February 24, 2007
Greg, We Hardly Knew Ye
It doesn't seem possible that Sunday's showdown with Wisconsin in Columbus will be the last home game ever for Ohio State's freshman center Greg Oden. Ohio State fans knew from the day he committed that Oden was likely to be a "one and done" player, a Buckeye only by virtue of the NBA rule change. Celtic fans, not least Bill Simmons, are already fantasizing about Oden in green.
By most accounts Oden has been an earnest and thoughtful college student. He is said to relish campus life, the intellectual stimulation as well as the social scene. Now, whether he likes all that stuff better than the $50 million or so he'll be counting by summertime if he turns pro is the question. I have never bought into the "stay in school" argument, when kids have a chance to sign huge pro contracts as underclassmen. If a college education is something they really want, there's nothing standing in their way as young millionaires, and other deserving kids get their scholarships. But Oden must feel like he hasn't even had one real college season.
The scary thing about Oden's game is that we haven't seen it yet. As good as he has been, Oden has been playing one-handed up until the last week or so. His surgically repaired right wrist is just now getting to the point where he can shoot his natural right-handed baby hook and feel confident blocking shots with either hand. The major discernable flaw in his game as a 19 year old college freshman is that he tends to get in trouble putting the ball on the floor, as opponents double-team him and go for the steal aggressively whenever he posts up low. A healthy right wrist would go along way toward solving that problem.
So would getting another full, healthy year of college experience to hone his game for the NBA. And that's one reason I have a sliver of hope that Oden could return for his sophomore season. Another is a that with or without Oden, the 2007-2008 Buckeyes will be loaded. Even if the Bucks come up short this year in the tournament (none of the four No.1 seeds made it to the Final Four last year), they would be a prohibitive favorite in 2008 if Oden were returning. Maybe his high school teammate Mike Conley Jr. or Coach Matta, or others close to the young man will influence his decision and persuade him to postpone becoming a multimillionaire for one more year to make a bonafide run at the national championship. Hope springs.
Another entirely selfish hope of mine is that the Buckeyes can hang onto a No. 1 seed, and land in the St. Louis regional, where my hotel is already reserved and my ticket bought for the Sweet Sixteen round.
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One of the kids coming into Matta's program at OSU next year is Jon Diebler, a 6'6" shooting guard from Upper Sandusky High School. Friday night, Diebler broke Jay Burson's all-time Ohio career scoring record with 44 points in his final regular season game. A couple weeks ago he passed some guy named LeBron James to move into second place. Also in the Bucks incoming class is center Kosta Koufos, a 7-footer with a great shooting stroke to go with his size inside. He's ranked as one of the top ten preppers in the country overall.
UPDATE 2/25: Bucks win a squeaker. Oden dodges the question:
Amid speculation he might turn pro after his freshman year, the crowd serenaded Oden with a chant of "One More Year!" as the Buckeyes assembled on the floor to accept the conference championship trophy.Posted by dan at February 24, 2007 1:17 PM"I thought they were talking about Ivan!" Oden cracked.
Pressed for an answer, he said, "That's a decision that's going to be made later on in the year."