O.J. Mayo Reportedly Commited to Southern Cal

<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">O.J. Mayo, the No. 1 recruit in the Class of 2007, told the USC coaching staff and players last week that he would commit to the Trojans, multiple sources told ESPN.com.

The 6-foot-4 Mayo, as recognizable a high school recruiting name as LeBron James and Greg Oden, made the statement while on his unofficial recruiting visit last week in Los Angeles. He still needs to make that sentiment public, though. He could do so as early as this weekend at the Reebok ABCD Camp on the campus of Fairleigh Dickinson in Teaneck, N.J.

Wherever Mayo lands, he will make an immediate splash.High school recruits often say one thing to a coaching staff to appease them and then sign somewhere else during the fall and spring signing periods, but multiple sources told ESPN.com that the Trojans simply are awaiting official word from Mayo. Even after he makes an announcement, though, the Trojans would have to hang on to his commitment until the November signing period.</div>

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story?id=2510229

 

When I saw this thread title at the main JBB page it read as "BREAKING NEWS: #1 Recruit O.J. Mayo Commits..." and in my head I was thinking it was yet another potential superstar athelete wrecking his life by commiting an illegal act or something...thankfully he was just commiting to a team

Good to hear, I don't follow college ball at all so feel free to analyze.

 

Why does he want to go to USC?

 

This is great for the Trojans. I can?t wait to watch both them and Ohio State next season.

 

<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Swish15:</div><div class="quote_post">This is great for the Trojans. I can?t wait to watch both them and Ohio State next season.</div>

OJ will be playing there in 2 years (well next fall) I believe.

 

Dang ...Why USC ?

 

So that probably means Walker will go there also.

 

I understand the logic behind Mayo's decision. Southern Cal is a big market school, but it's not so big market that he'd have to spend time on the bench as a freshman like at Duke or North Carolina. He should come right in and be the focal point of their offense.

You also have to consider the location. For a player who is almost certainly going to bolt for the NBA after one year of college, he shouldn't necessarily be looking for the best academic schools, the schools with the best college basketball reputation, or anything like that but rather where the school is, what's the campus like, how's the student body, etc. What better place to live in than southern California?

I'm not sold on Mayo being a consensus #1 recruit anyway. As far as collegiate play goes, more often than not I'd opt for Michael Beasley, but I don't know how he'll translate on the pro level with his height. Even as far as pro prospects go, Derrick Rose could be the better player. They're reportedly going to face off soon in the Reebok ABCD camp, and I wouldn't be surprised if Rose got the better of him, causing a lot of rankings to flip the two players.

<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">So that probably means Walker will go there also.</div>

It's long been rumored that the two were a package deal, but this complicates the issue, because up until this point it's seemed like Walker's two favorites were Cincinnati and Kansas State. I think you'll ultimately wind up seeing him go with Mayo to Southern Cal, but it's far from definite at this point.

 

shape called this at least a month or two ago, so it really doesn't surprise me.

But it should be interesting to see what Bill Walker does now; i've heard Kansas State and Cincinnati are the favorites(as Voodoo said), but I would imagine that he will strongly consider going to Southern California so he can he united with O.J.

 

I'd go some where else if I were Walker, so he could be the #1 option on his team.

 

USC bball isnt that big of a market though, who stays up till midnight to watch those Pac-10 games, and there is so much east coast bias that the Pac-10 doesnt get much respect anyway. He would have been better off going to Cincinnati to play in a big-time conference and be the #1 option, but I guess he just doesnt want amazing competition that might damage his NBA stock . Of course i wouldnt mind if he came to BC, he could be the number 1 option here too haha.

 

This isn't true. He told Rivals.com that USC was one of 3 choices.

 

The age limit will definitely change the way recruiting will work as we can see here. Mayo obviously wants to bolt after one year so he goes to a basketball school that wasn't at the top as far as developing players is concerned. We saw it with Greg Oden and Ohio State this year as well. I can see the big name schools (Duke, North Carolina) having freshman as a big part of their offense this year, so that they can make a case for the top recruits in 2008.

Wouldn't you pick USC if you wanted to stay one year at college rather then a school where you would be freezing your butt off in the winter. Plus his high school team name is the Trojans, maybe he just didn't want to change team names

 

<div class="quote_poster">Quoting XQzMe:</div><div class="quote_post">This isn't true. He told Rivals.com that USC was one of 3 choices.</div>

Yeah it's between Kansas State, USC, and UF.

As good as he is, I don't know if I want the Gators to sign him. It will be Taureen Green's senior year and I just can't see Billy Donovan benching Green in his senior year after he won at least 1 national championship starting at PG and we all know OJ Mayo is one and done. He wouldn't like coming off the bench. I'd rather get a 4 star who will play 3 or 4 years then someone who is leaving after one year.

 

<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">O.J.: I have no favorite

O.J. Mayo backed off even more from his would-be commitment to Southern California on Friday.

Mayo, the North College Hill basketball star ranked by most recruting analysts as the No. 1 high school player in the class of 2007, told Rivals.com Friday that Southern Cal is “just a school on my list.” Mayo made his comments at the Reebok ABCD summer camp in Teaneck, N.J.

“USC is just a school on my list,” Mayo told Rivals national recruiting analyst Jerry Meyer, in a story published on the Rivals.com Web site. “USC, Kansas State and Florida are on my list. I’m going to take my time with this and talk it over with my family and make sure that I make the right decision for myself and my family.”

ESPN.com, citing “multiple sources,” reported Wednesday that Mayo had told USC coaches and players last week that he would commit to Southern Cal.

Thursday, Mayo told reporters at the ABCD camp that USC was “first on my list.”

Friday, Mayo said he isn’t leaning toward any school.

Walker and Mayo conducted news conferences Thursday at ABCD, but the events were orchestrated to provide as little news as possible. Tournament official Chris Rivers told reporters the players would answer no questions about their recruitment or anything other than the camp.

The only revelatory statement might have come from Walker, when asked about speculation on whether he and Mayo would attend the same college.

"We both know we can hold on if we're by ourselves," Walker said. "But why divide us up when we can do this well together? It's a better story if we're both together."

Mayo managed to get his sense of humor across. After Rivers shot down one question about how Mayo was handling the media speculation over his school choice, a reporter tried to slip this question past: "O.J., during this game today, were you thinking about USC or Kansas State?"

At that point, Rivers ended the news conference. But Mayo got the last word: "I was thinking about Georgia State," he said.

In May, Mayo told The Enquirer he probably would not commit to a college until after his senior season.

A 6-foot-4 combination point guard/shooting guard, Mayo averaged 28.6 points a game this past season, repeated as Ohio Mr. Basketball and led NCH to its second straight Ohio Division III title. Walker, a 6-6 forward, averaged 21.7 points a game last season.

Dwaine Barnes, Mayo's AAU coach/guardian, has not returned calls seeking comment.</div>
http://news.cincinnati.com/apps/pbcs.dll/a...070404/1062/SPT

 

Interesting. It's good to hear though that they probably are not coming to the ACC. When it's all said and done, I don't think he'll go to Florida basically for the reason Gators stated, so that narrows it down to USC or Kansas State pretty much.

 

<div class="quote_poster">Quoting BostonCollege10:</div><div class="quote_post">USC bball isnt that big of a market though, who stays up till midnight to watch those Pac-10 games, and there is so much east coast bias that the Pac-10 doesnt get much respect anyway. He would have been better off going to Cincinnati to play in a big-time conference and be the #1 option, but I guess he just doesnt want amazing competition that might damage his NBA stock . Of course i wouldnt mind if he came to BC, he could be the number 1 option here too haha.</div>

I see your point, and I could understand the logic of playing for an east coast team for publicity reasons if Mayo was a bit of an unknown, but he's been the consensus #1 prospect since he was 13 years old and is currently the favorite to be the #1 pick in the 2008 NBA Draft, so I don't really think playing on a team with low t.v. ratings is that big of a concern for him. Southern Cal, as a brand, is also much more marketable than Kansas State for example, even though it's much further west. It wouldn't be like he was signing with a mid-major.

As for Mayo going back to being 'undecided', I think ESPN.Com takes a major credibility hit here by reporting the news prematurely. However, Southern Cal still seems to be the most logical choice. While Huggins has been all over these kids (Mayo, Walker, and Ellis) since they were in junior high, he's just in too undesirable of a market to attract all of them right now. I personally wouldn't spend a full two semesters at Kansas State if you put a gun to my head, especially not if I had the option of spending that time in southern California.

 

I was reading something on ESPN earlier today, and it said O.J Mayo and Bill Walker are cousins? Is that true?

 

<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Voodoo Child:</div><div class="quote_post">I see your point, and I could understand the logic of playing for an east coast team for publicity reasons if Mayo was a bit of an unknown, but he's been the consensus #1 prospect since he was 13 years old and is currently the favorite to be the #1 pick in the 2008 NBA Draft, so I don't really think playing on a team with low t.v. ratings is that big of a concern for him. Southern Cal, as a brand, is also much more marketable than Kansas State for example, even though it's much further west. It wouldn't be like he was signing with a mid-major.</div>

I think he's doing this because he knows he's going to be #1 pick no matter what. This way the spotlight isn't on him, so when he does have a bad game, it's not all over the news like it would be if he went to the east coast. Most Pac-10 games aren't even on Sportscenter or ESPNEWS during the highlights, so when he does have that horrible game, people will be sleeping on the east coast. There is one bright spot to this if he does commit to USC.......I get to watch him every single game This also might start a movement of power back to the Pac-10. If you're in the middle of your recruiting, wouldn't you rather play against O.J. Mayo to try and increase your stock, or go play against UConn? This could be a huge recruiting chip for the Pac-10 teams for at least 1 year. The one bad thing about this is that he could possibly start slipping from the #1 spot in draft, if USC doesn't improve when he's here, and his lack of publicity might hurt him. What if some other frosh goes crazy at another college, like someone that goes to Texas or UConn, someone that's on ESPN every week. In the upcoming years, I think the Pac-10 will start catching up to the ACC, Big East, and Big-12. Pac-10 is overlooked because they don't get exposure like everyone else. Look at last year's tourney, Pac-10's 4 tourney teams all did good, Cal got robbed by Refs....just ask Shape, Zona hit a bump playing pretty much @ Nova's home court, UW just barely lost to UConn, and UCLA lost in the championship. Last thing that Mayo might like is he'll be in the middle of LA, why would you want to go to Manhattan, Kansas when you can go party in LA