Pretty good article on Othello Hunter.
Hunter Stepping From ShadowsThat was some shadow Othello Hunter played in last season. Seven feet in real life, Greg Oden loomed much larger to opponents, and everyone on his side benefited.
A man of few words, Hunter was asked to do only a few things for the Ohio State men's basketball team. With Oden gone, he is expected to do more this season. He believes he's capable.
"I think people are going to be pretty surprised what I can do," Hunter said.
And what's that?
"Everything."
A man of a few more words this season, apparently.
The first chance to see whether Hunter has more game -- and see the games of the seven newcomers to the Buckeyes' roster -- comes tonight when they play their first exhibition, against Ashland in Value City Arena.
Hunter is one of four returnees who mostly played in the shadows of Oden and others last season. Those shadows have disappeared. Only time will tell who grabs the spotlight on this team, but guard David Lighty said Hunter has the potential.
"His athleticism for his size is just amazing to me sometimes, just to see him run the floor like a guard and get up and rebound and block shots," Lighty said. "I think you'll see him play like Kevin Garnett at times. That's what I've seen."
Hunter, a 6-foot-8 senior with a 42-inch vertical leap, is a basketball neophyte. He did not play organized ball until his senior year of high school in Winston-Salem, N.C., and developed at a Florida junior college for two years. Ohio State discovered him at an evaluation camp during the summer of 2006 and offered him a scholarship before most schools heard of him.
