NCAA Tournament: Stock Watch (Sweet 16, Thursday games)--Stock Up

With his team in a complete rut, down by as many as 20 points at one time, Mike Conley Jr. needed to step up and provide some more late-game heroics to give Ohio State a chance to stay alive. And step up he did, being the catalyst behind an unforgettable comeback that ended in an 85-84 win for the Buckeyes.

Conley was even better than his excellent stat-line would indicate, showing a tremendous amount of poise in running his team with the type of maturity that won’t soon be forgotten by the many NBA executives that were in attendance. But it wasn’t just a flash in the pan, one-hit type wonder performance—he’s actually been doing this all season long, including in the round of 32 last week. This time, though, he pulled it off on the biggest stage he’s ever played in so far, elevating his game to a new level that speaks volumes about the type of player he could become down the road.

Judging by the way the game started, we really had no chance of knowing it would turn out this way. Conley picked up his 2nd foul just eight and a half minutes in, with his team already down by 14 points and his life-time teammate Greg Oden facing similar issues. Thad Matta didn’t hesitate to throw his sensational freshman point guard back on the floor after just four minutes on the bench, though, knowing that Tennessee was close to delivering a knockout punch that his team would have been unable to recover from.

Conley came back into the game with a real sense of urgency to turn things around, but would not look out of control in the least bit in spite of the circumstances. He played near mistake-free basketball for the next 27 minutes, controlling the game at his own pace and doing a wonderful job of getting all of his teammates involved.

He showed outstanding court vision slicing up the defense at finding the open man, using a wide array of shakes and hesitation moves that allowed him to get inside the paint going either left or right almost whenever he pleased. His decision making was almost impeccable on top of that, dishing out to the open man spotting up on the wing when the situation called for it, or finishing plays himself with a floater or kiss high off the glass with either hand when that solution made more sense. In the absence of Oden for most of the game, Tennessee’s defense slid up to put better pressure on the perimeter to help stop Conley’s drives. Conley punished them by dishing out two gorgeous alleyoop lobs—one to Othella Hunter and one to Ron Lewis—both perfectly timed to give his team the extra spark they needed to make their final push. Early in the game when Tennessee tried to press, he threw a fantastic full-court outlet pass to a streaking Ron Lewis for an easy dunk.

It was only fitting that it would again be Conley the one who ended up sealing the game for Ohio State, running down the game-clock masterfully from 38 seconds to 6.5 seconds with the game tied, getting to the basket with the greatest of ease, and earning a trip to the free throw line for his 13th and 14th attempts. He only knocked down one of two, but that was enough to give his team the victory and send them to the Elite Eight.

Any doubts that Conley would be considered one of the top 2 or 3 point guards in the 2007 draft if he decided to throw his name in the mix ended as time expired and Ohio State advanced to the next round. He was quoted just a few days ago saying that he will be back in Columbus next year, but almost everyone we spoke to this week in the basketball industry claims to be hearing otherwise. If he keeps playing this way, he most likely won’t have a choice in the matter.