March 2, 2007
By Van Coleman
CSTV & Hoopmasters.com
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Van Coleman
Van is one of the nation's premier recruiting experts. |
Luke Babbitt grew up as a Buckeye fan, something that never left him even though he moved west as a first grader, now he is a Buckeye.
Originally, Luke Babbitt, our No.11 rated junior from Reno, Nev.-Galena, had scheduled a press conference for Friday afternoon, but as he called the coaches across the country to inform them of his decision, word started to leak out that he had made his college decision and was going to commit to the Ohio State Buckeyes.
"It was a little disappointing that the news got out early," Babbitt told Generation Next. "It just seemed to snowball once the media got a hold of the news. It was on television and in the papers here, and in
Unfortunately for Babbitt, the media drive to be the one to break recruiting news stole a special day for his family, something that is becoming an increasingly common situation with the media rush to be first.
We got a chance to catch up with both Luke and his high school coach Tom Maurer Thursday and they filled us in on his college choice, the recruiting process they used and the reasons for his final choice.
"First of all, I choose
I met with the players and really felt like I fit in with them," Babbitt continued. "I think they are a group of guys dedicated to winning a national championship. That is something I wanted to have the opportunity to do every year I play in college."
Maurer felt that Babbitt had made an excellent decision, one that a lot of time went into before he made his choice this week.
"Luke started out with over 200 teams who had contacted him initially, we all set down and cut that list last summer to five," Maurer explained. "But, not until we had spent 25 days researching each of the programs he was seriously considering, then he cut the list to five:
"But, when Ohio State found out that he was originally from Ohio and came calling in September, Luke decided to add the Buckeyes and eliminate Illinois," Maurer continued. "He had always had a strong tie to
"It has really been important to him to find the right fit for his skills, and have a coach that will help him to continue to get better and continue to improve as a player. He felt that Thad Matta was the coach Luke felt would do that for him."
Babbitt has had a stellar junior season averaging 28 points and just over 10 boards a game for his Reno Galena squad this winter. His season culminated with a state championship last week, as
Babbitt is a hard worker who had developed a strong inside-out game that makes him a tough player to contain offensively. He is a tenacious rebounder who takes pride in his ability to defend the other team's best player according to Coach Maurer.
"Luke is a special player, he's an eat, sleep and drink type basketball player," Maurer said. "He wants the challenge of guarding the opponent's best player. He guarded
But, Babbitt knows that he will have to continue to improve to reach his goals at
"Obviously I want to be the best player I can be," Babbitt explained. "If that leads to playing after college, that will be great, but I want to get better everyday because I just want to win!"
No doubt the right goal and attitude for a young man whose objective is to play for a national title every year he's in college.
A goal he will definitely have lots of help attaining, as the Buckeyes have had two straight top five recruiting classes in 2006 & 2007. It looks like Babbitt is the final piece in a third straight top five class, as he joins four other Buckeye commitments who rate among our top sixty-five nationally. They include No.13 William Buford 6-foot-4 wing forward, No.14 B.J. Mullens 7-foot center, No.27 Anthony Crater 6-foot-2 point guard, and No.61 Walter Offutt 6-foot-3 scoring guard.
With the addition of Babbitt the Buckeyes may have as much talent top to bottom as any team in
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