Check out the LA Times article about O.J. Mayo Blending in at USC.

He has played in a pickup game against Kobe Bryant, dined with LeBron James and gone window shopping along Melrose Avenue, yet O.J. Mayo hasn’t exactly gone Hollywood since arriving in Southern California. Far from it.

That much became clear several days ago when the USC freshman guard interrupted an interview to tell a homeless man sifting through a garbage bin outside the Galen Center that his shopping cart was rolling toward Figueroa Street. Mayo addressed the man, like he does all male adults, as “Sir.”

Mayo’s mode of transportation in the land of Bentleys and BMWs is a black beach cruiser, which he can still pedal somewhat anonymously through campus. Outside the Galen Center last week, two Trojans volleyball players spotted arguably the most heralded basketball recruit in school history and didn’t know who he was.

Read the entire Article

The New York Times has an article on O.J. Mayo and how he ended up committing to USC (University of Southern California). Some memorable points in the article:

• Head coach Tim Floyd said he did not bother to call Mayo or even send him a U.S.C. brochure.
• Mayo wanted to market himself before going to the N.B.A., and that Los Angeles would give him the best possible platform.
• O.J. Mayo wanted to be a pioneer for a new era
• Floyd answered the phone, he heard a teenager’s voice on the other end: “Coach, this is O. J. Mayo. I’d like to come to your school.”
• Mayo said that if he did not go to U.S.C., he would probably enroll at an African-American college.
• “It was the craziest thing I’ve ever been a part of. I kept thinking, ‘Either this kid is nuts, or he’s got the biggest vision I’ve ever seen.’ ” - Tim Floyd, USC Head Coach

Read the entire article.

Pat Forde of ESPN.com has written an article on O.J. Mayo entitled Mayo learns the burden of fame as a basketball prodigy. The article deals with OJ Mayo, who although has been in the spotlight ever since he was little, the amount of news and video coverage over a week where he was playing basketball games in three states, filing an injunction in a county courthouse to go from suspended to unsuspended, had the “technical” heard around the world, and played some of the top teams in the country, was a bit overwhelming.

“[O.J.] has received a lot of recognition and self-acclaim. But he has probably learned that certain things come with it — not all of them positive.” - Former Kentucky All-American guard and TV color analyst, Kyle Macy