Memphis big man Joey Dorsey agrees with you guys who are bashing Oden. That's not good company to have on your side imo.
Bob Hunter commentary: Dorsey, Memphis' gabby 'Goliath,' considers Oden 'a lot overrated'
Saturday, March 24, 2007 3:34 AM
By bob hunter
SAN ANTONIO -- It must be an interesting time to be Greg Oden.
Here he is in the Elite Eight of his first and maybe only NCAA Tournament and, apparently, he is no longer the man. After two below-average games, the once-and-future superstar is just a big guy who commits fouls, keeps his team from being explosive and gets a lot of pub he doesn't deserve.
Well, that's almost the way it seemed in at least some corners of the Alamodome yesterday. Media types who hadn't seen the 7-foot Ohio State freshman before the postseason were wondering whether the Buckeyes aren't better without him than they
are with him. And Memphis forward Joey Dorsey, who will be matched
up against Oden today in the South Regional final, went so far as to call him "a lot overrated."
A lot overrated? Calling the future top NBA draft pick a lot overrated before a game with Final Four implications makes you wonder whether Dorsey isn't a lot crazy. But then, insanity is sometimes the mark of genius.
"I think (the pro scouts) will really be watching this game (Saturday) night because it's two great big men going against each other," Dorsey said. "I'm an underrated big man and he's a lot overrated as a big man. It's going to be a great rebounding game for me. I'm going to try to outrebound him."
Disregarding the sheer stupidity of Dorsey's comment, the timing of it seems, well, idiotic. Although he might be consciously trying to psych out Oden, this seems like taunting a man who has an AK-47 and then poking him with a stick when he doesn't fire the gun at you.
Oden was undeniably off his game against Xavier and Tennessee, probably because he picked up quick fouls. So maybe, just maybe, there is a method to Dorsey's madness.
"We watched tape this morning and last night and he's a lot like me," Dorsey said. "He gets his head out of the game easily when he picks up a couple fouls. Then he stops playing and then he picks up another foul by trying to play too hard."
Fouls are always an issue with talented big men, both because they're so conspicuous and because opponents try to get them in trouble. So if Dorsey can get Oden thinking too much about not fouling, or trying too hard to get a little payback, or doing just about anything other than playing the way he usually does, it could be a masterstroke for the Tigers.
Of course, what Oden does or doesn't do might have little to do with any of this; no one knows how close the officials will call the game. One or two of the four fouls charged to Oden in the Tennessee game probably wouldn't have been called by Big Ten officials.
And then there's the other side of that coin.
"I don't know if people thought (Xavier coach) Sean (Miller) and I weren't going to talk after the game," Ohio State coach Thad Matta said, "but he told me what people were saying: 'Just foul him. They won't call them.' And that was a pretty good system across the board."
Oden said teams have been doing that lately and his mission is to ignore it all.
"Yeah, it makes me mad," he said. "But there's nothing I can do, because usually the second guy retaliates and usually gets the foul. So the best thing I can do is just play."
That is all he has to do: play. If Oden can be his usual aggressive self and stay out of foul trouble, the Buckeyes probably won't need another miracle to advance to the Final Four.
As it is, they might already have gotten this game's miracle in advance.
"I think it's going to be David vs. Goliath," Dorsey said. "I'm Goliath, he's the little man."
The "little man" didn't hear any of this yesterday. But he was told how Dorsey had said he was rooting for Ohio State against Xavier for reasons that are now obvious.
"I guess he (wants) to play me," a smiling Oden said. "So I guess I need to show up."
Bob Hunter is a sports columnist for The Dispatch.