Ohio State freshman big man Jared Sullinger isn't Greg Oden, but he is expected to help Ohio State remain one of the best teams in the country.
Thad Matta talks to freshman big man Jared Sullinger at media day on Thursday. The Buckeyes are counting on Sullinger to keep them among the elite teams in college basketball.Columbus --Thad Matta still can't avoid hyperbole when he talks about recruiting Greg Oden, describing Oden hitting his head on the roof of high school gyms when he blocked shots and looking down through the rim after he threw down dunks. The 7-footer's brief Ohio State career included a trip to the NCAA title game in 2007, and now four years later, the Buckeyes' coach again has one of the best freshmen big guys in the country.
"That's not who Jared is," Matta said. "But he's productive in a lot of other ways of getting numbers."
Jared Sullinger is 3 inches shorter than Oden, and while Oden was the consensus No. 1 recruit in the class of 2006, Sullinger was ranked No. 4 by Scout.com and No. 5 by Rivals.com. But for an Ohio State team that lost national player of the year Evan Turner to the NBA and is still ranked in the top five of some preseason projections, Sullinger has a lot of Oden in him.
He's big, and with the Buckeyes starting practice today, everyone thinks he'll be good right away.
Sullinger leads a six-man freshman class that is expected to help veterans David Lighty, Jon Diebler, William Buford and Dallas Lauderdale keep Ohio State among the best teams in the country.
"Physically, he's already like a college senior," OSU assistant coach Jeff Boals said Thursday. "Jared has always had a great feel for the game. He's one of those guys that sees stuff happening before it happens."
Sullinger's father, Satch, was his coach at Columbus Northland High School and his older brother, J.J., was a senior starter on Matta's first Big Ten championship team in 2005. So as Matta said, Sullinger has seen a lot of big men come through Ohio State, from Terence Dials to Oden to Kosta Koufos to B.J. Mullens. He may be as savvy and versatile as any of them.
"In the paint, he's unbelievable, he's just so powerful down low," Diebler said. "He has a knack for the ball."
In high school at Northland High in Columbus, Jared Sullinger dominated the paint, and Ohio State will need him to do it as a collegian, too.Matta said Sullinger should help answer a lot of the Buckeyes' rebounding issues of the recent past. Lighty pointed out that the Buckeyes were out-rebounded in their last game of last season, a Sweet 16 loss to Tennessee, and "that probably wouldn't have happened with him down there," Lighty said. "He's just a presence on the defensive end and offensive end and a big body to hold down the block for us."
Sullinger will sometimes play power forward alongside Lauderdale at center and other times will serve as the focus of Ohio State's inside game. But Lauderdale became slightly incredulous when talk turned to Oden and Sullinger comparisons, because Sullinger will also float outside and shoot jumpers, while Oden was all about inside play and was an absolute defensive stopper.
"Greg was just so big and the things he could do at his size were unheard of," Lauderdale said. "They're two totally different players. I'm just excited to see what Jared wants to be."
One thing he wants to be is smaller. Boals said Sullinger lost between 15 to 20 pounds during summer workouts as he slimmed down and lowered his body fat. The Buckeyes expect him to be more explosive and to lose even more weight as practice starts.
But he's still a big man, and a big part of why the Buckeyes could lose the best player in the country and maybe get better.
"Jared is so physical," Lighty said, "and pretty much ready for the Big Ten."