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Men's Basketball Buckeye Tidbits 2006-2007 Season

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Seven-footer Greg Oden is one of four freshmen expected to contribute as Ohio State seeks consecutive Big Ten titles.

Fresh start

Young Buckeyes picked to win second Big Ten title



CHICAGO (AP) -- Ohio State was selected the Big Ten favorite by the media Sunday despite entering the season with one returning starter from a team that finished 26-4 and 12-4 in the league.
The Buckeyes feature four top freshmen and are trying to win consecutive regular-season championships for the first time in 15 years.
"Whoever put us there hasn't seen us practice," Ohio State coach Thad Matta said. "I've always said, I can't tell you where we are in terms of predictions."
Wisconsin returns four starters, including preseason player of the year Alando Tucker, and was chosen second. Illinois, the only school other than Duke to win 25 games the past six seasons, was voted third.
The Buckeyes will be counting on 7-footer Greg Oden, although he won't play until January because of offseason wrist surgery. He is the first freshman to be selected to the preseason All-Big Ten team since the 1993-94 season.
Joining Tucker and Oden on the preseason squad are Iowa senior Adam Haluska, Indiana sophomore D.J. White and Penn State junior Geary Claxton.
Oden is one of three McDonald's All-Americans, along with guards Mike Conley Jr. and Daequan Cook, in a freshmen class that includes 6-6 swingman David Lighty.
Tucker, the first Badger since Don Rehfeldt in 1950 to lead the Big Ten in scoring, warns that college ball is different from high school.
"You can look at it from the outside and think you're going to come in here and think it's going to be a broom sweep," he said. "The physical play over the course of the season, it takes a toll on you. It's going to be interesting to see how they react to it."
Oden is the fourth two-time national high school player of the year, following LeBron James, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Jerry Lucas.
Oden underwent ligament surgery in his right wrist in June and a screw was removed last week. Matta's task is to prepare his team for November while eyeing the calendar for Oden's return.
"In essence, we will be two teams," the coach said. "I don't know how it will turn out when he gets back."
Seven of the 11 teams have two or fewer starters returning. Iowa has two back from a team that won the conference tournament.
"Quiz the coaches," Hawkeyes coach Steve Alford said. "Who are you starting? Other than Wisconsin, nobody knows. We have so many new faces."
One new face on the sideline is Indiana's Kelvin Sampson, who succeeds Mike Davis. After 12 years at Oklahoma, which included 11 NCAA tournament bids and one Final Four appearance, Sampson said he isn't worried about the pressure of coaching a school that has won five national titles.
"At the end of the day, coaches coach basketball," he said. "Whatever it is, it is. You still have to get your kids to guard people. You still have to play offense."
Copyright 2006 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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Buckeyes hope 'Fab Four' lives up to name
CHICAGO - Jamar Butler said he's already heard the cries of encouragement echoing all across the Ohio State campus.

"When you're walking along, people will say, 'We want two national championships,' " said Butler, a junior point guard on the Buckeyes' basketball team. "I think our football team will probably take care of its business. Then it will be up to us."

Projecting Ohio State as college basketball's national champions might be a stretch considering that four key components are incoming freshmen who have never played a college game. But these are no ordinary freshmen, and no one seemed to bat an eye Sunday when one of them, man-child center Greg Oden, was named to the five-man Big Ten's preseason all-conference team.

At least Oden's freshman teammates - a group being hailed as the "Fab Four" - are neck-deep in practice. Oden has yet to experience a college practice. He's still recovering from surgery on his right wrist after a tendon injury. Last week, a screw that held the repaired wrist together was removed, and Buckeyes' coach Thad Matta is sticking with a Jan. 1 projection for Oden's college debut.

"That's what we're hoping for," Matta said Sunday at the Big Ten's media day gathering. "Obviously, we'd take him earlier."

Beyond the Columbus, Ohio, campus, the buzz surrounding this intriguing Ohio State basketball team has yet to gain steam. But it's coming. And it's coming like a runaway train.

The Buckeyes won the Big Ten title last year, so picking them to do big things this season wouldn't normally be a surprise. But with five of the top seven scorers gone, the Buckeyes face some serious retooling.

The projected leap to Final Four status is based on the return of veteran guards Butler and Ron Lewis, the arrival of a freshman class being compared to Michigan's "Fab Five" of the early 1990s and the shrewd and proven coaching of Matta.

Ohio State turned up No. 4 in the Associated Press preseason national poll, and one gets the impression that even Matta would have to admit the glowing but premature reviews might be merited.

"Whoever put us there hasn't seen us practice," Matta said, trying to greet the high expectations with humor.

The truth is, Matta has a saber-tooth tiger by the tail. And the health and development of Oden is the key.

"He's tremendous," Illini coach Bruce Weber said. "He's special. In my mind, he's in that elite class. Having watched for 28 years, I saw Shaq play in high school. He's in that class.

"And I've been around him, and he's a great kid. He's very coachable, and that makes him even better. Everybody in the league probably hopes he's gone in one year, except for Thad."

If not for fairly new rules that prohibit high school seniors from skipping college and jumping immediately into the NBA, Oden might already be gone. Nearly everyone agrees he would have been the first player taken in June's NBA Draft. Assuming he recovers from his wrist injury, that distinction could still await him next summer.

Some think he might stay in college for two seasons. He already has a hefty insurance policy that at least partially protects his future, and his decision about leaving for the pros might hinge on how much and how quickly the 7-foot, 270-pounder can accomplish with the Buckeyes.

"Somebody asked me which freshmen have made the biggest impact," Wisconsin coach Bo Ryan said. "I said Magic Johnson. I was an assistant at Wisconsin when he came into the league. Now we have new freshmen. You never know.

"For Oden to have that kind of body at that age, that's pretty rare. He's not wiry. He doesn't need a lot of work in the weight room. He's so well put-together. He's great from what I've seen of him. He has the right package, it seems to me."

Oden's freshman teammates are point guard Mike Conley Jr., who was his high school teammate at Indianapolis Lawrence North, and forwards David Lighty from Cleveland, Ohio, and Daequan Cook from Dayton, Ohio. Oden, Cook and Conley were McDonald's All-Americans.

The immediate challenge for Matta is that he must prepare to play without Oden for as many as 14 games, if the Jan. 1 projection is accurate. How he goes about that is his first challenge. Before long, everyone in college basketball will be looking for those answers. They're answers that could shake the sport all the way to the Final Four. This Final Four and, perhaps, more in the future.
 
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CPD

BIG TEN BASKETBALL INSIDER

Ohio State given vote of confidence

Monday, October 30, 2006 Doug Lesmerises

Plain Dealer Reporter
Chicago- It's probably a stretch for a team with only four returning players, and which currently features just eight healthy scholarship athletes, to be named the preseason favorite in the Big Ten. That's what happened to the Ohio State men's basketball team Sunday.
Fine. But who gave Ohio State that one first-place vote in the USA Today preseason coaches poll last week?
"My mom," Buckeyes coach Thad Matta said at the Big Ten's annual preseason gathering in Chicago. "How you don't vote [defending NCAA champion] Florida No. 1, I mean, wow, they've got everybody back. I don't know, maybe somebody knows something that I don't after 18 practices."
Not that Matta can be taken at his word either. He might be a little too far on the woe-is-me side for a coach who brought in one of the top two recruiting classes in the country, featuring a once-in-a-decade talent in center Greg Oden.
This is just a sample of the praise heard for the 7-footer currently sidelined by wrist surgery: "Oden is a freak," Michigan State coach Tom Izzo said, judging Oden's potential effect as freshman. "You know, there's Magic, I'm not sure even Michael was at that state. Magic was, LeBron would have been - there are a couple guys that come along that are special because they're great players and great guys."
So Oden belongs in the one-name club with Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan and LeBron James. Maybe Ohio State does deserve to be the preseason No. 1 team in the league.
"I understand it, because Ohio State has a little bit more back than people give them credit for," said Izzo, a big fan of OSU junior guard Jamar Butler. "And then the addition of the big guy makes them really special. But if I had to go right now, I'd take Wisconsin, because I still think there will be some growing pains that Ohio State has to go through. Ohio State might wind up with the best team at the end of the year, but when Oden comes back, how is he going to fit in?"
That's where Matta still offers no sure answer. He's joking that he'd like to cancel the exhibition opener on Wednesday night.
"You'll see that we are not ready to play a game yet," Matta said. "I'm anxious to play, but I'm kind of apprehensive to see how we do."
Oden's right wrist will remain immobilized in a cast for at least another week or two, though he continues to shoot and block shots left-handed in practice. The target date remains Jan. 1, but Matta said he'll be eased back in.
Also:
Ohio State was picked first, Wisconsin second and Illinois second in the official conference preseason media poll. . . . Wisconsin's Alando Tucker was named the preseason player of the year and was joined on the preseason all-conference team by Oden, Indiana's D.J. White, Penn State's Geary Claxton and Iowa's Adam Haluska. . . . The Ohio State women were the unanimous preseason No. 1 team in both the media and coaches poll, while senior Buckeyes center Jessica Davenport was named the preseason player of the year. Iowa sophomore center Megan Skouby, of Mentor, joined her on the first team.
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Pressure's on Buckeyes, Oden

By JEFF WASHBURN
[email protected]
CHICAGO -- As good as advertised, or hyped beyond realistic expectations?
A basketball team whose only returning starter is a 6-foot-2 guard who averaged 10.1 points a game is the media selection to the win the 2007 Big Ten Conference championship.
While Ohio State's Jamar Butler is a solid player, it's the new kids who have created all the excitement in Columbus.
And for good reason.
Freshman center Greg Oden, who may not play until January because of wrist surgery, is the centerpiece of a monster four-player freshman class that includes three McDonald's All-Americans.
Oden's Indianapolis Lawrence North teammate, Mike Conley, and Daequan Cook from Dayton, Ohio are the other two. Each plays guard.
Ohio State coach Thad Matta attempted to point out potential pitfalls during Sunday's Big Ten Media Day.
They're young. They've never played in a college game. Oden's first appearance likely won't come until Jan. 2 against Indiana.
Yes, but if this class is as good as advertised, Buckeye fans may be celebrating football and men's basketball Big Ten crowns in the same school year.
 
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Dispatch

Buckeyes picked to win Big Ten title
Oden first freshman voted to All-Big Ten team in preseason

Monday, October 30, 2006

Bob Baptist
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH


CHICAGO ? Treat or trick? Two days before Halloween, the Ohio State men?s basketball team bagged two surprises yesterday during the annual Big Ten Conference media day. For the first time since the conference began recording voters? preseason picks 13 years ago, Ohio State was named their favorite. And for the first time since the conference began logging preseason All-Big Ten picks, a freshman made the five-man team.
Big Ten media voted Ohio State center Greg Oden, who might not play his first college game until January while he rehabilitates his surgically repaired right wrist, to the team. Oden joined senior Adam Haluska of Iowa and juniors Geary Claxton of Penn State, Alando Tucker of Wisconsin and D.J. White of Indiana.
Tucker was voted preseason player of the year.
"As I told the players, (prognosticators) have cast the line out there," Ohio State coach Thad Matta said. "Do you bite on it or are you smart enough to look at it but know you?ve got to keep working and stay clear of anything that could deter us from getting better every day? "
Purdue coach Matt Painter went so far as to call Oden the best player in college basketball. He said he bases his opinion on having watched Oden play high school and AAU basketball.
"People say to me, ?How can you say that about the kid?? " Painter said. "I say, ?Well, tell me who?s better?? And everybody?s silent."
Matta said he did not think it fair to Oden to name him one of the five best players in the Big Ten based on his high-school resume.
"He?s a very talented kid," Matta said. "But I think Greg is going to need time to develop. When he gets back, he won?t have played basketball for seven or eight months."
Oden has started to play with his teammates during practice, however. Since having a screw removed from the wrist Oct. 19, Oden has participated in "fiveon-oh" drills, guard Jamar Butler said, where the offense runs plays against no defense.
"He?s a great player, even with one hand," guard Ron Lewis said.
Michigan State coach Tom Izzo called Oden a "freak" and compared his arrival in college with Magic Johnson?s at Michigan State.
"I?m not even sure Michael (Jordan) was in that (realm coming out of high school)," Izzo said. "Magic was. LeBron (James) would have been."
Perhaps more surprising than Oden being voted All-Big Ten was the choice of Ohio State to win the championship. The Buckeyes lost four starters from last season. Wisconsin, which returns four starters, was picked to finish second.
Matta said he was surprised. Izzo and Illinois coach Bruce Weber said they would have picked Wisconsin had they voted, based on the Badgers? experience. But that measurement is not foolproof.
Coaches stopped voting for preseason honors two years ago. But when he did pick an order of finish, Wisconsin coach Bo Ryan said he voted for teams with the most players returning.
"And you know what? We were never right," he said. "That?s what scares me."
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Big Ten champs? Matta has to pick starters first


By Mark Gokavi
Staff Writer

Wednesday, November 01, 2006

Forget paper, it's time to see the Ohio State's men's basketball team on the hardwood.
Sure, tonight's exhibition against Division II Findlay probably won't indicate much ? even though the Oilers return four starters and are ranked No. 6 in one D-II preseason poll.
But instead of more commentary about Greg Oden's wrist, Ohio State fans will get a look at OSU's up-tempo offense, player rotation and shiny new uniforms.
Coach Thad Matta's team will be young, with just eight healthy eligible scholarship players to begin the season.
Besides the 7-foot-1 Oden, the other "Thad Five" members include fellow freshmen guard Daequan Cook (Dunbar), wing David Lighty and point guard Michael Conley plus junior college forward Othello Hunter.
Returners include point guard Jamar Butler, guard Ron Lewis, former walk-on guard Samuel Payne, forward Ivan Harris (Springfield) and center Matt Terwilliger (Troy).
Though the Buckeyes lost four starters ? including conference player of the year Terence Dials ? they were picked to repeat as Big Ten champions at Sunday's Big Ten media day.
At least one Big Ten coach says Ohio State could meet championship expectations.
"I remember when the best players on your team were juniors and seniors," Indiana coach Kelvin Sampson said. "A younger team has a much better chance today because the evolution of the game."
That evolution includes an NBA draft rule that basically pushes the country's best high schoolers into college.
Matta swore Sunday he didn't even have starters picked for tonight's exhibition. Oden, picked as a preseason first-team Big Ten player, probably won't return until January.
"There's too much that can happen," Matta said of preseason conjecture. "We ran out of gas at the end of the year last year with six guys ... those things are something that expectations never factor in."
 
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Ohio State is preseason favorite in Big Ten

Associated Press
Posted: 7 hours ago

CHICAGO (AP) - Ohio State was selected the Big Ten favorite by the media Sunday despite entering the season with one returning starter from a team that finished 26-4 and 12-4 in the league.
Jeff Goodman's
Top 25 Countdown

No. 25 - Wichita State
No. 24 - Boston College
No. 23 - Nevada
No. 22 - Southern Illinois
No. 21 - Xavier
No. 20 - Texas A&M
No. 19 - LSU
No. 18 - Syracuse
No. 17 - Georgia Tech
No. 16 - Georgetown
No. 15 - UConn
No. 14 - Washington
No. 13 - Marquette
No. 12 - Creighton
No. 11 - Duke
No. 10 - Memphis
No. 9 - Arizona
No. 8 - Wisconsin

The Buckeyes feature four top freshmen and are trying to win consecutive regular-season championships for the first time in 15 years.
"Whoever put us there hasn't seen us practice," Ohio State coach Thad Matta said. "I've always said, I can't tell you where we are in terms of predictions."
Wisconsin returns four starters, including preseason player of the year Alando Tucker, and was chosen second. Illinois, the only school other than Duke to win 25 games the past six seasons, was voted third.
The Buckeyes will be counting on 7-footer Greg Oden, although he won't play until January because of offseason wrist surgery. He is the first freshman to be selected to the preseason All-Big Ten team since the 1993-94 season.
Joining Tucker and Oden on the preseason squad are Iowa senior Adam Haluska, Indiana sophomore D.J. White and Penn State junior Geary Claxton.
Oden is one of three McDonald's All-Americans, along with guards Mike Conley Jr. and Daequan Cook, in a freshmen class that includes 6-6 swingman David Lighty.
Tucker, the first Badger since Don Rehfeldt in 1950 to lead the Big Ten in scoring, warns that college ball is different from high school.
"You can look at it from the outside and think you're going to come in here and think it's going to be a broom sweep," he said. "The physical play over the course of the season, it takes a toll on you. It's going to be interesting to see how they react to it."
Oden is the fourth two-time national high school player of the year, following LeBron James, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Jerry Lucas.
2006-07 conference previews

Oct. 17: Atlantic 10
Oct. 19: Mountain West
Oct. 21: West Coast
Oct. 23: Conference USA
Oct. 25: Missouri Valley
Oct. 27: Southeastern
Oct. 29: Big 12
Oct. 31: Pacific 10
Nov. 2: Big Ten
Nov. 4: Big East
Nov. 6: Atlantic Coast


Oden underwent ligament surgery in his right wrist in June and a screw was removed last week. Matta's task is to prepare his team for November while eyeing the calendar for Oden's return.
"In essence, we will be two teams," the coach said. "I don't know how it will turn out when he gets back."
Seven of the 11 teams have two or fewer starters returning. Iowa has two back from a team that won the conference tournament.
"Quiz the coaches," Hawkeyes coach Steve Alford said. "Who are you starting? Other than Wisconsin, nobody knows. We have so many new faces."
One new face on the sideline is Indiana's Kelvin Sampson, who succeeds Mike Davis. After 12 years at Oklahoma, which included 11 NCAA tournament bids and one Final Four appearance, Sampson said he isn't worried about the pressure of coaching a school that has won five national titles.
"At the end of the day, coaches coach basketball," he said. "Whatever it is, it is. You still have to get your kids to guard people. You still have to play offense."
 
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Dispatch

OSU MEN?S BASKETBALL
Matta knows his young team needs to take baby steps
Wednesday, November 01, 2006
Bob Baptist
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
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If coach Thad Matta has his way, the Ohio State men?s basketball team?s exhibition debut against Findlay tonight will bear no resemblance to the sluggish first half of its exhibition debut last season against the Oilers.
Reminded of that memory yesterday, and asked if he had any qualms about the Buckeyes starting slowly again against their Division II opponent, Matta eyed guard Jamar Butler sideways. Butler returned the stare out of the corner of his eye. Both smiled.
"They better not," Matta said.
A new era in OSU basketball begins tonight when the Buckeyes play host to Findlay at 7 p.m. in Value City Arena. The "Thad Five" recruiting class fans have been waiting to see for more than a year plays its first game, minus centerpiece Greg Oden, out indefinitely while he rehabilitates from wrist surgery.
Expectations are the highest they have been since the 1999-2000 season, when the Buckeyes returned four start- ers from a Final Four team.
This team, however, returns one starter and is expected to have four freshmen and a junior-college transfer in the rotation. Matta did not announce a starting lineup. With the Buckeyes playing a game earlier than ever ? 19 days after the start of practice ? he said he doesn?t even think they?re ready to play a game. So he?s tempering his expectations.
"We haven?t asked a whole lot of them ? just take care of the ball as far as offense goes and to play extremely hard on defense," he said.
"I spoke with (Kansas coach) Bill Self about what they went through with a young team last year. He said you as the coach have to know you?ve got a long way to go, and if you ever put yourself in a position of, ?We?ve got to be really good by this date,? it?s not going to happen. ... You have to keep the big picture in mind.
"We haven?t picked 10 things we want to be really good at (tonight); we picked out four."
Matta, as always, is especially concerned with defense. Butler said that has been a challenge because of the change the coaches made to the offense.
"We?re running more and quick-inbounding and trying to score as many points as possible," Butler said. "On the defensive end, that?s hurting us a little bit, because if they score, we?re going to score right back on them. We have to really concentrate on defense."
With his players going against each other in practice, Matta said it has been difficult to discern whether the Buckeyes are potentially lethal on offense or just lacking on defense.
"That?s something time will tell," he said.
Findlay was ranked sixth in the NCAA Division II preseason poll. The Oilers return four starters from a team that finished 25-5 last season. They lost to Ohio State 83-53 last November.
Findlay has six central Ohioans on its roster, including 6-foot-5 sophomore Josh Bostic of Westland. He led the Oilers in rebounding last season, averaging 5.6.
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Dispatch

THE THAD FIVE

Matta challenges his young Buckeyes to work toward greatness

Tuesday, November 07, 2006

Bob Baptist
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH




When the Ohio State men?s basketball players returned to campus in September to begin conditioning themselves for the season ahead, coach Thad Matta had a surprise for them.
At their first meeting, he held up in front of them a packet of information about the Final Four in Atlanta next spring and challenged them to get there.
"I basically told them about expectations and all that stuff," Matta said. "I said, ?People can say this for you, but we?re the only ones who can control anything. It?s the work we do that matters the most. So take (the packet) and throw it out the window. We?ve got work to do.? "
The work began in earnest Oct. 13 with the start of full-squad practice. The results begin accumulating Friday night, when the Buckeyes open the season against Virginia Military Institute in the first round of the BCA Classic in Value City Arena.
They are ranked fourth nationally in the coaches? preseason poll and No. 7 in the first media poll released yesterday. They also are painfully young, with four freshmen and a junior-college transfer joining four returnees, only two of whom played extensively last season.
The most gifted of the newcomers, two-time national high school player of the year Greg Oden, is not expected to plant his 7 feet in the paint until December or January because of offseason surgery on his right wrist.
Why would Matta challenge this collection of unmeshed parts to reach the Final Four when he didn?t put the same goal in front of last season?s Big Ten championship team?
He had four senior starters then; the only freshmen played garbage minutes.
"I think he feels we can do it," senior guard Ron Lewis said. "He?s not going to do it unless he feels this team is talented enough and will be good enough to get there."
Matta won?t come out and say that. But he did allow that he has researched what it takes to reach the Final Four, and if his recipe is correct, this team might have the ingredients.
"You need three pros," Matta said, meaning players who one day will play in the NBA. "If you look at teams that go to the Final Four ? and there are exceptions ? you need a certain amount of talent. ? That?s kind of been what we?ve always looked at and said, ?You?ve got a chance at that point.? "
It doesn?t matter how seasoned the talent is, either. Four sophomores led Florida to the national championship last spring.
Carmelo Anthony and Gerry McNamara were freshmen and Hakim Warrick a sophomore when Syracuse rode them to the 2003 title.
And, of course, there is the team that set the bar, the "Fab Five," who took Michigan to back-to-back NCAA finals as freshmen and sophomores.
Ohio State?s 2006 recruiting class ? Oden, Daequan Cook, Mike Conley Jr., David Lighty and junior-college transfer Othello Hunter ? was ranked second-best in the nation and dubbed the "Thad Five."
"It?s possible," Cook said. "Look at Florida last year. Florida worked hard with the young crew that they had. If we keep working hard and get better every day and stop making so many mistakes, it?s possible for us to be there."
Indiana coach Kelvin Sampson said it is in fact easier to get to the Final Four now than it was when Michigan did it in 1992 and ?93.
"I remember when the best players on your team were juniors and seniors because they stayed in college," he said. "A younger team has a much better chance today because of the evolution of the game.
"And when you have a special talent like Greg Oden, automatically (you have a chance)."
But Sampson also wonders how the Buckeyes will handle the pressure of playing with Final Four expectations.
"There?s more fun ways to go through your freshman year," he said.
Drew Neitzel spent his freshman year at Final Four-bound Michigan State sharing time at point guard with senior Chris Hill.
"They do have the talent with those guys coming in," Neitzel said. "But it?s hard to put that much pressure on freshmen (who are) adjusting to college life and college basketball."
It?s a longer, more physically and mentally draining season than in high school.
Practices are more intense and competitive, games longer and more closely contested, with less margin for error.
Road trips last two days instead of an evening.
Egos of players who always have been the best on their team must be sacrificed for the good of the team.
Details like setting screens, boxing out on rebounds and helping on defense, insignificant in the past, become necessary for success.
"You can look at it from the outside and think you?re going to come in here and it?s going to be a broom sweep," Wisconsin senior Alando Tucker said. "But the physical play over the course of the season takes a toll on you. It?s going to be interesting to see how they react to it."
The show starts Friday night.
"I definitely know we have no idea what we?re getting into," Conley said. "But we have the luxury of having some pretty good upperclassmen and especially coach Matta to help us through the whole deal. It?s the whole ?trust? issue. We trust them very much. It makes us confident."
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