Thursday, the first night of the national Amateur Athletic Union 17-and-under Division I Tournament.

Every seat surrounding Court 1 at the Milk House in Disney's Wide World of Sports Complex was taken. People leaned against the railing in the balcony. Michael Jordan watched his son's game end on the same court and then stuck around.

Wherever he goes, Mayo, who some believe is the best high school prospect since LeBron James, draws attention. One problem: Mayo and his team, the D1 Greyhounds, were nowhere to be found.

An hour before tip-off -- no O.J. A half-hour before tip-off -- no O.J. Twenty minutes, 15, 10 . . . At 9:53, seven minutes before his team's game was to start, Mayo, dressed in wrinkled blue warmups, jogged onto the court. He went through the layup line a few times, shot a few jumpers, then took off his pullover.

A small boy sat near the court on the floor, the only place where there was room.

"Number 32," the boy said to his friend. "They say he's the best player in the nation."

To understand the world in which Mayo lives is to understand the weight of enormous expectations. It's to understand what it's like to feel every pair of eyes in a crowd, all hoping to see what the hype is about.

"I really don't pay attention to it," Mayo says. "I just try to ball."

If you believe the hype, Mayo, a 6-foot-4 point guard from North College Hill, Ohio, is 18 going on Kobe. Those who make a living watching high school basketball players laud Mayo's abilities: his passing touch, his jump shot, the way he can drive and break down a defense.

Here's what separates Mayo from just about all the other chosen ones before him: He was anointed the next great thing not in high school -- like James -- but in the seventh grade.

"O.J. grew in the public, LeBron exploded onto the public," says Sonny Vaccaro, Reebok's senior director of grassroots basketball operations. "O.J. has been talked about for a long time, and he's had to prove it on the level he's on now for much longer."

In recent days, the talk about Mayo has focused on the next level. Will he go to college or won't he? Will he sign a potential multimillion-dollar deal with a shoe company and play exhibition games until he's eligible for the NBA draft, or won't he?

Mayo was considered a lock to skip college for the pros until the NBA required those entering the draft to be both 19 and one year removed from high school graduation. If he signs with a shoe company and goes on a barnstorming tour for a year, he could get rich while keeping his NBA draft stock high.

"This [is] an option these kids have," Vaccaro says. "Just because there's a restriction on them entering the NBA draft, they can still earn a living."

Mayo sent media members scrambling earlier this month when news leaked that he might have committed to play in 2007-08 at Southern Cal. Reporters went to Vaccaro's Reebok ABCD Camp in New Jersey, where Mayo said absolutely nothing of his future plans.

Southern Cal still reportedly is the leader, if Mayo chooses college. Kansas State could be another choice. When asked if he was considering Florida, like some reports suggest, Mayo nodded in the affirmative. He doesn't get much more specific.

"I'm looking at college," he says.

Everyone else, it seems, continues to look at Mayo.

The craze began when he was a 13-year-old starter on varsity at Rose Hill Christian School in Ashland, Ky. The plan was for him to spend that seventh-grade season on the junior varsity team. He was too good.

"I'd have a hard time playing him in the second half," says Robert VanHoose, Mayo's JV coach and a former Rose Hill varsity assistant. "Because he'd have 30 points at halftime, and the other teams would complain about him being in the game."

Mayo, in eighth grade, became the youngest player ever selected to the Louisville Courier-Journal's all-state team. The story became national with a mention of Mayo in Sports Illustrated and a segment on CNN.

It wasn't long before Mayo outgrew the small world he dominated in eastern Kentucky and moved to a bigger one in North College Hill, a small town itself but one that borders Cincinnati.

For the past two seasons, Mayo, with the help of teammate and best friend Bill Walker, has helped lead North College Hill High to the Ohio Division III state title. Mayo has won consecutive Ohio Mr. Basketball Awards, a feat also accomplished by James.

Walker, a 6-foot-6 swingman who has been compared to Vince Carter, is also a top prospect in the Class of 2007, and some consider him the next best after Mayo. He recently was ruled ineligible to compete next season by the Ohio High School Athletic Association because he has exhausted his eligibility.

The pair played together growing up in Huntington and also at Rose Hill Christian. They're the stars on their AAU team, which is coached by Dwaine Barnes, a man whom Mayo calls his "grandfather."

Mayo says Barnes has had the greatest impact on his basketball life, which is, it seems, Mayo's only life.

"He raised my father. My father called him Dad, so, that's my grandfather," Mayo says.

Mayo doesn't see much of his father, who is incarcerated. He sees his mother, who lives in South Point, Ohio -- 165 miles from North College Hill -- about once every three months.

That's the hard part, he says.

"I just miss being around my mother," he says with a big grin. "I'm her boy. I'm a momma's boy."

Mayo has lived with Barnes throughout his time at North College Hill. Some wonder whether Mayo has received proper guidance. He was suspended twice this spring by North College Hill for disciplinary reasons. Barnes doesn't like talking about his relationship with Mayo.

"I ain't got no comment, man," he says. "The [story] is on him, not me."

Those familiar with the situation don't talk much about Barnes, either.

"What I know I don't want to comment on," says Jeff Hall, Rose Hill's ex-varsity coach.

"Dwaine's been coaching him since the third grade," says VanHoose, the JV coach at Rose Hill. "I don't really want to say anything about him. Give him credit, he saw [Mayo's talents] early."

Around town, Mayo is beloved. He's not a native, but folks around there don't care. He's one of their own. There is, of course, some disdain for the team's success the past few years from outsiders and rival schools.

"I received letters, hate mail basically, from people we would play that said how horrible it was for [Mayo] to play, that the city was paying him to come," says Dan Brooks, the North College Hill mayor. "I said, 'You've got to be kidding me.' "

After the first state title, Brooks remembers telling Mayo, "I know you and Bill are under a lot of heat because you weren't raised in North College Hill. But guess what? I wasn't either, and I'm the [darned] mayor."

Brooks has seen Mayo affect things off the court as much as on it. Race relations weren't bad in North College Hill, which Brooks says is about 60 percent white and 40 percent black. Now, though, folks get along better than ever.

"When you go to the games, you start talking to people, and lo and behold, we have a conversation and dialogue that we've never had before," Brooks says. "And that's a big deal. People have found a common thing to talk about."

At Disney, people have found the same conversation piece.

They've come to see if the hype is true. As good as Mayo has been over the years, there's some talk that others in his class might have caught up.

"He's worthy of the hype of being one of the best players in his class," says Dave Telep, a national basketball recruiting analyst for scout.com. "Is he the best player in the county in the class of 2007? I think he needs to put a cherry on top before we can say he has held onto his title."

Wherever Mayo goes, though, people expect to see nothing less than the nation's best high school player. They expect to see a guy who some said could have played in the NBA when he was a sophomore.

After a game Friday at Disney, Mayo dodged autograph hounds so he could head back to the hotel for a few hours of rest.

The next O.J. Mayo Show, which has been running now four years strong, was scheduled for 10 that night.
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Cincy

8/3/06

Mayo, Walker AAU champs

BY TOM GROESCHEN | ENQUIRER STAFF WRITER

<!--ARTICLE BODY TEXT-->North College Hill stars O.J. Mayo (tournament MVP) and Bill Walker led the D-1 Greyhounds to the 2006 AAU Junior boys’ basketball 17-under national championship Tuesday at Disney’s Wide World of Sports Complex at Lake Buena Vista, Fla.

In the title game, Walker scored 28 points and Mayo had 22 as the Ohio-based Greyhounds beat the Boo Williams Summer League team (Hampton, Va.) 73-49.

Tournament publicists said it was the fifth overall AAU national title for the Greyhounds program and the third for this particular Greyhounds team, which played before large crowds almost every day at the tournament.

Mayo and Walker led NCH to its second consecutive Ohio Division III high school title this past season. Both players are to be seniors for the 2006-07 school year, but the Ohio High School Athletic Association recently announced that Walker has exhausted his eligibility based on a ninth-grade year at his previous school, Rose Hill Christian of Ashland, Ky.

Walker has appealed the ruling and has a hearing scheduled Aug. 10 at the OHSAA office in Columbus.
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LINK

8/4/06

The next LeBron?

Mayo may be next big thing

By TONY JONES
Staff Writer



LAKE BUENA VISTA -- By his own admittance, Dwight Howard hasn't been to a high school basketball game since the Orlando Magic made him the top pick of the 2004 NBA Draft.
But Friday night proved to be a different time. A different occasion. As such, an exception had to be made.
What was the reason for Howard making the trek to the AAU national tournament at Disney's Wide World of Sports? What was the reason for Howard sitting in the stands, bleachers really, keeping one eye on the game and another on the many autograph pads that have found their way into his hands?
That reason was OJ Mayo.
"I've heard a lot about him," Howard said. "I just wanted to see him play for myself."
Three years ago, when LeBron James made his whirlwind tour through high school basketball, it seemed impossible that such attention could possibly be heaped onto another player in the same magnitude. The chances seemed equally remote that another player could come along so soon with the dominant game, the poise to handle the media scrutiny thrown his way, and the first name that could be identified without a last name.
But check any recruiting Web site, any mock 2008 NBA Draft, and the message is clear: Scouts believe that Mayo is every bit the player James was at the same stage.
Proof of this comes from Sonny Vaccaro, a national recruiting guru, who swears that Mayo will become an NBA all-star "many times over."
Proof of this comes from nbadraft.net, which projects Mayo as the top pick of the 2008 Draft, the first year he would be eligible under the rules of the new NBA collective bargaining agreement. That same Web site would go on to compare Mayo to Dwyane Wade, the Miami Heat superstar who just won a world championship.
For Mayo, who is entering his senior season at North College Hill in Cincinnati, Ohio, his life has been a whirlwind since the seventh grade. That's the first year he played varsity basketball. That's when he became known as the best seventh grade basketball player in the country. He's been the undisputed top-ranked player in his class ever since.
Because of this, the rumor mill has been churning faster than ever. Because he must play a year of college before he makes his way to the pros, Mayo along with teammate Bill Walker were thought to be headed to Kansas State to play for Bob Huggins. However, a report surfaced three weeks ago on espn.com saying that Mayo would commit to the University of Southern California during the ABCD national camp.
Mayo never did make that commitment. Instead, he remains a free agent and every coach in the country is giving chase.
Recently, speculation has run rampant, from Mayo going to college next season to Mayo passing college up altogether, taking an endorsement deal and working on his game for a year.
"You get a little tired of the attention sometimes," Mayo said. "But I really try not to worry about it. I just try to come out and play hard every time I hit the court. You just get used to it after a while."
WHAT'S THE FUSS ABOUT?
With that in mind, you, the reporter, make the trek to Orlando to catch a glimpse of the phenom in action. After taking a seat on the baseline, Tennessee head coach Bruce Pearl is sitting on your right while Pittsburgh assistant Orlando Antigua is on the left, you take a quick glance around the gym.
First, there's Michael Jordan, the Michael Jordan, watching courtside after his son, Jeff, just finished playing with the Rising Stars, a program based in Illinois. Secondly, there are the college coaches. Lined up on each baseline are seemingly every recognizable face in the country. Dick Vitale seems to be the only missing element.
At first look, Mayo is a physical man amongst boys. He's got the body of a 25-year-old, thanks to countless hours in the weight room. He never cracks a smile, he never gets rattled and he never forces the action against a team that presses and traps all over the floor.
"That's why he's so good," says Wylie Tucker, an assistant coach at Stetson University. "He's a great player, he's a great scorer and he's very unselfish. He gets his team involved, he always plays hard and he does all of the little things. He has that competitive greatness. That sets him apart from everyone else."
And that's the biggest comparison to LeBron. At 6-5 and a sturdy 200 pounds, Mayo is simply too big for any point guard to handle at the high school level. His first step off the dribble is explosive and he can get his shot off anytime he feels like it. His ability to get to the basket at will sets up his jump shot, which is usually straight and true.
THE GAME
Still, Mayo does nothing special through the duration of the first half. Then, in the middle of the third quarter, it happens.
First, Mayo follows up a miss by a teammate with a thunderous one-handed dunk that awakens a packed audience. Then he comes down on a fastbreak, teases his defender with a silky crossover, and hits a running bank shot. Then comes a steal, and a breakaway slam. Three plays, three reasons why his talent is unparalleled by anyone in the country. Mayo's D-1 Greyhounds, a team that includes Florida commit Alex Tyus, struggle with Team Illinois despite the fact that the Greyhounds have more talent than anyone in the tournament.
Mayo attributes this to the grind that is the AAU summer season. It's a non-stop whirlwind of travel basketball where everyone strives to make a name against Mayo. Everyone strives to be kryptonite to Mayo's Superman. But, for Mayo, this is the price of being the best. And he knows that if LeBron dealt with it, then so can he.
"That's everywhere," Mayo said. "That's why we all have to come out and play hard everytime. Everyone tries to prove themselves against us. You get tired sometimes, but you have to fight through it."
[email protected]
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Cincy

8/11/06

Mayo still Scout.com's No. 1

BY TOM GROESCHEN | ENQUIRER STAFF WRITER

<!--ARTICLE BODY TEXT-->O.J. Mayo is still the No. 1 high school player in America, according to Scout.com ratings released Thursday.

Earlier this week, the North College Hill star Mayo fell from No. 1 to No. 5 in the ratings of Rivals.com, another recruiting Web site.

Scout.com analyst Dave Telep wrote: "O.J. Mayo is generally - fairly or unfairly - held to a different standard of anyone in the class. Did he always play above and beyond that standard this summer? No, at times he did not.

Was he able to raise his level of play above and beyond what normal highly regarded guards can do? Sure, and he had his moments. ... He is a major attraction and the single player who presently defines this class."

Bill Walker, a teammate of Mayo's at NCH, remained Scout.com's No. 8 player in the senior class.

E-mail [email protected]
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Cincy

8/11/06

Mayo no longer nation's No. 1

Walker hearing scheduled

<!--ARTICLE BODY TEXT-->For the first time since before his sophomore season, North College Hill basketball player O.J. Mayo is not on top of the Rivals150 for the class of 2007. The No. 1 player in the country is Oak Hill Academy (Va.) power forward Michael Beasley, who has committed to former Cincinnati coach Bob Huggins' Kansas State program. Mayo is No. 5 and Bill Walker, who played for NCH last season, is No. 6. They had been Nos. 1-2 respectively in previous Rivals.com ratings. "O.J. is certainly a great player and a tremendous pro prospect,"

Rivals.com recruiting analyst Jerry Meyer said. "What's happened is some guys caught up with him."
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8/13/06

Sunday, August 13, 2006
Mayo makes appearance

The top basketball recruit visits but stops short of announcing a commitment.

By TODD HARMONSON
The Orange County Register

LOS ANGELES – Chants of "O.J., O.J." and USC football apparently still go together.

It probably helped Saturday that the recipient of the affection wasn't a former tailback who regularly is surrounded by controversy but a player widely regarded as the top basketball recruit in the nation.

O.J. Mayo, a 6-foot-4 point guard from Cincinnati, dropped by USC's campus and football practice on an unofficial visit but stopped short of announcing a commitment, which is likely to come today.

"I don't know right now," said Mayo, who was greeted with the chant and surrounded by USC's football players after they finished their afternoon practice. "This is the first school on my list."

There appeared to be concern regarding the propriety of Mayo making an announcement on USC's campus.

Mayo, who made an unofficial visit to USC in late June, had been at Michael Jordan's basketball camp in Santa Barbara and said he was flying out of Los Angeles International Airport today.

Mayo's friend, center Aaron Pogue from Dayton, Ohio, was on a visit to USC. Pogue watched football practice with Trojans basketball coach Tim Floyd after he took a tour of USC's Galen Center, the new arena next to campus that is scheduled to open before the upcoming basketball season.
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Link

8/13/06


Practice gets added Mayo
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USC officially added another tailback Saturday as the Trojans ended practice with chants of "O.J., O.J., O.J."

No, O.J. Simpson did not make another appearance; however, the basketball team got a surprise when O.J. Mayo, the nation's No. 1 recruit, made an impromptu campus visit and watched football practice while wearing a USC T-shirt.

As usual, USC coach Pete Carroll masterfully coordinated the welcome for Mayo. Carroll brought Mayo to the post-practice huddle and told the recruit that when he arrived at USC, he needed to rebuild the football program.

Mayo has told friends he wants to turn USC into a national power, much like Patrick Ewing transformed Georgetown in the early 1980s.

Mayo's also told USC athletes since July he would become a Trojan, but he did not officially commit Saturday.

"I'll make my decision before the end of the year," Mayo said. Mayo also threw passes with his friend, 6-foot-9 center Aaron Pogue, who is visiting USC this weekend.
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BuckeyeNation27 said:
And he organized something to gather the attention of a recruit. Penn State got in trouble for having Pat Devlin signs at a basketball game, but didn't get any punishment because nobody really "organized" it.
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I understand what you're saying, BN27, but tOSU surely "coordinates the welcome" of recruits we bring in. I think it's probably a matter of what the welcome consists of.
 
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