Bayless vs Mayo

[Cy32]

On this night there was no contest. Bayless in the first half 2 points and 3 fouls. Bayless got his 5h and 6th point with 8:10 left in the game and he and the fans acted as excited as if a walk on got his first points of his career. He ended the game with 6 shot attempts for 8 points with 4 of them on free throws.

USC led by as many as 16 points early but Arizona went on a 12-0 run as soon as Bayless went to the bench with his third foul. That often happens and is why I think that some players get to much credit whether they do good or bad when it is often other players who could do as well or better if they were the chosen ones.

Mayo got about his average with 20 points with 3 rebounds, 6 assists and just 1 turnover. I wasn't real impressed with Mayo early in the season as I thought he took a lot of wild shots and I mean wild. Some games he isn't hitting the highest of percentage but he is showing a lot better shot selection recently and is shooting better from behind the arc than inside.

From what I saw I would take Mayo over Bayless any day. Coach Floyd is a great defensive coach and the triangle and two gave the Wild Cats fits all night.

http://usctrojans.cstv.com/gametracker/ ... rtschool=&

[4ho5ive]

I personally think Mayo should stay in school. He just doesnt look ready to play the NBA game to me.

[TheProdigy]

I didn't get a chance to watch the game. Was Mayo guarding Bayless the majority of time? If so, this is another example of Mayo playing lockdown defense. He already locked down Derrick Rose.

[theGreatRC]

Bayless is quicker, faster, has higher hops and is a better scorer.

Mayo is stronger, has better perimeter d(Which isn't much of an accomplishment), and is a Rip Hamilton like player without the ball(good at moving to get free).

I'd take Bayless because he is a better scorer, something OJ is praised for doing.

[CB4MiamiHeat]

I didnt see the game.. but you said Arizona went on a 13-0 run w/o Bayless?

This game looks like an exception rather than the norm..its hard to judge Bayless from this game when every other game has been the exact oppossite...

[revprodeji]

OJ is 6'5 and can play 2, Bayless is a shoot-first 1.

Oj's offense in USC is holding him back, that is the view of everyone. Also part of the situation is Mayo was sooooo hyped that he is pendulum the other way and will settle in the middle come draft time.

I like Mayo more than Bayless also, but like I said, Mayo=2, Bayless=shootfirst 1

[deeney0]

I like Mayo better than Bayless, but neither has cracked the top 5 for me right now.

[Cy32]

I have heard so much about Bayless but haven't seen him play this year except I guess for the two games he has played with USC. I don't even notice the opponent's players much unless they stand out if they are beating your team and until last night I didn't even know that Bayless played for Arizona. He may be impressing with against other teams but he was absent in the two games with USC even though Arizona won the game at USC. A lot of that probablly had to do with Hackett being injured 2 minutes into that game and it no doubt through the Trojans for a loop because this is the first year for Hackett at the point and the back up didn't play much.

Hackett fittingly was able to return against Arizona last night.

As for the 13-0 run I did say 12-0 run as soon as Bayless left the game as that is what I recalled the announcers saying but I watched the tape and it was just a 10-0 but was totally impressive.

It was also asked who did Bayless and Mayo defend. I mostly watch who is successful or not on offense as it is often difficult to know who to give credit for on defense especially if the team plays a zone.

This is how the first half went in regards to Mayo and Bayless. Mayo played the entire 40 minutes. Bayless went out with 3 fouls 3 turnovers and 2 points (basket scored at the 19:00 min mark) with 5:39 remaining in the first half and the score 32-16. At that point Mayo had scored 9 points all of which Bayless was guarding him.

With Bayless out of the game it was easy to see that Arizona went on a tear. They ran fluently and in the next 3 minutes and 19 seconds outscored the suddenly cold shooting Trojans 10-0. The Trojans got the game back to a 9 point lead by the half but Mayo did not score in the half after Bayless left the game.

As for who guarded Bayless. Even though Hackett was played the back up point guard started the game (he may have been a walk on but I know his back up in Hackett's absense is) and guarded Bayless entirely until Hackett came in at 9:49. Then probably because Hackett wasn't even expected to return this year and hadn't had a single practice Mayo guarded Bayless from 9:49 until he left with 3 fouls at 5:39.

I'm just starting to watch the second half now and will report if anything much was different the second half especially in the defense of said players. Bayless threw at least 2 wild passes in the first half....that did get my attention of him.

Bayless had 8 points 2-6 0-2 4-5 ft, 2 re 3 asts and 6 t/o 1st in 34 min
Mayo .......20 points 6-13 3-4 5-5 ft 3 re 6 asts and 1 t/o 0st in 40 mn

[collin_k41]

I'd take mayo any day over bayless. Regardless of his play at USC he still has superstar potential. To me Bayless doesn't have that potential.

[Cy32]

The second half started with Bayless not guarding Mayo, probably because he was in foul trouble. For the most part point guard defended the point guard but on occasion Bayless guarded Mayo and Mayo Bayless. McClellan and Dillon guarded Mayo for the most part in the second half.

They said during the game that Bayless had his lowest scoring of the season with 9 points against UNLV. USC must have held him to his worst 2 of 3 because Bayless just scored 10 points in the first meeting at USC.

10 points for Bayless against USC on 9 shot attempts 4 re 3 T/O and only 2 asts even though Arizona scored 80 points

23 points for Mayo on 23 shot attempts with 4 re 2 T/O and 5 asts 2 blocks and a steal.

[Krapinsky]

Should be noted: two of Bayless' three TO's were palming violations with the game on the line.

[Cy32]

Should be noted: two of Bayless' three TO's were palming violations with the game on the line.

You are right the game was very much in reach for the Wild Cats at the time. Bayless however had 6 turn overs in last nights game which were the two palming violations and I know two erratic passes and I think the other two were both charging fouls, I know one of them was. The 3 turnovers by Bayless in my last post was for the game at USC when the Wild Cats beat the Trojans. A game in which both USC big men and O.J. all fouled out.

USC is a better road team this year at 5-3 vs 4-3 at home and 9-3 after starting the season 0-3 in the conference. I think the reason Mayo and the team as a whole are getting so much better is because of Floyd's discipline. Floyd kept Jefferson on the bench an entire game supposedly because he wasn't committed enough to what he wanted him to do. The discipline may be what has gotten Mayo so much better except for the one lousy 4 point game that lowered his scoring average almost a point certainly more than a point in Pac 10 conference games.

[Cy32]

Although I would like to see Mayo stay in college a little longer he is really coming along. He was a man among boys in USC's Saturday game at Arizona State, unfortunately the rest of the team wasn't.

Mayo scored 37 points in 38 minutes making 7 of 8 highly contested three point shots before missing his last two. USC held Arizona State scoreless for 9 minutes in the first half and they were tied at the half and then lost.

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/scores10 ... m#boxscore