One of Matta's most heralded incoming classes ever is now fully on board for 2010.
Jared Sullinger, J.D. Weatherspoon, Jordan Sibert, Aaron Craft, Deshaun Thomas and Lenzelle Smith Jr. all submitted their letters of intent today giving Matta what is largely viewed as the #1 recruiting class in the land.
The recruiting machine summed this class up best when he offered:
"I am thrilled to add these six young men to the Ohio State basketball family. They all bring versatility at each of their positions on the floor. Most importantly, these are high character individuals who bring a culture of winning to our program. All six have won or played for a state championship and four were part of three national championships during the summer."
Comments
Sigh...this may not be a popular sentiment, but give me the days of Burson, Jent, Brown, Baker, etc... over this "One and Done" stuff any day. Oh, goodie...a Final Four (probably) in 2011 and then we'll suck in 2013. Wash, rinse, repeat.
*2013 = 2012, sorry
you take that back. jent was playing back when i was just starting to get really follow sports and he used to frustrate my little tween heart to no end. i have animosity to this day.
So would you rather have them go somewhere else and beat us? It's not he brings these kids in from 2k miles away, they are all from the midwest. I think time has clouded your judgment, most of these kids wont be one and done in fact I wouldn't be surprised if all of them stayed 2 years with most staying 3 or 4 years. The only reason we lost Conley Jr. was because he had such a great March that year.
Sullinger is the only potential one and done.
Conley and Cook only left because Conley's dad talked them into it.
Good thing the last two years have been kind to us on the football recruiting front, next years class is looking slim. Of course adding Hicks, Henderson and Joyner could help that.
Duel National Championships in 2011 or 2012? Good possibility if a few guys stay.
I understand the argument that if they don't come here they might beat us down for the year they're in school...though they probably would have scattered between Kansas, Duke, UNC and (maybe...I'll give you) Sparty. I would LOVE to be proven wrong and have a few of these guys back, but yea the Conley/Cook thing bugged me. Don't even get me started on Mullens and Kufos.
Agreed on the wash/rinse/repeat. Matta did aknowledge his "problem" of recruiting too great of players, but he said that he would not switch to pretty good players instead of great players.
That said, more cohesiveness from longer tenure's would go a LONG way, especially in a sport like basketball.
Its hard to put the blame on Matta for kids leaving early when the only reason why a lot of em come to college at all is because of a lame half measure by the NCAA that forces them here for a year. Oden is a prime example of this, if you had told him he'd have to stay in college another year, he'd have happily agreed, but mandating only one year just gives NBA guys more time to salivate over prospects. Make it two years mandatory at least, or have an age cut off like the NFL, or don't do it at all. one year in college does nothing for anyone except hurt graduation rates.
Sorry I don't begrudge Oden or Conley. Both guys where great and their draft stock wouldn't have gotten much higher. They brought us to a Final Four and gave Fla a run for their money in the title game, something not even Jimmy Jackson could do (he is my favorite all time).
Chris Jent missed a shot against scUM and the Fab Five that would've put us in the Final Four. I met him quite a few times, he was great, always talked (I was in middle school) and never NEVER would say anything bad about him, even if he missed that shot.
Koufus and Mullen, that's another story...
won't the world have ended by then?
My boy has a point there
all the recent early exits are because of that ridiculous one year removed from high school rule. all it does is force you in to playing a year of college ball of going to europe. I, like you, do not begrudge ANYONE for leaving early. If someone woulda told me while I was still in school that I was guaranteed like 20mil, I'd have been out!
blame David Stern for that stuff, not Matta.
it's hard for me to get in to basketball just yet. i don't get any of the games out here and football is still going on.
NBA is a different story, I watch the Cavs all the time. But then again, they are on twice a week it seems.
Well, they did both get drafted, and earned a ton of money for it.
I think Oden proved that that isn't a bad choice. If he's stayed he'd have missed all of next season with his surgery anyway.
and more than likely been scrutinized more during his physical, possibly dropping him a few spots. Can't really blame the kids for leaving
yea, i voted for modern warfare 2... not ashamed
All this talk and nobody has brought up that there is still no point guard for this team. A little white kid from Findlay is not going to do anything for these guys. I see penn state got a freaking for real point guard, Purdue, and even Sparty, hell Sparty came into dayton and took out a 6-10 4 star WTF? Is Buford going to run this team next year?
I understand what you mean but it's hard to get a stud at every single position in one class, isn't it? I mean, the dude just hauled in the pretty much undisputed #1 ranked class in the land. From what I've read, Craft might be a real good fit considering he's a role player and a tough defender who gets more kicks out of distributing the rock than scoring it. I admittedly haven't seen him play so who knows what we're getting but I think his strengths fit in good with a roster of scorers and I also love the fact he's been on the same AAU team with most of these guys for years. The same team that keeps killing other national AAU teams on a regular basis. If he doesn't pan out, maybe PJ Hill has a half-brother toiling some where in a Minnesota high school right now.
Have you seen Craft play? Mark my word, he will be one of the better point guards OSU has seen in some time.
Good to hear. Again, from what I've read, I'm fully committed to seeing what he can do. The fact he already has great chemistry with the other incoming frosh and that he's definitely a 4 year player make me happy. A 4 year player/starter at PG sounds like a win to me.
Sounds like the ingrediants to a legit run or two...or three! Watch out tourney, these kids will be getting "out of hound"..!
O - H...
Put the blame on the NBA and good old fashion greed. Maybe they should allow the kids a chance to play in college and still be drafted.