So long Greg, but the NBA won't love you like college hoops does
ATLANTA -- The damage from Greg Oden's final collegiate game: 25 points, 12 rebounds, four blocks and one Brazilian rain forest.
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| Greg Oden put up an NBA-style performance in the title game. (AP) |
What we were left with Monday night after the Gators got done hoopin' it up is that maybe the big man is back. Or maybe we're being cheated by an NBA rule that serves only to tease us. But at least half the buzz after Florida's domination of not only the game but college athletics was Oden.
In his last game, he had his best game.
The best thing that happened, rabid Ohio State fan, is that your guys lost. A win would have split the Thad Five up forever. For sure. What more was there to accomplish?
So what about now? Oden's mate, guard Mike Conley Jr., was already talking about getting the band back together next year.
"Yeah, I do," said Conley, when asked if the loss would influence his teammates' decisions about leaving for the NBA. Change teammates to Greg Oden and you've got the correct translation.
"The way things worked out tonight will change people's minds and get the team back together next year because we love playing together."
Conley? "A hundred percent sure," he is returning.
Oden?
At least three times in the postgame, he addressed any question about his future with, "Next question."
"If Greg Oden is out there and really, in his heart, he wants to go back to Ohio State," said Billy Donovan, "he should do what he wants to do."
There is doubt about Oden going to the NBA, but not enough to penetrate any sane person's cerebral cortex. Oden's season left us only promise of how good he can be in the NBA, which won't love him half as much as the college community did. The league will match up with him almost every night. Mama won't be there in the stands loving her boy.
