Ohio State Basketball: What if Greg Oden didn’t get hurt?

Malaki Branham and E.J. Liddell are the two most recent Ohio State basketball players to fulfill their dreams of playing in the NBA. They were both taken in last week’s Draft, Branham going in the first round and Liddell going in the second. That got me thinking of another great former Buckeye.

That Buckeye is Greg Oden. The Indianapolis area native was a force in his one year with the Ohio State basketball program. He averaged 15.7 points, 9.8 rebounds, and 3.3 blocks a game while shooting 61.6% from the field at Ohio State. His final college game saw him have 25 points, 12 rebounds, and 4 blocks against Florida in the National Championship Game.

Oden was famously the number one pick in the 2007 Draft. Unfortunately, he immediately developed injury problems. His knees just couldn’t hold up and he missed four full seasons due to various knee injuries. He only played in a total of 105 games in his NBA career.

It’s hard not to think about what he could have been had he not gotten hurt. He has a beast at Ohio State despite having to wear shoot free throws left-handed all year because of a right wrist injury he suffered right before the season started. He was going to be a superstar.

There’s no doubt in my mind that Oden would have been a multi-time All-Star and maybe even an All-NBA player. Even when the game started to shift a little bit against his style of play, he was such a beast defensively and had some of the best hands of a big man I’ve ever seen.

I hope Oden is able to succeed with his goal of being a head coach someday. I enjoyed his time with the Ohio State basketball program both as a player and as a coach. It just would have been better had he had a chance to show us his full potential.