Men's Basketball Buckeye Tidbits 2006-2007 Season

[osugrad21]

ABJ

A New Year's resolution

Matta says OSU won't rush 7-foot-1 Oden back from wrist injury

By Marla Ridenour

Beacon Journal sportswriter

COLUMBUS - Basketball coach Thad Matta is sticking to a Jan. 1 target date for 7-foot-1 freshman center Greg Oden to join the Ohio State lineup.
It will be an agonizing wait for Matta, the Buckeyes and the two-time national high school player of the year, the likely No. 1 pick in this spring's NBA Draft if not for a change in the league's eligibility rules in the summer of 2005. Oden, from Lawrence North High School in Indianapolis, underwent surgery to repair a torn ligament in his right wrist on June 15.
He still has a screw inserted and is supposed to keep the wrist immobilized, so Matta hoped Oden took off his brace merely for photos at OSU's media day Thursday at the Schottenstein Center. The defending Big Ten champions, winners of the school's first outright league title in 14 years, begin workouts tonight and open the season Nov. 1 against Findlay.
``He's doing well,'' Matta said of Oden. ``It seems like he's right where they want him to be. His conditioning, those types of things are in great shape. Obviously I'd take him if it was earlier. But I don't want to put a player in a position that could jeopardize his future.
``Like I told Greg, if he never scores a point at Ohio State, what he's done for our program has been tremendous. We'll bring him along slow and get him right.''
Matta did not allow freshmen to be interviewed, although Oden might be made available in a week or two. So it was left to Matta to explain Oden's level of frustration.
``He's tired of being injured right now,'' Matta said. ``We go through things and he can only do a few of them and he has to get off the court. We'll involve him as much as we can. When you get into the games, that's going to bother him a little bit more.
``I've been very impressed with his basketball intellect and how he sees things. I think he's going to have the capabilities of really picking it up quick.''
If the target date for Oden holds up, 6-foot-8, 230-pound junior Matt Terwilliger might be the starting center during a rugged nonconference schedule that includes a Nov. 29 game at North Carolina and a Dec. 23 game at Florida. That means Terwilliger would have to guard the Tar Heels' Tyler Hansbrough and the Gators' Joakim Noah.
Conference play begins Jan. 2 at home against Indiana.
``I don't want him to rush back and risk hurting his wrist again, but I've been working on my four skills for 10 months. I'm ready to go at that position,'' Terwilliger said of Oden. ``Usually 6-10, 6-11 guys have 20 or 30 pounds on me. I'll have to use my quickness to get around 'em.''
Oden heads a recruiting class that also includes his prep teammate Mike Conley, a 6-1 guard who is the son of Olympic triple jumper Mike Conley, David Lighty, a 6-5 guard/forward from Villa Angela-St. Joseph and Daequan Cook, a 6-5 guard from Dayton Dunbar. Another newcomer is Othello Hunter, a 6-9 forward from Hillsborough Community College.
But it is the presence of Oden that has put Ohio State on the cover of several national college basketball previews even though junior guard Jamar Butler is the Buckeyes' only returning starter.
The attention on Oden could be resented by some teammates, but that does not seem to be the case at OSU.
``They knew what was expected and they didn't come here with a big head,'' senior guard Ron Lewis said of the freshmen. ``They came here ready to learn.''
Asked his impression of Oden, Butler said, ``I think he's too nice. He needs to get a little meaner to me. He's a very nice, respectful kid.''
What impressed senior forward Ivan Harris about Oden is ``how humble he is. People see him, it's like, `Man, he's 7-foot and he's 28 years old.' Once you meet him, he's very down to earth and gets along with anybody.''
Those reactions do not surprise Matta.
``He's a special young man,'' he said of Oden. ``He's a caring kid. The humility he has, I don't know anybody who's ever walked his shoes who could be more humble than he is.
``He has a burning desire to be a great basketball player. The things that people have told him or have been written about him, he doesn't believe them. He wants to go out and do them himself.''
Buckeyes
Matta said he and the university are in the process of redoing Matta's contract and he hopes it will be finalized ``real quick.'' He said it was director of athletics Gene Smith who felt Matta deserved a raise after going 46-18 in his first two years. ``I'm hoping they'll have me here for a long time,'' Matta said.
Matta said Lighty will face no disciplinary action from a June 7 arrest at his high school. He and two friends were accused of firing a BB gun at a male jogging on the track.
No charges were filed in Cuyahoga County or Cleveland Municipal court, according to spokesmen for both departments.

[osugrad21]

Canton

Buckeyes basketball making do without Oden
Friday, October 13, 2006 By RUSTY MILLER AP Sports Writer

Ohio State freshman basketball players (from left) Daequan Cook, Mike Conley, David Lighty, Othello Hunter and Greg Oden pose during the team?s picture day Thursday in Columbus.

COLUMBUS - Greg Oden, acclaimed by many as the best young big man in the country, won't play for Ohio State until January while he continues to recover from a wrist injury.
In the meantime, the Buckeyes - featuring five newcomers - will try to not let the season slip away.
"A coach once told me we're all a sprained ankle away from mediocrity," Coach Thad Matta said Thursday at the team's media day. "We've got guys who know we're going to go through some ups and downs, but that's what makes you stronger in the end."
Oden, the 7-foot-1 freshman out of Lawrence North High School in Indianapolis, underwent surgery June 16 to repair a torn ligament in his right wrist.
He will not participate in full practices with the Buckeyes until a screw used to stabilize the wrist is removed surgically and he has gone through rehabilitation.
Oden is running and staying in condition. His recovery is right on schedule, but that doesn't make his absence any easier to take.
"He's a freak athlete," backup center Matt Terwilliger said of the mobile, aggressive Oden.
Oden's loss is particularly keen for a team that went 26-6, won the Big Ten's regular season title and received a No. 2 seed in the NCAA tournament. The Buckeyes lost in the second round to Georgetown.
To help season a young but extremely talented team, Matta put together an ambitious schedule that includes several top teams before Big Ten play gets under way in January.
The Buckeyes play at North Carolina on Nov. 29, then match up with defending national champion Florida on Dec. 23. Matta said it's unlikely Oden will be available for either game, and that Terwilliger likely will be the Buckeyes' lone big man.
Terwilliger was a spot player behind Big Ten player of the year Terence Dials last season, averaging 2.3 points and 1.6 rebounds a game. He'll be asked to hold his own against a North Carolina team that stacks its lineup with Tyler Hansbrough and a Florida squad that can put big men Joakim Noah and Al Horford on the floor at the same time.
"I'm not going to lie, it worries me," point guard Jamar Butler said of the lack of depth under the basket.
In addition to Dials, the Buckeyes lost starters J.J. Sullinger, Je'Kel Foster and Matt Sylvester to graduation.
Butler (10.1 ppg, 4.1 apg) and Terwilliger will be joined in this year's rotation by sixth-man Ron Lewis (11.2 ppg). Filling in around the edges until Oden returns will be perimeter shooter Ivan Harris and four marquee first-year players.
Mike Conley, Oden's high school teammate, will share time at guard with two of the top players in Ohio, Daequan Cook and David Lighty. Expected to help out in the frontcourt is 6-9 Othello Hunter, a transfer from Hillsborough (Fla.) Community College.
A year ago, Ohio State played under the national radar for most of the season before rising as high as No. 6 in The Associated Press poll. That's not the case this year with the recruiting class dubbed "The Thad Five."
"The only microscope we're going to be under is our own," said Matta, 46-18 in two years at Ohio State. "That's the way we have to operate because with this team there are so many unknowns. We want to play our best basketball in February and March.
"Obviously we have some tremendous challenges ahead of us early on, but those things are going to do nothing but strengthen us later."AP KICCHIRO SATO
SAY CHEESE Ohio State freshman basketball players (from left) Daequan Cook, Mike Conley, David Lighty, Othello Hunter and Greg Oden pose during the team's picture day Thursday in Columbus.

[osugrad21]

CPD

Football helps Matta sell basketball

Game-day atmosphere, fans' passion impress recruits
Friday, October 13, 2006Doug Lesmerises
Plain Dealer Reporter
Columbus- The Heisman front-runner and the future NBA No. 1 pick haven't met, not yet. But Troy Smith is already a Greg Oden fan.
"I've seen him around," Ohio State's quarterback said of the 7-footer. "He's huge. I know he's going to show that on the basketball court. I'm very, very, very excited for the upcoming basketball season. I think we have as good a chance as anybody in the nation to win a national championship."
Remember, Smith's talking about basketball. That's the status of Ohio State sports at the moment, where the No. 1 football team in the country will share at least a tiny piece of the spotlight with the most highly anticipated college basketball freshman in a decade. Oden and his new teammates start practice today as a national basketball curiosity in a football mecca.
The defending Big Ten hoops champs have created their own aura on campus with one of the top two recruiting class in the country. After speculation last season that coach Thad Matta might leave for a job at Indiana, where basketball is king, it's clear he's found a way to make a mark at a football school.
Matta's ready to enter the third year of an eight-year, $11 million contract, but is in negotiations with Athletic Director Gene Smith regarding a new deal to extend his stay.
"I think the goal is, number one, I'm hoping they'll have me here for a long time," Matta said. "Hopefully, that will be settled here real quick."
Football might help his cause. Having coached previously at Butler and Xavier, Matta is - for the first time - running a program alongside a top-flight football team. Like at many schools, football games are a popular recruiting tool for basketball.
On game days, Matta scrambles to keep tabs on potential future players and their families.
"I want kids to see how passionate Ohio State fans are," Matta said Thursday. "I know full well football has a much better tradition than we do, but I've always said these people love the Buckeyes. I think it's vitally important. They are number one in the country right now and Troy with the Heisman race, I think it does nothing but help us because it accentuates how powerful this place is."
Two years ago, Oden took in a win over Cincinnati. Last year, it was the Texas game. Junior center Matt Terwilliger said he went to several games during his recruitment.
"The atmosphere's amazing, and it's not even just inside the football game," Terwilliger said. "The city the whole day of the game is unlike anything I've ever seen anywhere else. It just kind of showed how much this city cares about its athletics."
So, when the basketball players had a free night this summer, they showed they cared, the four freshmen and junior point guard Jamar Butler sitting in the bleachers for the Buckeyes' night practice at Ohio Stadium.
"We were just sitting around and we heard the football team was good," Butler said, "So, I went down to the freshmen's room to see if they wanted to go and we went over."
Football coach Jim Tressel would have recognized the visitors had he seen them. He has met Oden.
"He's tall," Tressel said.
And Tressel understands the influence the Ohio State vibe can have across sports.
"I think Thad has told me many times he enjoys it when he brings his guys to our games," Tressel said. "Thad talks constantly about just that energy, that electricity that's in Ohio Stadium. Just like I love bringing those guys when the rafters are shaking [at the Schottenstein Center]. That tells you a little bit about the place you're considering."
Players on both teams are now considering the possibilities. Florida and Texas have already built elite programs in both sports. Last season, Ohio State won Big Ten titles in football, men's basketball and women's basketball. This year, the teams want more.
"We talk about it a lot," senior basketball guard Ron Lewis said. "Just thinking that, wow, what if they do win a national championship, if they came make it that far and then us coming right behind them . . . it puts a lot of talk in everybody's ears."

[osugrad21]

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