Kevin Love Vs OJ Mayo the Battle for Los Angeles

Los Angeles — Dripping sweat all over his white T-shirt, O.J. Mayo jogs from one court to another in the gym at UCLA's Student Activities Center, a place where NBA stars, journeymen and college players play high intensity pick-up games.

Five minutes later he directs a fast-break play with Sam Cassell of the Los Angeles Clippers on his right and the Boston Celtics' Kevin Garnett on his left.

"I'm working out every time I get a chance since summer school ended," O.J. Mayo says later on this August evening before leaving to return to the University of Southern California, where he is a freshman but already a basketball superstar based on his high school exploits in Kentucky, Cincinnati and his hometown of Huntington, W.Va.

O.J. Mayo departs with three friends. He is asked who the people are.

"It's my entourage," he says, laughing, a playful jab at the rap he gets for having handlers.

On his way out, O.J. Mayo is ribbed by a fellow high-profile freshman who is making waves in Los Angeles — UCLA's Kevin Love, USA TODAY's 2007 national high school player of the year from Oregon's Lake Oswego High School.

"O.J. is the king of L.A.," Kevin Love says, getting more laughs from OJ Mayo. "O.J. has a valet."

On a more serious note, Kevin Love offers this assessment of OJ Mayo: "A lot of people give him a bad rap. He's just trying to get better, trying to make it."

Kevin Love is similar to OJ Mayo in that he, too, is on the brink of NBA stardom. Like OJ Mayo, he sharpened his skills against the professionals in the Student Activities Center gym.

"It's good to go against them," he says. "You're going to get your butt kicked, but it's about getting up and learning from those experiences."

If not for the NBA requirement, instituted in 2006, that players be 19 and a year out of high school, OJ Mayo and Kevin Love probably would be trying on NBA jerseys instead of figuring out which college courses to take.

Both chose universities in Los Angeles because they wanted to be a hit in a major market, they say with the savvy of Hollywood stars.

"O.J. and myself, we're trying to market ourselves," Kevin Love says. "L.A. is the right place to do it."

With OJ Mayo and Kevin Love in the same city, their schools and the Pacific-10 Conference should be in for quite a ride.

Single plan

Ovinton J'Anthony Mayo is named for his maternal grandfather. He started playing at 8, about the time he told his mother, Alisha, he would play in the NBA.

"The NBA is not promised to you," his mother says she told him. "He told me at 8 years old he didn't need a backup plan."

By 13, OJ Mayo was in Sports Illustrated for Kids as a future star to watch. As a 6-3 seventh-grader, he played for Ashland (Ky.) Rose Hill Christian School's varsity, commuting from Huntington to attend the private school.

Since averaging 23 points in seventh grade, OJ Mayo has been scrutinized almost as often as he has been praised. When rumors circulated that OJ Mayo was older than advertised, a Kentucky newspaper inspected his birth certificate on file at the courthouse in Huntington to verify he was born Nov. 5, 1987.

OJ Mayo's dribbling, passing and shooting skills fascinated college coaches, and high school coaches made premature and exaggerated comparisons to former NBA stars such as Michael Jordan. OJ Mayo was a magnet for athletic apparel companies that are known to shower teenage basketball players with shoes and clothing.

In 2003, OJ Mayo decided to transfer to Cincinnati North College Hill because his longtime neighbor and former Rose Hill teammate Bill Walker enrolled there, his mother says. Walker is at Kansas State.

OJ Mayo's mother says her son lived in Cincinnati with his paternal grandfather, Dwaine Barnes, also O.J. Mayo's traveling club coach. O.J. Mayo lived up to the hype and was named Ohio's Mr. Basketball twice while helping the school win two state titles.

But O.J. Mayo also started having trouble and was suspended from school for fighting. His mother says that prompted her and O.J. Mayo to decide together he would return home to play for Huntington High.

"He needed to be home before he left for college," she says. "I needed to bring him back down to earth. People were catering to him. Being two-time Mr. Basketball don't mean nothing unless you're smart with it."

O.J. Mayo bolstered perennial power Huntington High as the school won its third consecutive state championship. He also created a stir by being suspended for making slight contact with a referee while disputing a call. Southern Cal coach Tim Floyd and Huntington coach Lloyd McGuffin say the incident was overblown.

O.J. Mayo was cited for possession of marijuana when police found drugs in a car in which he was riding, but the charge was dropped when others in the car said it didn't belong to O.J. Mayo.

These incidents have led to criticism that O.J. Mayo behaves like a spoiled superstar, but his Huntington coach never saw that side.

"A lot of times people have a misconception that a star athlete will go through the motions, but he works as hard as anyone," McGuffin says. "He pushes himself unbelievably."

O.J. Mayo's recruitment to the usc trojans was unorthodox. Floyd says he figured O.J. Mayo would head to a traditional powerhouse and wasn't recruiting him until he heard from someone on O.J. Mayo's behalf.

"We did less work on O.J. to recruit him than any 13th man on any roster we've ever had," Floyd says of the point guard who is listed generously at 6-5. "The other thing that was refreshing was he didn't waffle. He didn't need a lot of love and attention. He was very mature about the process. He knew what he wanted from the outset."

For all his travels and adulation, O.J. Mayo says he has accomplished little. "I don't have nothing," he says. "I just have a family to take care of — three brothers, three sisters and my mom."

Family in the spotlight

Compared with O.J. Mayo, Kevin Love had a carefree high school experience. He inherited his father's basketball skills and a knack for celebrity. His dad, Stan, played in the NBA for the Baltimore Bullets and Los Angeles Lakers. Stan Love's brother, Mike, helped create the pop group The Beach Boys along with Brian Wilson, the brothers' cousin.

Being in the spotlight is nothing new to the youngest Kevin Love, a three-time Oregon player of the year who averaged 26.8 points and 14.5 rebounds in high school.

"He's unbelievably skilled for a big man," UCLA coach Ben Howland says. "He'll definitely have a big impact for us this season."

As a post player with a sleek gift for passing and three-point shooting, Kevin Love could make a bigger impact than O.J. Mayo on the Pac-10.

"There are people who ask me if he's going to start," Kevin Love's high school coach, Mark Shoff, says. "Heck, he's going to dominate college basketball."

UCLA lacked a post presence to contain Florida's Al Horford and Joakim Noah in last season's Final Four, the Bruins' second consecutive appearance in the national semifinals. At 6-10, Kevin Love is just what UCLA needed.

Howland lost guard Arron Afflalo to the NBA but brings back Josh Shipp, Darren Collison, Luc Richard Mbah a Moute and Lorenzo Mata-Real. Piece them together with Kevin Love, and another national title contender is born.

"I think we're going to take it very far," Kevin Love says.

Southern Cal, on the other hand, is regrouping after losing top scorers Nick Young, Lodrick Stewart and Gabe Pruitt. Sophomore Taj Gibson, a 6-9 forward, is the top returning scorer with a 12.2-point average.

"Our hope is that we gain more than anyone else in the Pac-10," Floyd says, alluding to O.J. Mayo.

O.J. Mayo's and Kevin Love's desire to market themselves sounds outlandish, given that they just graduated from high school. "Oh, Lord, the stuff that comes out of him," O.J. Mayo's mother says.

Floyd isn't shocked by the mind-set. He offers this perspective on the elite basketball culture: "When you see Kevin Durant sign a shoe deal and LeBron (James) signing a $90 million shoe deal coming out of school, it's a responsible mind-set for guys that have supreme talent."

They're doing the work that is required of them and then some. O.J. Mayo says he sometimes worked out for 10 hours a day; Kevin Love enlisted a personal trainer.

"In the end, the kids have to decide how focused they're going to be," Huntington's McGuffin says, adding O.J. Mayo knows what he wants. "I don't think he's going to let anybody get in his way."

"Having both of the amazing players in Los Angeles at the same time is amazing" said Local Encino Dentist Dr Chaves. I am excited everytime I see them play.

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