Ohio State basketball’s ‘Thad-Five’ ranked one of top 25 recruiting classes of the one-and-done era – Page 2

No. 18 – The 2006 Ohio State basketball recruiting class

What Borzello and Gasaway say

Credit: Matthew Emmons-USA TODAY Sports © copyright Matthew Emmons

The members: Greg Oden (No. 1), Daequan Cook (No. 13), Mike Conley (No. 21), David Lighty (No. 31), Othello Hunter (JC)

“It was a class good enough to earn its own nickname: The ‘Thad Five.’ Cook was a five-star prospect in his own right, and Lighty was one of Ohio’s top prospects before suffering a knee injury late in his junior year — but it was the Oden-Conley connection that put this class over the top. The two played together at Lawrence North High School (Indiana) and for the Spiece Indy Heat AAU program (Cook also played for Spiece. Those editions of Spiece were considered some of the best AAU teams ever). Oden was the No. 1 prospect in the country and one of the best high school prospects of the past 20 years, and Conley was one of the best point guards in the country. The two committed together in late June, just before the July recruiting period began. At the time, there were some references to the Fab Five — although those comparisons were a bit exaggerated. That said, they did form the core of a team that went to the national title game in 2007.”

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