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O.J. Mayo (Official Thread)

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Cincy

Walker, Mayo might be gone, but not forgotten

Ohio high school insider

Say this for Bill Walker and O.J. Mayo. We're never stumped for something to write about them.

The former North College Hill basketball stars are in the news again, padding their unofficial world record for Being In The News (Amateur Athlete category).
Walker has been admitted to Kansas State and is that much closer to playing for former UC coach Bob Huggins. Walker in July was declared ineligible by the OHSAA for his would-be senior season at NCH. He was able to work his academic schedule to get his core credits and graduate early.
Walker could play at K-State by mid-December.
Mayo, who transferred from NCH to Huntington High (W. Va.) in August, officially has been granted eligibility for the 2006-07 season by the West Virginia Secondary School Activities Commission. Mayo's eligibility was questioned because his mother lives in Ohio, and the West Virginia SSAC initially had ruled Mayo ineligible because it did not recognize family friend/AAU coach Dwaine Barnes as Mayo's guardian.
The West Virginia SSAC usually only acknowledges testamentary guardians in cases in which the parents have died, but Mayo's parents are living. Mayo's family filed an appeal and proved a longstanding relationship/guardianship with Barnes. The West Virginia board voted 9-1 in favor of Mayo's appeal.
It never ends, does it?
As for Walker, he has not been talking to the media. Efforts to reach him have been fruitless, and North College Hill athletic director Joe Nickel said the family made it clear they don't want anything leaked.
"His mother came in and talked to us a couple of weeks ago," Nickel said. "She asked us not to say anything."
It would appear the toothpaste has departed the tube.
As for Mayo, his stacked team at Huntington is ranked No. 5 nationally in one preseason poll. As for college, Southern Cal is still believed to be the leader for Mayo.
North College Hill, by the way, still should be pretty good. Assuming key returnees Damon Butler and Courtney Davis have solid seasons, the Trojans still should be a force in Division III. Not as big a force, obviously, but still better than most.
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Dispatch

HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL
Big source of revenue transferred with Mayo
Tuesday, October 31, 2006
Joe Kay
ASSOCIATED PRESS

NORTH COLLEGE HILL, Ohio ? One day after the news hit the newspapers, Joe Nickel?s phone started ringing. O.J. Mayo was transferring to North College Hill High School, and everyone wanted to talk to the athletic director about scheduling a basketball game for the upcoming season. "As soon as the news hit that he was coming, that weekend I started getting calls from all over the place saying, ?I want to fly you to Jersey or Philly and pay you $2,000,? " Nickel said, during a recent interview in his cinderblock office. "I?m going, ?This is a gold mine.? "
He had no idea.
In the next three seasons, the public high school made more than $100,000 in additional revenues off its basketball team, which won two state Division III titles. The school also learned firsthand what it?s like to have stars on the floor.
Games were moved to bigger gyms to accommodate the crowds. Ticket restrictions were put in place to discourage scalpers. Reebok provided approximately $15,000 worth of shoes and uniforms for the basketball team.
Nickel suddenly had enough money to keep the athletic program going without having to charge students to play.
"Fifty to 60 percent of the young people who come to our schools are on free or reduced lunch, so we do not have a lot of money in this community," said Nickel, in his 28 th year as athletic director. "To do like some other school districts do ? pay to play ? would be devastating to our programs."
The school had considered tacking on a playing fee of up to $50 because of lagging support. The athletics budget is about $40,000 a year, not including transportation and coaches? salaries.
The boys basketball program made only $8,000 the year before Mayo and friend Bill Walker arrived, which was $2,000 below the target amount. Once Mayo and Walker arrived in town, money started rolling in.
The program made an average of $50,000 for each of the three years that Mayo and Walker played. The additional funds allowed Nickel to scrap thoughts of pay-to-play and start thinking seriously about replacing the grass-overgrown gravel track behind the gym, a $200,000 project.
Nickel was able to buy new uniforms for the soccer, volleyball, track and football teams.
The extra revenues started drying up when Walker was ruled ineligible for this season and Mayo decided to transfer to a school in Huntington, W.Va. Nickel had to cancel contracts for some big-arena games.
"With some of them, we had to produce O.J. Mayo or Bill Walker ? both or one," Nickel said. "We didn?t have a problem with that. Even with a couple of places where we didn?t have a contract, I contacted the schools to see if they wanted to do something different."
When Mayo informed Nickel of his transfer shortly after the school year began, a lot of things changed.
"O.J. sat right there in the chair and said goodbye to me on his last day," Nickel said. "We talked for a while, and as he left I could just kind of feel that there goes O.J. and the stress is going right with him.
"I had all these ticket orders I had to do and all that to get ready, and we?re back to normal now. I just show up with our roll of tickets, and I don?t have to worry about hotels and buses and all of those things."
 
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Mayo's future difficult to pinpoint

Whither O.J. Mayo?
One minute, he's headed to Manhattan, a package deal with Bill Walker. The next, he's going to Cali, revitalizing the basketball program at USC.
Will Mayo, the No. 1 player in Scout.com's Hot 100, sign a national letter of intent with some school today, the first day of the early signing period?
Maybe, maybe not.
"I don't assume you have to be anywhere," said Dave Telep, Scout.com's national scouting coordinator. "Someone is going to get this bold idea to do this whole thing outside of college basketball, whether it's the Harlem Globetrotters or whatever.
"I'm not discounting the pioneer idea. I would imagine he's thought about it."
He's been linked to Southern Cal, thanks to Mayo's connection with Rodney Guillory, a Los Angeles-based handler/agent/promoter. A source suggested Monday that Mayo may sign with the Trojans in the spring, but his mother, who does not approve of his dealings with Guillory, would not -- conjuring images of K-State's recent ill-fated fling with Stefhon Hannah, who is now at Missouri.
Is Mayo to K-State dead?
Dominique Sutton, who is signing his K-State letter of intent today, said assistant coach Dalonte Hill told him that the Wildcats' pursuit of Mayo was over.
Sutton's soon-to-be classmate, Jacob Pullen, left the door open.
When asked about Mayo, Pullen said, almost cryptically, "I'm not supposed to talk about that."
He continued, adding, "I've been hearing talk, a little bit here and there, but nothing serious."
Pullen said it was a possibility because if Mayo ended up at K-State, he'd play off-guard -- the insinuation being Mayo was better suited for that position and that Pullen is going to be the point.
Steve Morris, the athletic director at Huntington (W. Va.) High, where Mayo is finishing his high school career, was coy Monday about which schools had already faxed or sent letters of intent. Besides Mayo, there are two other Division I basketball recruits at Huntington. But Morris said it was school policy to not provide such information, although he also admitted this was a rare occurrence.
Stay tuned. Or don't -- it's a mess.
Great? Or not so great? --FoxSports.com national writer Jeff Goodman spoke frankly about K-State's alleged No. 1 recruiting class.
"To me, if K-State has the No. 1 class in America, that's good for K-State but it means it's not a strong class overall," he said. "If Michael Beasley is your No. 1 player, he might be the weakest No. 1 player in some time. He's not Greg Oden. He's not LeBron. He's not Dwight Howard or Carmelo Anthony."
Telep wouldn't go that far, but he understood where Goodman was coming from.
"Last year we were spoiled -- it was one of the best of the last decade," he said. "This year, it's either Syracuse or Kansas State. Either way, you could make a case. But I wouldn't go overboard. To be labeled a truly great class, it must be deeper.
"North Carolina's class (last year) had three of the best players at their positions. That's how great recruiting classes are assembled."
On Beasley
"You expect Michael Beasley to have a major impact at Kansas State and with his talent, he should be one of the best players in the Big 12." --Telep
"That young man, he may be in Manhattan for a year or two, and he may not like it. He may want to be in Washington, D.C., instead. But after (Bob) Huggins is done with him and if all goes well, he'll be able to have a big house in D.C." --ESPN's Fran Fraschilla
Call a medic -- Senior wide receiver Jermaine Moreira is done for the remainder of the regular season, coach Ron Prince said Tuesday. Moreira has an undisclosed medical issue. Redshirt freshman right tackle Nick Stringer is questionable for Saturday's game against Texas.
Also, Prince said the possibility of junior free safety Marcus Watts returning for a bowl game exists -- at least in Watts' mind. Prince said Watts communicated with him following Saturday's victory against Colorado through every possible means -- text message, voice mail and e-mail -- to try and convince the first-year coach. The decision, Prince said, will be based on his health. Doctors will have to clear Watts.
Prince musings -- The coach compared Texas redshirt freshman Colt McCoy -- no kidding -- to three-time Super Bowl champion Tom Brady of the New England Patriots.... He believes senior left tackle Greg Wafford played his finest game of the season last weekend against the Buffaloes.... He felt offensive coordinator James Franklin called a great game in Boulder.... The Longhorns, he said, are comparable to Louisville.
Fast break -- Both Pullen and Sutton said K-State coaches informed them they were hoping to add a big man to their class.... Telep says don't expect Burlington's Tyrel Reed to sign during the early period. He suspects Reed is waiting until the spring to see how the situations shake out at Kansas and North Carolina, his two favorites.... Sutton said the coaching staff has told him to expect to play a lot when he arrives on campus. "I thought, 'C'mon, man, this is the Big 12. No weak teams in the Big 12. It's the most physical conference there is. C'mon." Then, Sutton said, he watched the team scrimmage, and he realized he could play with the current Wildcats. Sutton also said he was hesitant, at first, about wanting to leave North Carolina and his 6-month-old daughter. But he said Huggins gave him assurances he could return home when on campus to check in on her. Finally, Sutton said his first love was football, but he chose basketball when he had a growth spurt early in high school.
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O.J. Mayo signs letter to play for USC
Updated 11/15/2006 5:29 PM ET
By Christopher Lawlor, USA TODAY
O.J. Mayo had a change in plans.
Instead of waiting for the late signing period in April, the nation's top-ranked basketball player signed his binding national letter-of-intent Wednesday with the University of Southern California.
Mayo, 6-5 guard from Huntington (W.Va.) High confirmed he faxed the letter and mailed it to USC. He told USC coach Tim Floyd on Tuesday that he would sign with the Trojans over Kentucky, Louisville, Kansas State and Florida.

Mayo's childhood friend, 6-6 Bill Walker, signed with Kansas State last week. The duo helped North College Hill (Cincinnati) win the last two Ohio Division III state championships. When Walker's eligibility expired this year, Mayo transferred to his hometown school.

"I think USC is the best situation for me," Mayo said. "It's the perfect opportunity with coach (Tim) Floyd there. He coached in the NBA and knows what it take to reach the league.

"Plus, Los Angeles is great city, unlike a small college town where all eyes would be on my every move. I just want to blend in and enjoy my time at school," he says.

This weekend, Mayo will take his official visit to USC.

He added, signing with the Trojans was "solely my decision, there wasn't anyone else influencing me."

Mayo's college decision was the second positive on Tuesday. Mayo also learned he scored a 29 on the ACT, a college entrance exam, and is on target for admission to USC.

Mayo previously visited the Los Angeles campus unofficially and was impressed with the school's new state-of-the-art, 10,258-seat Galen Center. "Los Angeles is a great basketball city and needs a (college) powerhouse," Mayo says.

USC also signed Venoy Overton, a 6-1 point guard from Franklin High in Seattle. According to Clark Francis of the recruiting website hoopscooponline.com, the Trojans' class was ranked 85th nationally and ninth in the Pac-10 Conference. Mayo's commitment will jolt the team rankings.

"It's the perfect situation," Mayo said. "After (football) players like Reggie Bush and Matt Leinart, the school is ready for a player of my caliber."
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"USC is ready for a player of my calibur"

BigHeadTodd_0205.jpg


I must admit, I don't follow HS basketball. I'm sure Mayo is very good and all... but how about you go score a college point before you put yourself in the same "pantheon" as two Heisman winners.
 
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Wow, I?m surprised that he signed during the early signing period.
I'm equally surprised about the 29 after the way his intelligence and character have been portrayed by many people, a 29 is a very impressive score

Nice pick up for USC.
 
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akronbuck;662610; said:
wow 29. :biggrin: Now I understand how he dealt with the media and it was always reported very negative about him.
HE WAS TO BUSY LAUGHING AT HOW STUPID they were. 29 and godly gifted athlete.. Must be nice.
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--Deleted --

I let my sarcasam get the best of be for a second.

29 is a tremendous score on the ACT, back when I was in high school (quite some time ago) only 4 kids in my class scored over a 28, 2 of them with a 28. He should be very proud of this, though somehow I am sure he is.
 
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