College Basketball Preview: An LA Story

Focus on Hoops
The NCAA basketball season tips off this week, and with California's college football teams producing nothing but sour grapes this fall, sports fans (and the diehards at the Taft Chamber of Commerce weekly sit-and-sip) should shift their focus to the hardwood floor. Indeed, hope— and hype— now turn toward hoops. UCLA boasts championship hope with the No. 2 preseason ranking while USC screams hype with the coming of all-world recruit O.J. Mayo. Let's just hope the Sauce doesn't turn out like the Juice, that other O.J. of USC lore.

The Sauce...

The Juice...

USC Preview
Widely regarded as the best player to come out of high school since LeBron James, this O.J. is no joke. In all likelihood Mayo will be gone after one year, as he is projected to be a top-three pick in the 2008 NBA draft. In the meantime, the man in the No. 32 jersey (worn in homage to Tinseltown titan Magic Johnson) will bring an all-around game along with star power to a USC hoops squad historically overshadowed by those other Trojans in helmets and shoulder pads. Yet third-year coach Tim Floyd, even more than Mayo, deserves credit for boosting the basketball team’s status both on campus and on the national stage. The Trojans enter the season ranked No. 18, and Floyd will only add sparkle to an impressive resume that includes last season’s school-record 25 wins and second Sweet 16 appearance since Magic faced Bird in the 1979 title game. Additionally, Floyd has done a phenomenal job recruiting, bringing in the nation’s top freshmen class. Mayo, who will play shooting guard, is naturally the crown jewel, but he will be joined in the starting lineup and quite possibly next year’s NBA draft by power forward Davon Jefferson. These talented youngsters will help compensate for the loss of first-round pick Nick Young, second-round pick Gabe Pruitt, and Lodrick Stewart, who were the three leading scorers on last year’s team. Rounding out the starting five are point guard Daniel Hackett, small forward Dwight Lewis, and center Taj Gibson, all of whom logged significant minutes last season. This bunch is young, hungry, and eager to compete for a Pac-10 title. With a solid foundation in place, Floyd ultimately aspires to build a program that can compete with UCLA’s venerable tradition, and the success of this year’s team is crucial to that development.

UCLA Preview: Big Love
While USC may feature this year’s top recruiting class, it’s not like their crosstown rivals are bottom feeders; in fact, UCLA coach Ben Howland has already secured a 2008 incoming group (highlighted by Jrue Holiday) that will probably end up as the nation’s finest. More importantly, the Bruins are loaded this year. Fresh off back-to-back Final Four appearances in which they lost to two-time defending champion Florida in the 2006 title game and last year's semifinal game, UCLA is already nipping at the North Carolina Tar Heels’ preseason No. 1 ranking. Granted, top scorer Aaron Afflalo is gone as a first-round NBA draft pick, but his departure is offset by the arrival of freshman center Kevin Love (above left), the best frosh prospect not named O.J. No less an authority than the Wizard of Westwood John Wooden has already likened Love to legendary Pauley Pavilion pivots like Lew Alcindor and Bill Walton. Love’s athleticism, strong rebounding, and nifty passing skills could very well mean that Mayo won’t even be the top freshman in the Pac-10. Meanwhile Howland can rely on four returning starters to surround Love. A first-team All-Pac-10 selection last year, junior point guard Darren Collison could have been a lottery pick, but he has returned in hopes of leading the Bruins to the national championship. Junior Josh Shipp, second in scoring to Afflalo in ‘06/07, joins Collison to form the nation’s best backcourt. The frontcourt looks to be very strong as well. The arrival of Love means that junior Luc Ricard Mbah a Moute can capitalize on his versatility by logging time at both forward spots. Love, on account of his superior passing, may actually play the four at times to allow senior Lorenzo Mata-Real to do the dirty work at center. All told, this team looks to win the Pac-10, earn a No. 1 NCAA tournament seed, and play deep into March.

Rivalry Renewed
Then again, if the football season is any indicator, UCLA's current No. 2 ranking is as good as fool's gold. USC and Cal (plus Southern Florida and Boston College) have suffered embarrassing defeats while occupying the deuce slot. Football fans can rest assured that one of these teams will win on Saturday because USC visits Cal to do battle in Berkeley’s Memorial Stadium, sometimes dubbed “Tightwad Hill” for the free show it offers thrifty hilltoppers, as former Taft High basketball star and USC superfan Bob Hampton reminded us at this week's Chamber sit-and-sip. At this point, it’s certainly understandable that fans are reluctant to pay to see these two disappointing teams (not to mention Tom Mayo’s 5-4 ugly Bruins) do battle on the gridiron. If Hampton wants to focus on something more hopeful and hype-worthy than the beating of the dead Trojan football horse, then he should stick to college hoops from here on out. If nothing else, Hampton can root for O.J. "The Sauce" Mayo, who is clearly no relation to the Trojan-loathing Tom Mayo. We'll have to wait until Jan. 19 when UCLA hosts USC to discover which Mayo gets to spread bragging rights from Los Angeles to Taft.