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In the beginningFour freshmen create new life in conference
Arizona Daily Star
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 01.31.2008
Could be that this season's Pac-10 freshman craze is all about media hype, the way Kevin O'Neill describes it. Maybe it's because Kevin Love and O.J. Mayo play for schools surrounded by millions of Southern Californians.
Perhaps it's a result of a fantasy sports mentality that values the individual more than the team. Or maybe it's just another sign that our short-attention-span society these days craves the new and the next more than the now.
"Society?" said O'Neill, the UA's interim head coach. "Well, we could get Dr. Phil in here."
Or maybe all the fuss is simply because the Pac-10's quartet of top freshmen, which will all play in Los Angeles this weekend, just happens to be really, really good.
Maybe better than any Pac-10 freshman class ever, or at least up there with the vaunted class of 1986 led by UA's Sean Elliott, the 2000 group powered by Wildcat guard Gilbert Arenas or last year's talented group most noted for Washington's one-and-done Spencer Hawes.
This season, Kevin Love of UCLA, O.J. Mayo of USC, James Harden of ASU and the UA's Jerryd Bayless all lead their teams in scoring, and all of them are projected first-round NBA draft picks — this year.
They are the next, and the now.
"You're talking about some big-time players," UCLA coach Ben Howland said.
The numbers offer proof. While Mayo has played the most minutes of anybody in the Pac-10, Love is the fifth-highest rebounder in the country, Harden is among the Pac-10's statistical leaders on both ends of the floor and the thin Wildcats are 13-3 when the ultracompetitive Bayless is in the lineup.
That's why Love, for one, has no problem with all the noise over his peers.
"I think we have a great freshman class," Love said. "I don't think they're overhyping it because there are so many good players."
Of all the stats, the ones that stand out the most are the fact that the four are all among the Pac-10's top eight leading scorers and that their four teams are all in the Pac-10's upper division. Give them the ball and they'll make it happen.
"It's hard for me right now to imagine any conference, let alone this conference, in the last five years when there's been this type of production" from freshmen, Stanford coach Trent Johnson said. "Kevin, Bayless, O.J. and, my goodness, how good is James Harden?"
Pretty good.
Harden is probably the least heralded of the four but has been by far the most significant upgrade on a team that finished last in 2006-07 but enters this weekend in a fourth-place tie with Arizona and USC.
Ironically, Harden is the only one of the four top Pac-10 freshmen who is actually from Los Angeles, having committed to Arizona State after Sun Devils coach Herb Sendek hired his former high school coach, Scott Pera.
Harden was named a McDonald's All-American while leading perennial power Artesia High School of Lakewood, the same school ex-UCLA standouts Ed and Charles O'Bannon attended, to a 33-2 record last season.
"Harden is really, really special," Howland said. "I knew they were getting someone extremely talented. He's one of the best players in the country. You look at his numbers, and what he's done is incredible."
Howland has his own special freshman, one with an unusual skillset that includes shooting from the perimeter, dominating the inside and tossing impeccable inbound passes.
The son of former Oregon standout Stan Love, Kevin Love also is praised for poise that's well beyond his 19 years.
"Even with all the publicity, he doesn't take a possession off," Johnson said. "And his demeanor …"
Even last weekend, when Love returned to his home state of Oregon, he remained composed when he was supposed to be frazzled. He had 26 points and 18 rebounds at Oregon, despite Mac Court fans riding him mercilessly. Then, two days later in a potential letdown game at 10th-place Oregon State, Love had 16 points and 21 rebounds.
"He had a great weekend," Howland said. "Especially going home with all the hoopla waiting for him there, he handled it very well."
Across town, Mayo doesn't always get quite as much love, having been heavily exposed since grade school and sometimes seen as less of a team player. The stories that he chose USC in part to better position himself in the L.A. media market didn't help that portrayal, either. Nor does the fact that he takes 31 percent of the Trojans' shots.
But USC coach Tim Floyd is quick to Mayo's defense. Even as the Trojans have ripped off a four-game winning streak while passing the ball and sharing the offensive load, Floyd said the earlier emphasis was on Mayo because it had to be.
"We had to figure out, as Arizona did, how to define the roles," Floyd said. "And O.J. has plugged into whatever was asked of him to do. When he shot earlier in the year, it was because we asked him to shoot. He recognized we've got other guys who take the shots but at the same time we need him to put up the shots."
Bayless, who came to know Mayo throughout the prep showcase circuit, said Mayo gets a "bad rap" for being selfish.
"I've known him for a pretty long time now and I don't think he's really selfish," Bayless said. "He's just one of the most competitive people I've been around. He takes the game as seriously as anybody out there."
So, of course, does Bayless. The UA's fiery freshman has all the requisite stats to tell you about his significance — he's among the top five Pac-10 players in scoring, assists and free-throw percentage — but the thing O'Neill talks about the most is how much better the Wildcats are with him in the lineup.
Arizona lost three of four games while Bayless sat out with a sprained knee suffered on Dec. 28. Since he's been back, the Wildcats have lost only once — when Bayless complained ill-fitting shoes had thrown him off at Stanford.
And isn't winning, O'Neill argues, what really matters anyway?
"Way too much is made of" the freshmen, O'Neill said. "I mean, those guys are obviously having an impact on their teams. I don't get why people don't talk about teams anymore. Why is it always this individual, this matchup? Teams are always the most important things. Winning is the most important thing.
"I think USC, UCLA, Arizona and Arizona State are all good teams in their own right and that should be the focal point."
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