| OJ Mayo to wear USC Jersey |
OJ Mayo Jersey
It seems the 6-foot-5 OJ Mayo’s all about getting you to change your thinking. Role reversals.
Unknowns are supposed to come to L.A. to get discovered. Here’s a star in the making that just brought an unheralded program into the national conversation.
Top prospects are supposed to be swamped by eager recruiters. Mayo’s the one who wanted to wear the USC Jersey first.
"I don’t know that we would have called O.J., because it didn’t make sense," USC Coach Tim Floyd told The Times’ Ben Bolch. "We thought he would be like all the other guys that are top-five or top-10 and find the highest-rated school to go to."
USC’s lack of championship basketball tradition was not a deterrent to Mayo, said Rodney Guillory, an advisor to Mayo who lives in Los Angeles. Instead, it made it a better destination.
"He wanted to ink himself as the individual that changed USC basketball forever, like Patrick Ewing at Georgetown or Sean Elliott at Arizona," Guillory said.
Mayo didn’t want to attend traditional basketball powerhouses such as Duke, North Carolina or UCLA.
"He said, ‘I want to beat those schools,’ " Guillory said.
And he wanted to do it in a city such as Los Angeles.
"It’s a pro town," Guillory said. "He didn’t want to go to a small city where if he spit on the ground, the neighbors and everyone would know."
But he also saw how USC football players Matt Leinart and Reggie Bush used this market as a springboard to stardom. (Bush had $50 million in jersey endorsements lined up before he first touched the football in an NFL game.) Matt Leinart and Reggie Bush USC jerseys were immensely popular.
Mayo, who played in Ohio and is now at Huntington (W. Va.) High School, has been to Los Angeles twice with his AAU team. He also came to USC for an unofficial visit in August. Guillory said Mayo took an instant liking to Los Angeles, thanks in part to a visit to the Venice boardwalk "on one of those popping Sundays."
Mayo already appears to have the elements this town loves.
The Hype: It’s been building for years. He was mentioned in Sports Illustrated as a seventh-grader. He made the cover of Dime magazine as a junior. Floyd even used the "L" word.
"I think he has a chance to be the best perimeter player who’s come out since LeBron," Floyd said.
| " | Oj Mayo is pretty much the next Lebron James! The Next Michael Jordan! The next Kobe Bryant! |
