OSU MEN’S BASKETBALL
Father says Conley will join Oden in signing next week
Tuesday, November 01, 2005
Bob Baptist
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
Indianapolis high-school teammates Greg Oden and Mike Conley Jr. are "leaning towards" signing with Ohio State next week despite not yet knowing what further sanctions the men’s basketball program faces from the NCAA, Conley’s father said yesterday.
"At this point they are" signing next week, Mike Conley Sr. said. "It’s not final yet . . . but they’re leaning more towards going ahead and signing."
Oden, a 7-footer who is the No. 1-rated recruit in the 2006 class, is the centerpiece of a five-man Ohio State class that is ranked second best nationally to North Carolina’s.
Conley is the point guard.
Two other members of the class, guards Daequan Cook of Dayton Dunbar and Dave Lighty of Cleveland Villa Angela-St. Joseph, have not decided whether to sign. Lighty could decide by the end of the week, his mother said last night. Cook was weighing his decision last night, said Al Powell, who helps Conley Sr. coach the AAU team that Cook, Oden and Conley Jr. play on.
The fifth recruit, power forward Othello Hunter of Hillsborough Community College in Tampa, Fla., plans to sign next week, said his coach, Derrick Worrels.
The fall signing period is Nov. 9-16. Ohio State, charged with seven NCAA rules violations during the tenure of former coach Jim O’Brien, is scheduled to have its case heard by the NCAA infractions committee Dec. 9.
Penalties typically are announced three to five weeks after the hearing, but the holidays and a heavier-than-normal caseload this year could extend that interval, NCAA spokesman Kent Barrett said.
Mike Conley Sr. said he does not know whether his son and Oden will announce before Nov. 9 whether they plan to sign this month or in April, after they know the terms of Ohio State’s punishment.
"They’re going to sign now or in April and they’re going to go to Ohio State. I don’t see anything changing that," Conley Sr. said.
They are leaning toward doing it sooner rather than later, he said, because "they want to get it over with. They don’t want people to write about it anymore. They want to go ahead with the high-school season and get on with their careers.
"They feel, based on what we’ve told them and what they’ve heard other places, that for Ohio State to get a postseason ban in ’06-07 (their freshman year) would be unlikely. If they get scholarships taken away or money taken away or banners taken down, that won’t affect their decision. Anything outside of an ’07 ban doesn’t affect their decision."
Ohio State self-imposed a one-year postseason ban on the team last season, when the Buckeyes finished 20-12. They hope to be eligible this season, which begins at 2 p.m. Sunday with an exhibition game against Findlay in Value City Arena.
Ohio State has not determined whether it will self-impose further penalties on the program, athletics director Gene Smith said yesterday. The university has until the week of the hearing to do so.
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