Saturday, December 23, 2006
The two-time Ohio Mr. Basketball is back at Huntington High.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) -- O.J. Mayo left West Virginia five years ago to elevate his game. The stage he wanted for his senior year of high school, it turns out, was back home.
The 6-foot-5 prep star is reunited with childhood friends at Huntington High and, just as he did at his previous stop in Ohio, he's helped turn a school into a national contender.
It's the next step in Mayo's clinic, an array of dunks, 3-pointers and passing that moves to Southern California next season in what could be a short stepping stone to the NBA.
"I plan on making a living at this. I know that's going to be a lot of hard work and determination," Mayo said. "But I feel like that's why I was born and put on this Earth, to be a leader, to be one of the greatest basketball players to ever play and to be a great example and role model for the kids and for different people out there who look up toward me."
Tall words, maybe. But he's off to a good start.
Averaging 32 points a game
The two-time Ohio Mr. Basketball, considered the nation's top high school senior, averaged 32 points in his first four games, all blowout wins. He's been the draw everywhere he goes, but not the only talent.
Some scouting publications have placed three Huntington players among the top 150 college recruits. And Huntington's top six could receive Division I scholarships by next fall.
"Most of your teams that are ranked in the top 10 in the nation, they're not all from that same town," said Huntington coach Lloyd McGuffin. "Our guys are all from the same town. We're a true high school team."
Maybe the best ever in West Virginia. The state has produced the Miami Heat's Jason Williams -- who teamed with future NFL star Randy Moss yet never won a state championship -- and NBA Hall of Famers Jerry West and Huntington native Hal Greer. But never before has an entire team brought such attention.
Beefed up schedule
Huntington is ranked in the top five by Sports Illustrated, USA Today and Prep Nation. It plays in a 16-team conference, so there wasn't much room after Mayo's enrollment in September to schedule nonconference games. But there are a few -- against powers Dematha, Md., St. Patrick, N.J., and Artesia, Calif., the latter at Duke's Cameron Indoor Stadium.
"We have a goal to be the No. 1 team in the country," Mayo said. "We understand we do have a target on our back and we're here to take on all comers."
Mayo's mother, Alisha, a Huntington High graduate, initially didn't want her son to follow in her footsteps out of fear he wouldn't get help in landing a basketball scholarship. As a seventh-grader, O.J. Mayo was recruited to play high school basketball at a private school in nearby Ashland, Ky.
Dwaine Barnes, a family friend and Amateur Athletic Union coach, brought Mayo and childhood friend Bill Walker to Cincinnati's North College Hill High in 2003. There they won a pair of state Division III championships and brought national acclaim to the small school.
Last summer Walker was ruled ineligible for this season and he's now playing at Kansas State. That left Mayo without a solid sidekick -- until he moved back to Huntington, where there's no shortage of talent.
Mayo had teamed with Huntington's Jamaal Williams and Mike Taylor in various leagues and all-star events since the fourth grade, and later with Patrick Patterson and Chris Early. All five played in the AAU national championship game over the summer in Orlando, Fla.
"A lot of people are probably worried about maybe not having enough balls to go around," Mayo said. "But us being a great basketball team and being great individual players, that shows it's not a problem."
Colleges in attendance
With Mayo already signed and Early heading to Oklahoma, the 6-9 Patterson, the returning state player of the year, is getting the bulk of attention from Division I coaches. Attending games so far have been Billy Donovan of defending national champion Florida, Kentucky's Tubby Smith, Duke's Mike Krzyzewski, West Virginia's John Beilein and Virginia's Dave Leitao.
"It's a unique thing to have a collection of talent on one team like that," Leitao said. "A lot of prep schools might do it, and they have it in a bigger city or a bigger state."
In an Ohio River city of 49,000 residents that includes Marshall University, it's been joked that Huntington is the best team.
As recently as 2002, though, Huntington went 3-19. As freshmen, Patterson and Taylor brought a 22-win season and an appearance in the state championship game while Early and Williams led the unbeaten freshman team.
Two consecutive state titles later, Mayo is poised to take the Highlanders higher -- no state Class AAA team has ever won three straight. His addition has prompted both Huntington and opponents to move his games to bigger arenas.
"It's not pressure," Mayo said. "I've been leading probably since the fifth grade. I'm the oldest out of six other siblings. I have a single-parent mom. So that right there has taught me how to lead."