• Follow us on Twitter @buckeyeplanet and @bp_recruiting, like us on Facebook! Enjoy a post or article, recommend it to others! BP is only as strong as its community, and we only promote by word of mouth, so share away!
  • Consider registering! Fewer and higher quality ads, no emails you don't want, access to all the forums, download game torrents, private messages, polls, Sportsbook, etc. Even if you just want to lurk, there are a lot of good reasons to register!

C Greg Oden (All B1G, All-American, Defensive Player of the Year, Butler Assistant Coach)

Jump to latest Follow Reply
Sort by date Sort by votes
link

7/19/05
HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL
spacer.gif



At the height of expectations

spacer.gif

Greg Oden, a 7-foot high school center from Indianapolis, has been tabbed the top-rated player and is projected for success in college and eventually in the NBA.
spacer.gif

[size=-1]BY JOSEPH GOODMAN[/size]
spacer.gif

[size=-1][email protected][/size]
spacer.gif

<!-- begin body-content -->

Greg Oden is not the next LeBron James. Oden is taller. Oden is going to college -- orally committing to Ohio State. Oden didn't win an award at the ESPYs.

But college, comparisons and even basketball are the furthest things from Oden's mind at 9 a.m. Friday morning inside the University of Miami Convocation Center. Oden is sleepy. He looks and feels like the world's tallest zombie -- like a man who just hopped off of a red-eye flight from Los Angeles to Miami to play an early-morning basketball game. Good thing ESPN treated his 7-foot frame to a first-class seat.

Hunched and contorted in a courtside folding chair, the body language of the 17-year-old cries for a bed.

''I'm so tired, and I haven't even played basketball in four days,'' said Oden, who has been compared to Kevin Garnett, Amare Stoudemire and Bill Russell. ``I haven't eaten any real food since yesterday.''

Such is the hype-machine-fueled life of the next big high school star destined for at least one year of college. If it's not a nationally televised awards banquet (Oden was a finalist for the Gatorade High School National Player of the Year award at ESPN's recent ESPY Awards), than it's constant attention from the press. Oden has appeared on ESPN's Cold Pizza, The Indianapolis Star has covered the phenom regularly for the past two years, and a ''Greg Oden'' Google search offers more than 50,000 hits.

QUIET DEMEANOR

Oden, so quiet he seems shy, scoffs at comparisons to James, the most recent high school star to receive so much publicity. Oden says he's not nearly as good as James. He says he's not really that good at all. Just big. The world says differently, of course.

He's the top-rated high school player in the country by Rivals.com and, had the NBA not implemented a 19-year-old age limit, likely would have been the No. 1 pick of next year's draft.

As of Friday morning, it had already been a long week for Oden. He attended the ESPY Awards in Los Angeles earlier this week and flew to Miami on Thursday night for the Breakdown Hoops Festival, an AAU showcase-style basketball tournament sponsored by Reebok and hosted by UM.

'I met Kevin Garnett, Dwight Howard, Mia Hamm and got to ride in Baron Davis' limo,'' said Oden of his ESPY experience. ``When they put the camera on [volleyball player] Cynthia Barboza you can see my arm. I had to sit next to Cynthia because she's so cute.''

After three games Friday and two more Saturday, Oden was ready for a breather. Oden struggled with his conditioning during Friday morning's game, an 84-59 romp against In The Zone.

''I just couldn't catch my breath,'' he said.

Oden, who plays for the ultra-talented travel team Spiece Indy Heat, missed the first two days of the Breakdown Hoops Festival and averaged 13 points the first two games Friday. Spiece Indy Heat beat Fasttrack Future 99-46 in its second game.

The first-year tournament, which gives college coaches a chance to evaluate some of the best high school basketball talent in the country, concluded Saturday.

''Having this tournament here is awesome, because what we're trying to do here at UM is get South Florida excited about basketball,'' UM coach Frank Haith said. ``This helps, and it is only going to get bigger in the future.''

All eyes were on Oden and his teammates Friday. Haith sat next to Florida State coach Leonard Hamilton during Spiece Indy Heat's drubbing of Fasttrack Future. Not far away was Matt Dougherty, Florida Atlantic University's new coach. Also in attendance were assistant coaches from Georgia Tech, Ohio State, Duke, Tennessee, Kentucky, Marshall, UAB and many more. Illinois coach Bruce Weber made an appearance Thursday.

Several UM players, including Adrian Thomas, The Herald's All-Broward basketball player of the year, laughed along with a small audience as Oden dunked over opponents.

BEST OF THE BEST

''After seeing him play I definitely agree that he's the best high school player in the country,'' Thomas said. ``He blocks and he can run so fast. He looked like a guard running up the court.''

Oden isn't the only highly touted player on the Indianapolis team. Rivals.com ranks Daequan Cook (6-5) as the No. 2 shooting guard in the country and Mike Conley Jr. (6-1) as the nation's best point guard.

The Oden, Cook, Conley Jr. trio recently committed to Ohio State along with David Lighty of Cleveland, ranked No. 2 nationally among small forwards.

''People have started to compare us to the Fab Five, but we want to make our own name,'' Cook said.

<!-- end body-content -->
Click to expand...
147966568528.jpg


147966592856.jpg


147966605020.jpg
 
Upvote 0
link

7/20/05
Ten for Tuesday: Buckeyes lead '06 recruiting pack


<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR vAlign=top><TD width=10> </TD><TD><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR vAlign=top><TD width=50>
8450.gif
</TD><TD noWrap>July 19, 2005
By Gregg Doyel
CBS SportsLine.com Senior Writer
Tell Gregg your opinion!
</TD><TD width=10> </TD><TD align=right><SCRIPT language=JavaScript><!--//var dclkFeaturesponsor='http://ad.doubleclick.net/adj/sponsorships.spln.com/fs/stories/'+vTag+';'+vTarget+';'+uID+';sz=234x42;tile=5;ord='+random+'?';if (switchDclk != 'off') { if (location.search.substring(1).indexOf('DCLK')>-1) document.write('<input type="text" value="'+dclkFeaturesponsor+'" style="width:">
'); document.write('<script src="'+dclkFeaturesponsor+'"><\/script>'); }// --></SCRIPT><SCRIPT src="http://ad.doubleclick.net/adj/sponsorships.spln.com/fs/stories/collegebasketball;arena=collegebasketball;feat=stories;type=psa;!category=beer;user=Anonymous;seg=nonaol;ctype=lan;lang=en-us;lang=en-us;vpmp=no;adv=b;cust=no;vip=no;u=;sz=234x42;tile=5;ord=7279838202833661?"></SCRIPT>
dot.gif
<NOSCRIPT></NOSCRIPT> </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR vAlign=top><TD width=10> </TD><TD>[font=Arial, Helvetica]
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 align=right border=0><TBODY><TR><TD colSpan=2>
</TD></TR><TR><TD style="BORDER-LEFT: #cccccc 1px solid" width=5> </TD><TD><NOBR> </NOBR></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><!-- T8659033 --><!-- Sesame Modified: 07/19/2005 19:19:05 --><!-- sversion: 1 $Updated: georgem$ -->College coaches are concocting their recruiting classes for next year, and already in the hyperbolic world of recruiting, three schools are putting together THE CLASS OF THE CENTURY: Ohio State, Duke and North Carolina.

Ten for Tuesday ranks the best recruiting classes (so far) for 2006, and unlike everyone else, we're going to include transfers in these rankings. Because we can.

<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=150 align=left><TBODY><TR><TD width=150>
img8658734.jpg
</TD><TD width=15> </TD></TR><TR><TD width=150>Thad Matta is on fire on the recruiting circuit. (Getty Images) </TD><TD width=15> </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>1. Ohio State: Who does Thad Matta think he is, Mike Krzyzewski? Matta has commitments from 7-foot Greg Oden, the most celebrated high school center since Ralph Sampson, plus three other potential McDonald's All-Americans (wings David Lighty and Daequan Cook, and point guard Michael Conley). Oh, and the OSU football team has a commitment from 6-8 receiver Josh Chichester, who's a basketball beast. Matta isn't done, either, with top 10 wing Thaddeus Young among his targets.

2. North Carolina: Roy Williams has commitments from three players who will provide immediate help in 2006-07, including two potential ACC all-rookie selections: wing Wayne Ellington and point guard Tywon Lawson. The other commitment, 6-5 William Graves, is a hulk of a small forward. The Tar Heels also are in the mix for Young as well as some of the top available big men from the Class of 2006.

3. Duke: Used to be Coach K signed an enormous recruiting class every other year. With Duke no longer immune to losing underclassmen to the NBA, and without the eight-and-five scholarship restriction, Coach K goes for enormity every year. In 2006 he'll add a future star at shooting guard (Jon Scheyer), small forward (Gerald Henderson) and center (7-footer Brian Zoubek). Like UNC and Ohio State, Duke is in good position with other star juniors, too.

4. Stanford: It's hard enough to find one potential NBA big man. Stanford has two: commitments from 6-11 Brook Lopez and 6-11 Robin Lopez, the most heralded set of twins since the Collins brothers chose (ahem) Stanford in 1997.

5. New Mexico: Ritchie McKay has seen Reggie Theus' early returns at New Mexico State -- and McKay has raised the ante. McKay has found the Lobos three stud transfers for the 2006-07 season, including Big Ten rebounding leader Aaron Johnson from Penn State and one-time projected lottery pick J.R. Giddens from Kansas. McKay also accepted a transfer from point guard Josh Jenkins, who averaged 10 points and 3.5 assists last season at ... New Mexico State.

6. New Mexico State: After inheriting a 6-24 team this spring, Theus began stocking up for his second season by accepting transfers from Kansas State guard Fred Peete, Utah wing Justin Hawkins and Charlotte center Martin Iti. A fourth transfer, Trei Steward of Division I independent Northern Colorado, is a 6-7, 250-pound banger.

7. Florida State: FSU coach Leonard Hamilton has taken some from Column A (high school recruits) and one from Column B (transfers). The transfer is guard Toney Douglas, who averaged 16.9 points as a freshman but left Auburn because his daddy wanted him to play the point. Point guard Jose Soto is the highest-rated of the Seminoles' three recruits, but that's a mistake. Jon Kreft, a 7-foot center, is definitely better, and 6-4 wing Aaron Holmes might be better as well.

8. Louisville: The Cardinals have just two commitments, but after signing 49 players a year ago, two will do. Especially these two: point guard Jerry Smith and shooting guard Edgar Sosa, both of whom can fill it up.

9. Texas: By himself, 6-10 small forward Kevin Durant puts Texas into the top 10. He's that good. The Longhorns also have a commitment from Justin Mason, a solid shooting guard, and could get one soon from top 100 wing Solomon Tat.

10. Georgetown: John Thompson III is recruiting better than he coached in his first season with the Hoyas -- and he coached awfully well in 2004-05. Thompson has commitments from big scoring guard Jeremiah Rivers (Doc's son) and power forward DaJuan Summers, plus an athletic transfer in ex-Indiana forward Patrick Ewing Jr. Headline writers (and me, too) can't wait for John Thompson to again coach Patrick Ewing at Georgetown.

Ten for honorable mention: Villanova (best addition: Reggie Redding), Connecticut (Curtis Kelly), Illinois (Brian Carlwell), Oklahoma (Damion James), Wake Forest (Jamie Skeen), Virginia Tech (Nigel Munson), Baylor (Demond Carter), Miami (Siena transfer Frank McClinton), Arkansas (Mississippi State transfer Gary Ervin), Minnesota (junior college transfer James Davis).

[/font]</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
Click to expand...
 
Upvote 0
cnnsi.com

7/21/05

How hokey is Ohio State coach Thad Matta?

To start with, he actually grew up in a town called Hoopeston, Ill., a cozy hamlet that sits near the Indiana state line. His dad, Jim, was the athletic director at the town high school for 35 years. "I was raised in the gymnasium," Matta, 38, says. "I wanted to be him when I grew up." Of his mother, Ellanat, Matta says, "My mom never told me a lie, and I never figured that out until I was about 30."

Matta was still in high school when he first read The Power of Positive Thinking by Dr. Norman Vincent Peale. He recently reread the book and thought, "Damn, I've been doing this stuff all along and not even realizing it." On his desk at home, Matta has a green sign with gold lettering that reads, "Nothing is Impossible." He calls his daughters Ali, 6, and Emily, 4, "the two greatest kids in the world," and credits fatherhood for helping him become a more "compassionate" coach. "You start to realize you're dealing with other people's children," he says. "I really believe kids want to do well. It's a coach's job to create an environment for them to be successful."

This kind of corn isn't supposed to be the dish of choice for today's jaded, me-first teenagers, but as we all know, Matta has found his share of eager consumers lately. He has made Ohio State the story of the recruiting season by lassoing four top players from the recruiting class of 2006, highlighted by 7-foot center Greg Oden from Indianapolis.

Even though this group is still a quartet, people are referring to them as the Thad Five. The comparisons, however, to the Chris Webber-Juwan Howard class that entered Michigan in 1991 don't quite fit. Michigan has a proud football tradition but it was also a hoops powerhouse two years removed from a national championship when the Fab Five came to Ann Arbor. Ohio State, on the other hand, is the ultimate football school, and has been to just one Final Four in the past 37 years. The biggest headlines the Buckeyes have made on the hardwood of late came last year when coach Jim O'Brien was forced to resign for approving a payment to a recruit that so brazenly defied NCAA rules the school later imposed an NCAA tournament ban on last year's squad.

Which brings us to another difference between this class and the one that went to Michigan: The Fab Five, as we later learned, was bought with booster money. Matta wouldn't pay a recruit any sooner than Richie Cunningham would cheat on a math test.

So what is it about this golly-gee Midwesterner that proved so compelling to high-school kids who could go anywhere they wanted? To start with, all that hokiness comes with a true gunslinger's mentality -- most in evidenced on the final day of the 2004-05 regular season. The Buckeyes were playing at home on Senior Day and trailing undefeated Illinois by two points with under 10 seconds to play. The smart decision would have been to work the ball to junior center Terence Dials, who was having his way with the Illini inside, and play for overtime. "My staff wanted to do that, but I told them, Do you really want to play these guys for another five minutes?" Matta says. "I went in the huddle and told our guys we were going for the win. They were really excited."

You all know what happened next. Matta designed a play for junior guard Matt Sylvester, who buried the 3-pointer with 5.1 seconds to play to clinch the win. "As I drew it up, Matt said, 'I'll make that shot.' I told him, You better," Matta says. "People ask me how many times I've watched that shot on tape. What I've watched more is our players embracing at half court. That was the most gratifying part for me, seeing their jubilation knowing they had done something."

<!--startclickprintexclude-->That moment could hardly have been imagined the previous December, when Matta had to walk into his locker room and tell his players they were going to be ineligible for the NCAA tournament because of the violations committed under O'Brien. That was a dark day the sunny Matta had trouble illuminating, but as usual, he worked to turn it into a positive experience. "I thought it was one of the greatest lessons you could have in life," he says. "Life is not always going to be fair, but at the end of the day, you have to judge whether you did the best you could do. I told our guys every day, I don't believe in bad days."

Indeed, Matta's biggest challenge after taking the job last spring was to break away from the negativity of the program's recent past. When he first got into his office, he says, people would tell him all the time what his players couldn't do, so he implemented a rule: "I only wanted to hear the good things." Matta purposely didn't watch any tape of the previous season's games so he could evaluate his players based solely on what he saw. He also removed from the locker room any signs, pictures or other items put in place by the previous regime.

Still, you have to wonder why Matta would realistically think he could persuade someone like Oden to come to Ohio State, much less go to college at all. But not only did Matta zealously recruit Oden well before the NBA instituted its 19-year age minimum, Matta recruited Oden when he was the coach at Xavier, before he even got to Ohio State. Matta, who is not permitted to comment on his recruits until they sign letters-of-intent, says simply, "We've always tried to recruit the best players we could."

Yet, Matta bristles at any suggestion his success on the recruiting trail is the result of a well-oiled sales pitch. "Somebody said that I could sell water to a drowning man and that kind of bothers me," he says. "I've got great passion for what we have to offer and what I believe in. I don't come in and give a sales pitch. You're dealing with kids' lives here."

That notion was driven home painfully last November, when Matta learned the mother of his senior point guard, Brandon Fuss-Cheatham, had been killed in an automobile accident. When he heard the news, Matta rushed to the player's apartment to console him. "There's no book you can read to prepare you for something like that," he says. "When you're in that situation, everything falls into perspective." He was faced with a similar situation late in the regular season when freshman point guard Jamar Butler lost an uncle in a car crash. The fact the Buckeyes were able to handle that adversity and pull off one of the season's biggest upsets is a testament to Matta's relentless optimism, though he is naturally quick to point out that it was "a tribute to those players, not the coaches."

The win over Illinois was also significant because, despite the importance of that weekend, Matta still found time to watch Oden and his teammate Mike Conley play twice in the Indiana state high school tournament. By watching them in the tournament, Matta was able to use up one of his five allowed visits to see the duo play in two games instead of one. The players later cited Matta's presence there as an example of why they chose to go to Ohio State.

Recruiting hype can often be the kiss of death for college basketball programs, because that means the players will face huge expectations once they're on campus. Matta, however, seems unconcerned. He doesn't believe in bad days and he doesn't play for overtime. It's the power of positive thinking, stupid.

Besides, he still believes in a place called Hoopeston.
Click to expand...
Spiece Indy Heat will be participating in the Big Time tournament in Vegas this week, here is there tentative schedule in open pool play...

Friday

2:20pm

Spiece Indy Heat vs D-1 Greyhounds (Mayo, Walker, Ellis)

Saturday

9:00am

Spiece Indy Heat vs NY Panthers
 
Last edited:
Upvote 0
foxsports.com

7/22/05
There are basketball fans.


And then there are the real basketball fans.



If you're going to attempt to navigate the three traveling team tournaments, involving some 850 teams of high school-aged players (and a handful of 20-year-old "prep schoolers") and seemingly as many gymnasiums, which will run from Friday morning until next Tuesday night in and around Las Vegas, I know what category you belong in.

<TABLE class=emailBoothFields style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #000 1px solid; BORDER-LEFT: #000 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #000 1px solid; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #eee" cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=5 width=210 align=right border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>
<LI>Get more college hoops news from Scout.com

</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

Watching the games on bleacher seating, from 8 a.m. until close to midnight each day, is only a portion of the physical and mental obstacle course you're going to encounter.

Slipping out of air-conditioned cars into 110-degree or so weather and then into air-conditioned (to the hilt, often), high school gymnasiums — and then reversing the process, as many times daily as you've got the endurance for — isn't exactly something that the casual fan would care to put up with, either.

Here's one quick safety hint from someone who has been attending July basketball tournaments in Las Vegas since 1976 (uh, that would be me): Keep a hand towel (or a bath towel, come to think of it) in your car. Because without having a towel draped over the steering wheel once you get back into your car after leaving the gym, you're going to suffer some scorching pain on your palms until your air conditioning kicks in. Take my word for it ...

Each of the three tournaments — the Reebok-sponsored Big Time Tournament, the adidas-fronted Super 64 and The Main Event (run by Houston Hoops entrepreneur Hal Pastner) — have enough high-octane players and teams to make it worth your while to hit each at least once during the five days of action.

<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=3 width=200 align=left border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>
3781028_36_3.jpg
</TD></TR><TR><TD class=caption><ID>Greg Oden, the consensus top recruit of the '06 class, has verbally committed to Ohio State.</ID> (Lisa Blumenfeld / Getty Images)</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

But the Reebok event, thanks to an incredible marketing scheme, figures to draw the bulk of the casual and not-so-casual fans, as well as a hefty portion of the Internet and mainstream media and college coaches, to Big Time headquarters at Foothill High in the Las Vegas suburb of Henderson.

Sonny Vaccaro & Co. have their eight most high-profile Reebok-sponsored programs, including Spiece Heat of Indianapolis (Greg Oden) and the D I Greyhounds of Cincinnati (O.J. Mayo and Bill Walker), play three games apiece among themselves in the first two days of what makes up "pool play" for the other 300 or so teams in the event.

So instead of Oden and Mayo playing against pool teams with players apt to approach them for autographs and wanting to pose for pictures with them afterward, we'll see most of the elite players in the event hooking up Friday and Saturday at Foothill, including a Spiece Heat vs. D I Greyhounds game at 2:20 Friday afternoon.

The only folks who are going to be watching games at Durango (the Main Event headquarters) or Desert Pines (the Super 64 main gym) that afternoon will either be the parents of players on those events teams or coaches recruiting players in those games.

The Big Time organizers, in essence, made Foothill the place to be — at least for Day I of competition. Touché, guys.

The Big Time championship game is set for 6:30 p.m. Tuesday (July 26). And I'm thinking there is a heck of a chance that the Oden and Mayo clubs could be hooking up in a rematch of that Friday afternoon clash.

Getting there on time for the opening tip could be tricky for a lot of us.

That is because we'll be racing across town to get there after watching the 5 o'clock matchup between the Main Event and adidas 64 tournament champions at Cox Arena on the UNLV Campus. That game is being nationally televised by the Fox Sports Network.

But here's the real litmus test to measure how really into this thing you are:

All of the on-court action begins at 12:01 a.m. Friday, in the four-court Tarkanian Basketball Academy, where the "Pangos Midnight Madness" will take place with 16 "mini-games" of 25 minutes apiece until approximately 2 a.m.

Teams from each of the three tournaments will participate. And the hook is, in case you're baffled by the concept of watching basketball at those in hours in Las Vegas — or anywhere else, I suppose — is that Friday (July 22) is the first day that the July evaluation period resumes after shutting down on July 15.

We can look at it this way: Maybe the Pangos event will keep a lot of coaches and players — and media members — from succumbing to any of the other temptations the city has to offer at those hours. See you there.
Click to expand...
 
Upvote 0
link

7/23/05

<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD vAlign=top align=left width=470>Buffalo-born hoop star decides on Ohio State
By ALLEN WILSON
News Sports Reporter
7/22/2005 </TD></TR><TR><TD colSpan=2></TD></TR><TR><TD width=2>
space.gif
</TD><TD vAlign=top width=499 bgColor=#ffffff>



<TABLE cellSpacing=1 cellPadding=0 width=250 align=left><TBODY><TR><TD></TD></TR><TR><TD>Associated Press
National Player of the Year Greg Oden is a Buffalo native.

</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>He's 7-foot, 245 pounds and the best high school basketball player in the country.

He's also from Buffalo.

Greg Oden, 17, isn't well-known in local hoops circles because he was gone before he ascended to stardom. Oden, his mother, Zoe, and his younger brother, Anthony, moved to Terre Haute, Ind., in 1997 shortly after Zoe and the kids' father, Greg Sr., divorced.

The boys maintain a close relationship with their father, a plumbing and heating contractor, and the rest of their relatives in Buffalo.

Greg Oden started playing basketball as a fourth-grader in Terre Haute, and by the time his family moved to Indianapolis in 2001, he had grown in size and talent.

This past season, Oden was named National Player of the Year by USA Today, Gatorade and Parade magazine after averaging 20 points, 9.6 rebounds and 3.7 blocked shots while leading Lawrence North High to a second straight state championship.

National recruiting analyst Bob Gibbons called Oden the best high school center he's seen since Lew Alcindor (aka Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) in the early 1960s.

Being featured in national magazines, on ESPN and HBO, and facing hordes of fans seeking autographs can inflate a young man's ego, but Oden has handled the attention quite well.

"He impresses me sometimes," said Zoe Oden, a rehabilitation technician at an Indianapolis hospital. "A lot of people who could have been in that same situation could act a lot different. He's only a teenager, but he's really mature for his age." Many pro scouts predicted Oden would have been the first pick in the 2006 NBA draft if not for the new 19-year-old age limit. But he insisted all along he was going to college. On June 29, he verbally committed to Ohio State. "You've got a lot of high school players that went to the NBA, but they were obviously ready for it," said Oden, whose "little" brother is a 6-8, 240-pound rising sophomore. "I just don't feel I'll be ready for the NBA mentally, physically, offensively. College is what develops you for that next level, and I do want a college education. No matter what I do I'm going to try and get that."

e-mail: [email protected]


</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
Click to expand...

LINK

7/23/05


[font=Verdana, Arial]PREP BASKETBALL: Big Time target on star Oden[/font]

<!-- QUICKREAD -->

[font=Verdana, Arial]7-footer well-marked in bid to help Spiece Indy Heat repeat as champ[/font]

<!-- TEXT of COL1 --><!--plsfield:BYLINE-->[font=Verdana, Arial]By STEVE CARP
REVIEW-JOURNAL </B>
</B>[/font]<!--Sidebar2 Table--><!--startclickprintexclude--><TABLE cellSpacing=3 cellPadding=5 width=150 align=left border=0><TBODY><TR><TD vAlign=top>[font=Verdana, Arial]


Center Greg Oden dunks for two of his 10 points Friday in Spiece Indy Heat's 69-67 win over the D-1 Greyhounds in Big Time Tournament play at Foothill High School. He also had 12 rebounds.
Photo by John Locher.
[/font]</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<!--endclickprintexclude--><!--plsfield:STORY-->



</B>Greg Oden might have felt like a marked man a year ago, but that was nothing compared with what he's encountering this summer.

The 7-foot center from Indianapolis, regarded by virtually every recruiting service as the top high school basketball player in the nation, is the target of every team he faces.

Everyone wants to say they took him down.

The D-1 Greyhounds from Ohio tried to do just that Friday in the opening game of Elite Eight pool play in the Big Time Tournament.

With a standing-room-only crowd of 4,000 looking on at Foothill High School, Oden bent but didn't break. He had 10 points and 12 rebounds to lead his Spiece Indy Heat team to a 69-67 win.

Oden and Spiece will be in action twice today, at 9 a.m. against the New York Panthers and 6:20 p.m. against the SoCal All-Stars. Both games are in the Foothill main gym.

The soft-spoken Oden's patience was tested Friday.

After getting hacked all game, Oden finally unloaded on the Greyhounds' Billy Walker with 3:08 to play. Oden was whistled for an intentional foul, then a technical after he and Walker exchanged words.

"It's always like that," Oden said of being a target. "But I'm not going to back down from anybody."

Oden is not a dirty player. But he plays hard and doesn't mind getting physical when he needs to.

And he'll need to quite a bit next year when he moves on to Ohio State and the rough-and-tumble Big Ten Conference.

Despite Oden's insistence he would attend college, rumors persisted all spring that he'd go straight to the NBA. The matter became moot in June when the league adopted a 19-year-old age limit for new players. <!-- TEXT of COL2 -->

"I was never worried about the NBA," Oden said. "I knew what I was going to do."

But why Ohio State?

"Everything about it was good," he said. "The atmosphere. The campus. The arena. Coach (Thad) Matta and his staff are cool. It was just a good fit for me."

The Buckeyes also were a fit for Spiece teammates Michael Conley and Daequan Cook, who will join Oden in Columbus in a year.

Whether Oden uses all of his college eligibility remains to be seen. He will probably be coveted by the NBA in the 2007 draft, and the big payday might be too hard for Oden to resist.

Oden said he's not looking that far ahead, though.

His focus right now is helping his team try to repeat as Big Time champion, something that's never been done in the previous 10 years of the event.

After that, he wants to win another Indiana state title at Lawrence North High School.

Then, it'll be time to start worrying about college.

"You always want to win," Oden said. "I think we have a better team than last year. We all have talent. But we have to come out playing hard every game. There's a lot of good teams this year."

Oden likes the tournament's new format, which pits the top teams against each other in pool play.

"You always want to play against the best," he said. "It was a fun atmosphere in here today. It felt like a championship game."

Oden hopes he and Spiece will be back Tuesday for the real title game.

"We'll see," he said. "This was just one game. We've got to keep winning."


<!--endclickprintinclude-->
Click to expand...
 
Upvote 0
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top