USC's DeMar DeRozan untangles Web of intrigue

Did ya hear?

USC freshman forward DeMar DeRozan has been a disappointment. He's playing like a freshman, according to insidebayarea.com.

Go figure.

Meanwhile, over on nbadraft.net, the question "Whatever happened to DeMar DeRozan?" is being discussed.

Wait, this just in . . .

DeRozan will be the 12th overall pick in the 2009 NBA draft. It says so on draftexpress.com.

Back at nbadraft.net, he is projected as the 14th pick.

But isn't this the site that was asking "Whatever happened to DeMar DeRozan?"

Yes. But the site's mock draft also compares him to Vince Carter.

Oh, and if you'd like more information, check out DeRozan on Wikipedia.

"I never knew I had a Wikipedia entry until recently," DeRozan says, laughing. "The Internet has everything you need at once, even false information."

These are read-it-now times. But DeRozan is doing his best to live in a vacuum and not get sucked in by the hyperbole, no matter which way the pendulum of public opinion swings.

He arrived at USC as the sequel to O.J. Mayo's one-and-done act last season. Like Mayo, DeRozan was going to carry the Trojans into the NCAA tournament, then bolt to NBA greatness.

Imagine the surprise that he is averaging a relatively paltry 11.8 points and 5.0 rebounds in 14 games. Shameful.

Sitting courtside at the Galen Center, his 6-foot-7 frame hunched over the scorer's table as he watches a few teammates shoot, DeRozan says, "Yeah, this is my sanctuary. Ever since I've been in school people come up to me and say, 'Oh, you're going to be in the NBA next year.' "

Then there's the flip side from the crowd that is starting to wonder.

"College is an adjustment and there is a lot of hard work that you put into this," DeRozan says. "People that don't understand that just say, 'Wow, he's off to a slow start.' "

Talk of the town

The wildest thing DeRozan ever read about himself on the information superhighway?

"After my sophomore year at Compton [High] I was going to transfer to New York and go play there," DeRozan says.

He did go play in New York -- last spring, after his high school season was complete, he scored 17 points in the Jordan Brand Classic, an all-star game.

DeRozan also won the dunk contest at the McDonald's All-American game, impressing judges -- including Julius Erving -- with a gravity-is-merely-a-theory move, tapping the ball off the glass with his left hand and slamming it with his right.