If the college football season taught us anything, it’s that it’s an ever-evolving proposition.
The belief of many in November that Ohio State should be playing Michigan in the Bowl Championship Series title game looked like so much bird-cage lining by January.
The same element just might prevail in college basketball, and Ohio State could provide it.
Who are the Buckeyes, exactly? Are they the team that got blown out in December at Florida, or the one capable of the victory stand on a Monday night in April in Atlanta?
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Ohio State stands 13-3 as it hosts No. 16 Tennessee on Saturday. The Buckeyes’ only losses are to the top three teams in the country as of the latest rankings: North Carolina, Florida and Wisconsin.
In any discussion of potential champions, the Buckeyes always draw a mention. They not only have some important parts from the Big Ten titlists of last year but a dynamite freshman class headlined by the consensus No. 1 recruit in the country, 7-foot Greg Oden.
Of course, it’s all been in fits and starts for the Buckeyes, who first had to infuse freshmen like guards Mike Conley and Daequan Cook into the returning core, and then Oden, who missed several games and still wears a cast on his right wrist after tearing a ligament.
But it wouldn’t be wise to discount Ohio State. As Florida coach Billy Donovan points out, Ohio State at its best is versatile–a big team with Oden and 6-9 junior-college transfer forward Othello Hunter on the floor, and a small, fleet team when one sits.
Steve Lavin, the ESPN analyst who does Big Ten games, compares Ohio State, minus Oden, to the perimeter-oriented 1997 Arizona team that won the championship and also the 2005 Illinois Final Four team with Deron Williams, Dee Brown and Luther Head.
“Imagine Illinois or Arizona with a Greg Oden in the middle,” Lavin said.
Right now, it takes imagination. Despite respectable numbers–13.9 points a game, 9.2 rebounds, 4.0 blocks–Oden looks very raw inside OSU’s offense. He seems far less polished at that end.
But he’s using his left hand predominantly, shooting free throws that way. For him, and his team, it seems all about upside–good news for Ohio State fans still in the dumps after the BCS title game.