Derrick Rose and O.J. Mayo kept running into each other at AAU tournaments and high school All-Star games. For the people who follow such things, the sometimes-ferocious clashes in some of those games became famous and sparked a raging debate on Internet message boards.

O.J. Mayo or Rose? Who was the best high school guard in America?

If you type their names into youtube.com, you still get the images of high-flying dunks, no-look passes and athletic dribble drives.

Just a handful of games into their college careers, they meet again. O.J. Mayo, the leading scorer at USC, plays against Rose and his second-ranked Memphis Tigers in the second game of tonight's Jimmy V Classic at Madison Square Garden. Many eyes will be on the two freshmen with billboard-sized hype in their high school years, particularly because Dick Vitale is the analyst on ESPN's broadcast.

The term "diaper dandy," just might pop up a time or two.

O.J. Mayo, Rose and Kansas State's Michael Beasley are the leaders of what has been called the Year of the Freshman in college basketball. NBA early entrance restrictions have poured young talent back into the universities, never more than this season. Other standout freshmen are UCLA's Kevin Love, Indiana's Eric Gordon and Texas A&M's DeAndre Jordan.

"There are a lot of great freshmen this year," Rose said. "When I've watched other games, I sometimes shake my head when I see what they are doing. It's just amazing."

In one regard, both players already have proven to be world beaters. O.J. Mayo and Rose were the starting guards on the USA team that defeated the World team, 100-80, at the Nike Hoops Summit in Memphis last spring. O.J. Mayo led the team with 20 points. Rose added eight and said he formed a friendship with O.J. Mayo. He said they speak by phone every few weeks.

"He loves to compete and I learned a lot about being a competitor from him," Rose said.

Both players have transitioned quickly from prep superstar to fitting into teams with lofty tournament expectations. O.J. Mayo has been the centerpiece of USC's offense thus far, averaging 21 points on 45 percent shooting. Rose is playing point guard and averaging 17 points in a Memphis offense that works around 6-foot-7 swing man Chris Douglas-Roberts. They both have spent these early games learning the difference between dominating fellow high schoolers and playing team concepts at a more competitive level.

"Us being young players and playing a college game for the first time, I think the challenge for us both is to compete on every possession, whether it's on the defensive or offensive end," O.J. Mayo said. "It's just sustaining your effort throughout the whole 40 minutes."

The first things O.J. Mayo and Rose said in interviews about tonight's game was that it is about more than them. Both teams are fighting to maintain momentum going into their conference schedules. Memphis likely won't face much competition in Conference USA, but the Pac-10 is widely considered the best conference in the country. USC can't afford to lose too many nonconference games unless it wants to sweat out a tournament berth. O.J. Mayo has declared a national title to be the Trojans' goal.

The Trojans (6-2) outplayed No. 4 Kansas in stretches Sunday but made key mistakes down the stretch to lose by four at home. Coach Tim Floyd hinted that this quick trip across the country could be tough sledding. He already is begging for consideration for strength-of-schedule consideration for March.

"We don't want to go play a schedule to build wins," Floyd said. "My hope is that the NCAA selection committee will remember who we're playing."