San Antonio – You don’t spit into the wind. You don’t pull the mask off the ol’ Lone Ranger and you don’t call Greg Oden …
… overrated?
Obviously, Memphis center Joey Dorsey doesn’t have Jim Croce on his iPod. Otherwise, he would have known some of life’s little lessons. Maybe then he wouldn’t have told the media Friday, the day before his Tigers would challenge the 7-foot Oden and top-ranked Ohio State, that Oden is “an overrated big man.”
Oden didn’t read it. But his coaches and teammates did. Oden responded by outscoring Dorsey 17-0 and sparking a second-half rally that lifted the Buckeyes to a 92-76 win in Saturday’s South Region final and a trip to the Final Four.
The man wasn’t the only star. Point guard Mike Conley Jr., his teammate at Indianapolis’ Lawrence North High School last year, scored 19 and won regional MVP honors.
But Oden overcame foul trouble – again – to save the top-seeded Buckeyes (34-3) when Memphis appeared in control as they turned a 56-51 deficit with 12:39 left into a 74-66 advantage. Not that Oden saw Dorsey’s cornrowed head or heavily muscled torso with his emphatic dunk and two inside baskets.
No, Oden took the high road afterward.
“I was like, ‘Dang, he just called me out,”‘ Oden said from his crowded locker. “But I didn’t try to think about it. I just wanted to go out there and play my game and not let the comments get to my head.”
However, it got into his teammates’ noggins.
“When somebody talks about Greg,” Conley said, “they’re talking about all of us.”
Overrated? Oden finished with 17 points on 7-for-8 shooting and nine rebounds in only 24 minutes. He picked up his third foul and sat down with 17:21 left and a 47-42 lead. By the time he returned at 12:39, second-seeded Memphis (33-4) led 56-51.
Memphis’ only defense on Oden were his own personal fouls. But one Memphis foul changed the game. With Memphis leading 60-57, Oden took a pass inside and turned to shoot. Hopelessly outmanned, 6-6 Chris Douglas-Roberts, the Tigers’ leading scorer, grabbed Oden’s arms.
Oden wiggled through and put in the shot for two points and Douglas-Roberts’ fourth foul – an intentional foul. Oden hit the tying free throw and with the Buckeyes getting possession, Jamar Butler made two more foul shots for a 62-60 lead. Ohio State would never trail again.
“I really hope it was an intentional foul because it was a difference-maker in the game,” Memphis coach John Calipari said. “Everyone knows if you were watching. It changed the whole complexion.”
Oden clogged up the middle, keeping the Tigers’ slashers from driving the basket. He also scored inside again to cap a 7-0 run for a 71-64 lead at 5:40, and Ohio State hit 20 straight free throws down the stretch.
While Oden became the toast of Columbus, Dorsey became yesterday’s rancid barbecue in Memphis. He’s a 23-year-old junior who has developed into one of the nation’s top rebounders – his 9.6-rebound average topped Oden’s 9.5 – but Saturday he developed some humility.
“He’s a great player,” said Dorsey, his solemn teammates all but ignored in the quiet locker room. “I didn’t know he had offense like that. Every time I tried a defense, he had a counter.”
Asked if he regretted waking a sleeping giant, one who hadn’t been an offensive force in the NCAAs, Dorsey said, “I was getting myself fired up before a big game.”
So now the Buckeyes take their 21-game win streak to Atlanta on Saturday to face the winner of today’s Georgetown-North Carolina game. Not a bad way to complete Thad Matta’s three-year plan.
“The recruits we got, this is the vision we were selling them on: Help us rebuild the Ohio State University basketball program,” Matta said. “And as I hugged them out there, I said thank you for believing in us and believing in the vision that we had.”
MEMPHIS (33-4)
Dozier 3-8 3-4 9, Dorsey 0-0 0-2 0, Kemp 4-10 0-0 12, Anderson 5-14 0-0 10, Douglas-Roberts 6-10 2-4 14, Hunt 6-16 9-10 26, Allen 0-3 0-0 0, Mack 1-2 0-0 3, Cooper 1-2 0-0 2. Totals 26-65 14-20 76.
OHIO STATE (34-3)
Harris 0-2 0-0 0, Oden 7-8 3-6 17, Conley Jr. 5-11 9-10 19, Lewis 5-12 10-10 22, Butler 2-6 6-6 12, Lighty 2-4 3-5 7, Cook 2-4 4-4 9, Terwilliger 1-1 0-0 2, Hunter 2-3 0-0 4. Totals 26-51 35-41 92.
Halftime – Ohio State 41-38. 3-point goals – Memphis 10-22 (Hunt 5-11, Kemp 4-5, Mack 1-1, Douglas-Roberts 0-1, Anderson 0-4), Ohio St. 5-17 (Lewis 2-6, Butler 2-6, Cook 1-3, Conley Jr. 0-2). Fouled out – Allen, Douglas-Roberts. Rebounds – Memphis 35 (Dozier 11), Ohio St. 34 (Oden 9). Assists – Memphis 10 (Anderson 4), Ohio St. 9 (Butler 4). Total fouls – Memphis 29, Ohio St. 15. A – 26,260.
Staff writer John Henderson can be reached at 303-954-1299 or jhenderson@denverpost.com.
* This story has been corrected. Because of a reporter’s error, this story said some consider Greg Oden the best college basketball freshman big man since Bill Walton. In 1970-71, Walton’s first season at UCLA, freshmen were not eligible to play on the varsity.
