NWITimes
West Side's Tucker waiting on Ohio State
BY JEFF CARROLL
jcarroll@nwitimes.com
219.933.3373
This story ran on nwitimes.com on Saturday, July 9, 2005 12:56 AM CDT
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INDIANAPOLIS |
Closer to a college decision than Moore or Hummel, who will also be a junior, is 6-foot-8 West Side swing player Jamil Tucker, who is participating in the Nike Camp but was unavailable for comment Friday. Tucker has several scholarship offers on the table, including solid ones from USC, Arizona, UCLA and Marquette, according to West Side coach John Boyd.
However, Ohio State, contrary to a handful of web and print reports, has not offered Tucker a scholarship yet.
Buckeyes coach Thad Matta, who already sealed the services of Lawrence North seniors Greg Oden and Michael Conley, is awaiting a decision from Memphis (Tenn.) Mitchell's Thaddeus Young, Boyd said, before deciding whether to use a valuable scholarship on Tucker.
"He's waiting for them to decide and that's kind of upsetting me because I don't think a kid like Jamil should have to wait," Boyd said. "You either put it on the table or you don't. I was just emailing those guys and telling them, ‘He needs to know by the time he leaves Nike or else we're gonna move on.'
"I'm not gonna wait on Thad Matta. Thad Matta has an opportunity to have a great player. Outside of Oden, Jamil could be the guy with the most up side (in the senior class)."
Despite those strong words, Boyd also stressed that he has nothing personally against the Ohio State coach, calling him a "great person" and lauding his work developing strong Indiana ties all the way back to his days as an assistant coach under Barry Collier at Butler.
"We understand that this is a business and we're not gonna jeopardize what the kid has going and stop other schools in their place who want him," Boyd said.
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"We want to keep this going. This is Running Back U. It fell off for a couple of years. Ohio State is not Ohio State without a 1,000-yard back." - Antonio Pittman 
