Adolescent Exploitation -- A Necessary Evil?

Earlier this week, Class of 2010 point guard Kendall Marshall committed to the University of North Carolina. If you've never heard of Marshall, he was named the number one-ranked fifth-grader in his class in 2002. In a related story, my little brother was named the number one ranked NBA Live player in his sixth-grade class.

As a UNC fan, I'm definitely excited that Coach Roy Williams has lined up more future talent to lead his program into the next decade (He got a commitment from '08 guard Larry Drew, Jr.). As a basketball fan, I'm still excited, but a little concerned about the fact that a kid just entering his sophomore season in high school has already committed to a university, which is ultimately one of the toughest decisions in life, in the same vein as the girl you marry and "Beyonce or Alicia Keys?".

Now, I'm not going to get all conservative sports media on you. I recognize that their is huge demand for talented prep players in a growing market filled with coaches all over the country who would give a lung for a five-star recruit.

College basketball recruiting has turned into a cradle-rocking spectacle, with the best (read: biggest names) players go to the coaches who can get them the earliest. A part of me recognizes this as a necessary process that is needed to keep the top programs as contenders and the mid-level schools on the rise.

But a huge part of me can't help but think if this is hurting the kids way more than helping them. A few things in particular bother me:

1) How young is too young?
In June, 14-year old Ryan Boatwright committed to USC, a few days before he even picked which high school he was going to attend. Add to the fact that the term "committment" means absolutely nada to a 14-16 year old. USC missed out on one of the most important recruits in school history when Brandon Jennings reneged on his verbal commitment and committed to Arizona. In the ESPN article above, Boatwright admitted that North Carolina was his favorite school and "didn't know" what he would do if Roy Williams offered a scholarship to UNC. Which leads to my second concern....

2) What if the kid isn't as good as advertised?
Do you, as a coach, rescind on a scholarship offer you made to a kid in 2007 if he isn't the player you expected him to be (or the player he was advertised) in 2012 (if you're still there)? It is a huge risk offered a spot to a young player so far away from his college arrival. Injuries, lack of focus, or lack of skill progression can make an early offer look extremely bad if the player doesn't turn out to be as spectacular.

It may not be as big a risk in Marshall's case, seeing that he is at least a sophomore and just came off leading his team (Archbishop O'Connell in Arlington, VA) to the state championship game, where they lost to 2008 UNC recruit Ed Davis and his St. Benedictine squad. Boatwright hasn't even played a high school game yet. Nobody knows his talent level yet, meaning he could absolutely suck at the next level. What is Tim Floyd going to do then? A few years ago, Davon Jefferson was one of the most-hyped recruits in the class of '07. This year, he barely gets a mention as a member of USC's incoming freshman class that includes O.J. Mayo.

Decrease in interest
Tar Heel fans may be elated now at the news of Marshall's commitment, but that excitement will most likely wane throughout the coming years. Kendall Marshall won't touch the Dean Dome floor (that's, of course, if he doesn't go back on his verbal commitment) until the fall of 2010. The new U.S. president will be a year and a half into his/her presidency by then. I'll be five years away from 30. Long time. Not to mention that Drew, Jr. might still be in a Tar Heel uniform by that time, playing the same position as Marshall.

It seemed like it took forever for the hoops world to see Mayo in a college uniform, though we all believed he would never wear one. I'm going to take one big nap and hopefully when I wake up, Jennings will be in Tuscon playing for the Wildcats.

We live in a shortsighted world that has an extremely stunted memory when it comes to "hot" things. One day, somebody is the "next great thing", and the next day he is replaced by the "next next great thing". It's just how it is.

Even the argument that "picking a college early is good because kids can get it out the way" is flawed. If every major university wants you when you're a scrawny 15-year-old kid, they should be all over you when you're 17-18 and your game has progressed. On the same note, if a kid is good as a freshman in high school, why not wait until he has gotten older and significantly better to offer a scholarship to him as a junior. Minimize the risk, why don't ya?

In the end, though, you can't really blame the kid for simply taking advantage of coaches' haste to get a leg up on the competition. It's like they're 21 year-old men recruiting wives as skinny, flat-chested 14 year-olds and hoping they morph into Beyonce in four years. Could happen, most likely won't, and you may ruin a kid's future before it actually starts.

Now if you excuse me, I have to help my 11 year-old brother pick out courses for freshman year at Texas.

O.J. Mayo On The Cover of Slam

O.J. Mayo gracefully graces the cover of the new Slam, which should be on newsstands next week.

I'm actually feeling the cover. O.J. dipped in USC colors with the Bentley in the back and "Fresh Prince of L.A." as the subtitle is hot.

Gawd, I can't wait for college basketball to return.

The past few weeks, ever since I wrote the Derrick Rose/Mayo post, I've been trying to come to grips with whatever gripe I might have had with O.J. I like his game, and while I still don't think (and probably never will) his game is as explosive as Rose's, I admit that he is going to tear shit up at the next two levels.

I agree with what Slam's Ryan Jones said in the Mayo post he wrote today. Ryan actually did the Mayo cover story and talked today about the backlash a lot of young prepsters face after the novelty of being the "next big thing" wears off. And it's true.

The sports world we live in now is filled with experts, scouts, and analysts who scour the earth trying to find the next prodigy and then proceed to place self-made expectations upon the kid that are both far-fetched and unreasonable. In some cases, the kid rises above the hype, in which case doubters mock the competition and say that said kid is "overrated".

O.J. Mayo is a special case. He exceed the limitations placed upon his high school career (except for the whole next LeBron thing, Bron was even more otherworldly in high school as he is now, if that's possible), but he did it while appearing to most (including myself, I admit) as a diva. Coming from the hood, this was a norm among gifted athletes who were showered with praises since birth, so I was equally not suprised and annoyed at the same time.

I hate listening to the middle-aged, white, conservative media types who are so extremely out of touch with this generation's athletes that any form braggadacio is considered vile and abrasive. But, sometimes I agree with their criticism of young, prep athletes who are often catered to as prima donnas by the world eager to get a piece of their future success. I can take it from professional players, but a 11th grader has nothing to be arrogant about. You don't want to piss off people before you graduate from high school, trust me. It pains me to see players gunning for stats to make their profile look better, or supposed point guards taking over 20 shots in AAU All-Star Games instead of just playing as if there was an actual goal of winning. Arrogant athletes I can sometimes be tolerate; me-first, me-second arrogant ones I can't.

I always saw O.J. going down that route, or helping to pave his own special lane on that route. Right or wrong, I saw him as the epitome of everything wrong with prep basketball, the symbol that the innocence of amateur hoops was gone. Him changing schools just to play for certain coaches or to play with certain players or to be close to certain father figures wasn't necessarily wrong, but it was indicative of the negative image big-name prep athletes were starting to receive.

His last second antics in the West Virginia championship game was overblown, but, in my opinion, might have been unnecessary. (Granted, that dunk and shirt toss into the crowd came at the end of a brilliant title victory game in which he recorded a triple-double with 41 points, 10 rebounds, and 11 assists. Sorry about not mentioning that in the first post.) Also, his erratic play in the All-American Game proved to some critics (including me at the time) that he only saw himself on the court. His East team was down by 2 in the final seconds and he had an open lane for a layup or dunk. Instead of going for the deuce, he stopped and bricked a slightly contested three-pointer and his team lost. As the Sports Guy pointed out, it looked as if he was more concerned about missing the shot than actually winning.

Compare that to Derrick Rose (I know I keep bringing his name up, sorry) and Kevin Love, two much-hyped recruits with names a tad less as big as Mayo's. Rose, a point guard with amazing scoring ability, went out of his way to get his teammates involved while holding back his scoring (a little too much) in order to get the win. Love, a burly big man with a NBA-ready post game, displayed a fundamental team game that impressed scouts more than his play on the inside. Mayo shot 4-17 and forced shots all game.

Even his recruitment was shady. It was good to see him choose a school where he could help jumpstart a basketball powerhouse. He'll only jumpstart it, because he's made it quite clear that Southern California is only a (very) temporary step on his way to the NBA, like Rose, possibly crosstown to the Los Angeles Clippers, who are badly in need of a dominant lead guard.

Yet and still, I'm excited for the O.J. Mayo Era. He's always had the game to back up his humongous reputation and the hype that ensued. He will make USC a more watched team; better, maybe not, but everyone's eyes will be on them.

And maybe he's not as bad a guy as people make him out to be. By a lot of accounts, he's a very personable and polite dude, not that any of these things relate to his play on the court. But he definitely has the attitude of a NBA player, even though he's yet to suit up as a college freshman.

Maybe the NBA is where he belongs. Maybe then it'll be easier to tolerate him.

Who You Got? Derrick Rose vs. O.J. Mayo

Last week I was watching ESPN when I looked down at the ticker and just missed something that looked special.

After sifting through 1,000 baseball scores, I caught it.

December 4, Jimmy V Classic, Memphis vs. USC, Derrick Rose vs. O.J. Mayo.

Two of the most hyped, talented, and anticipated incoming freshman in the country balling on top-ranked teams, against each other, in Madison Square Garden on ESPN, on the God MC's born day. Ugh!

D-Rose and O.J. went up against each other before in one of the best AAU games ever, but that was just a meaningless summer game. This is big. Big time.

I've come across a few message boards posing the soon-to-be very popular question, who is better out of the Chicago pg Rose or the West Virginia combo guard Mayo?

Let's break it down.

Athleticism - Young Pooh's rise has long been documented. He reminds you of a '98-'02 Steve Francis. Just explosive. He's cat quick and physically imposing for an 18-year-old. 6'3" and 200 lbs. Wow.
Outside of this highly publicized tidbit, Mayo isn't really that much of a athlete. His game is much more smooth. Speed and strength is also not his biggest draw, but at 6'5" and 210 pounds, he might not need much of it. ADVANTAGE: ROSE

Point guard skills - Rose is a pure pg who once won a state title in a game where he only scored nine points but completely dominated the game. In his much-talked about summer game against Mayo, Derrick had a triple-double...by halftime!
O.J. is a PG/SG who can play the position quite well, but works better as the finisher, not the passer. He also has been labeled as selfish by many people since he a freshman in high school. Not sure which position he'll play at Southern Cal, but for the Trojans' sake, they might want to take the ball out of his hands a little bit.
ADVANTAGE: ROSE

Star power - Mayo's been labeled as the next basketball prodigy since he was an eighth-grader, when he was touted as the "next Lebron James". His star has dimmed quite a bit as he has kinda failed to distance himself from the rest of his classmates, but O.J. is still ranked number in '07 by a lot of scouts, mostly on his name. The aforementioned dunk also kept his name on everyone's tongues and the story behind his commitment to SC confirmed he was a big name.
Rose is a quiet, humble guy who mostly lets his game do the jersey-throwing. He is coming in to school as the missing link to a team that made the Elite Eight, brings back seven of its top eight scorers, and is expected to be the preseason number 1 team because of him. ADVANTAGE: MAYO

Clutch - Derrick Rose stepped up big on national TV against the number 1 squad Oak Hill and 2008 top pg Brandon Jennings, putting up 28 points, nine assists, and nine rebounds in the win over the Warriors. He also hit a big time game-winning shot against 2008 star Tyreke Evans in a hyped-up AAU matchup.
Mayo's biggest shot actually came against Rose in their summer game last July. He famously missed the game-winning shot in the McDonald's All-American Game, prompting this rant from the Sports Guy. ADVANTAGE: ROSE

Pro potential - Both should be highly ranked coming out of college. Both will most likely be one and done. Rose is a 6'3-6'4 pure pg with amazing athletic ability, defensive prowess, and clutch mentality. Mayo is a 6'5 combo guard who has a tendency to play erraticly but still can get anywhere on the court he wants to. Mayo has a sometimes silky smooth jumper. Rose has a streaky shot that is improving steadily. Rose will play in a pro arena next year on a team that will be ranked number 1, play a top schedule, and is coached by a popular former NBA coach. Mayo will play in L.A. for one of the most prestigious schools in the country in a brand new arena. Mayo is touted as a future top 7 pick. Rose is viewed by most as the undisputed number 1 pick. ADVANTAGE: ROSE

Who's better? If you ask me, it's Derrick "Pooh" Rose all day, every day, and twice on Sundays.

But check out the Jimmy V Classic on Dec. 4th and decide for yourself. I'm counting the days.