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View Full Version : USC loses to Mercer, yes Mercer, as the OJ Mayo era begins



DavidBenAkiva
11-10-2007, 05:09 PM
That would be the University of Southern California, not South Carolina.

Hmmm...

Time flies like an arrow
Fruit flies like a banana

YmoBeThere
11-10-2007, 05:21 PM
Now within 7

Bob Green
11-10-2007, 05:48 PM
Mercer 75 - USC 62 with 6:04 left in the game.

prefan21
11-10-2007, 05:49 PM
81-65 Mercer with 3:39 to go.

YmoBeThere
11-10-2007, 05:58 PM
96-81 And so despite 32 points by the anointed one, the OJ Mayo era at USC begins with a whimper and not a bang.

dukie8
11-10-2007, 06:03 PM
96-81 And so despite 32 points by the anointed one, the OJ Mayo era at USC begins with a whimper and not a bang.

he heaved up 27 shots to get those 32 points. thank goodness we avoided that train wreck in progress...

YmoBeThere
11-10-2007, 06:09 PM
Agreed, I did notice at one point he was 1 of 8 from three and then proceeded to hit his next 3 in a row.

FireOgilvie
11-10-2007, 06:13 PM
... a very large portion of USC's team is injured right now. They didn't even have enough people to complete their annual team scrimmage (similar to the Blue and White game). They had to call the game with 3 minutes left. Mayo had 30+ points and his side won.

Given that, they should still beat Mercer.

jimsumner
11-10-2007, 06:28 PM
"thank goodness we avoided that train wreck in progress"

There was never the slighest chance that Duke and Mayo would connect.

dukie8
11-10-2007, 06:42 PM
"thank goodness we avoided that train wreck in progress"

There was never the slighest chance that Duke and Mayo would connect.

i agree but you never know. we narrowly avoided the humphries train wreck.

JasonEvans
11-10-2007, 10:27 PM
i agree but you never know. we narrowly avoided the humphries train wreck.

Except the moment Humphries showed signs of being headed toward a wreck, we cleared the area. With Mayo, the signs were there when he was a freshman in high school.

-Jason "OJ is all about OJ-- he probably barely cares that they lost so long as he got his points" Evans

Olympic Fan
11-11-2007, 12:17 AM
I got a laugh reading the ESPN summary of the game -- it's more about Mayo scoring 32 than USC losing. It contains the line:

"Mayo, one of the nation's most prized recruits, led the Trojans with 32 points, but he couldn't help them overcome 19 turnovers and 18-of-32 free-throw shooting. His points were a school record by a freshman in his debut."

I like the part about "he couldn't help them overcome 19 turnovers" ... maybe he couldn't help because he committed eight of those turnovers himself. The story didn't mention that -- and didn't mention that he was 12-of-27 from the floor to get his school record 32 points.

I don't know what he did defensively, but I can guess ... knowing his past defensive "prowess" it's not surprising that Mercer shot 59 percent from the floor or that guard James Florence scored 30 ... although I admit I don't know that Mayo guarded Florence (actually, it's a pretty safe bet that Mayo didn't guard anybody).

And about those players that USC was missing. They were missing Daniel Hackett, who was one of their two returning stars (along with Taj Gibson, who got 1/3 of the shots that Mayo did). But why was Hackett missing? You might ask Mr. Mayo who broke Hackett's jaw -- either with an elbow in a pickup game as was the official line ... or with a punch in a brawl as has been widely reported in LA.

It's going to be fun following these guys this season. But you might have to read behind the adulation to understand why many of us are thanking our lucky stars that Mayo ended up 3,000 miles away. As a lover of college basketball, he can't get to the NBA soon enough.

JDSBlueDevl
11-11-2007, 01:06 AM
This is ESPN you're talking about, the same network that pimped Allen "I'm getting my points at the expense of the rest of the team" Iverson.

mepanchin
11-11-2007, 01:48 AM
I really have no problem with Mayo or Beasley taking huge amounts of shots. Frankly they are their team's best players by a huge margin. That being said, what I find appallingly stupid is the hype USC, and to a lesser extent, K-State are getting based solely on the performances of Mayo and Beasley. USC should not be ranked - period. Rivals had K-State as a 3 seed (but Rivals is awful). Make these teams prove something - neither were impressive in their respective openers.

dukie8
11-11-2007, 02:28 AM
I got a laugh reading the ESPN summary of the game -- it's more about Mayo scoring 32 than USC losing. It contains the line:

"Mayo, one of the nation's most prized recruits, led the Trojans with 32 points, but he couldn't help them overcome 19 turnovers and 18-of-32 free-throw shooting. His points were a school record by a freshman in his debut."

I like the part about "he couldn't help them overcome 19 turnovers" ... maybe he couldn't help because he committed eight of those turnovers himself. The story didn't mention that -- and didn't mention that he was 12-of-27 from the floor to get his school record 32 points.

I don't know what he did defensively, but I can guess ... knowing his past defensive "prowess" it's not surprising that Mercer shot 59 percent from the floor or that guard James Florence scored 30 ... although I admit I don't know that Mayo guarded Florence (actually, it's a pretty safe bet that Mayo didn't guard anybody).

And about those players that USC was missing. They were missing Daniel Hackett, who was one of their two returning stars (along with Taj Gibson, who got 1/3 of the shots that Mayo did). But why was Hackett missing? You might ask Mr. Mayo who broke Hackett's jaw -- either with an elbow in a pickup game as was the official line ... or with a punch in a brawl as has been widely reported in LA.

It's going to be fun following these guys this season. But you might have to read behind the adulation to understand why many of us are thanking our lucky stars that Mayo ended up 3,000 miles away. As a lover of college basketball, he can't get to the NBA soon enough.

i am very much looking forward to this train wreck develop as the season progresses and then which nba team is stupid enough to waste a high draft pick on him. my guess is that the knicks already have their sights set on him.

Jumbo
11-11-2007, 02:32 AM
I got a laugh reading the ESPN summary of the game -- it's more about Mayo scoring 32 than USC losing.


Uh, that's an AP story.

burnspbesq
11-11-2007, 12:21 PM
I really have no problem with Mayo or Beasley taking huge amounts of shots. Frankly they are their team's best players by a huge margin. That being said, what I find appallingly stupid is the hype USC, and to a lesser extent, K-State are getting based solely on the performances of Mayo and Beasley. USC should not be ranked - period. Rivals had K-State as a 3 seed (but Rivals is awful). Make these teams prove something - neither were impressive in their respective openers.

Apparently some of us have forgotten that USC is a Sweet Sixteen team that replaced two guys who declared early for the NBA draft with two outstanding freshmen. There are cogent arguments that can be made that the Trojans are the third best team in the Pac-10 -- and frankly, this year the Pac-10 is better than the ACC by a considerable margin.

If both teams were fully healthy at the time, USC would give Duke a hell of a game, and might well win. Not because of Mayo, but because their frontline of Gibson, Ndiaye, and Wilkinson is much better than Zoubek and Thomas.

Indoor66
11-11-2007, 12:24 PM
Apparently some of us have forgotten that USC is a Sweet Sixteen team that replaced two guys who declared early for the NBA draft with two outstanding freshmen. There are cogent arguments that can be made that the Trojans are the third best team in the Pac-10 -- and frankly, this year the Pac-10 is better than the ACC by a considerable margin.

If both teams were fully healthy at the time, USC would give Duke a hell of a game, and might well win. Not because of Mayo, but because their frontline of Gibson, Ndiaye, and Wilkinson is much better than Zoubek and Thomas.

I guess Mercer is a world beater.

Olympic Fan
11-11-2007, 02:42 PM
There are cogent arguments that can be made that the Trojans are the third best team in the Pac-10 -- and frankly, this year the Pac-10 is better than the ACC by a considerable margin.


So the third-best team in the Pac 10 just opened with a homecourt loss to Mercer, the projected fourth-best team in the Atlantic Sun? That says a lot about the league.

We'll have to wait and see, but frankly, the idea that "this year the Pac 10 is better than the ACC by a considerable margin" is open to debate.

You do know we are talking basketball here?

Well, just for the record, the ACC last year had a better RPI, a better non-conference winning percentage and a winning head-to-head record than the Pac 10. Not that any of that matters this year, just to suggest I don't see how the Pac 10 suddenly got a lot better than the ACC (which will be a MUCH more experienced league this year than last year).

As for USC ...

USC actually lost three starters off last year's Sweet 16 team -- Nick Young, Gabe Pruitt and Loderick Stewart -- Young and Stewart were double figure scorers, while Pruitt was the starting point guard.

That's a lot to replace.

I know OJ Mayo is a great talent, but the entire point of this thread is that many of us believe he's a selfish slug who will sacrifice team success for his personal glory. The first game seemed to justify that point of view -- he got his, but the team lost big (and one of the reasons it lost big was because they were without a key player -- who was sidelined by a Mayo elbow/punch).

Frankly, I don't think replacing last year's three starters with Mayo and Davon Jefferson (another one-and-done player who seems more interested in padding his NBA status than winning at USC) is a fair trade. BTW, Jefferson also sat out the Mercer game -- he has missed some preseason practice with an injury, but was healthy enough to play. But Tim Floyd told reporters, "Frankly, he's got no idea what he's doing."

LOL!

And as for your assertion that Gibson, Ndiaye and Wilkinson are so much better than "Thomas and Zoubek" -- interesting that you would cite Duke's backup center ... what about Thomas and Singler, the two starting post guys? Or Thomas, Singler and Henderson -- the starting front line?

I know that Taj Gibson is a real talent (12 ppg. and 9 rpg. as a true freshman), but what's so great about 6-7 Keith Wilkinson -- as a sophomore last year he averaged 11.8 minutes, 1.7 ppg and 2.2 rpg. -- much worse stats than Thomas had as a freshman at Duke.

I'll take Thomas over Wilkinson (who was 0-for-4 and scoreless in 11 minutes against Mercer).

As for Ndiaye -- are you talking about Abdoulaye N'diaye? Maybe you didn't know that he graduated after last season. Not that his 3.1 ppg and 2.2 rpg. as a senior were any better than Zoubek's freshman performance (in fact, Zoubek averaged 3.1 ppg and 2.2 rebound -- exactly the same as a freshman as N'diaye did as a senior).

So THAT is your reason USC would give Duke "a hell of a game" -- because Gibson and a little-used junior stiff and a guy who's not there any more are better than Duke's second-best post player and a backup big man?

I'd love to play Southern Cal -- Mayo would score 35, Gibson would get 18 rebounds (but like against Mercer, the only shots he would get would be on offensive rebounds; OJ ain't sharing the ball) and Duke would win by 30 ... if Hackett was back and at full speed and Jefferson could figure out what the heck he's doing, then the game would be closer -- at least I think it would, although it's going to be fun to watch Mayo and Hackett share the basketball (we may see some more broken jaws in the future).

No -- USC has a lot of talent on a few given nights, they may put it all together for a few games here and there and when they happens, I'm sure you'll be back here screaming about how great they are. But I'm betting in the long run, USC is gonna "blow up ... blow up good!"

PS Jumbo is right ... I apologize for blaming ESPN for the game summary, when it was an AP story. The source was wrong ... but the story WAS unintentionally hilarious.

mepanchin
11-11-2007, 06:19 PM
Apparently some of us have forgotten that USC is a Sweet Sixteen team that replaced two guys who declared early for the NBA draft with two outstanding freshmen. There are cogent arguments that can be made that the Trojans are the third best team in the Pac-10 -- and frankly, this year the Pac-10 is better than the ACC by a considerable margin.

If both teams were fully healthy at the time, USC would give Duke a hell of a game, and might well win. Not because of Mayo, but because their frontline of Gibson, Ndiaye, and Wilkinson is much better than Zoubek and Thomas.

Ok, first of all, Nick Young took 28% of USC's shots. Second of all, Lodrick Stewart took 27% of their shots. Third of all, Gabe Pruitt was their point guard. These guys were probably their 3 best players for the whole of last year, and USC wasn't even that good last year. They finished the season with some hot shooting, but for the whole of the season they were pretty disjointed, losing to Oregon by 24, and Washington by 15 within the last 10 games of the season.

The USC hype exists entirely because of OJ Mayo. Taj Gibson was 4 for 12 from the field, 5 for 10 from the line, with 5 turnovers. That is a much worse game than Mayo. Mayo didn't even have that bad of a shooting night. Yeah he took 27 shots, but 11 were 3s so obviously his overall % will be lower - this is misleading. Paulus only shot 45.6% from the field last year, but his eFG% was over 57% because of his excellent 3 point shooting. 4 for 11 isn't great, but it's certainly not terrible.

I also echo the sentiments above me about Duke vs USC this year. As mentioned, Ndiaye doesn't actually play for USC anymore. Wilkinson has no offense (0 for 4 against Mercer, and last year only used 10% of possessions when he played limited minutes). Basically that game would boil down to defending their freshmen (Duke is fantastic year in and year out defending the 3). I would feel pretty confident.

jipops
11-11-2007, 08:17 PM
So the third-best team in the Pac 10 just opened with a homecourt loss to Mercer, the projected fourth-best team in the Atlantic Sun? That says a lot about the league.


This appears to be more of something that is happening in college sports. Interesting the parallels already taking place between college football and basketball.

Not that this has anything to do with Mayo and this thread. No need to add anything in his regard.

mepanchin
11-11-2007, 08:56 PM
I don't think any real shocking upsets have occurred in college basketball so far. Just overrated teams being outed. USC is also missing several guys they'll have later in the season. The Kentucky game outed Kentucky as a legitimately bad team.

dukie8
11-11-2007, 09:03 PM
I don't think any real shocking upsets have occurred in college basketball so far. Just overrated teams being outed. USC is also missing several guys they'll have later in the season. The Kentucky game outed Kentucky as a legitimately bad team.

kentucky getting blown out at home by a bad gardner webb team was a tremendously shocking upset. it probably was one of the biggest upsets in the past few years. don't tell me that you saw it coming because, other than a few rabid gardner webb faithfuls, nobody foresaw it.

mepanchin
11-11-2007, 09:18 PM
kentucky getting blown out at home by a bad gardner webb team was a tremendously shocking upset. it probably was one of the biggest upsets in the past few years. don't tell me that you saw it coming because, other than a few rabid gardner webb faithfuls, nobody foresaw it.

I saw Kentucky play against Central Arkansas on the first night and remarked to my friends how pathetically bad they played but only won because Central Arkansas was just a really terrible team. Kentucky losing to GW was probably surprising only insofar as it was Kentucky losing at home, because they are Kentucky, not because they are good. It isn't an example of parity in college basketball, it's an example of how bad Kentucky is. Kentucky is a really bad team this year, and unless they really amp up the guardplay, they could legitimately have a losing season this year.

I mean this is just an equivocation on what a shocking upset is and I don't feel the need to argue about that. One can certainly make a good argument that UK losing to GW was a shocking upset, but I don't see it. I think Kentucky only got any credit this year because of tradition and a high profile coaching change. They just don't have the talent to do well.