There has been much discussion of who is the best Pac-10 Freshmen this year. Many have pointed to Arizon’s Jerryd Bayless but O.J. Mayo had something to say about that by scoring 20 points and helping USC defeat Arizona, 70-58, on Thursday night.
Bayless, matched his season low of eight points,

Southern California freshman guard O.J. Mayo was named the Pac-10 men’s players of the week, the first in his career. Mayo led the Trojans to home victories over Oregon and Oregon State last week by averaging 26.5 points.

According to an executive it has…

One NBA executive said the freshman guard’s four-point, 10-turnover game against UCLA wouldn’t hurt his draft stock “because every decision-maker that matters was at the [NBA] All-Star game” in New Orleans.

“It only becomes a bad box score because no one was there,” the executive said.

Nonetheless, the executive said Mayo’s draft stock had slipped and projected him to be selected late in the lottery, which encompasses the first 14 picks.

“What hurts O.J. more than anything is there are other guys in the Pac-10 playing so well,” the executive said. “[Arizona's] Jerryd Bayless is having a much better year than him. And he’s not beating out other freshmen like Eric Gordon, Derrick Rose and Michael Beasley.”

Today’s OC Register has a look at the Pac-10 Conference with one month to go including a projected all-conference team:

G – Darren Collison, UCLA, junior

G – O.J. Mayo, USC, freshman

F – Ryan Anderson, Cal, sophomore

F – Brook Lopez, Stanford, sophomore

C – Kevin Love, UCLA, freshman

O.J. Mayo scored 29 points, including 20 in the first half, to lead USC to its sixth victory in seven games with a 73-59 victory over the Washington Huskies.

USC is now 15-7 overall and 6-4 in the Pacific 10 Conference.

O.J. Mayo scored 20 points and helped Southern California beat Arizona State 67-53 on Saturday night for its fifth win in six games.

USC’s O.J. Mayo led the Trojans with 23 points but it was not enough as Arizona beat the Trojans 80-69 Thursday night before a record crowd at the Galen Center.

Arizona is 15-6 overall and 5-3 in the Pac-10; USC is 13-7 overall and 4-4.