CriticalSteve
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BrutusReport.com
The First Real Road Test
Freshman Guard Mark Titus was added to the Ohio State Men's Basketball roster prior to the start of the season. He gives us the inside story on Thad Matta, Greg Oden, and the upcoming road trip to Chapel Hill.
By Steve Patterson
Mark Titus came to Ohio State to earn a Bachelor?s Degree in Math in the honors program, continue on into Medical School, and work as a Student Manager on the basketball team. But with a limited number of scholarship players on the team, he was added to the roster in mid-November to help with practice and game time depth. You can image that he was excited to be a part of the Buckeye basketball team. 'The most memorable moment is when I came into the locker room for the first game and saw my jersey hanging in my locker. It was a great feeling to know that I am a part of something special.' He told us.
For that first game at home, Mark was able to experience a home game in front of a sold out Value City Arena. 'The atmosphere at the Schott is unbelievable. The arena looks and feels like an NBA arena, but we have college basketball fans that love Ohio State and cheer as loud as when we are up 35 with a minute left as they do when the game first starts. It definitely gives us a big advantage.'
Coming from Brownsburg, Indiana were he played both Basketball and Football, Mark fits in well with Coach Matta's fast past offense. He is a 6'4' Guard who led his team at Brownsburg High three seasons in scoring averaging 14 pts a game. The team does need improvement according to Mark but he is comfortable with the high early season ranking the Bucks have been given. 'The #4 ranking was not really that big of a surprise. We have very high expectations this year and we feel like on any given night we can compete with the best America has to offer. With that being said, we are far from being the team right now that we will be come March. Our goal is to just get better everyday and the rankings will take care of themselves.'
One of the reasons the team is so confident about their chances of success is the positive attitude Coach Matta brings to the University. 'I can honestly say that Coach Matta is the best coach in college basketball today. Not only does he know his X's and O's, but he is a player's coach in the sense that he makes the most boring and monotonous things about practice fun. He doesn't intimidate anybody by flaunting his position of power, but rather gives off an aura that we are in this together and no one person, including the coaches, comes before the team.' Mark relayed to us when we last contacted him. Not only Coach Matta but his highly talented assistant coaches add to the team's ability. 'All the coaches are involved in practice. All are very interactive and bring a lot to the table.'
Coming in the same year as the 2nd rated recruiting class of the 2006 recruiting period, Mark speaks highly of the 'Thad 5'. 'Even though I am one of the 'young guys', it's still been fun watching the other freshman embrace their roles on the team. It would really be unfair to name just one or two names, because all have made great strides.'
Of course the most highly anticipated player from the 2006 recruiting class has yet to take the floor in a Buckeye uniform. We asked Mark about Greg Oden and his rehabilitation. 'Greg is practicing more and more each day. The three biggest questions at OSU right now are 'Will Troy Smith win the Heisman?', 'Who will OSU play for the National Championship?', and 'When will Greg be back?' People ask me all the time when he will be back and the truth is nobody, including the doctors and him, really knows. Every time a date is set it gets moved back or moved up, so it's really just a day by day thing.'
The team has its biggest challenge yet coming in North Carolina at Chapel Hill on the 29th of November. North Carolina has reloaded after losing their top players to the NBA draft with the #1 recruiting class in the country in 2006. This road game could be the toughest test Ohio State will face before entering the Big 10 season. 'No doubt North Carolina will pose a lot of challenges for us. It will be our first real road test and it will be interesting to see how we handle it. The thing is that if we can go into Chapel Hill and do what we need to do amongst the adversity, we can go into any arena in America and take care of business there as well.'
With Greg Oden returning sometime in December or early January, the Buckeyes will make a run for the National Championship. 'I see us playing our best basketball heading into the tournament and letting the chips fall where they may. By the end of the season, we hope to make Ohio State a football AND basketball school.'
The First Real Road Test
Freshman Guard Mark Titus was added to the Ohio State Men's Basketball roster prior to the start of the season. He gives us the inside story on Thad Matta, Greg Oden, and the upcoming road trip to Chapel Hill.
By Steve Patterson
Mark Titus came to Ohio State to earn a Bachelor?s Degree in Math in the honors program, continue on into Medical School, and work as a Student Manager on the basketball team. But with a limited number of scholarship players on the team, he was added to the roster in mid-November to help with practice and game time depth. You can image that he was excited to be a part of the Buckeye basketball team. 'The most memorable moment is when I came into the locker room for the first game and saw my jersey hanging in my locker. It was a great feeling to know that I am a part of something special.' He told us.
For that first game at home, Mark was able to experience a home game in front of a sold out Value City Arena. 'The atmosphere at the Schott is unbelievable. The arena looks and feels like an NBA arena, but we have college basketball fans that love Ohio State and cheer as loud as when we are up 35 with a minute left as they do when the game first starts. It definitely gives us a big advantage.'
Coming from Brownsburg, Indiana were he played both Basketball and Football, Mark fits in well with Coach Matta's fast past offense. He is a 6'4' Guard who led his team at Brownsburg High three seasons in scoring averaging 14 pts a game. The team does need improvement according to Mark but he is comfortable with the high early season ranking the Bucks have been given. 'The #4 ranking was not really that big of a surprise. We have very high expectations this year and we feel like on any given night we can compete with the best America has to offer. With that being said, we are far from being the team right now that we will be come March. Our goal is to just get better everyday and the rankings will take care of themselves.'
One of the reasons the team is so confident about their chances of success is the positive attitude Coach Matta brings to the University. 'I can honestly say that Coach Matta is the best coach in college basketball today. Not only does he know his X's and O's, but he is a player's coach in the sense that he makes the most boring and monotonous things about practice fun. He doesn't intimidate anybody by flaunting his position of power, but rather gives off an aura that we are in this together and no one person, including the coaches, comes before the team.' Mark relayed to us when we last contacted him. Not only Coach Matta but his highly talented assistant coaches add to the team's ability. 'All the coaches are involved in practice. All are very interactive and bring a lot to the table.'
Coming in the same year as the 2nd rated recruiting class of the 2006 recruiting period, Mark speaks highly of the 'Thad 5'. 'Even though I am one of the 'young guys', it's still been fun watching the other freshman embrace their roles on the team. It would really be unfair to name just one or two names, because all have made great strides.'
Of course the most highly anticipated player from the 2006 recruiting class has yet to take the floor in a Buckeye uniform. We asked Mark about Greg Oden and his rehabilitation. 'Greg is practicing more and more each day. The three biggest questions at OSU right now are 'Will Troy Smith win the Heisman?', 'Who will OSU play for the National Championship?', and 'When will Greg be back?' People ask me all the time when he will be back and the truth is nobody, including the doctors and him, really knows. Every time a date is set it gets moved back or moved up, so it's really just a day by day thing.'
The team has its biggest challenge yet coming in North Carolina at Chapel Hill on the 29th of November. North Carolina has reloaded after losing their top players to the NBA draft with the #1 recruiting class in the country in 2006. This road game could be the toughest test Ohio State will face before entering the Big 10 season. 'No doubt North Carolina will pose a lot of challenges for us. It will be our first real road test and it will be interesting to see how we handle it. The thing is that if we can go into Chapel Hill and do what we need to do amongst the adversity, we can go into any arena in America and take care of business there as well.'
With Greg Oden returning sometime in December or early January, the Buckeyes will make a run for the National Championship. 'I see us playing our best basketball heading into the tournament and letting the chips fall where they may. By the end of the season, we hope to make Ohio State a football AND basketball school.'