If you have been actively surfing RealGM?s main page in recent weeks you?ll have noticed a few things. We upped our NCAA coverage this spring, with columns full of predictions, player rankings, and commentary on madness that was March of 2007. The last three, if you count this column then four, pieces that have been key features on the site have centered on the Ohio State Buckeyes. Not the back-to-back National Champion Florida Gators.

This might confuse some people ? shouldn?t college?s basketball hottest program get the credit they deserve? Here at RealGM we know good things when we see them. That?s why in addition to the excitement surrounding the NCAA?s newest dominate force, and their host of NBA-caliber players, we?re pretty damn excited about what went down in Columbus, Ohio this season.

Florida?s stellar junior class (consisting of Al Horford, Joakim Noah, Corey Brewer, and Taurean Green) will all have respectable NBA careers, at the very least. Assuming the quartet skips their final season of eligibility and forgoes a chance to three-peat, at least three of the four are a lock to be taken in the first round of the draft this June (with Green being the lone exception). They are proven winners, and those are a hot commodity in the league nowadays. Let?s just hope, for the sake of the four GMs that draft them, that they don?t go the way of North Carolina?s Fantastic Four from 2005.

Horford may be able to become the next Emeka Okafor, and Joakim Noah the NBA?s next Anderson Varejao, but did we witness the second-coming of players like Isiah Thomas and Bill Russell in Atlanta last weekend?  

Before you criticize the hype I?m feeding into regarding both OSU standouts Greg Oden and Mike Conley Jr. take a few deep breathes. I know that there will never be another Bill Walton (the player not the iconic broadcaster), another Russell, another Thomas (again the player not the broadcaster, GM, or coach), or maybe even another David Robinson, but Oden and Conley have the talent to become legends in their own right.

When it comes to basketball I prefer the pro game over the college one by leaps and bounds. I recognize that nothing is more exciting than the basketball played in the month of March, and that often times is better than the product at the end of May, but the instability of the programs turns me off (I can?t handle a complete roster turnover every four years). Therefore I follow a handful of teams, hoping that at least one of them will be a success during any given season. Never having been much of a Buckeyes fan I spent much of the season downplaying the hype surrounding freshman Greg Oden.

I had been reading about the Indiana Prep star since what seemed like his days on the elementary school recess courts of the Midwest. I knew that he?d make a great player, particularly at the college level, but I never except to be in awe of a man, who?s well?barely a man.

Having been impressed by their run at the end of the regular season, I picked OSU to win the National Title in a few of my Tournament brackets last month. I then settled in for a mid-March filled with diaper dandies and bald analysts as I watched the magic unfold. Early on, I began watching Oden closely during each one of OSU?s games, and well initially my thoughts on Oden were resoundingly mild.

I recognized the greatness and aura that surrounded him, but after posting unimpressive double-doubles in the first and second rounds, including fouling out against Xavier as his teammates led a furious comeback; I began to think the talk around Oden was a good amount of hype. Greg then proceeded to take the Sweet Sixteen battle against Tennessee off posting just nine points and three rebounds, having taken just two shots. How could a kid like this, whose being talked about like he?s already a lock to be enshrined in Springfield, take just two shots in a close 85-84 win? Well, four personal fouls didn?t help, while teammates like Ron Lewis and Conley Jr. (who were hot) did.

The next great NBA center, Oden then went on to post more modest, but impressive numbers, in his next two games (averages of 15 and 9). The legend of Greg Oden was growing, but it still hadn?t been solidified in my mind.

Then Monday night came and went.

I know Oden didn?t lead the Buckeyes to an upset win over the defending champion Gators, but what he did was prove to me that he is one-hundred and ten percent for real. He owned Florida?s big men scoring 25 points and grabbing 12 rebounds in 38 minutes of action. That?s just two shy of having played the entire game! He did all of that without fouling out (not to mention that he hadn?t even played an entire season), and statistically you would have had to combine the stats of three or four of the Gators interior players to equal what Oden did for Ohio State.

Of course it wasn?t enough as Florida cut down the nets, but that was no surprise when you consider how much the Buckeyes struggled from the perimeter, both with their overall play and their sharp-shooting. OSU shot a miserable 4-23 from behind the arc, but still enjoyed production from their other phenomenal freshmen, Conley.

Despite Florida?s strong interior players, who are capable of defending in the paint and stepping outside to intimidate, Conley provided a much-need offensive boost for Thad Matta in the National Title game. He finished with twenty points on 7-13 shooting to go along with six assists and four steals (against just two turnovers). Earlier in the Tournament, when Oden seemed to be biding his time, it was Conley who was leading OSU to victory. Starting with their second round nail-bitter against Xavier, Conley posted averages of 18.4 points, 4.8 boards and assists, and two steals on the sport?s grandest stage.

That is why I?m not alone in thinking that it may have been Conley, and not Oden, who was the best basketball player on the court during this year?s Final Four in Atlanta. As a freshman, he?s the NBA?s top point guard prospect this spring, despite the fact that it?s largely expected that he?ll remain at OSU for at least another year. Right now our good buddies over at DraftExpress.com have him going ninth this June, quite a jump from where he was expected to be drafted a little under a month ago. Assuming he stays in school and that his level of play is sustainable, if not just a snapshot of what is yet to come, Conley could be a potential top pick (with the lone competition right now looking like Kansas?s Julian Wright and soon-to-be freshmen O.J. Mayo and Michael Beasley).

His play when it mattered most in recent weeks has led many of us here at RealGM to fall head-over-heels for this nineteen year old. Personally, I don?t know if there?s anything I wouldn?t do to put a Pacers uniform on him and bring him home to Indianapolis.

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