Galena High School, located in Reno, Nevada, and its boys basketball star Luke Babbitt just couldn’t keep his secret any longer.

Local television stations reported on Tuesday that Babbitt has announced he will be going to Ohio State, which is currently ranked No. 1 in the nation. Originally, Ohio State wasn’t even among Babbitt’s top 10 choices, but the Galena junior has family ties in the area, leading him to choose the Buckeyes.

Babbitt is scheduled to formally announce his non-binding verbal agreement to Ohio State during a press conference at 2:45 p.m. Friday. Babbitt said last week at the NIAA 4A State Championships that he had already made his decision, but would wait until this week to make the announcement. Babbitt, a junior, will be able to sign with Ohio State during the fall signing period in November.

Babbitt averaged 28 points, 11 rebounds and four assists this season for Galena. He helped the Grizzlies to the NIAA 4A State title at The Orleans Arena in Las Vegas last weekend. In the semifinals, he had 36 points and 20 rebounds in a 67-58 win over Canyon Springs.

He then scored 12 of his 25 points, including the go-ahead three-pointer, in the fourth quarter to help the Grizzlies beat Mojave 54-51 for the title. Babbitt’s performance against Canyon Springs came in front of Arizona coach Lute Olson and his assistant Miles Simon.

Arizona was one of the final five schools on Babbitt’s list along with Ohio State, Nevada, UCLA and Gonzaga.

The 6-foot-8 Babbitt is considered to be one of the nation’s top forwards in the junior class and there are recruiting services who have him ranked among the nation’s top 10 overall juniors.

But according to rivals.com, Babbitt is a four-star recruit and is listed the 28th-best overall prospect in the country for the class of 2008, and 14th-best among power forwards. Of course with his shooting range, he might be better suited to play at small forward.

Scout.com dished out five-stars to Babbitt, and has him ranked as the 10th-best prospect at the power forward position.

Other Ohio prospects who are currently uncommitted that are ranked higher than Babbitt are Lakewood St. Edwards’s 6-foot-7 forward Delvon Roe, and Cincinnati Withrow’s 6-foot-8 forward Yancy Gates.

Where do these two players factor into Matta’s plans now after getting his fifth verbal from this class?

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The United States Basketball Writers Association (USBWA), which I am a proud member of, announced today their six finalists for the Oscar Robertson Award given out annually to the nation’s player of the year.

Nevada’s Nick Fazekas, whom I voted for, did not make the final cut. And since Fazekas was not one of the six finalists, I was able to change my vote and I went with Wisconsin’s Alando Tucker.

A pair of freshmen are among the USBWA’s six finalists. along with one sophomore, two juniors, and a senior.

Freshmen Kevin Durant of Texas and Greg Oden of Ohio State are among a group that includes Wisconsin senior forward Alando Tucker, Florida junior forward Joakim Noah, North Carolina sophomore forward Tyler Hansbrough, and UCLA junior guard Aaron Afflalo.

Afflalo, a 6-foot-5 guard, is second in the Pacific-10 with 17.5 points per game and has scored in double figures in 27 straight contests.

Durant, a 6-foot-9 swingman, is fifth in the nation in scoring (24.7) and fourth in rebounding (11.3). Among his highlights are a 37-point performance in a double-overtime loss to Oklahoma State and a 37-point, 23-rebound game against Texas Tech. He has 17 double-doubles and seven 30-point games this season.

Hansbrough, the 2006 USBWA Freshman of the Year, is third in the ACC in scoring (18.7) and has averaged 7.6 rebounds per game. The 6-9 sophomore is shooting 53.0 percent from the field.

Noah, who helped lead the Gators to a national title a year ago, is averaging 12.0 points and 8.1 rebounds per game. while shooting 61.6 percent from the field.

The 7-foot Oden, who averages 15.3 points and 9.5 rebounds, has led the Buckeyes to a No. 1 ranking despite wrist surgery that delayed his debut until Dec. 12. He leads the Big Ten in rebounding, field goal percentage (60.9) and blocks (3.5).

Tucker, who averages 19.9 points (2nd in the Big Ten) and 5.4 rebounds, has been the best player on one of the nation’s best teams. The Badgers have set a school record with 26 wins with the 6-6 forward leading the way.

The Oscar Robertson Trophy, named after whom many consider the greatest college basketball player ever, is selected in voting by members of the USBWA. Established in 1959, it is the nation’s oldest college basketball player of the year award. The USBWA named the award for Robertson in 1998.

Robertson was a three-time player of the year from 1958-60 at the University of Cincinnati and was the first player in NCAA history to lead the nation in scoring for three straight seasons.

In 2005, world-renowned St. Louis sculptor Harry Weber was commissioned to produce an 18-inch bronze sculpture of Oscar Robertson in his famous spread-eagle pose.

A replica of the statue will be awarded to the player of the year at the USBWA’s annual awards breakfast at Philips Arena in Atlanta on Friday, March 30.

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As a member of the United States Basketball Writers Association (USBWA), I had the privilege of casting a ballot for various awards that are presented by the organization.

Of the awards I was able to vote on are the 10-player USBWA All-America team, the Oscar Robinson Trophy to the National Player of the Year, the Henry Iba Award to the National Coach of the Year, and the award that is given to the National Freshman of the Year.

Also, as a member residing in the state of Ohio, I was asked to cast a ballot for the 10-player All-District V team, which comprises of players from schools located in Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Ohio.

That also includes a District V player and coach of the year.

The main criteria I was looking for when selecting a player was not so much how their statistics stacked up to others, but how valuable they were to their team, and how well those teams fared throughout the course of the season. There are some intangibles that don’t show up in box scores every night.

Without further ado, here is who I voted for (in alphabetical order):

2006-07 All-America Team
Arron Afflalo, UCLA
Afflalo, a 6-foot-5 junior guard, leads the second-ranked Bruins in scoring, averaging 17.5 points per game, which is second-best in the Pac-10.

There were several possibilities here, but the bottom line is this, Matta lost four starters from last year’s Big Ten championship team and replaced them with four freshmen and a junior college transfer, and still repeated as conference champs. And so far they have matched last season’s 26 wins.

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Consecutive Big Ten football championships, now back-to-back Big Ten basketball titles. Both men’s and women’s teams, too.

By the way, the last time a top-ranked team faced a No. 2 team in Columbus, the combined score was 81 points.

This time around it was a different sport, and Ohio State was facing a different nemesis which produced slightly more points. And in the end it was a freshman and a senior who made the two biggest plays for the win.

Freshman point guard Mike Conley Jr. sliced through the lane and lofted a floater that gently bounced off the rim twice before falling in, and senior Ron Lewis rejected Wisconsin’s Kammron Taylor’s shot just before the buzzer as the second-ranked Buckeyes knocked off the top-ranked Badgers 49-48 in front of 19,044 towel-twirling fans at “The O-Den,” Sunday afternoon.

The game resembled a heavyweight boxing match, with the combatants trading blows. There were 12 lead changes and the game was tied on six different occasions.

“We did a good job on defense. This was such a punch-after-punch game,” Ohio State head coach Thad Matta said after the game. “Wisconsin forced us to compete for 40 minutes. In these types of games, guys have to make plays. The atmosphere here was off the charts today.”

Another senior, Ivan Harris, scored a game-high 13 points to lead the Buckeyes, who won their second-straight outright Big Ten Championship.

Greg Oden, who should be nicknamed “The Tailor” because of all of the shots he alters, scored 11 points and pulled down five rebounds with four blocked shots.

“It’s tough to get to the free throw line with Oden in there,” Wisconsin head coach Bo Ryan said. “It’s tough to get any shots off for that matter.”

A few days earlier I mentioned that if Ohio State could contain the probable Big Ten Conference player of the year, Alando Tucker, that the Buckeyes had a great chance of winning. And they did. Tucker scored just 12 points on 5-of-15 shooting from the floor.

“We just had to limit his (Tucker’s) touches. That was the main thing,” Ron Lewis said, who guarded Tucker when the Buckeyes were playing man-to-man defense. “We knew we were going to get the ball a lot and the main thing was to limit his touches. That was our goal. It was fortunate he missed a lot of his shots and we contested a lot of his shots.

The Buckeyes were also able to contain Taylor, who scored 10 points on 4-of-12 shooting from the field.

Wisconsin’s largest lead of the game was with 9:37 remaining in the first half when Greg Stiemsma hit a jumper to put the Badgers ahead 15-9.

But the Buckeyes responded by going on a 10-0 run to take a 19-15 lead after Harris drove to the dish for a deuce with 5:31 left until intermission.

Ohio State led 25-22 at halftime.

The Buckeyes clung to their lead until 9:51 remaining on the game when backup guard Jason Bohannon drilled a triple to put the Badgers ahead 37-36.

Ivan Harris later help the Buckeyes reclaim the lead after his netted three-pointer with 8:05 left made the score 40-39.

It was back and forth until Oden reached down to snare a deflected pass down at his ankles and slammed home a monster dunk while being fouled. His old school three-point play put the Buckeyes ahead 47-46 with 2:47 remaining.

There was no scoring until Tucker was able to spring free on the right block for a layup with 55 seconds left to put Wisconsin ahead 48-47.

Ohio State came down trailing by one on their next possession but Lewis’ leaner was block by Jason Chappell.

Later, Ohio State nearly stole the inbounds pass and a scrum ensued, and it clearly appeared that Wisconsin’s Taylor knocked the ball out of bounds, but it was ruled the it was last touched by Ohio State. That resulted in the Buckeyes having to commit four fouls to get a man at the free throw line.

With 20 seconds left, Taylor missed the front end of the one-and-one with Oden coming up with the rebound. Ohio State called a timeout with 16 seconds left to setup Conley’s game-winner with 3.9 on the clock.

Conley finished with 11 points, six rebounds and four assists.

“It is real good knowing we got a ring. We wanted it for the seniors. It is there last home game, but we are still not done. We still have to go to Michigan and have a lot of work to do.”

Up next, the Buckeyes travel to Ann Arbor to take on the Wolverines in the regular season finale. Tip-off at Crisler Arena is the dreaded TBA.

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“It’s a pretty good issue. We’re 25-3. We’re doing a couple of things well here,” Ohio State head coach Thad Matta said to Todd Jones of the Columbus Dispatch. “I’d like to get it to him (Greg Oden) every time. We’re 13-1 in the Big Ten and have 25 wins, and I’m sitting up here like I don’t know what I’m doing here.”

Matta made this comment after Ohio State’s 68-60 win over Big Ten cellar dweller Penn State as Greg Oden scored 17 points and pulled down 14 rebounds while taking just nine shots from the floor.

Sure, Oden will be the No. 1 pick in the NBA Draft whenever he decides to leave, but that’s not the problem. The problem is Matta’s offensive strategy against a zone defense.

Asked how his zone defense was able to keep Oden from getting the ball, Penn State coach Ed DeChellis said, “I’m just such a great zone coach — even though we’re last in the Big Ten in every category.”

My question is this: have the words “Ed DeChellis” and “great” ever been used in the same sentence before?

Now I have never coach basketball in the college ranks, but I have spent some time on the high school sidelines. Matta’s use of personnel and how he substitutes baffles me.

Matta generally uses one post player and four on the perimeter, who seem to just sit behind the three-point line ready to hoist the rock.

But by using just one player in the post it makes it easy for the zone defense to collapse on Oden inside.

What Matta needs to do is play Othello Hunter more, especially against the zone to open the paint up more for Oden with a little high-low action.

Unfortunately, Hunter played just seven minutes, as did Matt Terwilliger.

Ivan Harris, who starts at power forward (4) but has the game of a small forward (3), though with limited ball handling abilities, did not score a point in 14 minutes of game action.

Jamar Butler led the Buckeyes with 18 points, and was 4-of-6 from three-point range. The rest of them team went 1-of-12 from beyond the arc.

Penn State had a 6-foot-10 center who was able to knock down a few treys, bringing Oden out of his rectangular domicile. Wisconsin had a 6-foot-11 center/forward, Brian Butch, who can step outside and shoot from downtown.

But the Badgers two key players are 6-foot-6 senior forward Alando Tucker (20.2 ppg)and 6-foot-2 senior guard Kammron Taylor (12.8 ppg). No other player on Wisconsin’s roster averages in double figures.

Bottom line is this: If Ohio State is going to win against Wisconsin, Oden is going to have to take more than nine shots. The Badgers do not have anyone who can defend Oden one-on-one.

Also, Hunter needs to play more than seven minutes.

Then if Ohio State can stop Tucker and Taylor, the Buckeyes can clinch their second straight Big Ten title.

Sunday’s game will be televised on CBS with Verne Lundquist and Billy Packer calling the action. Tip-off at “The O-Den” is scheduled for 4:00pm ET.

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Othello Hunter and Matt Terwilliger clamp down in the post against Minnesota.- AP Photo
First off on a personal note, I reaggravated a hip injury sustained back in January and I had to make a return trip to the hospital over the weekend.

This time, though, it was more serious as my left leg totally gave out and I fell down a flight of stairs at my home.

One other piece of advice, avoid Mount Carmel East Hospital at all cost. I was taken there by ambulance and I still had to suffer for three hours in the ER waiting room.

Now on to basketball…

Tonight, the second-ranked Ohio State Buckeyes host the Penn State Nittany Lions at Value City Arena. Tip-off at “The O-Den” is scheduled for 8:00pm ET.

The game will be televised through ESPN Plus, airing locally on WBNS-10TV with the “Voice of the Cleveland Indians” Tom Hamilton and former Buckeye cager Bill Hosket calling the action.

As always, the game can be heard throughout Buckeyeland on the Ohio State Buckeyes Radio Sports Network with “Big Daddy” Paul Keels and Ron Stokes.

Ohio State (24-3, 12-1) won 64-62 at Penn State last Wednesday, but blew a 24-point second-half lead before hanging on for its eighth straight victory over the Nittany Lions (10-15, 1-11).

Nittany Lions’ Mike Walker missed a desperation three-point attempt at the buzzer for Penn State, in a game the ended eerily similar to Ohio State’s win over Michigan State at the VCA back on January 26.

In that game, the Buckeyes nearly blew a 20-point halftime lead as Maurice Joseph’s three-pointer in the closing seconds just missed.

The Buckeyes moved up to the No. 1 ranking in the USA Today/ESPN Coaches poll this week and remained No. 2 in the Associated Press poll after coming off Sunday’s 85-67 win at Minnesota. They have won 10 straight Big Ten games, their longest such streak since winning 10 consecutive conference games in 1971.

A victory over the Nittany Lions would give Ohio State its longest Big Ten winning streak since a 12-game run in 1962.

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One thing is for sure: when you are the top team in your conference and one of the top-ranked teams in the country, you are wearing a big bull’s eye which means every opponent is going to give their best shot.

Of course, tip-offs just past noon could also be a somewhat valid excuse, too. I noticed a similar pattern with the football team last season.

“We weren’t has sharp as we needed. That’s the hard part as a coach knowing the right thing to say, right thing to do,” Ohio State head coach Thad Matta said in the postgame press conference.

“It is a valuable lesson for them from the stand point of consistently being ready. We talked about that a lot. We are in a unique position this year. Last year we were climbing up and this year people are trying to knock us off. That takes a special toughness every time we are on the court.”

Ohio State hit the snooze button for most of the game, but received a loud wake-up call when Purdue’s David Teague drained a three-pointer with eight minutes remaining in the game that put the Boilermakers ahead 51-46.

Third-ranked Ohio State responded by closing out the contest on a 17-5 run to defeat Purdue 63-56 in front of 18,988 fans at “The O-Den,” Saturday afternoon.

“I just said not to panic. Purdue is a good team and they had a great game,” Matta recalled telling his team with 4:30 left to play in the game and the score tied at 52-all. “They shot early. We just needed to keep composure which we did down the stretch. There was still a lot of time left.”

On possibly the two biggest possessions of the game for both teams, Teague, a 6-foot-5 guard, airballed a three-pointer in transition from the left wing for the Boilermakers. The errant shot was tracked down by Ohio State’s Matt Terwilliger, who then sent a long outlet pass to Ron Lewis for a driving layup that put the Buckeyes ahead 54-52 with 3:08 left to play.

Ohio State never trailed, nor was the game tied the rest of the way.

But Purdue made it interesting.

The Boilermakers’ backup point guard, Tarrance Crump, got a steal, but missed his short jumper. Teague rebounded Crump’s miss and scored to trim Ohio State’s lead down to 56-54 with 1:15 remaining.

Unfortunately for Purdue they didn’t stop Mike Conley Jr., who sliced and diced his way to the hole for a layup 14 seconds later. Purdue also missed both field goal attempts and committed two turnovers while Ohio State was 5-of-6 from the charity stripe in the final minute.

“Our defense changed the game. I think we ended on a 17-5 run, Jamar Butler said. “It was one of those games when it took a while to get going.”

Conley finished with 14 points and four assists, while his Circle City partner, Greg Oden, who spent 11 of the 20 minutes in the second half on the bench due to foul trouble, still managed to score 14 points of his own and pull down nine rebounds.

No other Buckeye scored in double digits, but Butler was able to add nine points and three assists.

Teague led the Boilermakers with 17 points.

“We had some shots not go down and some careless turnovers,” Purdue coach Matt Painter said. “They got fouled in the bonus and when we got fouled we weren’t in the bonus and didn’t have a chance to steal points. Then Greg Oden comes back in the game and you don’t get a chance to knock down points.”

“We just didn’t make plays today. Ohio State made more plays down they stretch. That is why they won.”

In my opinion, Ohio State has yet to play a complete, 40-minute game. Yet the Buckeyes are now 22-3 on the season and they are improving every game.

Ohio State is 10-1 in Big Ten Conference play, and are in the driver’s seat for a league title with the next three games against the bottom-feeders. The Buckeyes play Penn State twice and at Minnesota before hosting Wisconsin on February 25.

Up next, the Buckeyes travel to University Park, Pennsylvania, to take on the aforementioned Nittany Lions, Wednesday night. Tip-off at the Bryce Jordan Center is scheduled for 7:00pm ET.

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