Gary Parrish on Recruitment of Rose and Mayo

My guess is the names Rodney Guillory and William Wesley never get mentioned on the air, and it's a solid guess given how Mayo and Rose have already been on ESPN multiple times and I've yet to hear either name come through my television.

"If you don't have a mentor, uncle, friend, cousin or AAU coach of some kind working for you with an elite prospect, you are just wasting your time recruiting," one high-major assistant told me recently. "Without somebody working for you, you have no shot at that prospect. Absolutely none."

So Calipari had Wesley working for him, Floyd had Guillory working for him.

It's not quite as clean as Rose choosing Memphis because of a dribble-drive motion offense or Mayo selecting USC because of the media market it would provide. Thus, the peddling of the feel-good fiction has been going on all season, and it even appeared in Tuesday morning's New York Times, where an article explained how Mayo supposedly chose USC "because he wanted to help create a legacy, to be a pioneer."

Yep, that O.J. Mayo. He's a modern-day Daniel Boone.

To be clear, I'm not suggesting Mayo doesn't enjoy the L.A. market or even the idea of playing across town from UCLA's Kevin Love. Both those things must be appealing on some level.

But the real reason Mayo is at USC is a man named Rodney Guillory, an L.A-based event promoter whom the NCAA once deemed a "runner" for an agent. Guillory is a mentor to Mayo, and he guided Mayo to USC by walking into Floyd's office one day and asking Floyd if he'd like to coach the budding superstar. And yes, it was that easy. Guillory, who formed a bond with Mayo in recent years, lived in L.A., so Mayo was going to attend college in L.A., plain and simple.

If Guillory lived in Chicago, Mayo would likely be playing at DePaul. If Guillory lived in Milwaukee, Mayo would likely be playing at Marquette.

But because Guillory lives in Los Angeles, Mayo is playing at Southern California. End of story.

Meantime, Rose is starring at Memphis thanks to a similar connection, specifically the well-documented one between Calipari and William Wesley. If you aren't familiar with Wesley, I'm not sure where you've been the past year, because "Worldwide Wes" has been featured in GQ and routinely referenced among the most powerful men in basketball, as a fascinating character who seems to have a million high-placed friends and allies.

One of them is Michael Jordan.

Another is LeBron James.

Another is Calipari.

Another is Nike.

It is no secret in basketball circles that Wesley represents Nike in some form, even if it's in an unofficial capacity. He's flashing swooshes all the time, as were Rose and his older brother, Reggie, for the past couple of years because Nike outfitted Reggie Rose's high school team in Chicago and funded his AAU team.

Now, Reggie is a Nike employee (according to a recent article in the Commercial Appeal), and if you don't think Wesley facilitated some of this (if not all of this) then don't forget to leave your cookies and milk in front of the fireplace on Christmas Eve, because I'm assuming you still wait for Santa to come down that chimney every year.

Style of play and atmosphere? No doubt, Rose surely enjoys those things at Memphis. But the real reason he is a Tiger is because Wesley's good friend (Calipari) is the Tigers' coach.

And why is that story so difficult for everybody to accept? Why do we need the feel-good fiction? What's wrong with the truth?

That's the question worth asking as tip-off approaches for this Jimmy V Classic, as ESPN prepares to pound us with phrases like student-athlete and love of the game and diaper dandy and whatever.

My guess is the names Rodney Guillory and William Wesley never get mentioned on the air, and it's a solid guess given how Mayo and Rose have already been on ESPN multiple times and I've yet to hear either name come through my television.

Which makes sense, really. After all, their stories don't fit the script, don't sound as pristine as a kid choosing a school because of tradition and academics. So from one writer and broadcaster to the next, the fairy tale is spun and retold for the same reasons that we like Enchanted way more than Sicko.

Enchanted is sweet and endearing. Sicko will make you question the world.

But at least Sicko is an honest and realistic glimpse at a subject, depressing as it might be. Still, I'll take reality over fiction every day, and the reality with college basketball is that so-called mentors and shoe companies dictate much of what happens, so it's about time we stopped pretending otherwise and peddling untruths.

"If you don't have a mentor, uncle, friend, cousin or AAU coach of some kind working for you with an elite prospect, you are just wasting your time recruiting," one high-major assistant told me recently. "Without somebody working for you, you have no shot at that prospect. Absolutely none."

So Calipari had Wesley working for him, Floyd had Guillory working for him.

And do you know what that makes Calipari and Floyd?

It makes them two of the very best at what they do, two coaches who understand the current landscape. Is it cheating? No. It might be a form of legalized cheating, if you'll accept the phrase. But more than anything it's just creative and smart and the way things usually get done these days, which is why Kansas State hired Michael Beasley's former AAU coach, Texas A&M hired DeAndre Jordan's former AAU coach and Indiana hired Eric Gordon's former AAU coach.

"Recruiting is what it is," Vaccaro said. "Everything you can do above board and legally, you should do. That's the only way to exist in big-time athletics."

It's the only way to exist. It's the only way to thrive. It's the only way to land at The Garden on a Tuesday in December. And I suggest now is the perfect time to accept it and cease living in a world of make-believe, a world where people think most elite prospects genuinely care about things like atmosphere or the opportunity to be pioneers.

Comments

[Hull]

Rodney Guillory is the shadiest freak on earth... Mayo needs to watch his ass and I don't know why his parents are letting him fuck with Guillory. He will diametrically fuck your life up Mayo ask Tito Maddox! He takes atheletes from less unfortunate places and makes shady deals with NBA liners... now if you back out you will be completely fucked... don't let fast talking snakes jack up your career!!