Mayo Gives WVU the Advantage

2010 guard prospect Todd Mayo says WVU tops his list, though the Mountaineers have not officially offered him a scholarship. Personal Photo

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By Geoff Coyle for wvillustrated.com

February 16, 2010

GERMANTOWN, Tenn. - For Todd Mayo, it’s been some kind of adventure getting to his senior year at Germantown High School.

After playing football as a freshman at South Point High School in Huntington, W.Va., Mayo finally took the hardwood as a sophomore. Then the Memphis Grizzlies drafted his older brother, O.J., and the entire family moved to Tennessee.

His junior year, he played at Houston High in Germantown, Tenn. He was the team’s standout guard and guided them to their biggest victory of the year in a 60-58 upset of the No. 9 Germantown High Red Devils.

Now he’s a “6-foot-3 and a half,” 210-pound senior for that Red Devils team after a change of address forced him to transfer to the cross-town rival. Germantown head coach Newton Mealer says at first he had his reservations about Mayo. He wasn’t quite sure how well he would fit in with a team full of star high school athletes after being a big fish in a small pond at Houston. His concerns were quickly alleviated.

“He is a true competitor,” Mealer says of Mayo. “I’ve never seen a guy practice as hard as he does and play as hard as he does. He refuses to lose and gives us 100 percent maximum effort in practices and games.”

Those qualities are what have gotten Mayo noticed by a number of Division I basketball programs, including one up in Morgantown, W.Va. Both head coach Bob Huggins and assistant coach Larry Harrison have made the trip to the Memphis suburb this season to see what all the hype is about, and each trip has yielded positive results.

“I talk to Coach Harrison a lot. We just talk about what I should do and what I need to improve on to get better and come in and help the program,” says Mayo.

“Coach Huggins flew in to watch Todd and he seemed very impressed,” says Coach Mealer. “We talked about his game, what he could bring if he came to West Virginia, what Coach Huggins was looking for out of his guards and then he watched Todd.”

Despite reports to the contrary, both Mealer and Mayo say the Mountaineers coaching staff has not yet extended an offer, but that doesn’t mean they won’t.

“I think that there’s a spot for Todd Mayo [at West Virginia], they want to wait and see where his ACT score is when it comes back to have an official offer put on the table, but I’m 99.9 percent sure that West Virginia will offer Todd Mayo a scholarship,” says Coach Mealer.

Mayo grew up watching the WVU football team and dreaming of one day playing on Mountaineer Field, but since switching his focus to basketball, he has been editing those dreams to take place in

Todd Mayo has been representing the state of West Virginia with a "WV" tattoo since moving to Tennessee. Personal Photo

the Coliseum. Still, it is West Virginia University that tops his list as the place at which he would be thrilled to display his talents.

“They’re my number one team right now because the coaching staff has been great, they’re trying to build a relationship with me and West Virginia has a great fan base,” Mayo told wvillustrated.com. “It would be great to come home and play in front of my family and friends who haven’t seen me play since my tenth grade.”

In fact, it would seem to an outsider that WVU was a shoo-in to get Mayo’s services if they were to offer him. That’s because he has their logo tattooed to his arm.

“People see it and say it’s the flying WV, but I just got it on my arm to have something to represent West Virginia when I moved to Memphis,” says Mayo. “I never want to forget where I’m from, so I put it on my right arm with 304 (West Virginia’s area code) over it.”

So while on the court in Tennessee, he continues to represent the Mountain State, and represent it well. The Red Devils beat Ridgeway, the top-ranked team in the state and No. 7 nationally, in their final regular season game Friday. Mayo went 17-for-19 from the free throw line in the fourth quarter alone to seal the win for his team.

Sound like something the Mountaineers could have used on Friday night?

Coach Mealer has a hard time understating the role Mayo has played for his team in just a few months with the program.

“Todd starts the game for us as a shooting guard, but as the game goes forward in the second, third and fourth quarters, the ball naturally goes into his hands because he’s so skilled at running a team and handling the basketball,” Mealer says. “There just aren’t many flaws that he’s got right now. As far as on the high school level, his game is just above a lot of people.”

Mayo credits his work ethic and that of those around him as a major reason that he has developed his game so much in such a short amount of time.

“I’m very competitive. I push other players around me so they’ll push me back because when I see people work hard, it makes me work hard,” he says. “What I could bring to West Virginia is to be vocal and work hard. I want to be the first one in the gym and the last one out in my first year.”

Even though he admits WVU has the early advantage, Mayo says he’d like to wait until after his senior season is over to really take a look at all the possibilities to make sure he finds the right fit at the next level. As if the Mountaineers needed any extra help, the presence of WVU signee Noah Cottrill, who played AAU with Mayo, is a definite plus.

“Me and Noah have been playing together since sixth or seventh grade and it’d be fun knowing that one of my friends that I’ve been very close with is going to the same college as me,” he says.

And then, if Coach Huggins does officially extend the offer and if Mayo does accept the opportunity to play basketball in his home state, he will have no problem rolling up his sleeve and telling anyone who asks that yes, his tattoo is the flying WV – West Virginia University’s logo.

“Then it would represent where I’m from and my college team too. That’d be a big deal.”

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By Geoff Coyle for wvillustrated.com

November 5, 2009

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – After all the hype surrounding the highly-touted Adreian Payne over the last few weeks ended in disappointment for the Mountaineers, they will be welcoming another prospect this weekend that they are just as excited to add to the 2010-11 squad.

	WVU basketball recruit Tobias Harris has NBA in the blood including his father Torrel Harris who was George Gervin's and many other NBA greats agent, along with his cousin, and recently acquired Phoenix Suns center Channing Frye.

“I’ve already been down there for their Elite Camp and I think I’ve been down there two times, so I kind of know what to expect, but it should be good going down my last time,” Harris told wvillustrated.com

Harris says he is not sure yet if the trip will be an official or unofficial visit, but either way, it will serve as one last glimpse at all that West Virginia could offer him. If Harris were to side with the Mountaineers when all is said and done, he would already have a number of players on the team that he knows fairly well.

Playing his prep ball at Half Hollow Hills West High School in Glen Head, New York, he has become acquaintances with many current Mountaineers.

“I know Truck [Bryant], [Devin] Ebanks, Kevin Jones, Da’Sean Butler and Dan Jennings, so it’s really cool,” he says. “It’s good that those people have come down to the program because you’ve got guys that you’re cool with.”

To this point, Harris has had experience playing alongside some of those guys, as well as against them.

“I played against Truck and Kevin Jones and I just knew Danny Jennings from Reebok Youth Camp. We were on the same team, so we’ve been cool since then.”

In his conversations with the players, he has gotten the answers to many of the questions he had about WVU’s program and the university itself. He has also been extremely impressed with what he has seen out of head coach Bob Huggins.

“Coach Huggins is going to get the best out of you,” says Harris. “He’s done a good job with guys like Joe Alexander and probably Devin Ebanks and Da’Sean Butler this year getting into the pros.”

And of course, a coach with a reputation of landing his players in the NBA is always a positive to any high school prospect.
“That’s real important because that’s the main goal, to hopefully play at the next level, so that’s a big factor in the process.”

In addition to the trip to Louisville, Harris has taken official visits to Syracuse, Kentucky and Tennessee in the past two months. He says each visit has gotten better and better, which bodes well for the Mountaineers’ chances, as the early signing period is fast approaching. Harris says he plans on making his decision public by November 19^th.

“After all the visits, I’ll pretty much know where I want to go,” he says. “Right now, I’m just seeing what each school has to offer. I can’t say too much about West Virginia until I’ve actually visited.”

Harris will likely attend the WVU football game against Louisville, but is not sure what other activities he has planned when he and his parents get into town. One thing he does know, however, is what he will be looking for on his visit.

“A great atmosphere, a great program for me as a player and as a person and just somewhere that I’ll be happy at for however many years I’ll be there for,” he says.

And what are the chances he spends those years as a member of West Virginia University basketball team?

“It’s pretty high. I’m looking at them right now, so I wouldn’t be going down there if they didn’t have a real chance.”