OJ Mayo signs off his high school career....with some flash
 

He's a punk. He'll fit in at USC. :)

I've heard he plays like Magic. Can't wait till he comes to SC

Classy.

$TAY CLA$$Y, U$C

Wow, Impressive...

Good luck USC, you will need it controlling that assclown.

KState sure will be awesome with him in the lineu... what? oh. nm.

No class, no dignity... and he is CHEERED for it?? NO thanks. He won't learn a thing at USC or the NBA. He will be in jail within 1 yr, count on it.

burn :)

LOL I knew it would get reactions like that too, Yes I'm sure USC wouldn't want one of the best players in the country to come to their school.....

Also I'm sure that makes him such a bad guy.....

It doesn't make him a bad guy, it is just an example of what is wrong with athletes today. It is not even a USC thing. He could be going to Southern Cal Community College and I believe it would still get the same reaction.

Its not just HIM, its the trend for so many young gifted athletes who have been given a free pass of sorts just because they are good at a given sport. No real regard to real values. He blatantly ended in a way that all eyes would be soley on him but he did it while committing a technical foul...willingly. Me first, everyone else second. ME me me. I LOVE me some ME.

I don't have an issue with it, he did it in his last game, it's a home game, he played up to the crowd which obviously loved every second of it.

I don't think he's being a dick I just think he's playing up to people that came out to watch him play for 4 years and giving a send off.

H8rs.

I'm don't know who in the hell he is but that was SOME WAY to go out.

classless or not. Who really gives a shit. That was some tight shit.

I'm not sure how you wanted us to react when posting that video link, Mecca.

"Praise Mayo!!!!!11onee!!!!"

Don't get your panties in a bunch when we react differently.

I don't think MJ would've done that. Or Dr. J, Charles Barkley, the list can go on and on. There are better ways to thank the fans. Like at the end of the game addressing the fans and saying Thank you and please continue to support my career through college and the NBA.

Nah I knew everyone would react that way but I thought all in all it's guy who most everyone here knows about him and I figured they'd be interested to see his sign off.

Great pickup for USC, now the controversy can lean towards their bball program too aside from the football program that violates multiple rules every year!!!

I don't think his "sign off" was necessary at all. But, that doesn't mean it wasn't pretty slick.

I just guess I don't get the ball fling at the end of the oop to himself. He could have done his "sign off" without that, imo.

Regardless, I'm glad he won't be wearing purple next year.

Better get ready because Bob Huggins doesn't care if guys act that way or not all he cares about is if you can play......if he had his way OJ Mayo would be on your team.

Never heard of him, but judging by some of those comments under the video he's been treated like a deity for a while. Good thing it hasn't gone to his head.

I don't get ANY of this. I'm confused. I'm a Jayhawks fan. Why on Earth would Huggins want Mayo, but want him on the Jayhawks?!

He thought you were a bitter KSU fan.

Nevermind I thought you were saying you liked Kstate and were glad he wasn't on your team.

Wow, he dunked the ball. I've never seen that before.

God, I wish we had Mayo. I'm still bitter about that. Oh well, we OWN U$C in basketball and football.

They weren't the people he played in front of for four years. Here's how a better HS point guard ended his career (in the state title game):

Derrick Rose: 2 points (averages 20+), 8 boards and 9 assists. Spent the 2nd half getting balls to his teammates for them to score and enjoy their last game as seniors.

I'm not bashing OJ Mayo individually. As others have said, he's a product of today's society. I'm sure I'd be thrilled if he were coming to KState, even with the apparent baggage. Just thought it was interesting that another player just as hyped finished with class.

The only two things from West virginia are steers and queers, and I don't see any horns on you MAYO-Naisse!

I can't wait till he gets his ass kicked by UCLA twice a year.

I've never heard of the guy. Hopefully I'll never hear of him again.

You would have heard alot about of him had he joined the GRCOAT.

ROFL that just keeps getting better and better..

Now the KSU Male Cheerleader was saying on 810 today that, Benneck might be leaving?

ROFL

If USC ever gets better than UCLA at basketball, which could happen at some point. All the UCLA fans would off themselves....

Kevin Love will make sure that it doesn't happen next year.

I see the finger pointers are out in full force.

I'd take OJ Mayo for one year with baggage. The guy is a talent that can make your team an instant conference challenger.

Was that some kind of sport he was playing? Whats he signing off on? Is it cool that he runs around in his gang colors throwing stuff at innocent people at a rock concert?

Like you would ever know about it.

Someone bigger than the team and sport? I wouldn't want him on my team.

Yes he can, but can your team survive one year of ME, ME, ME From him?

It would take a strong coach and a good core of players to be able to pull that off.

I think he is a Durant type of player with a TO kind of attitude...

OJ reminds me of TO

What happened to GRCOAT?

For the record, I would like him at KU.

That dude threw it off the backboard did a monster jam, then tossed the ball into the stands to a roaring ovation.

T or not, that kicked ass.

OJ Mayo decided to be a dumbass and commit to U$C. Other than that, still in tact.

Which players are making up the GRCOAT?

Bennett
Walker
Beasley
???
???

It wouldn't be a class if one was from 06 and one from 07, would it?

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a2...04/Popcorn.gif


ROFL ROFL

Walker is the man!!!! As much as I dont like KSU, I find it hard not to like this guy!

ROFL!!

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h1...illiamdd23.gif

Excuse me for not being all informed on KSU recruiting classes?

So it is Beasley and who else?

ROFL

That is priceless!

Original GRCOAT = Walker, Beasley, Mayo, Pope. Mayo went to U$C. Pope went to New Mexico State. Walker+Beasley went to Kansas State.

i prefer our #1 recruit Claussen. He did nothing like that for his send off. Reggie Bush thinks this guy is over the top and already overpaid.

Thanks Saul...

Anyone else get a Felipe Lopez-like vibe from Mayo?

Dude is just getting WAAAAY overhyped - don't get me wrong, he should be a very good player at the next level, but it's rare when guards can come straight in to big-time D1 ball and simply dominate from the beginning.

I don't think it was that bad, last game of his last year in HS... Everybody wishes they could do something like that when they were that age...

hard not to get emotional watch that clip. Gave it all right to the last play. congrats

QFT. Brought a tear to my eye.

No. No Felipe Lopez vibe at all.

Check out this recruiting story on OJ.

He'll call you

LOS ANGELES, March 20 — It sounds like a fairy tale.

Mayo said that if he did not go to U.S.C., he would probably enroll at an African-American college.

A stranger walked into the University of Southern California basketball office one day last summer and asked to speak to the head coach. The stranger did not make an appointment. He did not call ahead. Tim Floyd, the U.S.C. head coach, cannot explain why he agreed to see him.

Nine months later, as U.S.C. prepares for the regional semifinal of the N.C.A.A. tournament, Floyd recounted his version of that conversation.

The mysterious man got right to the point. “How would you like to have the best player in the country?” he asked.

Floyd tried not to roll his eyes.

“Have you heard of O. J. Mayo?” the man asked.

Of course Floyd had heard of him. Everyone in basketball had heard of him. Mayo was first mentioned in Sports Illustrated when he was in the seventh grade. He was considered a future lottery pick by the time he entered high school. He once talked trash to Michael Jordan during a pickup game at Jordan’s camp.

Mayo was entering his senior season as a point guard at Huntington High School in Huntington, W.Va., but Floyd said he did not bother to call him. He did not even send him a U.S.C. brochure.

What was the point? Major universities had been courting Mayo for four years. Floyd had been at U.S.C. for fewer than 18 months. Besides, Floyd had only recruited two top-100 players in his life. He had no business going after Mayo, the No. 1 player in the country, especially being from a football college that was 3,000 miles away.

“O. J. wanted me to come here today,” the man told Floyd. “He wanted me to figure out who you are.”

Floyd was desperate enough to play along. His starting point guard, Ryan Francis, had been murdered two months earlier. The backup, Gabe Pruitt, was in academic trouble. The third-stringer, a walk-on, was leaving college.

“Why aren’t you at Arizona or Connecticut?” Floyd recalled asking.

The man explained that Mayo wanted to market himself before going to the N.B.A., and that Los Angeles would give him the best possible platform.

“Then why aren’t you at U.C.L.A.?” Floyd asked.

The man shook his head. U.C.L.A. had already won 11 national championships. It had already produced many N.B.A. stars. Mayo wanted to be a pioneer for a new era.

“Let me call him,” Floyd said.

The man shook his head again. “O. J. doesn’t give out his cell,” he said. “He’ll call you.”

Floyd remembers the meeting lasting 45 minutes. He learned that the man’s name was Ronald Guillory, and that he was an event promoter in Los Angeles who had befriended Mayo. Other than that, Floyd learned absolutely nothing.

“There was no way that kid was going to call,” Floyd said. “There was no way.”

College basketball recruiting, especially when it comes to the top players, is a famously shady business. Coaches deal regularly with handlers and street agents. When they land a top prospect, they are immediately open to questions and accusations.

Floyd is no different. Hours after he met Guillory, at about 6:30 p.m., Floyd was at home in Santa Monica when his cellphone rang. He gave his version of his second landmark conversation of the day.

When Floyd answered the phone, he heard a teenager’s voice on the other end: “Coach, this is O. J. Mayo. I’d like to come to your school.”

Mayo had not been on an official campus visit. He had not seen the new arena, the Galen Center. He did not know anything about the current roster.

Floyd did not believe it was possible to get a verbal commitment from a player he had recruited for less than one day, especially when that player was a 6-foot-5 sharpshooter with blue-chip strength, quickness and passing ability.

“I want to be different,” Floyd recalls Mayo telling him. “I want to leave a mark.”

Mayo said that if he did not go to U.S.C., he would probably enroll at an African-American college. Such colleges are renowned academically, but they do not typically produce pro basketball players.

Mayo’s mind was apparently made up. He was already looking ahead. “How many scholarships do we have for next year?” he asked.

Floyd stammered. “After this,” he said, “I guess we have three.”

Mayo went through the priority list in his mind. “Don’t worry about recruiting,” he said. “I’ll take care of it.”

Before Floyd hung up, he asked one more time for Mayo’s cellphone number. “No,” Mayo said. “I’ll call you.”

When Floyd put down the phone, he turned to his wife. “This ain’t happening,” he said. “But we’ve got to act like it is.”

Never has a verbal commitment carried less weight. Mayo is one of those basketball prodigies famous for his large entourage and his erratic behavior. In the past six years, he has moved from West Virginia to Kentucky to Ohio and back to West Virginia. He has been suspended at least three times for fights and other violations.

Tim Floyd did not think he had a shot at O. J. Mayo. Mayo called him.

But every six weeks, Mayo called Floyd to check in. He persuaded one of his friends, Davon Jefferson, to join him at U.S.C.

“O. J. has a lot of people in his ear, but he is just not a follow-the-herd kind of guy,” Floyd said. “He never, ever wavered.”

On Wednesday, Nov. 15, Mayo faxed his letter of intent to Floyd. It was a bigger story in Los Angeles than U.C.L.A.’s opening game. On Friday, Nov. 17, Mayo finally took his official visit to U.S.C., accompanied by a documentary film crew.

Floyd solicited the help of a coach more familiar with five-star recruits. Pete Carroll, the U.S.C. football coach, gave Mayo his pitch. As usual, it worked.

“It was the craziest thing I’ve ever been a part of,” Floyd said. “I kept thinking, ‘Either this kid is nuts, or he’s got the biggest vision I’ve ever seen.’ ”

Like a true point guard, Mayo saw everything develop a split-second before it did. At the time he faxed his letter of intent, U.S.C. was a mess. Players were still mourning Francis’ death. Floyd could not persuade anyone to care about defense. The starting point guard, Daniel Hackett, graduated early from high school so he could fill in.

“We were miserable to watch,” Floyd said. “Our guys wouldn’t even shake their heads if they threw the ball away or let a guy blow right by them. They would only shake their heads if they missed a shot.”

As a high school senior, Mayo obviously could not help the Trojans cover the perimeter and work the ball inside. But Floyd believes that Mayo’s signing improved the team’s overall attitude. Mayo gave validation to a program that always trails U.S.C. football on its own campus and U.C.L.A. basketball in its own city.

“Now we’re getting as much love as those guys are,” forward Taj Gibson said.

The Trojans had reason to listen to Floyd before, based on his N.B.A. experience coaching the Chicago Bulls and the New Orleans Hornets. But when he showed that he could sign Mayo, his locker-room credibility rose even higher.

Fifth-seeded U.S.C. will play top-seeded North Carolina in the Round of 16 on Friday in East Rutherford, N.J.. The Trojans have a tough-minded defense and a selfless style. They always had players who could create — and make — their own shots. Suddenly, they have players who are willing to do more.

“We understand what it takes now to win games,” said Pruitt, who was academically ineligible for the first semester. “We like the results.”

This was all supposed to happen next year, with Mayo leading the team deep into the N.C.A.A. tournament and then bolting for the N.B.A. lottery.

Until he shows up for freshman orientation, U.S.C. will have to wonder if Mayo is for real, or if he will skip college entirely and wait the required one year for the draft.

“I used to think about that, but not anymore,” Floyd said. “This guy wants to play for it all.”[QUOTE]

He's gonna make U$C a national power in basketball overnight. They got players this year, and will get players because of OJ.

What is the story on this guy? Why is he so hated besides seeming to be a real cocky dude? Is he THAT good?

I wonder where he would go in the upcoming draft?

The guy has an ego. Wow. I hope he has a good career and learns some humility. It never hurts.

I love it when KU fans h.a.n.g. on every word from Kevin Kietzman. Truely hilarious. Listening to Phlogentters parrot Tom Lght and the HBBIQ crowd and have them bring it here is even more precious.

The guys at ksufans.com are going to have to start tagging their work. It's all over the place.

Ok, i seen him dunk the ball, then i seen him throw the ball into the crowd and him getting what appears to be ejected on the last game of his career. The crowd absolutely loved it. I am still waiting for the part where this was some horrible act.

I seen some reactions on here where people are acting like he is the devil. Oh well, i guess i missed the part where he did something horrible.

Sure to be a 'Magic' Man... :)

Care to expand on your thoughts? You 100% sure Mayo is going to come in and dominate in college? I'm not sure he will be able to match all this hype he is getting - in fact I am willing to bet he won't.

He'll be in trouble before his college career is over I bet.

Hey he is your cheerleader not mine, Besides 610's streaming is not working so I am left with listening to KK, believe me, It is not by choice. But I want to hear some sports from the KC Metro area...


I was asking the question about Bennett? Is he leaving.. Huggy pretty much said he has zero offense skills for the Big XII...

HBBIQ? What does Saul have to do with this?

yeah they should have. That is awesome!

I like his style...

He'll be in trouble before summer BB league.

I didnt think it was a big deal. sour grapes

Greatest Recruit Class Of All Time

Bill Self had almost the same thing happen to him. Self was immediately interested when he saw the kid looking into his office through the transom.

I don't remember saying Mayo was going to dominate in college. He's going to be very good.

You pull up Lopez' college stats and we'll have the benchmark. That shouldn't be difficult for Mayo to surpass. Don't forget that Lopez played six years in the NBA after not living up to the hype at St Johns. So, while his college career was not what Sports Illustrated had predicted, Lopez did okay for himself.

Anyway, I think Lopez could be 15 ppg scorer, dish out 5 apg, and grab 3 rpg. I think he'll be PAC 10 Newcomer of the year. I'll predict that USC will have better conference record next season. (11-7 in the 06-07 season.) I'll say 14-4. (Just a guess).

I think he'll be pain in the ass for Tim Floyd. And I'll bet Tim Floyd never sees another player of Mayo's caliber in coaching career.

Hilarious. Just admit it. You Phog types live to hear the next words coming out of KK's os. You swear off his show, but there you are the next day, waiting to be baited. It's amazing how the guy just kills the competition in a market that is dominated by KKU alums.


You'll just have to tune in tomorrow to the show you don't listen to because (today) 610's streaming isn't working.

Best post in this thread. Although for the younger crowd, you'll have to define what a transom is.