OSUBasketballJunkie
Never Forget 31-0
Great Article........I would love to have Luke Harangody or anybody else on the short list at this point. I just can't stop smiling today for some reason.
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Videos about decision
http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050629/SPORTS02/50629008/1057
<table border="0" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="0" width="100%"> <tbody><tr> <td bgcolor="#cccccc"> <table border="0" cellpadding="10" cellspacing="0" width="100%"> <tbody><tr> <td bgcolor="#eeeeee"> Multimedia
Video: Oden, Conley announce their decision
Video: Oden, Conley explain why they chose Ohio State
Video: Oden's opinion of the recent NBA rule forbidding high school players entering the draft
Video: LN Coach Jack Keefer shares the advice he gave Oden, Conley
Video: Oden on his college future and the NBA
Video: Oden, Conley on why they didn't choose Indiana
</td> </tr> </tbody></table> </td> </tr> </tbody> </table>
http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050629/SPORTS02/50629008/1057
<table border="0" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="0" width="100%"> <tbody><tr> <td bgcolor="#cccccc"> <table border="0" cellpadding="10" cellspacing="0" width="100%"> <tbody><tr> <td bgcolor="#eeeeee"> Multimedia
</td> </tr> </tbody></table> </td> </tr> </tbody> </table>
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OSUBasketballJunkie
Never Forget 31-0
link
6/30/05
6/30/05
Conley brings his own talent
Ability of Lawrence North point guard often overlooked because of his gifted teammate.
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• Oden sold on Ohio State
• Oden: a basketball star heading to football school
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By Jeff Rabjohns
<SCRIPT language=JavaScript><!--document.write(''+'jeff.rabjohns'+'@'+'indystar.com'+'');//--></SCRIPT>[email protected]
When it comes to publicity, Mike Conley is almost always overshadowed by his best friend, Greg Oden, and the reason is simple. Oden has long been rated the No. 1 player in the Class of 2006.
The fact is, Conley is the prototypical point guard who can run a complex, up-tempo college offense.
He's quick. He's strong with the ball. He's heady. He understands making the right pass also means making it at the right time.
Conley might be a distant second to Oden in number of headlines, but he'll be a key to coach Thad Matta's system at Ohio State.
"It's important to me because he makes me better," Oden said Wednesday when the Lawrence North duo announced their decision to attend Ohio State.
"He challenges me. He passes me the ball in the right spots, so it makes me look good. I know being with Mike will help me develop into the player I want to be."
Conley, one of the top-ranked point guards in the Class of 2006, is appreciated by college coaches and scouts but sometimes overlooked by fans, who often remember only the result of a play and not the pass that led to it.
"I think we're talking about a first-team, all-league guy, that high of a caliber of a player," said Dave Telep, national recruiting coordinator for scout.com. "We're talking about Mike Conley, one of the five best point guards in his class.
"He has leadership capabilities that you don't see in high school kids. He wants the ball in late-game situations, and I've just never seen him panic and that's saying a lot about a kid who has been in as many situations as Mike Conley has. He could be an All-American."
Conley, a natural right-hander, shoots left-handed but can shoot with either hand. Last year in a major AAU tournament, he injured his left hand and began making 3-pointers with his right.
At the USA Basketball Youth Development Festival earlier this month, Conley outplayed Louisiana's D.J. Augustin, ranked No. 18 in the country.
"We get to state because we've got people like Greg. We win state because we've got people like Conley," Lawrence North coach Jack Keefer said. "He's a winner. You can't get where you want to go just because you're tall.
"(Larry) Bird never won it. Shawn Kemp never won it. Why? Well, they never had a Conley out there getting the ball to the right people at the right time."
Conley's full repertoire comes to the surface more in summer events, when he often faces a strong team and a talented opposing point guard. In high school games, Oden is often so dominant that Lawrence North wins by double figures without other players having to show all of their talents.
Conley said he has something to prove as he heads into his senior year of high school and then off to college.
"I thought about this over the summer, and I need to score more," Conley said. "I need to show other abilities I have because I've kind of laid back and watched Greg Oden go to work.
"I think I need to score more and do a lot of other things people think I can't do that I really am kind of good at."
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OSUBasketballJunkie
Never Forget 31-0
link
7/1/05
Quote:
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basketball recruiting
Is this the finest class of all time?
<!-- SIDEBAR --><!-- ARTICLE SIDEBAR --><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=210 align=right border=0><TBODY><TR><TD width=10>
</TD><TD><!--MAIN PHOTO--><!--RELATED ARTICLES--><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=1 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD bgColor=#cccccc><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=10 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD bgColor=#eeeeee>Related articles
• Ohio State expects more penalties
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<!--RELATED PHOTO GALLERIES--><!----><!--RELATED PHOTOS GALLERIES AND MULTIMEDIA ASSETS--><!--MAIN FACTS BOX--><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=1 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD bgColor=#cccccc><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=10 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD bgColor=#eeeeee>Great class
Ohio State's Class of 2006 has a chance to join the debate for best ever. Other contenders for the crown:
Indiana, 1972
Scott May, Quinn Buckner, Bobby Wilkerson, Tom Abernethy, Jim Crews -- last unbeaten season in 1976
Michigan, 1991
Chris Webber, Juwan Howard, Jalen Rose, Jimmy King, Ray Jackson -- reached two NCAA finals before breaking up
Duke, 2002
J.J. Redick, Shavlik Randolph, Shelden Williams, Sean Dockery -- reached 2004 Final Four
North Carolina, 2002
Sean May, Raymond Felton, Rashad McCants -- won 2005 NCAA championship
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<!--ADDITIONAL FACTS --></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><!-- STORY TEXT --><!--ARTICLE BODY TEXT-->
By Jeff Rabjohns
<SCRIPT language=JavaScript><!--document.write(''+'jeff.rabjohns'+'@'+'indystar.com'+'');//--></SCRIPT>[email protected]
Though Ohio State's recruiting class isn't complete, it already has a nickname: the Thad Five.
Never mind that only four players have orally committed to play for the Buckeyes and coach Thad Matta. With Lawrence North High School teammates Greg Oden and Mike Conley heading to Ohio State, the Buckeyes are lining up an incoming class for 2006-07 that is being mentioned with the best of all time.
Oden is the No. 1 player in the Class of 2006; the other three who plan to join him are also among the highest ranked in the nation.
Shooting guard Daequan Cook of Dayton, Ohio, is No. 8; shooting guard David Lighty of Cleveland is No. 21; and Conley, a point guard, is No. 26, according to scout.com.
"This is shaping up to be one of the best recruiting classes in the history of Ohio State and certainly in my estimation could be better than the Fab Five class," said Bob Gibbons, who has been scouting and ranking high school basketball players for more than two decades.
The standard of reference in college basketball recruiting is the Fab Five, which entered Michigan in the fall of 1991.
Chris Webber, Juwan Howard, Jalen Rose, Jimmy King and Ray Jackson all started by the end of their freshman year. They reached consecutive national title games, losing to Duke in 1992 and to North Carolina in 1993, before the group broke up as players began heading to the NBA.
Whether that is the best class is one of those never-ending sports debates, but it is the most well-known. Ohio State now is on the verge of matching or even surpassing it.
The Buckeyes have three more scholarships available, and the current thinking in basketball circles is that the four players already committed will be a magnet for others.
"We could be talking about a super six or sensational seven," Gibbons said.
No matter who else joins, Ohio State's Class of 2006 already has an enormous buzz in basketball circles.
"It really is amazing, and they're not done; that's the scary thing," said Rob Matera of rivals.com.
Oden is the headliner. He is considered one of the best high school players ever to head to college. He has been compared to Lew Alcindor (later Kareem Abdul-Jabbar), who was a star at Power Memorial in New York before going to UCLA, and former Celtics great Bill Russell.
Oden was projected as the No. 1 pick in the 2006 NBA draft until new rules were adopted that bar players from the draft until they are at least one year out of high school.
"When you think of him as a college player, this is a guy if you put him on a team that would finish in the middle of a league, it automatically becomes a contender to win the league and go to the Sweet Sixteen," said Dave Telep of scout.com. "You package him with the quality of Cook and Conley and the athleticism of Lighty, and the expectations of your program rise."
On paper, the class needs a power forward. Ohio State has been recruiting 6-8 Thaddeus Young of Memphis, the No. 5 player in the 2006 class. Raymar Morgan, a 6-7 forward from Canton, Ohio, ranked No. 49, has the Buckeyes high on his list. Gary West's Jamil Tucker, a 6-9 forward ranked No. 54, has stated his interest in playing for Ohio State.
There also has been talk connecting Ohio State and Vernon Macklin, a 6-9 forward ranked No. 10, from Portsmouth, Va.
The group should have some cohesiveness immediately. Oden and Conley, in addition to being high school teammates, are on the same AAU team with Cook.
So how good can this group be?
"With Thad Matta coaching, I feel we can get as far as the national championship," Conley said.
Dream teams
Where the players were ranked in two of the most heralded classes of all time:
<TABLE rules=all width="100%" border=0 frame=box><TBODY><TR><TD class=related colSpan=2>Michigan's Fab Five class of 1991*</TD><TD class=related colSpan=2>Ohio State's class of 2006**</TD></TR><TR><TD class=related>Rank</TD><TD class=related>Player, Pos.</TD><TD class=related>Rank</TD><TD class=related>Player, Pos.</TD></TR><TR><TD class=related>1.</TD><TD class=related>Chris Webber, forward</TD><TD class=related>1.</TD><TD class=related>Greg Oden, center</TD></TR><TR><TD class=related>5.</TD><TD class=related>Juwan Howard, forward</TD><TD class=related>8.</TD><TD class=related>Daequan Cook, guard</TD></TR><TR><TD class=related>8.</TD><TD class=related>Jalen Rose, guard</TD><TD class=related>21.</TD><TD class=related>David Lighty, guard</TD></TR><TR><TD class=related>18.</TD><TD class=related>Jimmy King, guard</TD><TD class=related>26.</TD><TD class=related>Mike Conley, guard</TD></TR><TR><TD class=related>48.</TD><TD class=related>Ray Jackson, guard</TD><TD class=related></TD><TD class=related></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
* - rankings by Bob Gibbons
** - rankings by scout.com
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
7/1/05
Quote:
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=6 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=alt2 style="BORDER-RIGHT: 1px inset; BORDER-TOP: 1px inset; BORDER-LEFT: 1px inset; BORDER-BOTTOM: 1px inset">
basketball recruiting
Is this the finest class of all time?
<!-- SIDEBAR --><!-- ARTICLE SIDEBAR --><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=210 align=right border=0><TBODY><TR><TD width=10>
• Ohio State expects more penalties
<!--RELATED EXTERNAL LINKS--></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<!--RELATED PHOTO GALLERIES--><!----><!--RELATED PHOTOS GALLERIES AND MULTIMEDIA ASSETS--><!--MAIN FACTS BOX--><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=1 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD bgColor=#cccccc><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=10 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD bgColor=#eeeeee>Great class
Ohio State's Class of 2006 has a chance to join the debate for best ever. Other contenders for the crown:
Indiana, 1972
Scott May, Quinn Buckner, Bobby Wilkerson, Tom Abernethy, Jim Crews -- last unbeaten season in 1976
Michigan, 1991
Chris Webber, Juwan Howard, Jalen Rose, Jimmy King, Ray Jackson -- reached two NCAA finals before breaking up
Duke, 2002
J.J. Redick, Shavlik Randolph, Shelden Williams, Sean Dockery -- reached 2004 Final Four
North Carolina, 2002
Sean May, Raymond Felton, Rashad McCants -- won 2005 NCAA championship
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<!--ADDITIONAL FACTS --></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><!-- STORY TEXT --><!--ARTICLE BODY TEXT-->
By Jeff Rabjohns
<SCRIPT language=JavaScript><!--document.write(''+'jeff.rabjohns'+'@'+'indystar.com'+'');//--></SCRIPT>[email protected]
Though Ohio State's recruiting class isn't complete, it already has a nickname: the Thad Five.
Never mind that only four players have orally committed to play for the Buckeyes and coach Thad Matta. With Lawrence North High School teammates Greg Oden and Mike Conley heading to Ohio State, the Buckeyes are lining up an incoming class for 2006-07 that is being mentioned with the best of all time.
Oden is the No. 1 player in the Class of 2006; the other three who plan to join him are also among the highest ranked in the nation.
Shooting guard Daequan Cook of Dayton, Ohio, is No. 8; shooting guard David Lighty of Cleveland is No. 21; and Conley, a point guard, is No. 26, according to scout.com.
"This is shaping up to be one of the best recruiting classes in the history of Ohio State and certainly in my estimation could be better than the Fab Five class," said Bob Gibbons, who has been scouting and ranking high school basketball players for more than two decades.
The standard of reference in college basketball recruiting is the Fab Five, which entered Michigan in the fall of 1991.
Chris Webber, Juwan Howard, Jalen Rose, Jimmy King and Ray Jackson all started by the end of their freshman year. They reached consecutive national title games, losing to Duke in 1992 and to North Carolina in 1993, before the group broke up as players began heading to the NBA.
Whether that is the best class is one of those never-ending sports debates, but it is the most well-known. Ohio State now is on the verge of matching or even surpassing it.
The Buckeyes have three more scholarships available, and the current thinking in basketball circles is that the four players already committed will be a magnet for others.
"We could be talking about a super six or sensational seven," Gibbons said.
No matter who else joins, Ohio State's Class of 2006 already has an enormous buzz in basketball circles.
"It really is amazing, and they're not done; that's the scary thing," said Rob Matera of rivals.com.
Oden is the headliner. He is considered one of the best high school players ever to head to college. He has been compared to Lew Alcindor (later Kareem Abdul-Jabbar), who was a star at Power Memorial in New York before going to UCLA, and former Celtics great Bill Russell.
Oden was projected as the No. 1 pick in the 2006 NBA draft until new rules were adopted that bar players from the draft until they are at least one year out of high school.
"When you think of him as a college player, this is a guy if you put him on a team that would finish in the middle of a league, it automatically becomes a contender to win the league and go to the Sweet Sixteen," said Dave Telep of scout.com. "You package him with the quality of Cook and Conley and the athleticism of Lighty, and the expectations of your program rise."
On paper, the class needs a power forward. Ohio State has been recruiting 6-8 Thaddeus Young of Memphis, the No. 5 player in the 2006 class. Raymar Morgan, a 6-7 forward from Canton, Ohio, ranked No. 49, has the Buckeyes high on his list. Gary West's Jamil Tucker, a 6-9 forward ranked No. 54, has stated his interest in playing for Ohio State.
There also has been talk connecting Ohio State and Vernon Macklin, a 6-9 forward ranked No. 10, from Portsmouth, Va.
The group should have some cohesiveness immediately. Oden and Conley, in addition to being high school teammates, are on the same AAU team with Cook.
So how good can this group be?
"With Thad Matta coaching, I feel we can get as far as the national championship," Conley said.
Dream teams
Where the players were ranked in two of the most heralded classes of all time:
<TABLE rules=all width="100%" border=0 frame=box><TBODY><TR><TD class=related colSpan=2>Michigan's Fab Five class of 1991*</TD><TD class=related colSpan=2>Ohio State's class of 2006**</TD></TR><TR><TD class=related>Rank</TD><TD class=related>Player, Pos.</TD><TD class=related>Rank</TD><TD class=related>Player, Pos.</TD></TR><TR><TD class=related>1.</TD><TD class=related>Chris Webber, forward</TD><TD class=related>1.</TD><TD class=related>Greg Oden, center</TD></TR><TR><TD class=related>5.</TD><TD class=related>Juwan Howard, forward</TD><TD class=related>8.</TD><TD class=related>Daequan Cook, guard</TD></TR><TR><TD class=related>8.</TD><TD class=related>Jalen Rose, guard</TD><TD class=related>21.</TD><TD class=related>David Lighty, guard</TD></TR><TR><TD class=related>18.</TD><TD class=related>Jimmy King, guard</TD><TD class=related>26.</TD><TD class=related>Mike Conley, guard</TD></TR><TR><TD class=related>48.</TD><TD class=related>Ray Jackson, guard</TD><TD class=related></TD><TD class=related></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
* - rankings by Bob Gibbons
** - rankings by scout.com
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
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OSUBasketballJunkie
Never Forget 31-0
LINK
7/1/05
Quote:
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=6 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=alt2 style="BORDER-RIGHT: 1px inset; BORDER-TOP: 1px inset; BORDER-LEFT: 1px inset; BORDER-BOTTOM: 1px inset">With Matta in charge, OSU men’s hoops starts to matter again
By JIM NAVEAU
419-993-2087
[email protected]
COLUMBUS — Who’s going to drive the school bus? Who is going to write the insurance policies?
Who is going to pick up the garbage?
Why worry about those average work-day activities?
Well, in this state where obsessing about Ohio State football is almost a full-time activity, the Buckeyes’ men’s basketball program seems to be providing reasons to really care also.
So, how is an OSU-flag-flying-out-the-car-window, inflatable-Brutus-on-the-lawn Buckeyes fan going to fit it all in? Something is going to suffer and it certainly isn’t going to be football. It might just be the 9-to-5 job.
The reason for all the excitement about men’s basketball is that second-year coach Thad Matta has gotten four high school seniors ranked by some scouting services as among the top 25 in the country to verbally commit to Ohio State.
The big catch is 7-foot, 245-pound Greg Oden, an Indianapolis high school star who is rated the top high school basketball recruit in the country.
He and his buddy, point guard Mike Conley, verbally committed Wednesday. Earlier this spring, Dayton Dunbar guard Daequan Cook and Cleveland St. Joseph small forward David Lighty also said they will sign with OSU in November.
Some compare that recruiting class with Michigan’s 1991 “Fab Five” class, which included future NBA players Chris Webber, Jalen Rose and Juwan Howard. Another comparison might be Duke’s 1997 freshmen, who included three future first-round NBA draft choices in Shane Battier, Elton Brand and William Avery.
Cook told the Dayton Daily News earlier this week that this showed there was more than one sport at Ohio State now.
It also showed that the recruiting philosophy and abilities of coach Thad Matta are very different from the involuntarily departed Jim O’Brien.
O’Brien wanted guys who would stay four years. Unfortunately, Big Ten opponents were thrilled to line up against a lot of them for four years.
Matta seems to have a little more up-to-date approach. But even he wouldn’t have landed Oden if the NBA had not recently ruled that a player has to be 19 years old to be eligible for its draft.
Without that rule, Oden almost certainly would have been the No. 1 choice in next June’s NBA draft.
The naïve, or idealistic if you prefer, would say that rule was enacted to protect immature high school kids from being thrown to the wolves in the NBA. The more cynical would say the owners were just protecting themselves from giving big contracts to unproven high school kids.
Interestingly, it is not just fresh-from-the-prom NBA players who have sometimes trouble with money.
The Boston Globe’s Jackie MacMullan wrote recently about NBA players who have hit hard times financially. A lot of them weren’t kids when they squandered their money.
Some of the names she mentioned included ex-Lakers guard Michael Cooper, ex-Hawks forward Dominique Wilkins, ex-Celtics forward Cedric Maxwell.
Charles Barkley, as usual, had a good story to tell. He told The Globe that when he was a rookie he went out and bought six cars. Luckily for him, veterans Julius Erving and Moses Malone told him he had to return five of them.
Yes, Barkley was a rookie. But he was a 21-year-old rookie who had spent three years in college at Auburn.
Oden might mature in a year at Ohio State, if he indeed signs with the Buckeyes in November. Or maybe he would have been able to handle the NBA right out of high school.
Either way, his commitment is a sign that OSU men’s basketball is growing up in a hurry, even with the NCAA yet to render a final decision on violations from the O’Brien era.
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
7/1/05
Quote:
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=6 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=alt2 style="BORDER-RIGHT: 1px inset; BORDER-TOP: 1px inset; BORDER-LEFT: 1px inset; BORDER-BOTTOM: 1px inset">With Matta in charge, OSU men’s hoops starts to matter again
By JIM NAVEAU
419-993-2087
[email protected]
COLUMBUS — Who’s going to drive the school bus? Who is going to write the insurance policies?
Who is going to pick up the garbage?
Why worry about those average work-day activities?
Well, in this state where obsessing about Ohio State football is almost a full-time activity, the Buckeyes’ men’s basketball program seems to be providing reasons to really care also.
So, how is an OSU-flag-flying-out-the-car-window, inflatable-Brutus-on-the-lawn Buckeyes fan going to fit it all in? Something is going to suffer and it certainly isn’t going to be football. It might just be the 9-to-5 job.
The reason for all the excitement about men’s basketball is that second-year coach Thad Matta has gotten four high school seniors ranked by some scouting services as among the top 25 in the country to verbally commit to Ohio State.
The big catch is 7-foot, 245-pound Greg Oden, an Indianapolis high school star who is rated the top high school basketball recruit in the country.
He and his buddy, point guard Mike Conley, verbally committed Wednesday. Earlier this spring, Dayton Dunbar guard Daequan Cook and Cleveland St. Joseph small forward David Lighty also said they will sign with OSU in November.
Some compare that recruiting class with Michigan’s 1991 “Fab Five” class, which included future NBA players Chris Webber, Jalen Rose and Juwan Howard. Another comparison might be Duke’s 1997 freshmen, who included three future first-round NBA draft choices in Shane Battier, Elton Brand and William Avery.
Cook told the Dayton Daily News earlier this week that this showed there was more than one sport at Ohio State now.
It also showed that the recruiting philosophy and abilities of coach Thad Matta are very different from the involuntarily departed Jim O’Brien.
O’Brien wanted guys who would stay four years. Unfortunately, Big Ten opponents were thrilled to line up against a lot of them for four years.
Matta seems to have a little more up-to-date approach. But even he wouldn’t have landed Oden if the NBA had not recently ruled that a player has to be 19 years old to be eligible for its draft.
Without that rule, Oden almost certainly would have been the No. 1 choice in next June’s NBA draft.
The naïve, or idealistic if you prefer, would say that rule was enacted to protect immature high school kids from being thrown to the wolves in the NBA. The more cynical would say the owners were just protecting themselves from giving big contracts to unproven high school kids.
Interestingly, it is not just fresh-from-the-prom NBA players who have sometimes trouble with money.
The Boston Globe’s Jackie MacMullan wrote recently about NBA players who have hit hard times financially. A lot of them weren’t kids when they squandered their money.
Some of the names she mentioned included ex-Lakers guard Michael Cooper, ex-Hawks forward Dominique Wilkins, ex-Celtics forward Cedric Maxwell.
Charles Barkley, as usual, had a good story to tell. He told The Globe that when he was a rookie he went out and bought six cars. Luckily for him, veterans Julius Erving and Moses Malone told him he had to return five of them.
Yes, Barkley was a rookie. But he was a 21-year-old rookie who had spent three years in college at Auburn.
Oden might mature in a year at Ohio State, if he indeed signs with the Buckeyes in November. Or maybe he would have been able to handle the NBA right out of high school.
Either way, his commitment is a sign that OSU men’s basketball is growing up in a hurry, even with the NCAA yet to render a final decision on violations from the O’Brien era.
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
Upvote
0
OSUBasketballJunkie
Never Forget 31-0
link
7/2/05
scout.com$
7/2/05
Video Interview of Conley....
rivals.com (free)
7/2/05
Quote:
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=6 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=alt2 style="BORDER-RIGHT: 1px inset; BORDER-TOP: 1px inset; BORDER-LEFT: 1px inset; BORDER-BOTTOM: 1px inset"><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD colSpan=2>July 2, 2005
Who's next on the hoops radar? <HR width="100%" noShade SIZE=1></TD></TR><TR><TD>Jeff Rapp
BuckeyeSports.com Staff Writer </TD><TD noWrap align=right>
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
Gordon Gekko once surmised that "greed is good." While that is a debatable point at best, it may not hurt Ohio State men's basketball coach Thad Matta as he now looks to add to what already is being hailed as the best recruiting class in the country.
<!--Start Matta Image--><SCRIPT language=Javascript>document.write(insertImage('http://vmedia.rivals.com/uploads/917/163623.jpg', '163623.jpg', 1, 322, 276, 1, 'Ohio State coach Thad Matta\'s tireless work ethic is enticing many of the nation\'s top players.', '', 1120253844000, 'Matta', 917, 'Align=Left'));</SCRIPT><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=284 align=left border=0><TBODY><TR><TD width=278>
</TD><TD width=6 rowSpan=4>
</TD></TR><TR><TD align=right>Associated Press</TD></TR><TR><TD height=3>
</TD></TR><TR><TD align=middle>Ohio State coach Thad Matta's tireless work ethic is enticing many of the nation's top players.</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><!-- End Matta Image-->Matta was able to land verbal commitments from consensus No. 1 schoolboy Greg Oden and his prep teammate Mike Conley (No. 40 among seniors-to-be according to Rivals.com) with their landmark announcement Wednesday at Indianapolis Lawrence North High School.
They doubled a recruiting class that already included the top seniors-to-be in Ohio -- 6-4 Daequan Cook of Dayton Dunbar (No. 8) and 6-5 David Lighty of Cleveland Villa Angela-St. Joseph (No. 20).
Matta has as many as three more scholarships at his disposal for the class and is all but certain to spend at least one of them on a power forward or combo forward, meaning the class could one day share the court like the storied "Fab Five."
Not coincidentally, OSU is right in the mix for as many as six such players, and that doesn't even count 6-8 Josh Chichester of West Chester (Ohio) Lakota West (No. 136), a two-sport star who committed to the Ohio State football program July 1 but admitted he is entertaining the idea of joining the men's basketball team.
Chichester has promise as a collegiate four-man but would not be able to join the Buckeyes on the hardwood until January 2007 at the earliest, and that would be as a walk-on. He told BuckeyeSports.com earlier this summer that Matta had given his blessing for such a scenario but he wasn't sure if he would indeed try to play both sports.
That then begs the question, who is going to complete the Thad Five?
The most prominent candidates at the moment appear to be 6-8 Thaddeus Young of Memphis (Tenn.) Mitchell (No. 3 on the recently updated Rivals Top 150), 6-8 Lance Thomas of Fanwood (N.J.) St. Benedict's (No. 22), 6-9 Jamil Tucker of Gary (Ind.) West (No. 45), 6-7 Luke Harangody of Shereville (Ind.) Andrean (No. 80) and 6-7 Raymar Morgan of Canton (Ohio) McKinley (No. 85).
Another possibility is 6-9 Bryce Webster of Mendota Heights (Minn.) St. Thomas Academy (No. 113), but his interest in OSU has apparently wavered.
Cook said he chatted up Young while the two played together in the USA Basketball Youth Developmental Festival in San Diego in early June.
"We talked a lot," he said. "We talked about what it's going to be like in college ball. It wasn't about what school he was going to go to, we just talked about how fun it would be to play together."
Cook and Conley also popped the idea on Thomas, who like Young is a premier athlete and scorer but not a classic power forward.
Conley and Oden got their first look at Harangody recently when the three played together in a state all-star series. Harangody reportedly is favoring Notre Dame but could get a full-court press from Matta soon since Conley offered him a glowing report.
"He was very good," Conley said. "I like the way he played. He's physical and tough and would do all the dirty work, and I feel that we need somebody like that. We don't need all superstars who can jump out of the gym. We need big men who can do the little things as well."
Tucker has listed OSU as a favorite along with Purdue and Indiana. Somewhat soft inside but well-skilled, Tucker has not yet received a firm offer but one could be on the way.
"He really likes Ohio State a lot," Conley said. "He wants to be with us and go to the same college with us. I think he's really sold on Ohio State. If the scholarship's open for him, I think he would take it."
Morgan also has not been offered yet as he is trying to attain a qualifying test score. He has had two clear favorites for months: Michigan State and Ohio State. Like the four commitments, Morgan is a winner, having led McKinley to the 2005 state title.
He is considered a 3-4 but can rebound in the trees when the situation calls and has the athleticism and passing ability to mesh in with the likes of Conley, Cook, Lighty and Oden.
"We need somebody that can rebound and play defense, score some," Cook said. "That's about it."
Matta may agree and go after Harangody, a classic banger who could take a lot of physical toll away from Oden. Or he could play it safe and tab Tucker or Morgan, who apparently wouldn't take long to jump on board.
However, the inside word is that Matta will go the way of Gekko and hold out for Young or Thomas -- whose recruiting likely will stretch into the late fall if not next spring -- with dreamy thoughts of employing four players flanking Oden who all can shoot outside, score, handle, pass and drive.
As it is he'll have Conley, Cook, Lighty, Sylvester Mayes, Ron Lewis and Jamar Butler in 2006-07.
Maybe greed is good.
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
7/2/05
July 2, 2005
Butler tries to land home game vs. OSU -- and Oden, Conley
<!-- SIDEBAR --><!-- ARTICLE SIDEBAR --><!-- STORY TEXT --><!--ARTICLE BODY TEXT-->Greg Oden and Mike Conley have another year of high school basketball before they head to Ohio State, but already a homecoming effort is in the works.
Butler coach Todd Lickliter confirmed that his university is negotiating with Ohio State on a multiyear contract for a home-and-home series. Ohio State would tentatively play at Butler in the 2006-07 season, when Oden and Conley would be college freshmen.
"We're hoping something will work," Lickliter said.
Lickliter and Ohio State coach Thad Matta are close friends. Lickliter was an assistant when Matta was Butler's head coach in the 2000-01 season.
Oden, the top-rated player in the high school Class of 2006, and Conley have helped Lawrence North win consecutive Class 4A state championships. They announced Wednesday that they would play for Ohio State.
scout.com$
7/2/05
Video Interview of Conley....
rivals.com (free)
7/2/05
Quote:
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=6 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=alt2 style="BORDER-RIGHT: 1px inset; BORDER-TOP: 1px inset; BORDER-LEFT: 1px inset; BORDER-BOTTOM: 1px inset"><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD colSpan=2>July 2, 2005
Who's next on the hoops radar? <HR width="100%" noShade SIZE=1></TD></TR><TR><TD>Jeff Rapp
BuckeyeSports.com Staff Writer </TD><TD noWrap align=right>
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>Gordon Gekko once surmised that "greed is good." While that is a debatable point at best, it may not hurt Ohio State men's basketball coach Thad Matta as he now looks to add to what already is being hailed as the best recruiting class in the country.
<!--Start Matta Image--><SCRIPT language=Javascript>document.write(insertImage('http://vmedia.rivals.com/uploads/917/163623.jpg', '163623.jpg', 1, 322, 276, 1, 'Ohio State coach Thad Matta\'s tireless work ethic is enticing many of the nation\'s top players.', '', 1120253844000, 'Matta', 917, 'Align=Left'));</SCRIPT><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=284 align=left border=0><TBODY><TR><TD width=278>
They doubled a recruiting class that already included the top seniors-to-be in Ohio -- 6-4 Daequan Cook of Dayton Dunbar (No. 8) and 6-5 David Lighty of Cleveland Villa Angela-St. Joseph (No. 20).
Matta has as many as three more scholarships at his disposal for the class and is all but certain to spend at least one of them on a power forward or combo forward, meaning the class could one day share the court like the storied "Fab Five."
Not coincidentally, OSU is right in the mix for as many as six such players, and that doesn't even count 6-8 Josh Chichester of West Chester (Ohio) Lakota West (No. 136), a two-sport star who committed to the Ohio State football program July 1 but admitted he is entertaining the idea of joining the men's basketball team.
Chichester has promise as a collegiate four-man but would not be able to join the Buckeyes on the hardwood until January 2007 at the earliest, and that would be as a walk-on. He told BuckeyeSports.com earlier this summer that Matta had given his blessing for such a scenario but he wasn't sure if he would indeed try to play both sports.
That then begs the question, who is going to complete the Thad Five?
The most prominent candidates at the moment appear to be 6-8 Thaddeus Young of Memphis (Tenn.) Mitchell (No. 3 on the recently updated Rivals Top 150), 6-8 Lance Thomas of Fanwood (N.J.) St. Benedict's (No. 22), 6-9 Jamil Tucker of Gary (Ind.) West (No. 45), 6-7 Luke Harangody of Shereville (Ind.) Andrean (No. 80) and 6-7 Raymar Morgan of Canton (Ohio) McKinley (No. 85).
Another possibility is 6-9 Bryce Webster of Mendota Heights (Minn.) St. Thomas Academy (No. 113), but his interest in OSU has apparently wavered.
Cook said he chatted up Young while the two played together in the USA Basketball Youth Developmental Festival in San Diego in early June.
"We talked a lot," he said. "We talked about what it's going to be like in college ball. It wasn't about what school he was going to go to, we just talked about how fun it would be to play together."
Cook and Conley also popped the idea on Thomas, who like Young is a premier athlete and scorer but not a classic power forward.
Conley and Oden got their first look at Harangody recently when the three played together in a state all-star series. Harangody reportedly is favoring Notre Dame but could get a full-court press from Matta soon since Conley offered him a glowing report.
"He was very good," Conley said. "I like the way he played. He's physical and tough and would do all the dirty work, and I feel that we need somebody like that. We don't need all superstars who can jump out of the gym. We need big men who can do the little things as well."
Tucker has listed OSU as a favorite along with Purdue and Indiana. Somewhat soft inside but well-skilled, Tucker has not yet received a firm offer but one could be on the way.
"He really likes Ohio State a lot," Conley said. "He wants to be with us and go to the same college with us. I think he's really sold on Ohio State. If the scholarship's open for him, I think he would take it."
Morgan also has not been offered yet as he is trying to attain a qualifying test score. He has had two clear favorites for months: Michigan State and Ohio State. Like the four commitments, Morgan is a winner, having led McKinley to the 2005 state title.
He is considered a 3-4 but can rebound in the trees when the situation calls and has the athleticism and passing ability to mesh in with the likes of Conley, Cook, Lighty and Oden.
"We need somebody that can rebound and play defense, score some," Cook said. "That's about it."
Matta may agree and go after Harangody, a classic banger who could take a lot of physical toll away from Oden. Or he could play it safe and tab Tucker or Morgan, who apparently wouldn't take long to jump on board.
However, the inside word is that Matta will go the way of Gekko and hold out for Young or Thomas -- whose recruiting likely will stretch into the late fall if not next spring -- with dreamy thoughts of employing four players flanking Oden who all can shoot outside, score, handle, pass and drive.
As it is he'll have Conley, Cook, Lighty, Sylvester Mayes, Ron Lewis and Jamar Butler in 2006-07.
Maybe greed is good.
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
Upvote
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OSUBasketballJunkie
Never Forget 31-0
rivals.com$
7/4/05
Quote:
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=6 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=alt2 style="BORDER-RIGHT: 1px inset; BORDER-TOP: 1px inset; BORDER-LEFT: 1px inset; BORDER-BOTTOM: 1px inset"><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD colSpan=2><!--matta0701--><!--matta0701--></TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top><!--PLACE MAIN PHOTO CODE BELOW HERE --><!--ThadMatta385--><!--ThadMatta385--></TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top>
<!----------- MAIN STORY SUMMARY ----------------->Ohio State is a football school, and that will probably always be the case. But thanks to the recent recruiting efforts of coach Thad Matta, Buckeyes fans are dreaming big hoops dreams. How is Matta drawing top basektball talent to Columbus?
[more]
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
A good read about how Matta has sold this class on bringing National Championships to Ohio State in basketball.
7/4/05
Quote:
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=6 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=alt2 style="BORDER-RIGHT: 1px inset; BORDER-TOP: 1px inset; BORDER-LEFT: 1px inset; BORDER-BOTTOM: 1px inset"><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD colSpan=2><!--matta0701--><!--matta0701--></TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top><!--PLACE MAIN PHOTO CODE BELOW HERE --><!--ThadMatta385--><!--ThadMatta385--></TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top>
<!----------- MAIN STORY SUMMARY ----------------->Ohio State is a football school, and that will probably always be the case. But thanks to the recent recruiting efforts of coach Thad Matta, Buckeyes fans are dreaming big hoops dreams. How is Matta drawing top basektball talent to Columbus?
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
A good read about how Matta has sold this class on bringing National Championships to Ohio State in basketball.
Last edited:
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OSUBasketballJunkie
Never Forget 31-0
scout.com$
7/5/05
Conley will be participating in the ABCD camp this week in Teaneck, NJ.
<!-- / message --><!-- sig -->
7/5/05
Conley will be participating in the ABCD camp this week in Teaneck, NJ.
<!-- / message --><!-- sig -->
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OSUBasketballJunkie
Never Forget 31-0
rivals.com$
7/6/05
Good Article about Matta and Company hitting the three major summer camps going on during July. The staff can evaluate from July 6-15 and July 22-31, with July 16-21 considered a "dark" period. Article touches on who could be the next addition to the 2006 class.
The following prospects of interest to Buckeye fans will be in action...
Greg Oden
Mike Conley
Daequan Cook
Jamil Tucker (could be the next verbal to the 2006 class)
Luke Harangody
Thaddeus Young
Josh Chichester
Raymar Morgan
Kosta Koufus
O.J. Mayo
Bill Walker
Keenan Ellis
Lance Thomas
Dallas Lauderdale
DeJuan Pursley
Aaron Pogue
Eric Gordon
Yancey Gates
B.J. Mullens
<!-- / message --><!-- sig -->
7/6/05
Good Article about Matta and Company hitting the three major summer camps going on during July. The staff can evaluate from July 6-15 and July 22-31, with July 16-21 considered a "dark" period. Article touches on who could be the next addition to the 2006 class.
The following prospects of interest to Buckeye fans will be in action...
Greg Oden
Mike Conley
Daequan Cook
Jamil Tucker (could be the next verbal to the 2006 class)
Luke Harangody
Thaddeus Young
Josh Chichester
Raymar Morgan
Kosta Koufus
O.J. Mayo
Bill Walker
Keenan Ellis
Lance Thomas
Dallas Lauderdale
DeJuan Pursley
Aaron Pogue
Eric Gordon
Yancey Gates
B.J. Mullens
<!-- / message --><!-- sig -->
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OSUBasketballJunkie
Never Forget 31-0
indystar
7/7/05
Quote:
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=6 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=alt2 style="BORDER-RIGHT: 1px inset; BORDER-TOP: 1px inset; BORDER-LEFT: 1px inset; BORDER-BOTTOM: 1px inset">
July 7, 2005
Opponent says Oden keeps getting better
<!-- SIDEBAR --><!-- ARTICLE SIDEBAR --><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=210 align=right border=0><TBODY><TR><TD width=10>
</TD><TD><!--MAIN PHOTO--><!--RELATED ARTICLES--><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=1 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD bgColor=#cccccc><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=10 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD bgColor=#eeeeee>Related articles
• Shoe carnival
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<!--RELATED PHOTO GALLERIES--><!----><!--RELATED PHOTOS GALLERIES AND MULTIMEDIA ASSETS--><!--MAIN FACTS BOX--><!--ADDITIONAL FACTS --></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><!-- STORY TEXT --><!--ARTICLE BODY TEXT-->
"He just gets more dominant and more dominant," said Lance Thomas, a 6-8 forward from New Jersey, whose team lost to Oden's 67-55 Wednesday. "Last year, he was dominant. This year, he's unstoppable. There's nothing you can do.
"If you try to keep him away from the rim, he's going to hit that 15-foot bank shot. He just goes to work, he punches it toward the rim every time and if he's under there, there's nothing you can do."
Oden had game highs of 12 points and nine rebounds as his Sonics beat Thomas' Mavericks. In his second game, Oden had 16 points, nine rebounds and two blocked shots in a 71-29 victory. He was 12-for-15 from the field on the day. (Camp rules state everyone plays at least two quarters, so no one actually plays more than two.)
Etc.
Lawrence North teammate Mike Conley was fifth in assists after the first day, averaging 4.5 per game, out of the 200 players. He had seven in the first game. . . . Oden had three spectacular dunks in the fourth quarter of the first game, including one where he missed a jump shot in traffic, landed, jumped back up quicker than everyone and threw it down two-handed.
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
7/7/05
Quote:
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=6 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=alt2 style="BORDER-RIGHT: 1px inset; BORDER-TOP: 1px inset; BORDER-LEFT: 1px inset; BORDER-BOTTOM: 1px inset">
July 7, 2005
Opponent says Oden keeps getting better
<!-- SIDEBAR --><!-- ARTICLE SIDEBAR --><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=210 align=right border=0><TBODY><TR><TD width=10>
• Shoe carnival
<!--RELATED EXTERNAL LINKS--></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<!--RELATED PHOTO GALLERIES--><!----><!--RELATED PHOTOS GALLERIES AND MULTIMEDIA ASSETS--><!--MAIN FACTS BOX--><!--ADDITIONAL FACTS --></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><!-- STORY TEXT --><!--ARTICLE BODY TEXT-->
"He just gets more dominant and more dominant," said Lance Thomas, a 6-8 forward from New Jersey, whose team lost to Oden's 67-55 Wednesday. "Last year, he was dominant. This year, he's unstoppable. There's nothing you can do.
"If you try to keep him away from the rim, he's going to hit that 15-foot bank shot. He just goes to work, he punches it toward the rim every time and if he's under there, there's nothing you can do."
Oden had game highs of 12 points and nine rebounds as his Sonics beat Thomas' Mavericks. In his second game, Oden had 16 points, nine rebounds and two blocked shots in a 71-29 victory. He was 12-for-15 from the field on the day. (Camp rules state everyone plays at least two quarters, so no one actually plays more than two.)
Etc.
Lawrence North teammate Mike Conley was fifth in assists after the first day, averaging 4.5 per game, out of the 200 players. He had seven in the first game. . . . Oden had three spectacular dunks in the fourth quarter of the first game, including one where he missed a jump shot in traffic, landed, jumped back up quicker than everyone and threw it down two-handed.
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
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OSUBasketballJunkie
Never Forget 31-0
scout.com$
7/7/05
Conley is averaging 9 points and 4 assists at the ABCD.
Keep in mind everyone only plays two quarters.
<!-- / message --><!-- sig -->
7/7/05
Conley is averaging 9 points and 4 assists at the ABCD.
Keep in mind everyone only plays two quarters.
<!-- / message --><!-- sig -->
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aurorabuckeye13
Heisman
Article about Matta, the program and the recruiting class from SI.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2005/writers/luke_winn/07/07/ohio.state/index.html
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2005/writers/luke_winn/07/07/ohio.state/index.html
Focus on the future
Buckeyes building for success, putting scandal behind
Posted: Thursday July 7, 2005 9:40AM
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=310 align=right border=0><TBODY><TR><TD width=10></TD><TD class=cnnImgAdPad width=300>
Mike Conley, Daequan Cook and Greg Oden are three of the recruits who will enter OSU in 2006.
AP
</TD></TR><TR><TD width=10></TD><TD width=300><TABLE class=cnnTMbox cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=cnnIEBoxTitle>OHIO STATE'S CLASS OF 2006</TD></TR><TR><TD class=cnnTMcontent><TABLE class=cnnTM cellSpacing=1 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=cnnIEColTxtL>Ps.</TD><TD class=cnnIEColTxtL>Name</TD><TD class=cnnIEColTxtC>Ht.</TD><TD class=cnnIEColTxtC>Wt.</TD><TD class=cnnIEColTxtL>HS (City)</TD><TD class=cnnIEColTxtC style="BORDER-RIGHT-WIDTH: 0px">Rk.</TD></TR><TR class=cnnIERowAltBG><TD class=cnnIEColTxtL>C</TD><TD class=cnnIEColTxtL>Greg Oden</TD><TD class=cnnIEColTxtC><NOBR>7-0</NOBR></TD><TD class=cnnIEColTxtC>235</TD><TD class=cnnIEColTxtL>Lawrence North (Indianapolis)</TD><TD class=cnnIEColTxtC style="BORDER-RIGHT-WIDTH: 0px">1*</TD></TR><TR><TD class=cnnIEColTxtL>SG</TD><TD class=cnnIEColTxtL>Daequan Cook</TD><TD class=cnnIEColTxtC>6-5</TD><TD class=cnnIEColTxtC>210</TD><TD class=cnnIEColTxtL>Dunbar (Dayton, Ohio)</TD><TD class=cnnIEColTxtC style="BORDER-RIGHT-WIDTH: 0px">8</TD></TR><TR class=cnnIERowAltBG><TD class=cnnIEColTxtL>SF</TD><TD class=cnnIEColTxtL>David Lighty</TD><TD class=cnnIEColTxtC>6-6</TD><TD class=cnnIEColTxtC>205</TD><TD class=cnnIEColTxtL>Villa Angela St. Joe's (Cleveland)</TD><TD class=cnnIEColTxtC style="BORDER-RIGHT-WIDTH: 0px">21</TD></TR><TR><TD class=cnnIEColTxtL>PG</TD><TD class=cnnIEColTxtL>Mike Conley Jr.</TD><TD class=cnnIEColTxtC>6-1</TD><TD class=cnnIEColTxtC>165</TD><TD class=cnnIEColTxtL>Lawrence North (Indianapolis)</TD><TD class=cnnIEColTxtC style="BORDER-RIGHT-WIDTH: 0px">24</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR><TR><TD class=cnnTMfooter>* National player rank, according to Scout.com</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR><TR><TD width=10></TD><TD width=300></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>HACKENSACK, N.J. -- Thad Matta, while on his way to the opening games of the Reebok ABCD camp at Fairleigh Dickinson University Wednesday, turned to assistant John Groce, laughed and said, "It's amazing what a difference a year makes."
It was the morning of July 7, 2004 -- exactly 365 days ago -- that then Xavier head coach Matta was in Columbus, meeting with OSU athletic director Andy Geiger about the Buckeyes' basketball vacancy. By 6:30 p.m., a deal was done: After consulting with his wife and the Musketeers staff, Matta accepted the job.
The next day, Matta and Groce (who followed him from Xavier to OSU) took a flight to the East Coast and arrived at the '04 ABCD camp in street clothes -- not the customary school-logo attire -- to observe recruits, because as Matta recalled, "we didn't even have any Ohio State gear at the time."
They were anonymous suitors in a gym full of coaches vying for the nation's top prep prospects. Both had, on the heels of an Elite Eight run with the Muskies, given up a successful, private-school squad in the basketball-mad Queen City for a sub-.500, state-U team in football-crazy Columbus -- not to mention a program facing the possibility of heavy NCAA sanctions following the firing of Jim O'Brien, who admitted to paying a recruit $6,700. Matta and Groce traded job security for a new challenge. Their bigger paychecks came with increased pressure to revitalize a once-great -- now scandal-marred -- OSU program.
Return to the present day, and Matta and Groce sit side-by-side in the stands at the '05 ABCD, sporting Buckeyes shirts and gazing happily down at the court, where the fruits of their first-year recruiting efforts are dominating on the camp's Sonics squad. No. 1-overall player (according to Scout.com) Greg Oden, a 7-foot center; No. 8-ranked Daequan Cook, a 6-5 shooting guard; and No. 24-ranked Mike Conley Jr., a 6-1 point guard -- the three golden apples of the Class of 2006 -- have all verbally committed to the Buckeyes. A fourth, No. 21-ranked David Lighty, a 6-5 swingman, is also on board, but is sitting out the camp to rehab a knee injury.
Matta returned respect to OSU during the '04-05 regular season, leading the team to a 20-12 record despite a school-imposed ban on postseason play as a result of the O'Brien violations, and handed Illinois its lone regular-season loss. Matta's recruiting, however, is what has put Buckeye hoops back on the national map. By landing Oden -- who, before the NBA's new age-limit rule was instituted, was expected to be the No. 1 pick in the '06 draft -- and his teammate Conley on June 29, OSU left other recruiting classes in the dust.
"It's amazing how Matta was able to do this -- OSU didn't have any big-name guys, and it all changed pretty quick," said Jeff Goodman, a national recruiting analyst for Scout.com. "There is little chance that OSU won't be No. 1 [in the '06 class rankings]."
Although he is widely believed to be a one-year rental for Matta and the Buckeyes on his way to the NBA, Oden is the crown jewel of OSU's '06 recruiting class, which is being compared to Michigan's famous haul in 1991 -- Chris Webber, Juwan Howard, Jalen Rose, Jimmy King and Ray Jackson. Oden, who resembles a young Bill Russell, was dunking at will on opponents in ABCD's morning session Wednesday -- he shot 12-of-15 from the field in two games. "Certainly," said Goodman, the talent OSU has compiled "would compare with the Fab Five."
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=90 align=bottom border=0><TBODY><TR><TD width=80></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
The class -- Oden, Conley, Cook and Lighty -- has been tabbed the Thad Five; never mind it's still a quartet. OSU has seven scholarships available for '06, and may use up to six of them. The Buckeyes will likely add a power forward or another center to back up Oden and take the 7-footer's place in the starting lineup once he turns pro.
Matta had an assist in pulling the class together from Conley, the son of 1992 Olympic triple-jump champion Mike Conley. As Oden's omnipresent right-hand-man -- at Lawrence North High, on the Spiece Indy Heat AAU team and at ABCD, where he displayed skill as a passer and ambidextrous shooter in the lane -- Conley has plenty of influence on the blue-chip center. "Once Mike started to want to go [to Ohio State], I knew I wanted to go there, too," Oden said.
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=310 align=right border=0><TBODY><TR><TD width=10></TD><TD class=cnnStoryCLpad>
</TD></TR><TR><TD width=10></TD><TD width=300></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>Credit Matta for selling Conley on OSU, impressing the young floor general by attending Lawrence North's sectional championship game March 5, then driving back to Columbus late that evening to knock off No. 1 Illinois the next day. "I watched him coach that game against Illinois, I was amazed to see how he handled himself," Conley said. "Normal coaches would jump around and go crazy -- he tried to stay cool and act like he had done it before."
With this heralded crop of recruits, Matta won't be sneaking up on anyone -- and with Oden likely to be one-and-done, there will be a sense of immediacy to make a tournament run. Cook, a two-guard whose shooting talents have kept him from being overshadowed by his AAU teammates Oden and Conley, is aware of the pressure awaiting in Columbus. "I'm very excited," Cook said at the camp Wednesday, "but there's going to be a lot expected of us when we get there."
Conley and Oden were just as wary of the Fab Five/Thad Five label. "I don't really like it that much -- I'd rather just go to college and be able to play ball," Conley said. "We've got to focus even harder, though, because everyone's comparing us."
The ever-modest Oden -- who regularly insists he's not the best player on the floor, despite visual evidence to the contrary said, "I don't think we're there yet [at a Fab Five level]. ... We haven't even finished our last year of high school."
While the Buckeyes' future foursome worry about the weight of expectations, there is one other concern: whether or not the program will be eligible for the NCAA tournament in the 2006-07 season. All the people involved in the O'Brien scandal are gone from OSU -- the coaches, the athletic director and the players -- and the school voluntarily barred itself from the '04-05 postseason, but the NCAA's official ruling on OSU's penalty won't be revealed until this fall. Oden said the coaches told him it "most likely won't affect our class' postseason" -- but the possibility remains. It is the only cloud still lingering from the mess that created Matta's job opening, and something upon which he would rather not dwell.
"What's happened, happened, and nobody involved with our program now had anything to do with it," Matta said Wednesday. "We're just focused on the future -- and we think the future is going to be in good shape."
One year ago, had Matta made that last statement at his introductory press conference in Columbus, it could've easily been dismissed as run-of-the-mill, optimistic coach-speak. But with Oden and Co. running on the hardwood below at ABCD, and the Buckeye program reinvigorated with hope, when Matta spoke of the future, he was speaking the truth.
Luke Winn covers college sports for SI.com.
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OSUBasketballJunkie
Never Forget 31-0
scout.com$
7/8/05
At the ABCD camp....Conley is having a great camp. He is the ultimate point guard, up near the top of the list for assists.
7/8/05
At the ABCD camp....Conley is having a great camp. He is the ultimate point guard, up near the top of the list for assists.
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JohnnyCockfight
Beer is God's proof that he loves us.
Word is Conley took it Mayo this morning on both the offensive and defensive sides of the ball. I can't wait to read the confirming reports.
Conley and Oden are keeping the IndyStar busy--it seems like this paper has been pumping out a couple articles a day on what these two have been achieving.
Conley and Oden are keeping the IndyStar busy--it seems like this paper has been pumping out a couple articles a day on what these two have been achieving.
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