So long Greg, but the NBA won't love you like college hoops does
Greg Oden put up an NBA-style performance in the title game. (AP)
ATLANTA -- The damage from Greg Oden's final collegiate game: 25 points, 12 rebounds, four blocks and one Brazilian rain forest.
The equivalent of which was wiped out recording his exploits over the past six months. What
Ohio State's teenage center gave us with his steady, season-long rise, he took away in global warming.
What we were left with Monday night after the Gators got done hoopin' it up is that maybe the big man is back. Or maybe we're being cheated by an NBA rule that serves only to tease us. But at least half the buzz after
Florida's domination of not only the game but college athletics was Oden.
In his last game, he had his best game.
The best thing that happened, rabid Ohio State fan, is that your guys lost. A win would have split the Thad Five up forever. For sure. What more was there to accomplish?
So what about now? Oden's mate, guard Mike Conley Jr., was already talking about getting the band back together next year.
"Yeah, I do," said Conley, when asked if the loss would influence his teammates' decisions about leaving for the NBA. Change
teammates to
Greg Oden and you've got the correct translation.
"The way things worked out tonight will change people's minds and get the team back together next year because we love playing together."
Conley? "A hundred percent sure," he is returning.
Entire SI Article:
http://www.cbs.sportsline.com/collegebasketball/story/10104941