Say It Ain't So: O.J. Mayo to Enter NBA Draft

Here's some news that's certain to come as a shock to all: CBS Sports is reporting that USC freshman guard O.J. Mayo has decided to enter the NBA draft.

Mayo plans to hire an agent, which will eliminate the prospect of his return to college basketball.

According to CBS Sportsline's Gary Parrish:

"The freshman guard (Mayo) signaled his intentions by wearing socks with the NBA logo in USC's 80-67 loss to Kansas State in the first round of the NCAA tournament.

Mayo, who some say never met a shot that he didn't take, averaged 20.7 points, and set USC records for points scored by a freshman (684) and for 3-pointers made in a season (88).

USC coach Tim Floyd told the AP:

"This comes as no surprise. We are appreciative of everything O.J. did for all of us the year he was with us. We wish him well. I have no doubt that he will be a great professional."

Bruce Weber to Missouri State?

Coachingnewsonline.com is circulating the rumor that Illinois' Bruce Weber has been in talks with Missouri State about that school's head coaching job.

According to said website:

"Weber may only have 1 season to right the ship at Illinois before being let go, so he may be looking at other options now."

Missouri State already has a very good coach in Barry Hinson. The Bears' program has been quite successful during Hinson's reign. But despite having made Missouri State into a consistent contender in the Missouri Valley Conference, Hinson has never taken the Bears to the NCAA Tournament. And with a new arena about to open next year, the school is, apparently, looking to go in a new direction.

But the hot rumor has been that Missouri State is targeting Bob Knight to be its next coach. The Bruce Weber rumor really comes as a surprise.

And the same website is reporting that Kelvin Sampson may be back in coaching as soon as next year. Allegedly:

"Detroit has been in close contact with former Indiana coach Kelvin Sampson. The recently resigned Sampson is facing major recruiting violations from Indiana, yet the Detroit Administration is apparently willing to overlook those to hit a home run for their next coach."

Also, according to the website, LSU has targeted USC head coach Tim Floyd to fill its coaching vacancy.

Edit:

Missouri State hired former Purdue Associate Coach Cuonzo Martin as its new men's basketball head coach.

Drive and Dish discussed Martin's hiring here.

As we said in the linked post, it's likely that Missouri State did talk to Illinos' Bruce Weber about the open men's head basketball coaching position. Weber coached Martin for all of his four at Purdue when Weber was an assistant to Gene Keady. Missouri State probably used Bruce Weber as a reference when they were researching Cuonzo Martin.

The Weekend of the Upset

The weekend of January 19 & 20 will likely go down as having been 2008's weekend of the upset in college basketball.

Yesterday, #1 ranked and previously undefeated North Carolina was stunned at home by the enigmatic Maryland Terrapins, 82-80. More here. And here.

On the West coast, Tim Floyd and O.J. Mayo's USC Trojans upset #4 UCLA, 72-63.

Out in the Big 12, Michael Beasley and Kansas State stomped #10 Texas A&M 75-54. Earlier in the week, A&M had also been upset by Texas Tech, as Tech coach Bob Knight netted his 900th career win.

In the Big East, Cincinnati surprised #15 Pitt, 62-59.

And the upsets didn't end on Saturday. Today, Connecticut knocked off #13 Marquette 89-73, in Storrs, CT.

Although most sports fans' eyes were on the NFL, as the NFC and AFC Championship games were played today, the weekend's real action was in college basketball.

Over the last two days, college basketball teams from coast to coast elevated their games and pulled off huge upsets, both at home and on the road.

Drive and Dish would just like to say: Now that's what we're talkin' about!

O.J. Mayo: By the Numbers

Although it's still relatively early in the college basketball season, USC freshman point guard O.J. Mayo has been the beneficiary of a massive amount of media hype. His arrival in Southern California was heralded with dizzying pomp and circumstance. Because of Mayo's star power, USC -- a school with little basketball tradition -- has been a fixture on national television this season.

But the jury is still out on whether or not Mayo is good for USC basketball. In high school, Mayo had a reputation for being a punk and a selfish basketball player. He had several off the court transgressions and had jumped from high school to high school. Yet he was also widely considered to be the best player in the class of 2007 (even though he was already 20 years old).

USC knew what they were getting into when they signed Mayo. And the electronic and print media (who have pushed O.J. Mayo down college basketball fans' throats) had to understand that anointing Mayo as college basketball's new golden boy was a risky proposition. But, despite having broken a teammate's jaw during a practice altercation and twice being held out of the starting lineup for disciplinary reasons, Mayo was impressive in his first few college outings. He may have thrown up a gazillion shots, but his talent was undeniable.

However, nearly six weeks into the college season (and with the conference season rapidly approaching), O.J. Mayo's faults are starting to become apparent:

Mayo ranks sixth in shots attempted for all Division I basketball players.

And with 36 turnovers through 8 games, Mayo had the second worst assist to turnover ratio in college basketball.

Thus, according to nbadraft.net (which is, admittedly, not the most reputable of sources), O.J. Mayo's draft stock is dropping:

"people were expecting LeBron, and he just isn't that caliber of talent .... his point guard skills and shot selection have been suspect at best through the first nine games of his college career.

Two straight four point losses in which May shot 6-20 and 6-21 have taken the Trojans out of the Top 25.

Mayo needs to limit the bad shots and look to pass the ball .. Mayo is already 20 years old leading some to question his upside. He doesn't show much ability to elevate his teammates' play, and his early season run in with Daniel Hackett (broken jaw) added to the speculation that the troublemaker reputation he'd built in high school was still true."

Drive and Dish offered it's opinion of O.J. Mayo at the start of the season. And after having seen Mayo through his first 9 games, we stand by that opinion.

CBS Sportsline on Mayo, Rose & Recruiting

In preparation for tonight's USC v. Memphis game, CBS Sportsline's Gary Parrish talks about the respective recruitment of USC freshman O.J. Mayo and Memphis freshman Derrick Rose.

Key lines:

"If you don't have a mentor, uncle, friend, cousin or AAU coach of some kind working for you with an elite prospect you are just wasting your time recruiting," one high-major assistant told me recently. "Without somebody working for you, you have no shot at that prospect. Absolutely none."

O.J. Mayo's Fist Breaks Teammate's Jaw...But It Was an "Accident"

By Trashtalk Superstar


"All World" superstar USC Freshman point guard O.J. Mayo "accidentally" fractured a teammate's jaw in a pick up game last week. Coach Tim Floyd insists that it was an accident - even though he didn't actually witness the incident (coaches aren't allowed any involvement with "pre season" pick up games).

Since Floyd is known as such a stand up guy, there's absolutely no reason to doubt anything that he says.

And since O.J. Mayo is such a great kid, it's unimaginable that he'd punch a teammate.

Tim Floyd's team is probably like one big happy family and O.J. Mayo's arrival has, likely, done nothing but bring that family closer together. After all, he's just such a great kid, dontchaknow!

Riiight.

And those e-mails you get from guys in Nigeria who've just "come into" millions of dollars and are willing to share their windfall with you - if you'll just give them your bank account routing number - are totally legit.

And you really will get rich quick if you sign up for one of those "get rich quick in real estate" seminars.

Tim Floyd might as well try to sell people swampland in Florida. He's about as honest as the typical con artist.

Note the key lines in the story:

..."yeah he punched him," a player said. "They changed the story for the media."

Tim Floyd's attempt to spin this incident is pathetic and absurd.

O.J. Mayo's reputation preceded his arrival at USC. Tim Floyd knew exactly what he was getting when Mayo signed his letter of intent.

The label "thug" is often inappropriately applied to young black athletes who affect a hip hop influenced style. Too many guys are called thugs just because they rock braids and a headband, or because they have tattoos, or because they pop their jerseys, etc.

But O.J. Mayo is a punk and a thug. Not because of his style, but because of his actions. We've mentioned this before (scroll down - it's midway through the post). He's as talented a basketball player as there is in college basketball (when he actually tries), but he's a selfish player - and probably a selfish person - who has caused trouble every where he's been (and he's been around: he went to like five or six different high schools).

O.J. Mayo = trouble.

Period.

Mayo will only be in college for one season. And he'll probably put up some huge numbers and get lots of media love. But he'll ultimately cost USC some important games because of his selfish play and because of the internal dissension that he'll - no doubt - cause on his team. Then USC will flame out in the NCAA Tournament even though Mayo will probably drop thirty on some low seeded directional school.

In June, O.J. Mayo will be a top five pick in the NBA draft. He'll go on to be a cancer on his team, which will be built around him. Eventually, he'll be traded to another team. He'll be a cancer there too. And he'll get into trouble along the way.

He'll get coaches fired. Then he'll be traded again. And again. And again. Just like Isiah Rider, Stephon Marbury, Stephen Jackson, Steve Francis, etc.

At some point, Tim Floyd may end up being O.J. Mayo's coach in the NBA. Floyd gets into trouble (or, more accurately, gets college basketball programs into trouble) and bounces from team to team too. He usually stays in a coaching job for a maximum of three to four years. When his shady practices landed his Iowa State program on NCAA-imposed probation, he just picked up and left for the greener pastures of the NBA (thanks to his schmoozing skills: remember, it was Floyd's "close friendship" with then-Chicago Bulls General Manager Jerry Krause - Floyd allegedly befriended the practically friendless Krause in order to lobby for the Bulls' coaching position - that led the Bulls to run Phil Jackson off [which hastened the retirement of Michael Jordan and the breakup of a 6 time NBA Championship dynasty] so that they could hire Floyd, who at the time was a controversial and only relatively successful college head coach). When he bombed out with the Chicago Bulls, he picked up with the New Orleans Hornets (thanks to more alleged schmoozing). When he bombed out in New Orleans, he bounced to USC.

Ultimately, the controversial and oft-travelled O.J. Mayo may be a perfect fit for the controversial and oft-travelled Tim Floyd's upstart, renegade USC program.

In other words, these two asshats deserve each other.

By the way, is it me, or does it seem like trouble just finds current and former USC athletes named O.J.?