MEN’S BASKETBALL
Buckeyes’ 2006 recruits could affect 2007 class
Some might be scared off by team’s wealth of talent
Sunday, July 10, 2005
Bob Baptist
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
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INDIANAPOLIS —
Robbie Hummel is a high-school junior from Valparaiso, Ind. He grew up a fan of Purdue, but, as he continues to grow, has expanded his horizons.
He was 6 feet 5 not long ago. He is 6-7 now and growing into the kind of long and lean perimeter player Ohio State basketball coach Thad Matta covets.
En route from New Jersey to Atlanta during the first week of the summer evaluation period, Matta stopped at the Nike All-America camp in Indianapolis last week to scout Hummel, among others. Hummel, with two more years of high-school ball to play, said he has been in touch with the OSU staff but has not been offered a scholarship. He said he’s "extremely" interested in the program.
What kid would not be right now? If Ohio State does not receive a commitment from another player in the class of 2006, it already has the year’s best recruiting class and one of the best of recent times. Commitments less than two weeks ago from 7-foot Greg Oden and point guard Mike Conley of Indianapolis, added to earlier nods from wings Daequan Cook of Dayton and David Lighty of Cleveland, give the Buckeyes four of the top 26 prospects in the class, according to a consensus of five recruiting rankings. Oden ranks No. 1 on the list and Cook is No. 8.
"That class is unbelievable," Hummel said. "But then you have to say to yourself, ‘Will I even get to play with that team?’ They’re loaded. So I guess it’s kind of a double-edged sword."
That’s the fine line Matta and his staff walk as they try to, one, put the finishing touches on their recruiting Class of 2006 and, two, build on it with another layer of stars from the class of 2007.
The first of the two 10-day evaluation periods in July started Wednesday with elite invitational camps in Indianapolis, Atlanta and Teaneck, N.J. The second period, July 22-31, includes AAU team tournaments in Las Vegas, Orlando and Los Angeles.
Matta and his staff have three scholarships left to offer the Class of 2006 and another three for 2007. While acknowledging the NCAA could take one or more of those in sanctioning the program for the transgressions of the previous coaching staff, Matta said he has not been told that is inevitable. And if all of the scholarships are spoken for before penalties are levied, he added, "I don’t think they can take (away a commitment) we’ve already got."
For the moment, he and his assistants are working hardest at getting a commitment from an elite power forward to complete a so-called Thad Five class of 2006 that recruiting analysts say would eclipse Michigan’s 1991 Fab Five as the best ever — or at least since classes began being ranked 25 years ago.
Highest on the list of power forwards appear to be two top-10 prospects, 6-8 Thaddeus Young of Memphis, Tenn., and 6-8 Vernon Macklin of Portsmouth, Va., and 6-7 Luke Harangody of Merrillville, Ind. Harangody is rumored to be leaning elsewhere, however. He skipped the Nike camp and could commit as soon as this week, his father said, to Notre Dame, Purdue or Ohio State.
Next on that list could be 6-8 Raymar Morgan of Canton McKinley, who has not been offered a scholarship but could be soon if he continues competing as aggressively around the basket as he did the first two days of the Nike camp. He said OSU coaches told him earlier this summer to "rebound the heck out of the basketball."
Morgan, who has been offered scholarships by Michigan State and Michigan, said he is intrigued by the possibility of being the fifth member of an unparalleled recruiting class.
"Those guys are all very gifted," he said. "It would be a pleasure to play with them."
But what about following them to Ohio State? Could their presence steer the studs of the class of 2007 elsewhere for playing time, as Hummel suggested? Highly rated guard Eric Gordon of Indianapolis, who plays on the same AAU team with Conley, Cook and Oden, does not list the Buckeyes among his favorites, possibly for that reason.
Matta said he does not think it is difficult to attract two great classes back-to-back.
"If you look at elite programs, that’s what they do," he said. "I think good players want to play with good players. I think that’s become a trend. You see that in the NBA now. Guys want to win."
That opinion is shared by one of the rising talents in the Class of 2007, 7-foot Kosta Koufos of Canton GlenOak. A few months ago, Koufos was rated a Mid-American Conference prospect. After an impressive spring on the AAU circuit and an MVP performance at a national tournament in St. Louis last month, he has offers from Ohio State, Michigan, Xavier and Miami (Fla.) and interest from Duke, Maryland, Illinois and Stanford.
Koufos’ comments in Indianapolis seemed to imply that Ohio State, even if Oden sticks around for more than a year, might be the team to beat for a kid whose parents graduated from the university and who grew up a Buckeyes fan.
"That national championship is all I care about," he said. "If I (sit on) the bench and don’t play at all, winning is the goal."
Koufos also spoke of potentially teaming inside with another highly rated Ohioan in his class, 6-8 Dallas Lauderdale of Solon. He and Lauderdale are part of a talented 2007 in-state class that also includes 6-4 O.J. Mayo, 6-5 Bill Walker and 6-11 Keenan Ellis of Cincinnati North College Hill, 6-5 Chris Wright of Trotwood and 6-6 Jon Diebler of Upper Sandusky.
"We’ve got all the Ohio people coming to Ohio State," Koufos said. Or, in Matta’s dreams, at least as many as he has room for.
