They were discussing Oden considering the NBA on the wake board (for a week I'm at a California PC that isn't blocked  )... and check out this interesting comment by a pretty reliable insider from all reports:
I just found this to be interesting, b/c even if the guy is wrong about where he is headed I thought it seemed to fit well with the personality that has been portrayed in recruiting articles. Heck, Oden was worried whether or not the OSU players would like him during his official visit. This is an incredibly humble kid who loves school and I think is just taking his time making his decision final, which I feel will be him and conley coming on board.
Fox Sports
Quote:
Oden really is best center prospect ... really
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="440"> <tbody><tr valign="top"> <td> Mike DeCourcy / FOXSports.com
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</td> <td width="440"> <!-- search:</noindex> --> <!-- esi: /widget/story/pagenated?contentId=3629088&pageWanted=null--> When you hit send, your emails to Sporting News' college hoops expert don't just disappear into sports cyberspace ...
Is Greg Oden really the "best center prospect in a generation" as you recently wrote? How do you define generation? To that point, how do you define center?I have only seen him play once, against Tyler Hansbrough's Poplar Bluff team, and not only did I find his Lawrence North team a little on the unimpressive side, I didn't find Oden to be the super-dominant big man I expected. In fact, I thought Hansbrough outplayed him through a large portion of the game, and more than held his own. What really stood out was that Hansbrough wasn't exactly playing with any other D-1 prospects, such as Oden. He was doing it by himself mostly. With Conley running the point, there should have been no trouble setting Oden up, but Oden really only shined when a mismatch (i.e. Hansbrough was on the bench) happened.
<table align="left" border="0" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="0" width="204"> <tbody><tr><td> </td></tr> <tr><td class="caption">Greg Oden has more than a hand up on his high school competition. (John Harrell / Associated Press)</td></tr> </tbody></table>
Is he that much better at this point than were Kwame Brown, Dwight Howard, even Sean May, etc? And in today's college game, where true, back-to-the-basket centers are not only rare, but unnecessary, do you really think Oden will be that much of a difference maker? I think for my money, I'd take Sean May. — Liz Tomlin
How do I define g-g-generation? Who am I, Pete Townsend?
Should I just say he's the best since Shaquille O'Neal? At his age, frankly, Oden is a more advanced prospect. I've written before that to find a 7-footer as polished at the same age, you'd have to go all the way back to Lew Alcindor. But O'Neal was so outrageously athletic that anything seemed possible for him.
Tyler Hansbrough is a heck of a prospect. If Oden did not play well against him, that doesn't necessarily mean he should be condemned. What makes Oden a better prospect than Kwame Brown at the same age? He knows how to play and cares about the game. Dwight Howard? Oden is at least two inches taller and is more comfortable with his back to the basket. Sean May? Defense. Period.
True centers are rare in NCAA basketball because the NBA has preempted their development by drafting them directly out of high school. If the age limit were to be introduced, they'd become more common. A little, anyway. But don't forget that Alcindor won three titles, and Patrick Ewing, Hakeem Olajuwon, Bob Lanier, Wilt Chamberlain and Bill Russell all appeared in the Final Four. You wouldn't want a guy like that?
What direction do you think the Indiana Hoosier Men's basketball team is headed? I want to know your opinion on Mike Davis and do you thing he can lead the Hoosiers to a successful 05-06 season. I believe they have some quality talent, but as you know putting it all together is tough. Do you think that Bracey Wright should have stayed in school? — Ben Kappes
Your first two questions are actually very different. I believe Indiana could be successful next season, depending on how you define success. I don't love the roster, but it's better than it has been. If the Hoosiers stay together as a team, which has been a problem every year since 2002, they could end the year in the NCAA Tournament.
But after next season, they could be starting again. And IU's declaration that coach Mike Davis is in a win-or-else circumstance won't help through what should be a crucial off-season of recruiting.
<hr width="100">In light of the upcoming NBA labor negotiations and some of your recent articles, I have begun to think David Stern's proposed 20-year-old age limit would be a disaster for the NBA.
It seems that, although not yet instituted, the age limit is already having an affect on the NBA. This year an inordinate number of underclassmen declared for the NBA draft. These kids want to get into the NBA before the age limit is imposed, which would force them to play two years of college ball. These kids have the right to pursue their dreams and career and should be allowed to make their own decisions.
The only positive I see in an age limit would be the quality play of college ball. Kids would be forced to go to college and play a couple years. I'd like to know your opinion on an NBA farm system, could one be instituted much like that of the MLB? <id>— David Lee</id>
You opened with a fairly bold prediction: disaster. But you didn't follow that up with any reasons why the age limit would be disastrous.
I keep wondering how this issue becomes about individual rights. Look, the NBA is a business. It is allowed to collectively bargain work rules with its union. We have standards for lots of professions in this country: physician, attorney, teacher, plumber. The NBA is rightfully concerned about the deterioration in the quality of its product.
The notion of a farm system has been advanced before. And I've dismissed it before. The NBA is likely to expand the NBDL, but it still won't be a functional replacement for the NCAA. College players get better coaching, better exposure and better experience by playing in games in which people actually care about the outcome. Baseball is a much different sport than basketball, and it also has a century-old history of developing players through its minor leagues.
<hr width="100">I asked on a UNC basketball board whether the NBA age-limit might result in an increased temptation for colleges and their alumni to cheat in the recruiting of NBA-lottery caliber HS players. I was told that I was full of crap. Having gotten little constructive discussion about my worries, I thought I would ask someone level-headed like yourself.
Do you think that enactment of an NBA age limit may result in additional incentives and opportunities for schools to cheat in recruiting in the future? Right now, the elite high school players who are being offered money, cars and baubles are probably getting the biggest offers from agents and others who would like to lure them into the NBA. Colleges who are willing to cheat presumably can't compete with the agents for the elite players. Now, when a player is good enough to go to the NBA straight out of HS but chooses to go to college instead, it's much more likely that he made the choice because he wants to experience college rather than receiving illegal inducements.
Four or five colleges have a real possibility of getting two years from the best center to come out of HS in a long time, Greg Oden. The incentives for those colleges to cheat to get a truly elite player would seem to grow exponentially as their chances of successfully getting the player to commit are increased.
I may be naive about the level of cheating now. My sense is that there are some programs that cheat, and some that don't. I think, though, that even the schools that cheat only do it on a small-time scale -- see Missouri and Georgia. There simply aren't enough truly elite players coming to college right now to justify the risk of big-time cheating. — Warren Savage
I'm not going to say you're full of anything other than red blood cells and bone marrow, but I don't think you're correct here.
Cheating didn't disappear when high school players started filing for the draft, and it hasn't involved just the killer, can't-miss players. Remember, Michigan's mess involved payments to Louis Bullock as well as Chris Webber.
As for whether colleges can compete with agents — if it were just the two of them, the colleges would win in a rout. It's the NBA money that leads players to turn pro. Most of the gifts made available to players by agents are loans. The agents expect to be paid back. When the crooked college hands you that shoebox full of bills, you even get to keep the box.
<hr width="100">After reading your opinion on the rules committee decision on kicking the ball, I had to respond. The committee only got the rule half right. In my opinion, this should not be a violation at all. Is the leg not an appendage just like an arm? Why does it matter if you defend with a leg or an arm? They are both a part of the body. If a player is quick enough to throw his leg in the path of the ball, so be it. Now they just have to take the next step and not make it a violation at all. — Lance J. Landeck
You asked the wrong guy that question. I'm a soccer fan. (Go Liverpool!) By your logic, a soccer player should be able to bat the ball with his hands because, after all, it's an appendage just like a leg.
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05-23-2005, 11:33 AM
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