Spreading the Mayo

I must confess, I absolutely love O.J. Mayo.

Who is O.J. Mayo? Well, right now, he's just a senior in the off-season of his sport finishing up his last semester of high school in West Virginia. But at this time next year, he could be college basketball's biggest villain. And only one year after, completely gone from college ball like he was never there.

Mayo, who committed to play basketball at USC, built himself quite the rap sheet during his formative years. Most notably:

• Bumped an official after being ejected from a game, sending him to the ground
• Passenger in a car where marijuana was found (later cleared of any charges)
• Decided to go to USC based on its platform as a national market, rather than it's facilities, coaching staff or players
• Got into multiple fights
• Essentially told Tim Floyd he was going to USC, which was a totally unorthodox method of recruiting

...and my absolute favorite:

• This is how he ended his high school career -- with an ally-oop to himself off the glass followed by an ejection

Classless? Yeah, maybe. But he was well aware of the situation. The game was over, his HS career was through, and there were no real repercussions (other than the ejection, which was meaningless). And you know what the end result was? More media attention to the 6'5'' senior.

The craziest part is the thousand of fans cheering him on. He's like Barry Bonds and Terrell Owens, but he's being encouraged instead of discouraged.

There are plenty of people in the national media -- like Pardon The Interruption's Mike Wilbon -- who know what Mayo is all about, and have already established their negative stances, but what makes him any different than someone like Cincinnati Bengal's wide receiver Chad Johnson? USC coach Tim Floyd seems to think Mayo's a good kid.

He's even endorsing him leaving after just one season:

When asked if Mayo will stay more than a year, Floyd said he wants Mayo to go to the NBA as soon as he can, adding, "This kid can make a lot of money."

Now, there's no bones about it, Mayo might be a bit of a punk, but at this point, he's going to get a tough spin from the media no matter what happens to him.

So why do I like him? He's such an incredible personality.

Sure, Greg Oden and Kevin Durant are both mega-talented All-Americans who seem to have it all, but there's one thing they're both missing: shameless charisma.

Both kids have squeaky clean reputations at this point, but maybe that's the problem; it's taking the intrigue out of college basketball. I want heroes, but I also want bad guys. I want people to get bent out of shape by a kid who could care less.

Mayo literally plays by his own rules, and until he actually is involved in a serious illegal offense, I'm going to react to his act in the way it's presented: by being entertained.

And think about this, USC went to the Sweet 16 this year with a fairly young team, and if NBA-caliber junior Nick Young comes back for his senior year and freshman Taj Gibson plays his regular season like he played his NCAA Tournament, adding Mayo to the mix could easily make USC a national title contender.

It's everything Mayo ever wanted -- and maybe even more.

Not only will get his national platform (playing in L.A. on a Top 25 team ensures the freshie all the attention he needs), but he'll also get a coach who is giving him the keys to a very expensive car. Forgive me if I don't think Mayo is going to adhere to a curfew or speed limit.

And while Tim Floyd sits blindfolded in the passenger seat, Mayo, without boundaries, can leave his 'black mark' on college basketball that will probably end up only being a temporary scar ... if that's actually possible. Now, I don't know if I endorse all of his antics, but I do endorse the flavor he's going to bring to college basketball. Let him ruffle some feathers, I say. He'll be out of the building before it collapses.

One thing's for sure, you're gonna love him or hate him, because there is no room for middle ground.