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Lewis Eager to Return Home
By Kyle Lamb
Date: Sep 15, 2004
When Ronald Lewis made the decision to transfer from Bowling Green, he could have chosen any of a number of schools. But he elected to come back to his hometown of Columbus and play for the Buckeyes. Kyle Lamb recently talked with Lewis about his decision.
Who says you can't go home again? Certainly not Bowling Green transfer Ronald Lewis, who just last week announced he was transferring to the Ohio State University.
Lewis, a 6-4 guard who played high school ball at Columbus Brookhaven, averaged 17 points a game this past season as a sophomore for the Falcons.
Immediately after announcing his intentions to transfer a few weeks ago, Lewis received a barrage of phone calls from interested schools inquiring about the possibility of luring him.
Within the first hour, Lewis said his brother, Lamont, who was handling his recruitment, received calls from seven different schools. When it was all said and done, Lewis trimmed his list from about 30 possibilities down to 10.
"I just wanted to go to the place that best suited me," Lewis said. "In the end, Ohio State just became the best option."
Ohio State became the best option for Lewis over Seton Hall, Evansville, West Virginia, Penn State, Boston College, Pittsburgh, Virginia Tech, Massachusetts, and San Diego State, amongst others.
As an athletic combo guard, Lewis comes to the Buckeyes as an explosive scoring option that gets to the free throw line, and makes free throws-a rarity for Ohio State teams the past few years.
There's no hiding the fact Lewis aspires to get to the NBA, and he feels playing point guard gives him the best option to do just that.
"I'm willing and I know how to play the point guard position," Lewis explained. "I just know that a lot of players my height in the NBA play point, so that's just what I'm getting ready for."
Contrary to popular belief, however, Lewis has no preconceived notions of where he will play at Ohio State.
In fact, that has not even been discussed with Coach Matta to this point.
"I think he's going to play me as a combo guard," Lewis said. "We really haven't talked about it."
Quickly, Lewis has found himself fitting in with the players at Ohio State, and said the team has been really easy to get along with.
While Lewis will have to sit out the 2004-2005 season due to NCAA transfer regulations, he will have the chance to work on a jump shot as well as his ball handling.
Any improvements to those facets of his game could be a lethal combination to an already impressive repertoire of explosive ability.
"My strengths are driving and scoring, really," Lewis said. "I know how to score in a lot of different ways."
Lewis is happy to be back at home near his mother and brother, both of who he is very close to. He's also thrilled they will be able to see him play quite often.
Lewis' top priority at Ohio State, however, will simply be to win.
"I'm a person that is determined to win, and will do anything for the team to win," Lewis said. "Winning is the ultimate goal here (at Ohio State) and that's what I came here to do."
He has been very happy with the direction Coach Matta is taking Ohio State.
"Well from what I see, Coach Matta is going to do very well here," Lewis added. "I've seen what he has done at Xavier and I think he will be able to do the same at Ohio State as well. We have enough talent and enough skill in each of our players."
And then there's that little thing about returning home…
"Being able to come back home and play, it doesn't get any better than that," Lewis said.
* More can be read on Lewis and his commitment to Ohio State in next month's edition of Bucknuts the Magazine.