“I don’t know. I’m not thinking about that right now,”

USC and Kansas State will play in the first round of the NCAA Tourny and features the battle of fabulous freshmen and soon-to-be NBA rookies: O.J. Mayo of USC vs. Michael Beasley of Kansas State. Mayo will also face best friend and Kansas State freshman Bill Walker, who was a former high school teammate and have known each other since 3 years old.

The LA Times All Things Trojan Blog has two great entries on why OJ Mayo should stay at USC for another year and why he should go pro.

Among the reasons to stay:
- Highly touted DeMar DeRozan will be an incoming freshman and could help Mayo’s college legacy of bringing USC basketball to the spotlight

Some reasons to go to the NBA:
- Guaranteed money. Just look at what happened to Shaun Livingston. If a career threatning injury were to happen to Mayo at USC, his draft status and future would be very cloudy.

What do you think? Should he stay another year or bolt for the association?

O.J. Mayo’s stats for the past 7 games after scoring only 4 points and 10 turnovers against UCLA:

26.2 points, 5.0 rebounds, 3.8 assists, 2.2 steals

From Dan Webber of the Press Enterprise:

Mayo’s head-to-head confrontations with top freshman guards Derrick Rose of Memphis, Jerryd Bayless of Arizona and James Harden of Arizona State, all considered one-and-done phenoms. Mayo has outscored the three 116-77 in five games, with 20 assists to 12, and 12 turnovers to their 23.

ESPN has a NBA Lottery Mock Draft where Chad Ford breaks down different scenarios. He usually has O.J. Mayo going to the LA Clippers as the 6th or 7th pick in the draft.

Highlights of O.J. Mayo scoring 32 points against Oregon
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O.J. Mayo scored a career-best 37 points but the USC Trojans lost to Arizona State 80-66.