Ohio State basketball: Freshman center B.J. Mullens leaves for NBA

BasX · Mar 26, 2009

INDIANAPOLIS -- If Ohio State swingman Evan Turner was a freshman instead of a sophomore, he might be gone, too, just like center B.J. Mullens. Mullens announced his departure for the NBA on Thursday, the same day Turner's family was confirming his season-ending locker room sentiment that he'd be back.

"He is finally enjoying college," Turner's mother, Iris James, said Thursday. "The first year was rather difficult, but he overcame it, and now when I talk with him, he's happy."

And he's staying.

"He has been adamant about coming back," James said.

That's because he knows what he's coming back to.

Last year when the Ohio State NFL prospects decided to pass up the pros for their senior seasons, Thad Matta asked Jim Tressel how he got the players to come back. Tressel said it wasn't him -- it was the school.

With football players forced to stay three years, they establish a life on campus (or at least in an apartment near it). Plenty still leave for reasonable personal and financial reasons. But they have an idea of what they're missing.

Basketball players at Ohio State are in school for two-thirds of a year before forced to face their future. There's no time for teammates or friends or the pizza place near campus to get hooks in a kid -- it's practice, play and pick out your financial adviser.

Production is optional. Two years ago, the tradeoff for one year of Greg Oden, Mike Conley and Daequan Cook was obviously worth a trip to the national championship. But the returns have dipped like the stock market, first with Kosta Koufos, who averaged 14 points and nearly seven rebounds while starting for the NIT champs; now with Mullens, who averaged nearly nine points and five rebounds for a team bounced in the NCAA first round.

Matta is getting far less bang for his recruiting trouble. He tills the soil, plants the seeds and then watches his flowers willingly ripped from the dirt before they bloom.

"I think you're beginning to see that becoming a trend in the NBA, just taking young guys and saying maybe eventually he'll be a good player," Matta said several weeks ago. "The same flaws he's going to have in college he's going to have in the NBA. And some teams just draft on we think maybe this could be a really good player someday. But I think flaws are flaws -- just because you're in the NBA doesn't mean they're going to go away. The great ones that do go to school for one year, they get the job done while they're there."

Geez ... think Matta had anyone in particular in mind?

With Mullens, Matta even pulled out the money argument -- twice -- saying immediately after the Buckeyes' loss to Siena that $8 million could be on the line for Mullens. Check out the rookie contract scale for the NBA -- $10.8 million for the No. 3 pick over the first three years (with the first two guaranteed) compared to $8.8 million for the No. 5 pick, compared to $3.5 million for the 20th pick.

That theory has nothing to do with hanging out on the Oval on a lovely spring day. That's just business sense. Even that isn't working.

Mullens can certainly help his family with a couple million right now. There's no way he's falling out of the first round, no matter how inconsistent his defense, rebounding and offensive post positioning was in Columbus. Mullens knows how it works.

Matta does, too. A coach can help a sophomore grow into a junior. But the freshmen remain ripe for the picking -- ready or not.
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http://www.cleveland.com/osu/index.ssf/2009/03/ohio_state_basketball_freshman.html

MikeDC · Mar 27, 2009

Matta is getting far less bang for his recruiting trouble. He tills the soil, plants the seeds and then watches his flowers willingly ripped from the dirt before they bloom.

I could live with being willingly ripped up out of the dirt and given several million dollars. I think Thad should go shit in his hat.

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Ohio State basketball: Freshman center B.J. Mullens leaves for NBA

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