Miami of Ohio vs USC

The Red Hawks with hawkish coach Charles Coles played like your typical solid mid-major team with experienced players and having NCAA aspirations: solid hard-nosed defense and solid half-court shot-clock-violation offense. What they didn't have was pure talent and athleticism. They forced Floyd's squad to compete with them at their level, and it wasn't easy for the Trojans. It took some good karma from football coach Pete Carroll and a bounce of the ball here and there for USC to win.

The Trojans, Mayo included, tightened their defense, although as expected of a young team they had their lapses which translated into Hawk-points. As expected Mayo had some impressive moves, some "what is he doing" shots, and such, but because of the pace of the game, he wasn't able to showcase his skillz more often.

Another player that continues to fly under the radar is Devon Jefferson. This guy was a summer all-star selection two years ago. So with two years of prep school preparation, the former UNLV signee should be an all-conference caliber player once he gets his feet wet.

This sets up the Trojans for another grinder, this time with the anti-basketball squad of the Salukis. The first one to 45 wins :)

Surely this must be frustrating for the ESPN big wigs (and fans alike) because they set up this tourney (Anaheim Classic) to showcase OJ Mayo's skills, not to show grinded out affairs. And it looks like the worse case scenario had happened, USC is facing two methodical teams, Miami of Ohio and Souther Illinois.