OJ Mayo

Mayo Mess: USC Imposes Sanctions

Press Release — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 15:26:29 -0500

Los Angeles, Calif. - The University of Southern California (USC) today announced that it has implemented self-imposed sanctions on its men’s basketball program for violating NCAA rules.

The sanctions are a result of a University investigation that found NCAA rules violations related to O.J. Mayo, who played for the USC’s men’s basketball team during the 2007-2008 season.

“USC takes allegations of NCAA rules violations very seriously. When allegations were made regarding our men’s basketball program we immediately began an investigation and worked closely with the NCAA and the Pac-10 in an attempt to ascertain the truth,” said USC Athletic Director Mike Garrett. “When we’ve done something wrong, we have an obligation to do something about it and that is exactly what we are doing here.”

The self-imposed sanctions for the men’s basketball program include a one-year ban on post-season competition following the 2009-2010 regular season, including the Pac-10 Conference basketball tournament; a reduction of one scholarship for the 2009-2010 and 2010-2011 academic years; a reduction by one of the number of coaches permitted to engage in off-campus recruiting activities during the summer of 2010, and a reduction in the total number of recruiting days by twenty days (from 130 to 110) for the 2010-2011 academic year.

In addition, because of Mayo’s involvement with Rodney Guillory, whom under NCAA rules became a USC booster due to his role in Mayo’s recruitment, USC will vacate all wins during the 2007-2008 regular season, which was when Mayo competed while ineligible. USC will also return to the NCAA the money it received through the Pac-10 Conference for its participation in the 2008 NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship Tournament.

These self-imposed sanctions impact only the men’s basketball program, and do not affect any other program.

“We have very high standards for our faculty, athletic department, staff and students,” said USC Senior Vice President Todd R. Dickey. “We expect and demand that everyone associated with the University live up to these standards. Nothing is more important than the integrity of this institution and its people.”

Mr. Garrett said, “We believe the self-imposed sanctions are consistent with penalties imposed at other NCAA member institutions which have been cited with similar rules infractions. Although we are disappointed that rules were violated, we look forward to moving past this matter and to the future success of our men’s basketball program.”

Kevin O’Neill, head men’s basketball coach for USC added, "I think the University did the right thing in self-imposing sanctions. I respect and understand the action that was taken. Our players have risen to many challenges already this season and I am proud of what they have accomplished. I am confident that they will rise to this latest challenge.

“As their coach, I will do everything in my power to make our program better on and off the court every day,” he said. “Our job as a team now is to move forward in a positive manner. We have 16 games left to play this season. I have no doubt that our players will prepare and play well in those games. While it is unfortunate that our players won't have the chance to compete in the post-season, that just makes every game for us now a post-season game.”

Mr. Garrett concluded, “While we recognize there may be additional questions about our announcement today or other alleged NCAA infractions, until the NCAA concludes its inquiries, we cannot make any further comment.”

NBA: Top 5 Rookies

Hoopsworld — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 12:30:23 -0500

By: Joel Brigham

Today marks the beginning of a new weekly feature in which HOOPSWORLD's Joel Brigham takes a subjective glance at the league's top rookies. This group will likely fluctuate from one week to the next based on performance and momentum, but week one's analysis comes down to how well the rooks have played thus far. Take the list for what it is and post your disagreements in the comments. Now, on to this week's big winners:

#1 - Derrick Rose, Chicago Bulls (8-9) – If you watched Sunday's game against the Philadelphia 76ers you know exactly why Rose is the best rookie in the league right now. His Tayshuan-Prince-esque block of Andre Miller's dunk, then subsequent killer crossover sending the veteran point guard to the floor showed his versatility. He's currently second among rookies in ppg with 18.4 and first in apg with 6.0, and he'll only continue to get better as the year goes on.

#2 - O.J. Mayo, Memphis Grizzlies (4-13) – Coming into the draft, Mayo had his doubters, but so far he's been even better than most expected. Not only is he the top scoring rookie with 21.9 ppg, but he's also the fourteenth best scorer in the entire league as of Monday afternoon. That puts him ahead of Amar'e Stoudemire, Dwight Howard, Michael Redd, Tim Duncan, and a host of other big-time names. His 4.6 rebounds a game don't hurt his stock, either.

#3 - Michael Beasley, Miami HEAT (8-9) – It may have been a slow start for the Beazer, but he seems to have settled down into a role as the HEAT's sixth man. Third amongst rookie scorers with 14.4 points per night, Beasley is only just now learning how to be effective in the NBA. He's still playing behind Shawn Marion, but if The Matrix gets moved, Beasley will be even more valuable.

#4 - Greg Oden, Portland Trail Blazers (12-6) – While Oden's numbers might not be as stellar as some of the other rookies in the class (8.1 ppg, 7.7 rpg) he does lead rookies in blocks per game at 1.67 per contest, and has only gotten better and better in the few games he's played. He brings so much to the Blazers in terms of having a solid center, and his value goes beyond the numbers. Just his presence in the paint has already made him one of the peskiest big men in the league.

#5 - Marc Gasol, Memphis Grizzlies (4-13) – Any of a number of guys could've rounded out the Top Five this week, but Grizzlies center Marc Gasol pops out for now as one of the league's most impressive young bigs. He's third on his team in scoring (12.2 ppg) and his hauling down 7.1 boards a night as well. As a typical Gasol big man, he's held his own on the Grizzlies. While his brother Pau dominates in L.A., little bro Marc is just getting off the ground in Tennessee. In time, there may be a real discussion as to which one is an all-around better player.

Honorable Mention: Rudy Fernandez, D.J. Augustin, Anthony Morrow, Russell Westbrook, George Hill.

NBA: OJ Mayo is Living the Dream

Hoopsworld — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 10:08:21 -0500

By: Bill Ingram

For Ovinton J'Anthony "OJ" Mayo, the pressure to perform at the highest level began in seventh grade. That's when Sports Illustrated started talking about him as one of the top high school recruits in the country.

Yes, when he was in seventh grade!

Long before the nation's sports world began to pay attention, however, Mayo was driven to pursue his dream of playing in the NBA. The SI mention merely stoked the fire.

"It really did," Mayo told HOOPSWORLD recently. "It set really high expectations and you always want to meet expectations. You want to play hard and keep fighting to make your dream come true and play in the NBA."

While in high school and college Mayo has an opportunity to compete against Team USA, and was a part of the 2008 USA Basketball Men's Select Team that helped prepare the eventual gold medalists for the Beijing Olympics.

"I just think that helped get me ready. Those guys really work hard, really compete hard and at a really, really high level. It definitely makes you understand what it takes to compete at that level."

Not long ago Mayo would have jumped directly from high school to the NBA, as players like Kevin Garnett, Kobe Bryant, and LeBron James have done in the past. The recent rules change, however, meant that Mayo had to spend at least one year in college. For the USC Trojans he averaged 20.7 points per game and was a freshman finalist for the Naismith Trophy and the John Wooden Award.

"I think it definitely showed me discipline," Mayo says of his year in the NCAA. "Coach (Tim) Floyd really teaches discipline and the college game is a much more disciplined game and it was definitely a help to me."

His dream of playing in the NBA became basically an appointment with destiny, and this summer he was the third overall pick in the NBA Draft by the Minnesota Timberwolves. Later that night he was traded in a blockbuster that landed him in Memphis, where the Grizzlies are thrilled to have him.

"He's been fantastic," says Grizzlies point guard Mike Conley. "He's been willing to learn from day one, willing to work hard and do things that guys have to do to be great in this league. He's done a great job so far of complementing our team and making us better."

"I knew he'd be good," adds a confident Marc Iavaroni, head coach of the Grizzlies. "Our scouts were really, really high on him. I had seen him on tape and I liked him a lot. You know, the intangibles on him are almost as important as his skill level. He's very competitive, very motivated every time he takes the court, and not just for games. He's a gamer, but he also works very hard in the gym. When you see him in person he really makes an impression. I can see why our scouts were so high on him."

Mayo struggled with turnover in the Las Vegas Summer League, but showed he could score the ball basically at will. Between mid-July and the start of training camp he worked relentlessly on his ball-handling and got some help with his decision-making and is now playing like a seasoned veteran in the Grizzlies' backcourt.

"It was only a matter of time," says Conley, who played with him in Vegas. "He learns quickly as a player and that's what makes him great. He adapts his game. He saw what he did in summer league; he looked at the tape repeatedly and saw the things he needed to do to be able to play at this level. He saw how he needed to adjust to be able to dribble and handle the ball and limit his turnovers. He and I talked about it quite a bit and he's become a lot better at being handle the ball in pressure situations."

"He's really been shooting the ball well," agrees Hakim Warrick, smiling. "I know how tough it is coming out, being a rookie. For him to go out there and average 20 says a lot about him. He fits in well off the court, as well. That's one thing that's a real positive for our team. We've got a whole bunch of young guys that really get along. That really is hard to find. All the different personalities, guys coming from different areas, things like that, and for us to all get along I think that's been a real positive for us."

"He's been able to come out and be effective early," adds Rudy Gay. "You don't see a lot of people who can do that. He worked really hard over the summer to be ready for us and he plays his heart out every night. He's been productive. As a rookie you don't really have a choice but to buy into what's already happening on a team, from my experience, but he's definitely one of those personalities that we can hang around with and that can be an important part of this team."

Hard work has never been an issue for Mayo, who told us his mother's work ethic rubbed off on him from an early age.

"My mother was always my role model. I saw how hard she works and I want to work as hard as she does at my job, being a basketball player. She helped me to fulfill my dream, just telling me to keep working, keep working hard and take it seriously."

And when he wasn't listening to his mother, he was watching the Los Angeles Lakers' Magic Johnson win championships. It's in honor of Magic that OJ wears #32 for the Grizzlies, and now that he has achieved his dream of playing in the NBA he's hoping to realize another one . . .to meet the retired Lakers star.

"I haven't gotten a chance to meet Magic yet, but hopefully when we're through LA I'll get a chance to finally meet him."

So far OJ Mayo has been able to achieve every goal he's set forth for himself. You can bet he'll soon get to meet Magic, as well. In fact, as well as he's playing, the Lakers star will probably seek him out. And who better to help Mayo take his game to the next level than Magic Johnson?

There are plenty of good rookies in this year's draft class, but if there's one thing Mayo has shown over the course of his young career it's that he loves a challenge. Don't be surprised if he rises to the top of the rookie ranks by season's end and adds the Rookie of the Year trophy to his ever-growing collection.

NBA: Week in Review: OJ Can Play

Hoopsworld — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 20:19:08 -0500

By: Travis Heath

It's Sunday which means it's time to take a look at what the wonderful world of the NBA taught us this week.

Fool Me Once Shame on Me, Fool Me Twice...

Al Harrington and Don Nelson aren't exactly on the best of terms these days, and it's only a matter of time until Harrington gets traded. Last week, Harrington complained of back spasms and said he would miss around two weeks. This prompted Nelson to call Harrington's agent, Dan Fegan, "Dr. Fegan" earlier this week. The implication being that Fegan was the driving force behind Harrington's decision to shut it down.

Well, Fegan fired back at Nelson this week.

"I'm not surprised that president/general manager (Don) Nelson made light of Al's condition," Fegan told the San Jose Mercury News. "The only thing that surprises me is, since he's grabbed every other important position in the organization, Nelson hasn't made himself team physician and examined Al's back himself."

Gotta say, that's a pretty darned good comeback by Fegan. And it's also a classic power play by Nelson dating back to his Dallas days.

Remember, Nelson is the snake-oil salesman that had media in Dallas believing Steve Nash was all washed up right before he left the Mavs in free agency in the summer of 2004. That was, of course, right before Nash proceeded to win back-to-back MVP awards.

Point is, Nellie is definitely a fun guy to listen to, but you shouldn't always take everything that comes out of his mouth all that seriously.

Classic Sloan

The Utah Jazz has just been hammered by injuries this season. Deron Williams played in just a couple of ballgames this week until realizing his ankle was quite right yet, Andrei Kirilenko is now out with an injury to his finger and Matt Harping played in his first game earlier this week. Mehmet Okur has also been away from the team for awhile now and is back home in Turkey tending to his ailing father.

Some coaches might hop on the good old "Excuse Express" after being dealt a hand like the one Utah has been dealt this season. However, that's not a train Jerry Sloan has ever considered taking a ride on.

"It's a great opportunity for some guys who haven't played to get a chance to play and hopefully help your team on your own," Sloan said prior to Saturday night's game in Cleveland. "But you can't worry about (injuries). I mean, those are things that you start off the season knowing that's always a possibility. And heck, some of them could be career-ending sometimes. So what do you do about it? Nothing, you've got to go out and try and play with who you have. That's the way life is."

I'm pretty sure if you look up the term "Old School" in the dictionary, there's a picture of Sloan's mug plastered next to it.

O.J. Can Play

Some fans have been skeptical about how good of a pro player O.J. Mayo will become. Well, I'm sold on the kid after seeing him play last week in Denver.

Everyone is probably aware Mayo scored 20 points in the first quarter last Sunday in Denver and finished the game with 31. Everyone is probably also aware Mayo dropped 33 points the next night in Phoenix. However, most people probably aren't aware just how professional this kid is behind the scenes.

As I talked to him last week, I felt like I was talking to a guy who had played in the league four or five seasons already. Simply put, the kid is wise beyond his years.

"It's been a pretty easy transition," a cool and collected Mayo told HOOPSWORLD. "I'm really having a lot of fun. I'm just going out and trying to compete every night I play.

"We feel pretty confident as a team. We got off to a pretty good start, but we feel like we could have got off to a even better start if we didn't let a few games slip away. You know, we're a young team and we just want to work at playing a complete 48 minutes right from the start of the game."

Were those really the words of a rookie? Really!?!

Sounds like a veteran talking about trying to help his young teammates along. Simply put, the longer you talk to Mayo, the easier it is to forget he just turned 21 on the 5th of this month.

Truth be told, we probably spend way too much time talking about talent and not quite enough time talking about maturity and professionalism around draft time. Fortunately for the Grizzlies, they've found themselves a true professional who also happens to have a lot of talent.

A Travelin' Man

The travel in the NBA is no joke. Last season, I traveled as much as I ever have covering NBA games. There were times on the second night of back-to-back where I got home and felt like I could sleep for 14 hours... and I was just covering the game.

The life of a NBA player sounds glorious at first, right? Play basketball, get paid millions and travel the country. While you won't hear too many players complaining about the first two, the last one can be tough. And remember, it's not like players have time to go sightseeing or really check out the cities they travel to. In fact, often times teams are in one city for less than 24 hours before hopping on a plane en-route to their next destination.

The amount of travel undoubtedly takes its toll on NBA players and coaches, but it takes a particular toll on older coaches like Phil Jackson of the Los Angeles Lakers.

"Traveling is part of our job in this business," Jackson told the LA Times. "You go out on the road... and that takes some effort and takes some energy. This conference is especially difficult for teams. When you're on the West Coast and you have to travel to New Orleans, Memphis, across the Mississippi and across two-thirds of the country and two time zones, it makes a big difference."

I feels Phil's pain, there's no doubt about that. But then I got to thinking, the Lakers technically only play 39 road games a year.

Why you ask? Simple. Two of the team's "road" games every season are in their home building when they play the Los Angeles Clippers. The flipside to that is since the Lakers are buried on the far left coast, it means they have have a longer commute out East than most other teams in the league.

Still, no matter what team we're talking about, the travel is at times almost unbearable. And based on all the years Phil has been in the league as both a coach and a player, I'm sure my man has racked up his fair share of frequent flyer miles.

Anthony Who?

If you haven't yet heard of Anthony Morrow, you should probably check the kid out. The Golden State Warriors picked Morrow up as an undrafted rookie out of Georgia Tech. The Dubs were hopeful he might develop into a NBA player over time. However, nobody -- at least not anybody who's honest -- saw what happened on Saturday afternoon in Los Angeles coming.

The 23-year-old Morrow scored 37 points for the Warriors on 15-20 shooting. Just in case you're keeping track, dude also grabbed 11 boards.

Last season at Georgia Tech, Morrow never scored more than 31 points in a game. That happened on November 11th, 2007 against Tennessee State. Not sure what that says about the Clippers defense this year, but I digress.

Who knows how good Morrow will be in the future. That said, you've got to have some serious skills to score 37 points in any basketball game. Heck, it's hard enough to score 37 points down at your local YMCA, yet alone in a NBA game against the best athletes in the world.

Keep your eye on this kid.

NBA: Rookie of the Year Talk

Hoopsworld — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 09:04:10 -0500

By: Bill Ingram

Blow Up the Wizards

It's amazing how patient the Washington Wizards have been. Whether it's ownership, management, or coaching staff, the Wizards organization has been fairly quiet as they wait for the day when all of their high-dollar stars finally take the court together.

For the third season in a row we have the same storyline dominating pre-season predictions for the Wizards:

"If this team can ever get healthy they could be the best team in the Eastern Conference."

Last season Antawn Jamison was the only star consistently healthy for the Wizards. Caron Butler appeared in only 58 games, while Gilbert Arenas missed all but 13 games of the season. In 2006-07, Arenas actually led the Big Three with 74 games played, while Jamison logged 70 and Butler 63. Clearly those numbers are headed in the wrong direction, and it's finally starting to get to head coach Eddie Jordan.

"That was not NBA basketball out there, it's as simple as that," Jordan said after his team coughed up an overtime loss to the Milwaukee Bucks on Wednesday night. "There were no NBA plays being made out there. We addressed them tonight in the locker room, so I'm going to put a careful eye on our personnel and what we're doing out there. I think the trend is telling me something. I'm trying to be loyal to NBA vets and the continuity theme but I'm growing very impatient with it."

What we're starting to see, unfortunately, is the final stages of the Washington Wizards as currently constructed. Even if you're not a Wizards fan you have to feel for their predicament. You go out and get amazing talent, lock them up long-term, and then never get a chance to see them play together when the games matter most.

Eddie JOrdan and his team have been amazingly patient with the injury process, but at some point you get tired of excuses and start making changes that will put 'W's on the board. It sounds like the Wizards are just about there.

Speaking of Rookie of the Year

In today's Morning Report, Steve Kyler began the Rookie of the Year discussion. Steve's early list includes Derrick Rose, OJ Mayo, Jason Thompson, Michael Beasley, and Rudy Fernandez, and while those are all great names, there's someone you shouldn't sleep on.

He's not putting up "amazing" numbers yet, but in each of the Milwaukee Bucks' three games second round pick Luc Mbah a Moute has shown marked improvement. He scored nine points (4-7 FG) in 19 minutes against the Raptors on opening night, posted a double double (11 points, 10 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals) in 35 minutes against the New York Knicks in their second game, and last night he dropped 17 points and six rebounds on the Wizards, including a couple of huge plays down the stretch. He also nearly hit the game-winner before overtime.

It's early, and there are a lot of names ahead of Luc Mbah a Moute's . . .names easier to say and spell . . .but he's definitely showing us early that he's someone to keep an eye on. There are very few expectations being put on the Bucks, which could mean an ideal situation for a young player to burst onto the NBA scene.

Big Picture: Old School OJ Mayo

Shawn Siegel — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 04:14:50 -0400

Today's BIG PICTURE

Thanks to our friends over at Icon Sports Media, CHN has access to thousands of great college basketball photos. Each day during the season, CHN will feature a Picture of the Day, which might include a newsworthy, funny, or simply interesting subject. At the bottom will be a caption or headline that might be informative or amusing. The possibilities are endless! During the off-season, we'll publish scattered favorites that were missed during the year.

OJ MAYO: ABCD CAMP

We go way back in the archive, back to June of 2003, for today's Big Picture. OJ Mayo, just 15 at the time, made his ABCD Camp debut.

- Check out recent BIG Pictures!

- Also check out the Cheerleader of the Day!

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