<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">ATLANTA - Another question, please. With every query about his future at Ohio State Monday night, Greg Oden fell back behind that shield, like a reluctant witness who has been advised to plead the Fifth. Curiously, the one question that drew an impassioned rise out of the 7-foot freshman involved whether even more was possible if he returned to Ohio State. Oden momentarily broke out of his slouch, craned his neck toward the person who asked the question, and gave a short but very revealing response. ?No question,? he said, before falling back into despair over the first postseason loss since his freshman year in high school. Talk to just about anyone in the NBA, and you hear that Oden?s entry in the June draft is a lock. Mike Conley Sr., the Olympian father of Oden?s good friend and teammate, will reportedly take over as his representative once the NBA announcement is made, and a plan that was made long ago will turn to action. Everything points to that end except for the gloom on the 19-year-old?s face. If you?re Danny Ainge, or another NBA personnel chief whose bottom-dwelling team is hording ping-pong balls, then you don?t want Oden pondering what just happened at Florida. Juniors Joakim Noah, Al Horford and Corey Brewer - the first two certain lottery picks if they came out last year - returned to win a second straight national title. All are even more of a lock than Oden to leave now. The Buckeyes? chief obstacle won?t be standing in the way next March. If Oden?s team came within one game of taking home the hardware, what could be possible next season with essentially the same team on the floor? Billy Donovan knows that answer better than anyone, save for his players. ?If Greg Oden is out there and really in his heart he wants to go back to Ohio State, then he should do what he wants to do,? said the Florida coach. ?If any of those guys feels like ?I really want to go, but I?m worried about what?s going to happen,? I?m sure our guys went through that. </div> Source-->Boston Herald
