Pyle of List

Everyone has written about OJ Mayo this season. He’s been a force on offense and defense at times so far. But he has yet to really lead the team to victories. He leads them in points scored, but that’s not real leadership. I don’t know if he has that trait in him or not, but I haven’t seen it manifest itself yet. The OJ Mayo bandwagon load has been getting lighter and lighter since the season began. But after this 0-3 start to the Pac10 schedule it just crashed.

I was at the USC - Wazzu basketball game last night. I knew that the Cougars were going to back USC up against a wall and pepper them with smart passes, team defense, and good shot clock management. I figured USC would need the following things to happen to have a chance at beating Washington State:

1. Taj Gibson needed to regain his outstanding play from the first half of last season.
2. OJ Mayo needed to start making sound decisions and play within himself.
3. Davon Jefferson needed to continue making the inside plays and free throws that he’s become known for.
4. Daniel Hackett needed to be the bulldog on defense and playmaker on offense that made him so special last year.
5. Everyone needed to play team ball on offense and defense.

How did it work out you ask? Like this:

1. Taj played better than he has lately with 16 points and 11 boards. He also stayed out of foul trouble, but that’s probably because he stopped playing a little thing called “defense”.
2. OJ showed flashes of his offensive prowess. He made some tough shots in traffic. But he also made more silly turnovers and was taking shots in traffic because he was forcing the ball with open teammates standing around.
3. Davon Jefferson did not play. Coach Floyd said he “didn’t make the cut tonight. It was a coach’s decision.” We ran into some guy at the bar before the game who claimed to “live with Davon’s mom” and he told us the same thing. “Davon’s not playing tonight.” He looked pretty pissed too because I think he’d just heard my buddy DBo say that Davon can’t go pro after this year because he doesn’t have a jump shot yet.
4. I don’t know what’s happened to the little bulldog this season, but he hasn’t scored more than five points in a single game. He’s had double digit assists twice, but he hasn’t been serviceable in the points department. This is the guy that took Kevin Durant out of his comfort zone in the tourney last year. Is it the broken jaw or is it something else?
5. I’ll let the stats speak here: O steals, 11:13 assist to turnover ratio, 4 FT attempts (all with less than five minutes left in the game), 47% opponents FG% with 53% 3pt%. The Trojans weren’t getting in the passing lanes, they weren’t drawing fouls, they weren’t making smart passes, and they weren’t challenging shots. Pretty much everything you need to do to win a game.

The result was a 73-58 Washington State victory.

For USC to turn their season around they are going to need to by into Coach Floyd’s schemes and understand that every player on the team has a certain role to fill. I dont’ know why, but it seems that Floyd is having trouble getting through to his players more this year than before. Mayo may take over the game at times, but the rest of the guys need to be ready when it’s their time. Most importantly they need to play with the hustle and the all-for-one mindset that made last year’s team great.