JILT BY ASSOCIATION: AP SAYS O.J. DIDN’T MAKE THE CUT

The Associated Press shows Mayo no Love, slicing O.J. from their All-American 3rd Team in favor of Darren Collison, and makes Kevin Love part of an Associated Precedent:  The 1st-ever Seniorless 1st Team. 

For the second time in two days, Kevin Love’s name has been carved into Basketball History.  On Sunday, he became part of the NCAA’s FIRST-EVER Final Four consisting of all four #1 Seeds, and on Monday, he was named to the AP All-American Team’s FIRST-EVER Senior-free 1st Team.

The Associated Press has been awarding this honor for SIXTY years, but thanks to Old World Freshmen-ineligible Rules and the lack of early-entrants to the NBA back then, there has NEVER been an AP AA Starting Five without a Senior.

But this year, Love is joined by unanimous selections (Junior) Tyler Hansbrough from North Carolina, and (Freshman) Michael Beasley from Kansas State, along with (Junior) Chris Douglas-Roberts from Memphis, and (Sophomore) D.J. Augustin from Texas.  There are three Seniors on the SECOND TEAM, but none of them deserved to be chosen ahead of their younger First Team counterparts.  The 2nd Team also included Sophomore Stephen Curry of recently-ousted Davidson, who just announced that he’ll be returning to college for his Junior year (despite definitely being ready to go Pro RIGHT NOW).  That means that there will be at least one slot on next year’s 1st Team taken by another non-Senior.  Love is part of a FIRST-EVER occurrence, but as long as the NBA forces Players to spend One Year in College, it is going to RECUR to the point of becoming the Rule, not the Exception. 

And speaking of going Pro, Stanford Sophomore Twin Towers Brook and Robin Lopez announced that they are both going Pro now.  Brook, who made the AP 3rd Team, is ready and will score some Points as a Rookie.  Robin (the one with the Afro) does NOT yet have a skill set that will get him playing time in the Pro’s, and could have really used a year at Stanford as “The Man.”  But he’ll get some sort of deal, just based on his height alone, so the decision will work out okay… especially for Bruin fans.  NOT because he would have been a tough opponent, but because his camera-hogging Mother won’t be getting her obligatory in-crowd close-ups on Fox Sports Net.

Darren Collison, who was a PRE-SEASON All-American, made the 3rd Team, along with the guy that he may be guarding on Saturday, Freshman Phenom Derrick Rose of Memphis, and Indiana’s Freshman Phenom Eric Gordon.  Rose and Gordon are two more Freshman, who, like Love and trojan-killer Beasley, COMPLETELY lived up to all the hype that High School Recruits are getting these days.  That leaves only one mega-hyped Freshman from this year, who is missing from this list, and that would be O.J. Mayo.

Mayo was the MOST hyped of ALL these prospects.  He was the new LeBron, who was going to Carmelo-ize usc, by winning a National Championship in his one and only year at the “school.”  But before you think that there was an oversight down at the ol’ AP, O.J. Mayo’s name DID finally show up in the balloting…as an Honorable Mention, along with about 50 other guys.  And if you think O.J. got shafted because of his choke in the FIRST ROUND that led to his team being shamefully and unpredictably eliminated by an 11-Seed, you’re wrong — The voting was closed BEFORE the Tournament began!!  That means that Kevin Love would have gotten an even higher percentage of votes (due to his across-the-board Postseason stat increase during the Bruins’ run), and Mayo might not have even made the Honorable Mentions.  He might have gotten a DIS-honorable mention, for his team’s uninspired effort that led to their premature ejection.

Everyone knows that O.J. REALLY DOES have the TALENT.  So why was he so dramatically less-successful than all of his All-World contemporaries? Could it be lack of Heart?  Could it be his choosing of a team with no fan support, Tradition, History, or Class?  Are you afraid that all of this taunting will make him decide to come back for his Sophomore Season?  If he does come back, and Taj Gibson and Davon Jefferson do too, with Demar Derozan coming in, the trojans could very easily make us EAT these words.  But if Nick Young can put up 27 on the Lakers, just imagine what Mayo could do.  If Mayo saw that game, he probably signed an Agent the next day.

And speaking of Agents, we would love to be the future “Agent” for the Girls in the five photos below, when they graduate, and are no longer beholden to UCLA.  Just think of all the products we could have, with amazing photos of these beautiful girls, all being sold directly to their biggest fans, right here.  It would be a Blue and Goldmine.