The 7-foot Oden is averaging a team-high 15.5 points and 9.7 rebounds per game, but Cook is shooting 49 percent as the first guard off the bench and is second in scoring with 11.9 points per game. Conley, who played with Oden at Lawrence North High School in Indianapolis, has started every game at the guard spot and is averaging 10.0 ppg while shooting an eye-catching 53 percent from the field.

Despite the presence of a superstar who will almost certainly be the No. 1 pick in the NBA draft next summer, the Buckeyes are once again playing team basketball.

That’s testimony to Matta’s ability as a coach who can communicate with his players and Oden’s maturity in that he knows its about the team and not just the numbers he is putting on the board.

Matta has been a student of the game long before he came to Ohio State. He adopted a blueprint for success by watching what North Carolina has done with its program through the years.

"They built a system of how they wanted to play, and quite honestly it seems like each year, they’re doing the same stuff,” Matta explained. “It’s kind of like the Green Bay Packers’ power sweep under (Vince) Lombardi. ‘Here it comes, stop it.’ That’s what they sort of do. Defensively, they’re going to try to take you out of what you’re trying to do.

"As you look at what they’ve built over the decades, they’ve recruited to their system, they’ve got guys who fit their system, and, quite honestly, they’ve done it the right way."

It’s not about putting together a slew of eye-opening plays. It’s all about execution.

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Although Matta likes his team, he is not above reprimanding them in public when they don’t perform. In the Buckeyes’ 64-62 road victory over Penn State Feb. 14, Matta’s team had a 21-point lead at halftime that nearly disappeared. The fact that they held on and won their 10^th straight game did not appease Matta.

Despite the talent of this year’s group, Matta intimated that more toughness is needed. "We need more leadership from the guys who have been through it," Matta said. "I don’t say that in a negative way; those guys are just a little bit more quiet or different and have never been thrust into that role. But I do know this, (former Ohio State guard) Je’Kel Foster would have busted somebody upside the head at some point today."

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