Mayo prepping for NBA

As the No. 1 ranked player in the class of 2007 and one of the most recognized prep players in the country, O.J. Mayo has heard just about every question possible. The big question always revolves around the NBA Draft. The 6-foot-4, 195-pound superstar from North College Hill High School in Cincinnati never shies from answering either.

He tackled the issue when Rivals.com spoke to him at the Dirty South Classic in the Atlanta area on Thursday.

As the NBA Finals work toward a close and the NBA Draft looms, there has been a lot of talk surrounding a possible lockout for the league. One of the issues in the labor talks is a minimum age requirement of 20 for players entering the league. Several top prep players are watching the situation. Is Mayo listening?

"Not really," he said. "They know I have two more years. I'll be 19 when I graduate and I'll be 20 when I enter the draft so it's not something I think about. Right now, I'm just working on my skills."

Making no secrets about his desire to enter the draft early, Mayo said recruiting isn't something he deals with as much as peers.

"The scouts aren't really recruiting me until how they find out what the rule is," Mayo said. "They don't really want to waste their time. I just tell them that I want to go to school if it happens."

Mayo is high on the draft radar whenever he's eligible to be taken. NBA scouts rave about his basketball IQ and his ability to play the point at a flawless pace. With his game already years beyond his peers, some people have asked Mayo if he'd bypass his senior year to enter the draft.

"It's never been done before," Mayo said about the prospects of skipping his final year of high school. "After my junior year? I try to answer it the best I can with an 'Anything is possible' but it's not something I've thought too much about."

Instead, Mayo said he's working on getting better. He's certainly proving that this year. After shining at the International Sports Invitational in San Diego, Mayo will test his talent at the NBA Players Association camp and the ABCD camp in New Jersey.

And he'll try to answer the questions about the NBA all over again at those events, too. Remember, anything is possible.