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Glamour's Women of the Year
UD vs. Northern Kentucky
Magic visits with area students
Buckeyes, 'Thad 5' will hit the court with great expectations
Highly regarded recruits have some thinking national title.
Thursday, October 12, 2006
The only thing bigger in men's college basketball than 7-footer Greg Oden is the hype around Ohio State. Some preseason publications predict a national title for the Buckeyes.
Ohio State hosts Media Day today in Columbus.
Extras
Coach Thad Matta will show off the returners from the 2005-06 Big Ten champions and a recruiting class ranked among the greats.
The "Thad Five" will be available for photos but no interviews.
That's Matta's rule, despite the intense interest in Oden, 2006's consensus No. 1 high school player.
Oden, likely out with a wrist injury until December at the earliest, is mentioned in every college basketball magazine. He's being compared to the best center prospects in basketball history.
Never mind that neither Oden nor Dunbar's Daequan Cook, Michael Conley, David Lighty or junior-college transfer Othello Hunter have played an NCAA Division I game.
But with the new NBA draft rules, college is where last year's best high school players play.
Some nuggets from the mags:
• CBS SportsLine.com predicts Ohio State to win the national title over Arizona and Oden as an All-American.
• The Sporting News compares Oden to a 1965 version of Lew Alcindor (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) and lists Cook as a preseason Big Ten second-teamer.
• Lindy's mentions Jamar Butler, Springfield's Ivan Harris and Troy's Matt Terwilliger as factors with the newcomers why Ohio State is a Final Four team.
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-6951 or mgokavi@DaytonDailyNews.com.
