The nation’s top high school basketball player will be wearing scarlet and gray for Ohio State and coach Thad Matta beginning in 2006.

On Wednesday, senior-to-be Greg Oden and his teammate Mike Conley announced in the gymnasium at Lawrenceburg North High School in Indianapolis they will be Buckeyes for the 2006-07 season.

Oden, a 7-foot center and national prep player of the year as a junior, would have been the number one pick in the NBA draft next year. But since the National Basketball Assocation’s new Collective Bargaining Agreement will be in place and the league recently imposed age restriction will make him ineligible to enter the draft next year.

“It didn’t really affect my decision, because I always knew I wanted to go to college,” Oden said about the new age restriction placed by the NBA.

Oden was named national high school player of the year by USA Today, Gatorade and Parade magazine after averaging 20 points, 9.6 rebounds and 3.7 blocked shots as a junior last season.

The only other high school junior to garner such an award is Ohio native and former Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary standout LeBron James, now playing for the Cleveland Cavaliers.

The 6-foot-2 Conley is ranked as one of the top point guards in the country point averaged 10.7 points and five assists. Both of them narrowed their college choices down to Ohio State, Indiana, Wake Forest and Michigan State.

Also joining Oden and Conley for the class of 2006 are Daequan Cook, a 6-foot-4 shooting guard from Dunbar High School in Dayton, and David Lighty, a 6-foot-5 shooting guard from St. Joseph’s High School in Cleveland.

Oden, Cook and Lighty are in everyone’s top-20 prospect rankings, while Conley crack the top-40 list. Oden is ranked the best center, while Cook is ranked second and Lighty is fourth as the best shooting guards in the country. Conley is rated the seventh-best point guard in the nation.

With the verbal commitments that Ohio State obtained on Wednesday, the Buckeyes now have the “Fantastic 4” and can rival even the great recruiting class of Michigan’s Fab Five of 1991. If the Buckeyes add another player to the four, this could make this class arguably better.

Tags: Buckeye Basketball //