Davon Jefferson “Airplane” takes a nosedive

Davon Jefferson played one season for the USC Trojans in which he averaged 13 points and was the third best player on a team that lost in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. The guy is a physical specimen, standing at 6’8’’ with really long arms, however, the guy refuses to do anything which would require actual effort. He doesn’t rebound, he doesn’t play defense, he doesn’t even pay attention half the time when he doesn’t have the ball. During the course of the season, Tim Floyd had to suspend him from 3 games do to “offcourt/practice” issues. Basically, Jefferson, who by the way was a 22 year old freshman (after missing a whole year of college after not being able to get a high enough SAT score, preferred to sulk than to try

Maybe you shoud have spent your time lifting weights instead of signing autographs

He probably had everything handed to him. People telling him he was great. People telling him to go pro. And he listened. And he hired an agent. BIG MISTAKE. At the predraft camp, where he needed to dominate to get himself into the first round, he instead did his usual lackadaisical routine and did not impress. Most embarrassing of all, Jefferson put up 185 lbs in the bench press a whopping 2 TIMES. You read it right, he weighs probably 230 and he put up 185 exactly twice! Jtolliani, himself is not a big man, he is 6 ft tall in sneakers, and about 173 lbs dripping wet, and he can put up 185 at least 7 or 8 times. I mean c’mon Davon. You couldn’t study harder for those SAT’s and qualified for college a year earlier? You couldn’t have learned how to dribble or box out at some point? You couldn’t have practiced your free throws, because all you can pretty much do out there is go to the basket and try to get fouled. You are a disgrace. And you will not be missed at USC. You have all the talent in the world. But you would rather let it waste away. So you will do the same. You can think about it when you on the bus between D-League games. I can see you know: “Maybe I should have tried harder.”

The Howland Effect

Since the end of the Steve Lavin era ::Sigh::, the UCLA Bruins have been riding the Ben Howland train to the top of the rankings, year after year and show no signs of coming down. This year, the Bruins had their best shot at a chip since 1995. They fucked up, again. Not because they were a bad team, they had 3 projected NBA First round picks this year in Luc Richard Mbah A Moute, Kevin Love and Russell Westbrook. That's at least as much talent on paper as the 2005 North Carolina team led by Sean May "Never play in the NBA" and Ray Felton. It takes more than talent to win it all these days and after 3 straight losing efforts in the Final Four, it is Howland's job to figure that shit out.
He's often considered a hardass and too tough on his players. Just ask Josh "I can't shoot a ball into an ocean off the edge of a Battle" Shipp, fucking Mush. Let's pray he's NBDL bound, then we will have a decent shot in 2008. Hardass or not, he's a great coach, he's the best recruiter in the country now and he shoots the double hand T with the best to ever call a time out. He has to be given extra, I have season tickets and I swear the Bruin games have extended an extra hour since the Lavin departure. Following the 2008 Final Four collapse and pretty much every player on the team committing for the draft, it looked like the Bruins had a better chance in 2009 than Kwame Brown palming a basketball. But not so fast, Darren Collison, one of the nations best defenders, passer and 3 point threat is back for his senior season. This would move the prized 5 star recruit, Jrue Holiday to the 2 and together would make up the best back court in the nation. It's the rest of the team that is up in the air. Is Josh Shipp coming back? What about Luc Richard? Is Mike Roll healthy? Was there any point of me asking that last question? Yea? Guess not... One question was answered this week: Is the 5 star recruit, 6'10 center, J'Mison Morgan, originally committed to LSU, UCLA bound? Yes! Now the Bruins have a dominant center weighing in at a whopping 275 lbs.. This was huge considering they also have 2 more four star California bred guards coming in, Maclcom Lee and Jerime Anderson. This gives UCLA the number one recruiting class in the nation with 5 of the top 50 recruits according to rivals.com. But wait, there's more...the Bruins have also added the 6'8" PF out of Oakland, Drew "Too Tall" Gordon. There is also word that Alex Stepheson (UNC) is transferring and Westwood is his top destination. This would make a the Pac -10 almost a lock and they could easily be a top 5 ranking this season and I wouldn't be surprised to see them at #1 overall at some point this season.
Howland should be proud of all he has done so far, but the issue comes back, he needs to find out what it takes to win it all. The Bruins are as young and deep as a USC Trojan sorority girl, but focus and drive is what will put the 2009 team over the hump. It's not in the bag just yet, Arizona and USC will be tough competition having lured in monster recruits Brandon Jennings and Demar Derozen, respectively. I see a three team race, the other 7 are on the outside looking in, sorry Ken. This should be a fun year for college basketball and I see UCLA 8 clapping their way to yet another Final Four, winning it, that's another story. The best part is, this is one more step toward Pac-10 supremacy and I'm sure when ESPN opens it's LA studios and offices, the light will no longer only shine on the ACC. Sorry Dick

David Stern should be blamed for putting too much Mayo on the hotdog, not Tim Floyd

How is this even an issue? Why has college sports not reached the 21st century? How antiquated is the rule that college athletes cannot be compensated for playing sports when they make their universities millions of dollars in revenue. I thought slavery was abolished in the Eighteen Hundreds. OJ Mayo, came to USC as the most hyped high school basketball player since Lebron James. Could USC, or any other school for that matter have stopped agents, managers, shoe companies, and about a million other people from trying to get their hands on this guy. I mean why do you think he came to LA in the first place? For exposure.

OJ Mayo not only filled the Gaylen Center but he got a dormant USC basketball program off its feet. Not only were alumni and fans excited, but other NBA level prospects such as Davon Jefferson and Demar Derozan were following Mayo to USC. USC literally will make millions of dollars off this kid’s contributions to the program. So the important question to ask ourselves is, why can’t he get paid? Especially now that the NBA would not let Mayo straight from high school into the league, Mayo had no choice but to go to college. He didn’t want to be a student, he just did what David Stern mandated, and decided to take what he could get in the meantime.

If USC loses scholarships or has to fire its coach, Tim Floyd, because people outside the university were giving Mayo money in hopes of signing him up when he eventually did go pro, I think it is an absolute travesty. The kid who takes money gets off scot free and gets paid next year in the NBA, and the university he leaves behind gets to take the fall? What is the message we are sending here exactly? And why would future talents such as Mayo, not just do the same thing that he did. They don’t care about losing their eligibility to play in college, they never wanted to be there in the first place. If colleges make this much revenue off of their players there must be a more equitable situation put in place, if future stars such as Mayo have any incentive to not take money from people outside of the organization.

I think the main point here is that what was Floyd supposed to do if he even did know that Mayo was receiving money. Cut him from the team? The top few players in each class must end up going to college somewhere, and it is ridiculous for schools to be punished by the players decisions. I understand if the school pays the player out of its own funds how it could be unfair, but I think we can all agree that Mayo would have received this money wherever he had decided to go for his 1 year as a “student-athlete”

Hold the Mayo

That 4 letter network reported today that the generally always up to no good former USC guard and future NBA lottery pick/millionaire O.J. Mayo (real name: Ovinton J'Anthony Mayo--I'm not making this up) was accepting cashmoney and free bottles at Teddy's while a student at the University of South Central. A big NCAA no no. This could potentially mean that USC would have to forfeit all games where OJ.participated. Doubtful that will happen. More likely are some additional restrictions on recruiting that they will no doubt violate. My question: wasn't this one obvious? At the time, USC had just spent millions of dollars in constructing the GAYlen Center (which I have to admit is actually pretty nice). To build a competitive/interesting to watch so that we can sell tickets and fill the arena team, they needed a blue chip recruit. Enter Mayo. A kid who has been hyped in the national media since 7th grade. From West Virginia/Ohio, willing to go to the highest bidder. USC (a school known for buying players) fit the bill. You would think that the boys from Troy would have learned their lesson on investing in degenerates named OJ. Guess not. This whole situation has the movie Blue Chips written all over it. Tim Floyd is Pete Bell. Seriously. (Speaking of Tim Floyd, my friend Loaf often refers to him as a used mattress salesman. I'd say that's pretty accurate). Of course, nothing will happen to Mustard...I mean Mayo. Just like in Blue Chips, where Neon and Butch (played by Shaq and Penny Hardaway respectively) went directly to the pros unscathed by the recruiting violations. As for the future of BBQ Sauce, I predict that he will go lottery in the draft and have an adequate statistical career (potentially a good short term pick-up in fantasy leagues) for a myriad of crappy teams . Think hybrid of Ricky Davis/Jamaal Tinsley. And, of course, he will rack up a slew of legal infractions ranging from substance abuse (DUI, possession of illegal substance, etc.), to assault to possession of an illegal firearm. Mark it down. You heard it here first on the Sports Toilet. By the way, why doesn't Vegas have odds on athletes and the likelihood of them getting arrested? I take the under on Horseradish getting arrested within a year.