Ohio State’s Oden Perplexingly Passive
As the Big Ten churns …
He arrived replete with enough superlatives to suffocate Superman.
Maybe that’s the problem. Maybe it’s the memory of hearing Michigan State coach Tom Izzo compare him to Magic Johnson and North Carolina coach Roy Williams compare him to Patrick Ewing and Indiana coach Kelvin Sampson compare him (figuratively) to Samson that is warping my perspective here.
The bottom line is this little bit of heresy: I have not been awed by Ohio State center Greg Oden.
This is not to say the Buckeyes’ 7-foot freshman is not a presence on the court. He is altering both the shots and the mind-sets of opponents. Nor is it to say he has been a flop.
He hasn’t and he proved that Saturday with 24 points and 15 rebounds against Tennessee. Yet that was his first truly dominating performance of the season.
I know he still is working himself into shape after not playing a game from early April until early December. I know, too, that his teammates still are learning to work with him and that he still wears a wrap on his right wrist, which was operated on in June.
But that last fact causes me to wonder if he is a slow healer or, of more importance, if he is reluctant to throw himself fully into the rigors of conference play.
He was perplexingly passive Tuesday in his team’s loss at Wisconsin, a point driven home later when I bumped into an NBA scout.
“Did you see how he walked out?” asked the scout, referring to Oden’s demeanor during pregame introductions.
We both agreed he looked bored as he made his way slowly to the court, looked uninterested in the task at hand.
That is not always a revealing sign, nor does a performer have to prove he is ready to play by bopping about in a crazed state. But his languor lingered into the game itself, which produced some telling snapshots and numbers.
Fronted by the Badgers’ 6-foot-10-inch Jason Chappell, Oden rarely worked to get himself free and failed to demand the ball.
That is what the great ones do. When he didn’t, the Buckeyes ignored him and started launching three-pointers. Their first six shots and 10 of their first 14 came from that distance, which is not the way a team should play when a future NBA lottery pick has a mismatch down low.
But Oden rarely exploited that mismatch and that contributed to the Buckeyes’ defeat and his own baffling performance. He didn’t take his first shot until more than 10 minutes were gone, didn’t get his first field goal until 7:19 remained. He ended with the fewest shots of any Ohio State starter and was matched in scoring by Marcus Landry, the Badgers’ 6-7 forward who spells Chappell off the bench.
That is why Oden remains a mystery to me. And while I’m at it, I might as well raise this question as well: Does he have any kind of offensive move? Besides the dunk, I mean.
Strong starts
Here’s one thing to keep in mind when watching Wisconsin and Bo Ryan, the Badgers’ wily coyote of a coach. Even though Chappell and 6-11 Brian Butch start, the Badgers are quicker, more explosive and arguably better when they are on the bench and Landry and 6-7 Joe Krabbenhoft are on the floor. After less than two weeks, Wisconsin is the only team with an unblemished league record. That is no surprise. …
What is a surprise is the play of Indiana, which promises to get better as it grows more familiar with the style of new coach Sampson. The Hoosiers routed Purdue and Michigan State at home, won at Penn State _ no easy trick _ and went toe-to-toe with Ohio State in Columbus, where they lost late. Even more surprising has been the play of freshmen guards Joey Shaw and Armon Bassett. …
While we are on freshmen guards, we knew the Buckeyes’ Mike Conley Jr. was good. But he’s as good as Oden is mystifying. …
Purdue routed Michigan at home, where it is undefeated this season. But now the Boilermakers must play Wisconsin in Madison on Wednesday and the Wolverines in Ann Arbor on Saturday. That will give us a better idea of how good the Boilermakers might be. …
And finally, Wisconsin at Illinois on Saturday is the conference’s game of the week.
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