Conley is an imposing figure for Buckeyes

ATLANTA — Florida will be trying to win its second championship in a row Monday night.

Ohio State freshmen Greg Oden and Mike Conley Jr.?

They’ll be trying to win their fourth.

The 7-foot center and the

6-foot-1 point guard won three consecutive state championships together at Indianapolis Lawrence North High.

Now they have a chance to add the NCAA title to their collection.

When somebody asked Conley Saturday the last time he and Oden lost a playoff game, you could have put a stopwatch on the silence.

“Ummmm ... “ Conley finally said. “I think our freshman year.”

In high school.

When the 67-60 victory over Georgetown that put the Buckeyes in the title game was complete, the typically quiet Oden sought out the friend he has played with since seventh grade.

“He took me aside and said, ‘We’re here. We made it,’ ” Conley said. “It was always our goal.”

They made it largely because of the marvelous Conley, who has played in Oden’s shadow so long, but is no longer overshadowed.

When Oden sat out all but three minutes of the first half Saturday because of foul trouble, Conley took over with his brilliantly efficient game.

“It’s conscious. I know when he’s out of the game,” Conley said. “When he goes out, I feel like that’s my time to try to shine, my time to try to keep my team up.”

Although it is Oden who is poised to become a top-two pick in the NBA draft whenever he says the word, Conley played like a pro Saturday, making all the right decisions, and rarely wasting any effort.

“Michael was tremendous,” Ohio State Coach Thad Matta said.

Conley pushed the pace when the opportunity was there, penetrated the Georgetown defense and zipped the ball to open teammates, and made a three-point shot when he had a chance.

He finished the game with 15 points, six assists and five rebounds -- and only one turnover.

And he was at his best when Ohio State needed him most, making five of seven shots in the first half -- a couple of layups, a couple of shots in the lane and a three -- to finish the nearly Oden-less first 20 minutes with 11 points and two assists.

“We know how to play without him,” Conley said, recalling the beginning of the season, when Oden was recovering from wrist surgery. “We’re a team that’s played without him for seven games. We’re two separate teams when he’s on and off the court.”

It was Oden and Conley’s high school coach, Jack Keefer, who first identified what has now become clear: Conley, in a way, is the most indispensable of the two.

“If Greg was injured, we usually did well. Mike would step up and play,” Keefer said by phone Saturday night. “If Mike was injured, we had a chance to lose, because Greg has to get the ball. I’ve always said, Mike is awfully important simply because of that.”

Conley has the athleticism you’d expect from the son of a gold-medal winning Olympic triple jumper. But he has the brain of a born basketball player.

“His basketball IQ is way beyond his years,” Keefer said. “He understands what tempo is. He understands who’s hot and gets the ball to them, and he understands when he needs to do it himself.”

If you’re not sure when you watch Conley whether he is right-handed or left-handed, there’s a reason. Neither is he.

He shoots left-handed, but writes right-handed. “I think I’m really right-handed,” he said.

For some reason, he started shooting left-handed as a kid. “I’m scared to switch now,” he said.

That ambidexterity serves Conley well, and along with his basketball IQ and his genes, it is making his NBA stock soar. He still needs to get stronger and work on his outside shot, but it has become clear Oden isn’t the only one headed for the NBA.

How soon is hard to know. Conley is just happy that Oden’s desire to play in college -- along with the NBA minimum-age rule that made any decision moot -- has brought them to this place together.

“I’m happy about the rule now. It’s great to have him as a teammate and as a friend,” Conley said.

He and Oden say they didn’t talk about winning an NCAA title when they were in high school.

“We were trying to win state championships,” he said.

But as soon as summer workouts began in Columbus, they started thinking about it.

“It’s kind of weird. Coach told us from day one we were going to be in this place,” Conley said.

“It wasn’t that realistic back then. I’m thinking, ‘We’re freshmen. We haven’t played a game yet. We don’t know what it’s going to be like.’

“As we went through the season and bonded together as a team, I had no doubt we could make it. And we’re here.”

“Amazing,” their high school coach said.

“My teammates, they stepped up,” Oden said. “They did a great job.”

Someone asked Conley if he’d be nervous Monday.

“Something must be wrong with me,” he said. “I don’t get nervous at all. Maybe it’s playing with Greg. He takes all the pressure off me.”

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