Greg Oden, 7-0, Freshman, Center, Ohio State
13 points, 9 rebounds, 20 minutes 1 steal, 1 block, 2 turnovers, 6-11 FG, 1-4 FT
Jonathan Givony
Had Greg Oden managed to stay on the floor for more than 20 minutes, its very likely that he would have ended up landing himself a spot in the stock up portion of this column. Once again, though, he couldnt, partially due to his own lack of experience and partially due to the trigger happy NCAA referees who seemingly have to blow their whistle any time any type of contact whatsoever is made in the low post. Oden committed two foulsa moving screen and a chargein the first 2 ½ minutes of the game, forcing him to sit for the next 17 ½ minutes until the second half kicked off. As they have all tournament long, though, his teammates did just fine without him on the floor, actually increasing their lead and not looking like they had lost anything without his services.
When the 2nd half finally kicked off and his exile period was completed, Oden took a while to get back in the rhythm of the game. He looked very tentative to start off and just not in sync at all with the rest of his team, particularly with the work he did within the team defensive concept. He blew some rotations, did an average job on the glass, and was caught out of position a number of times to give Georgetown two easy points.
He got himself together pretty quickly, though, partially thanks to the terrific job his point guards Mike Conley Jr. and Jamar Butler did feeding him in the post. Oden established deep position inside on Roy Hibbert on a number of occasions, and did a good job using his strength and athleticism to finish strong around the basket. He grabbed some good offensive rebounds to help collect easy points, and as the game progressed began to show the more advanced side of his offense as well.
It started by spinning into a difficult 10-foot jump-hook shot with his right hand, and then continued with a super quick and aggressive drop-step move he converted off the glass. He was called for his 3rd foul of the game with about 12 minutes to go in the gamea very questionable foul on Roy Hibbertbut continued to play extremely well regardless. With Hibbert in foul trouble himself, Oden was able to establish deep position inside the paint, and showed excellent patience and poise making a basket from a tough angle.
The most impressive move he had tonight actually came on a miss, taking off from not that far from the free throw line and nearly converting an extremely long dunk attempt thanks to his incredible length and explosiveness.
On the other end, Hibbert was playing extremely well himself, making this a matchup of skilled future NBA lottery pick 7-footers that we rarely if ever get to take in at the collegiate level. Hibbert established great position of his own on the offensive end, and then really bothered Oden at times with his length and absolutely terrific timing in his man to man defense. Oden was forced to commit his 4th foul of the game with three minutes to go when he was unable to rotate laterally quick enough on a seemingly simple play, a problem weve seen him struggle with repeatedly this season.
He finished off the game strong, though, hitting a 10-foot jump-shot, grabbing a strong rebound out of his area, and then coming out of nowhere to erase a shot by a Georgetown guard and help ice the game.
All in all this was a solid outing by Oden, despite the foul trouble, and most importantly, his team won. He showed the good and the bad parts of his game on numerous occasions, and is still the same phenomenal long-term prospect hes always been.
When the 2nd half finally kicked off and his exile period was completed, Oden took a while to get back in the rhythm of the game. He looked very tentative to start off and just not in sync at all with the rest of his team, particularly with the work he did within the team defensive concept. He blew some rotations, did an average job on the glass, and was caught out of position a number of times to give Georgetown two easy points.
He got himself together pretty quickly, though, partially thanks to the terrific job his point guards Mike Conley Jr. and Jamar Butler did feeding him in the post. Oden established deep position inside on Roy Hibbert on a number of occasions, and did a good job using his strength and athleticism to finish strong around the basket. He grabbed some good offensive rebounds to help collect easy points, and as the game progressed began to show the more advanced side of his offense as well.
It started by spinning into a difficult 10-foot jump-hook shot with his right hand, and then continued with a super quick and aggressive drop-step move he converted off the glass. He was called for his 3rd foul of the game with about 12 minutes to go in the gamea very questionable foul on Roy Hibbertbut continued to play extremely well regardless. With Hibbert in foul trouble himself, Oden was able to establish deep position inside the paint, and showed excellent patience and poise making a basket from a tough angle.
The most impressive move he had tonight actually came on a miss, taking off from not that far from the free throw line and nearly converting an extremely long dunk attempt thanks to his incredible length and explosiveness.
On the other end, Hibbert was playing extremely well himself, making this a matchup of skilled future NBA lottery pick 7-footers that we rarely if ever get to take in at the collegiate level. Hibbert established great position of his own on the offensive end, and then really bothered Oden at times with his length and absolutely terrific timing in his man to man defense. Oden was forced to commit his 4th foul of the game with three minutes to go when he was unable to rotate laterally quick enough on a seemingly simple play, a problem weve seen him struggle with repeatedly this season.
He finished off the game strong, though, hitting a 10-foot jump-shot, grabbing a strong rebound out of his area, and then coming out of nowhere to erase a shot by a Georgetown guard and help ice the game.
All in all this was a solid outing by Oden, despite the foul trouble, and most importantly, his team won. He showed the good and the bad parts of his game on numerous occasions, and is still the same phenomenal long-term prospect hes always been.