Dad says Oden to enter draft

Ohio State star freshman Greg Oden will enter the NBA draft, his father told The Indianapolis Star in a story on its Web site Friday.

The 7-foot center is widely considered a possible No. 1 draft pick, and Greg Oden Sr. said he was he was comfortable with his son’s decision.

Hoya duo explore draft

Jeff Green and Roy Hibbert, juniors who led Georgetown to the school’s first Final Four appearance in 22 years, will submit their names for the NBA draft.

Neither player will sign with an agent before the early withdrawal date, the Hoyas said, which means they will retain NCAA eligibility should either or both decide to return to college. The early withdrawal date is June 18. The draft will be held June 28.

Both players would likely be lottery picks. Thompson said earlier this week that Green and Hibbert wanted to get an idea as to how high they would be picked before deciding whether to turn pro.

Green, a 6-foot-9 forward, led the Hoyas in scoring (14.3 points).

Hibbert, a 7-2 center, led the Hoyas in rebounds (6.9) and averaged 12.9 points.

NCAA reverses self

The NCAA reversed itself and threw out three violations and part of a fourth that occurred under former Ohio State basketball coach Jim O’Brien because the association’s enforcement staff missed a deadline for filing charges.

The university said penalties imposed because of the violations – including NCAA probation and erasing all references to its 1999 Final Four appearance – will stand.

“This is a bittersweet victory,” O’Brien said in a statement. “I wish it could have been accomplished with the support the university promised me in my contract. Now it is too late to undo the university’s self-imposed penalties.”

NCAA spokeswoman Stacey Osburn said the association’s infractions committee and enforcement staff disagreed on the deadline for notifying Ohio State, resulting in the reversal of the original ruling.

The latest ruling would seem to undercut Ohio State’s charge that it fired O’Brien because he had committed major NCAA violations.

“The fact that some of O’Brien’s and Paul Biancardi’s violations have been reversed on a technicality in no way changes the fact that the university’s termination of Jim O’Brien was right,” Ohio State said in a statement. “He violated a fundamental recruiting rule in breach of his contract, and that violation has been affirmed by yet another governing body today.”

Ohio State received three years’ NCAA probation.

O’Brien was fired June 8, 2004, six weeks after he revealed to then-athletic director Andy Geiger that he lent $6,000 to recruit Aleksandar Radojevic in 1999. A subsequent investigation by Ohio State determined seven NCAA violations had occurred in the program while O’Brien was coach.

Notes

John Wooden was resting at home after his hospital release Friday. The 96-year-old former UCLA coach had been hospitalized since Sunday after an apparent reaction to medications. … Kerry Rupp is the new men’s coach at Louisiana Tech, replacing the fired Keith Richard. … Hawaii associate men’s coach Bob Nash, who has been a part of the program for nearly three decades, was selected as the Rainbow Warriors’ head coach.