With O.J. Mayo set to make his college debut this Saturday for the USC Trojans, the Press Enterprise has a great article on there being More to Mayo than Hype.

Mayo is a smart, academic, hard-working team guy and leader interested in more of the world than the 94-by-50-foot stage where he’s made himself famous. He’d rather outwork you than get by on his talent. And as much as he plans to become one of the 50 top players in NBA history, he’s also dedicated to reviving his West Virginia hometown as a real estate developer.

USA Today has an article about O.J. Mayo and how he has dispelled preconceptions.

I’m just a ballplayer. Am I a competitive ballplayer? Yeah. Do I want to win? Do I really want to work harder than anyone? Yeah. But as a person, I’m just like the next man. I’m no better than the next man. I’m no better than the next student or the next person. I just have a God-given ability to play basketball, and I want to use that to the utmost to support my family and support myself.

“I’m no better than you,” Mayo says. “I’m no better than the man on the corner with a ‘Hungry’ sign. I just have a talent, and I want to use it.”

According to the LA Times, not only has O.J. Mayo been impressive on the court but he’s doing well in the classroom as well. Mayo is on pace to become a PAC-10 honor roll student and planned to begin taking classes in his major — real estate development and business management — next semester. He could have enough credits to be a semester ahead by the end of this year.

“Only time will tell” whether the projected lottery pick in the 2008 NBA draft remains in school next year, Mayo said, “but right now I’m getting ready for next year and moving on toward my major.”

Reported in today’s O.C. Register, O.J. Mayo came down with a nasty case of tonsillitis and was given the option of missing practice from USC basketball coach Tim Floyd. What did Mayo do? He got some shots and showed up for the morning and early evening practices.

“That’s what the really great ones do, the ones that really get it at the next level,” Floyd said. “That showed me a lot.”

“I feel like as a ballplayer and as a competitor who wants to win, anything short of a national championship will be a failure for the team this year”