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Dispatch

5/20/06

OSU recruits get a taste of Indy speed

Saturday, May 20, 2006

Tim May
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

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INDIANAPOLIS — For a couple of minutes yesterday, Ohio State basketball fans should have been holding their breath because prized recruits Greg Oden and Mike Conley were playing in traffic.

And not just any traffic, but the start of practice at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Oden, Conley and Lawrence North (Ind.) High School coach Jack Keefer were honorary starters of the practice sessions.

They stood on a stand three feet above the track at the start-finish line, between two concrete walls. Below them roared the cars at more than 220 mph on the home straightaway.

Talk about being precariously perched.

"I’ve never had cars or anything else go by me that fast," the 7-foot-1 Oden said. "It was a lot of fun."

For Conley, it was his first trip to the track he has heard so much about.

"I didn’t know it was this big," Conley said. "The place is huge, and it’s loud."

Oden and Conley grew accustomed to big crowds and attention the past three years while leading Lawrence North to consecutive Indiana state championships. The big crowds should only increase when they join an OSU freshman basketball class rated second overall nationally. They’re both going to get a head start, enrolling at OSU for summer quarter.

"Yesterday was the 18 th, and we go to Ohio State June 18, and I’m sitting there thinking, ‘Just one month,’ " Oden said. "I was getting really hyped. I can’t wait to get there."

tmay@dispatch.com