Mayo Shows Love Some Love
O.J. Mayo was asked about meeting up with UCLA's Kevin Love for perhaps the last time, as collegians, on Sunday.
Does it hold any significance for him?
"No, not really," Mayo said after practice tonight. "I'm just trying to win the ballgame.
"But I wish him the best of luck if I don't see him anymore."
Mayo and the Trojans won the first matchup vs. the Bruins and Love, 72-63, at Pauley Pavilion.
The two came to Los Angeles as perhaps the most heralded freshman duo in Pac-10 history. But both (certainly Mayo) could turn pro after this season. Actually, both likely would be in the NBA right now if not for the have-to-sit-a-year-after-high-school rule The League put into place in 2006.
Thus, they won't meet again as collegians -- unless USC and UCLA meet in the Pac-10 tourney next month.
Mayo was asked what he thinks of Love as a player.
"He's a good player."
Then, looking up at his questioner, Mayo said, "What do you think of him?"
The reporter said, "I think he's a very good college player."
Said Mayo: "Why do you say `college'?"
That is to say, "Why are you qualifying your assessment?"
The reporter said that he knows what he reads, that NBA people aren't sure Love's game will translate from college to the pros. As opposed to Mayo, who might be a better NBA player than college player.
Mayo didn't take his "sticking up for Love" any further.
"I don't watch him that much," he said.
Add: Here is the column I did on Mayo for Wednesday's newspapers, which gives the comment (below) some context.
Comments
Response to Paul's article in today's paper:
Mr. Oberjuerge,
To borrow from Ronald Reagan, "There you go again." First was the Booty article about how he didn't accomplish much in his career. Now comes the OJ Mayo article. It sure is fun reading your anti-USC articles. I know they are anti-USC (as opposed to just good journalism) because you make your points using straw man arguments to come to a conclusion you have already formed. As opposed to looking at facts and THEN forming a conclusion.
Take for instance your article today. Some point I would like to mention.
1. You refer to USC as "unranked in the weekly polls since the end of December." This is because the voters only look at won-loss record, without caring about who the wins were against.
2. OJ has "more shots (375) than any two players on his team. More misses (209) than anyone in the...conference." Well simple math shows his field goal percentage is actually 44%. This is right in line with other college basketball guards such as Erik Gordon (46%), Josh Shipp (46%), and Greg Paulus (44%) just to name a few. He takes more shots because he is supposed to be the scorer. Your comment was misleading to make everyone think he is shooting poorly.
3. "USC is 7-7 when Mayo leads them in scoring-and 8-1 when he does not." Is this the only thing they need to do to win. If I'm Tim Floyd I tell OJ Mayo to not shoot at all, thus guaranteeing someone else is the leading scorer and I can virtually guarantee another win over the Bruins. How about factoring in their record just when the team is healthy? Remember Hackett and Jefferson missed Mercer, Jefferson was held out of a WSU game (his fault, not OJ's), and Hackett missed virtually the entire AZ game and was ineffectual due to being hurt up in the Palouse. This stat has no bearing on USC's success.
4. "So 15-8 and was more than they had hoped for?" I guess this logic makes Kevin Garnett an awful player last year since they had a losing record in Minnesota. Funny, I always thought there were five guys on each team on the floor. If Hackett was at full strength and Jefferson had played from the start of the year, you could easily estimate SC could easily be 18-5 right now, which would exceed expectations.
5. "As ESPN's Billy Packer" - Most of us who watch college basketball know that Billy Packer works for CBS, not the nation's sports leader.
6. "Not in way (of lifting teams to elite status) a batch of other freshmen out there are doing" (And then you named Derrick Rose, Eric Gordon, Michael Beasley and Kevin Love.) - I will grant Michael Beasley, though it helps he also has Billy Walker this year (since he most likely would have turned pro last year had he not been hurt). Derrick Rose? Memphis is coming off of back-to-back trips to the Elite 8 and they returned nearly the whole squad. Rose is a nice addition but let's not exaggerate what he has done. Eric Gordon? First of all, Indiana is not leading the Big 10 (even before tonight's loss) and the only two OOC games that mattered (Xavier and UCONN) were losses. The only thing Gordon has done to help get Indiana back on the map is answer his cell phone.
Oh! and Kevin Love. The only way UCLA can be lifted to an elite status from where they are at is by winning the whole thing; considering they are coming off of back-to-back Final Fours. Has he played well? Yes. But his team returns four players who averaged double figures a year ago. Since the media pundits claimed that the addition of Love fills the one need UCLA needed, an offensive threat in the post, this would seem to point that anything less than a national championship is a failed season for the Bruins. (Or does that only apply to John David Booty in college football?)
By contrast, USC lost their three leading scorers from a year ago (Nick Young, Lod Stewart, Gabe Pruitt) and returned only 1.5 starters from a year ago. The hype when OJ Mayo committed, was that he would be added to a team coming off of a Sweet 16 run that would return Young and Pruitt. When they left for the pros (unwisely), that should have made things more realistic.
7. "[Mayo] came West on a wave of hype that put him at the head of his class and in the same league as...Oden and...Durant - who led [their teams] to the Final Four and the NCAA second round respectively." First of all, you can't hold the NCAA tournament against Mayo, because he has not had a chance to compete in it yet. Also, Oden and Durant had very good teams around them (considering how all the Texas' other players are doing this year, with wins over UCLA and Tenn).
8. "Josh Shipp, 'I think the way to measure is by the team's success. That's the only thing I can think of. That's the true measure of success for me." Well Josh, how was your team's success when the two matched up the first time? I also guess this makes Joey Ellis a better player than Mayo since he is on team that is ranked higher. Keep in mind Paul that this is the same moron who talked about how unselfish Love is but said Mayo and USC were selfish. That worked out well the first time around. The funny thing is, every week I hear Love mention he should get the ball more, that he needs more touches. I have not heard Mayo say that once this season, and I highly doubt you have either.
If Mayo were averaging 30 a game, you people would be writing how he is a ball-hog and doesn't get his teammates involved. Was there too much hype? Possibly, but there was a lot of hype about Beasley, Gordon, Rose, Love also. Lets see how the season finishes up before we start making these pronouncements.
Posted by: plh55 | February 13, 2008 10:46 PM