SF William Buford (Big Ten Frosh of the Year)

[wadc45]

Welcome to the family William...could not be happier about this!

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Rivals.com$ (Brian Snow)

More on the verbal by Buford. An official announcement could happen this week. Buford is scheduled to visit tOSU for the Michigan game.

[osugrad21]

Blade

Libbey's Buford gives verbal to OSU

BLADE STAFF

Libbey High junior guard/forward William Buford, 6-foot-5, has made a verbal commitment to attend The Ohio State University to play basketball for Buckeyes coach Thad Matta.

Buford, the Blade's 2005-06 Player of the Year, averaged 22.7 points and 10.9 rebounds per game to lead the City League in each category. He also added 3.2 assists per game.

''William is a very versatile player, he can play inside or outside and he is very much a team-oriented player,'' said Libbey coach Leroy Bates.

[sandgk]

Matta's ability to pull in top-ranked talent has now gone well beyond scary.
(Appropriate for this time of year).
Welcome aboard William

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Scout.com$ (Dave Telep)

More on Buford's verbal to Ohio State.

Interesting fact: Since 2005, 11 of the 12 high school players that have signed with Ohio State have been from the top 100.

[SanAntonioBuck]

Welcome to the Buckeye Nation, William!

[crazybuckfan40]

Welcome aboard William...You are going to be a part of something special here in columbus.

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

BSB$ (Jeff Rapp)

More on Buford's verbal to Ohio State.

[BuckTwenty]

Welcome to the family, William!! GRRRREAT pick-up by Matta and his staff. I can't wait to see Buford play!

[Best Buckeye]

Another very good get by Matta, how does he do it ...

[BB73]

Excellent get for Coach Matta.

Welcome to the Buckeyes, William!

And to add a useless piece of personal information, my ex-brother-in-law played at Libbey many moons ago.

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

CPD

COLLEGE NEWSWATCH
Buford commits to OSU


Wednesday, November 01, 2006
From staff and wire reports
Ohio State basketball has landed another top in-state talent with the oral commitment of Toledo forward Williams Buford. Leroy Bates, his coach at Toledo's Libbey High, confirmed the pledge during a radio interview on Tuesday.
Buford, a 6-5 junior, joins a 2008 recruiting class that already includes 7-foot center B.J. Mullens of Canal Winchester and 6-3 guard Walter Offutt from Indianapolis. Recruiting service rivals.com ranks Mullens as the No. 3 player in the class, Buford as No. 49 and Offutt as No. 92. Scout.com ranks Buford as No. 11, Mullens as No. 13 and doesn't include Offutt in its top 100.
Signing day for the 2007 class is Nov. 8, and the Buckeyes are expected to sign 7-foot Kosta Koufos of GlenOak, Solon's 6-8 Dallas Lauderdale, 6-6 Jon Diebler of Upper Sandusky and 6-6 Evan Turner of Chicago.

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Scout.com (free)

Kyle Lamb........Buford talks about his verbal to Ohio State. The fact that Ohio State is close to Toledo played a major role in his decision.

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Dispatch

MEN?S BASKETBALL OSU
Toledo Libbey junior gets commitment out of the way
Wednesday, November 01, 2006



William Buford?s father is an Ohio State fan. So are his mother and sister. Deep down, Buford revealed last night, he has long been one, too.
"That?s the school I was probably going to go to anyway," he said.
So Buford, a 6-foot-5 junior at Toledo Libbey and a top prospect in the recruiting class of 2008, dispensed with the suspense and said he will play basketball at Ohio State in two years. He cannot sign a national letter of intent until next November.
"It?s the best thing for me and my family," he said. "It?s not too far away from home and I like their style of play."
Buford is the third 2008 recruit to commit to Ohio State, joining 7-foot center B.J. Mullens of Canal Winchester and 6-2 guard Walter Offutt of Indianapolis.
Buford is ranked the No. 11 player nationally in 2008 by the Scout.com recruiting Web site. He chose Ohio State after also visiting Michigan, Michigan State and Kentucky.
His athleticism and smooth style have drawn comparisons with OSU freshman Daequan Cook.
"Coach (Thad) Matta and (assistant coach John) Groce keep telling me he?s the No. 1 wing in the nation and they want him to do the same thing Daequan does. They just want him to be a scorer," said Buford?s father, William Sr.
Buford averaged 22 points last season and was named second-team All-Ohio in Division I.

? Bob Baptist

bbaptist@dispatch.com

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

cnnsi.com

Elite junior guard selects Ohio State

Posted: Wednesday November 1, 2006 4:48PM; Updated: Wednesday November 1, 2006 4:48PM


Libbey (Toledo, Ohio) junior shooting guard William Buford committed to Ohio State this past weekend over the likes of Illinois and Indiana. The 6-foot-5, 190-pounder is rated the nation's No. 24 overall recruit in the Class of 2007 by RISE.
Buford is a tremendous all-around player who's a high-flier in the open court and can knock down 3-pointers. As a sophomore, he averaged 22.7 points and 11 rebounds per game.
Buford's pledge to Ohio State adds to Buckeyes' talent from Class of 2008 as the Buckeyes have also secured pledges from top recruits such as Canal Winchester (Canal Winchester, Ohio) center B.J. Mullens and Warren Central (Indianapolis, Ind.) point guard Walter Offutt.
Ohio State head coach Thad Matta's recruiting success with the Class of 2008 shouldn't be any surprise considering he landed a 2006 class that included the nation's top overall recruit in Lawrence North (Indianapolis, Ind.) center Greg Oden.
Add in an '07 class that features Glenoak (Canton, Ohio) center Kosta Koufos, St. Joseph (Westchester, Ill.) small forward Evan Turner, Upper Sandusky (Upper Sandusky, Ohio) shooting guard Jon Diebler and Solon (Solon, Ohio) center Dallas Lauderdale and things are looking pretty for the future of Ohio State basketball.