Blessing And a Curse

He would finish homework assignments in class before McCord finished the lesson. Oden asked questions constantly, usually a step ahead of McCord; her answers, typically, were, "We'll get to that." On one exam, Oden earned a 49 out of 50, then argued with McCord about the point he missed.

Oden still keeps in contact with McCord. When Oden called her two weeks ago, he talked about how much he liked his History of Rock & Roll class and told her a funny story about one of his friends. They never mentioned basketball.

"If you take basketball away from him, I don't think he's going to lay down and die on us," Keefer said. "He wants to be an accountant."

He tries to be a 19-year-old enjoying college. Someone sent Keefer, in an e-mail, a video of Oden dancing with a girl. ("He didn't look bashful there," Keefer said.) His mother has to plead with him not to stay out until 3 or 4 a.m. when he comes home.

"I enjoy the freedom," Oden said. "That's the main thing. Just being away from my mom, stay up all night. Eat what I want. I'm enjoying the freedom."

But freedom can be difficult to find for a public figure. He changed his phone number after someone claiming to be an Indiana fan called and said, "I hope you die." Once, someone put a flier on his car with an unflattering photo taken off the Internet of him and a girl.

He attended an autograph signing for football players at Ohio State, but fans flocked to him instead. So he left. Oden signs only for kids now, tired of seeing his signature pop up on eBay. He scrunches down in movie theaters so people notice him less, just like he used to duck in the hallways of Lawrence North to hide his height.

Even on the court, pressure mounts. He hates to disappoint, and he feared he would while he was recovering from early-season wrist surgery. The Buckeyes jelled slowly when he did come back, which was tough for Oden to deal with. In high school, he and Mike Conley Jr., Ohio State's freshman point guard and Oden's best friend, won three straight state championships using unrivaled chemistry.

"High school, it was better," Zoe said. "Right now, it's dealing with different personalities. It hasn't quite clicked yet with Ohio State. They're an awesome team when you need to pull together, but I think it could be less stressful if it wasn't so divided. I think it's divided because Greg is not a selfish player. I don't think that the ball goes around enough before the shot is thrown off. If they threw it inside, he'll throw it back out, and then somebody is throwing up a three."

All the pressure builds to the question Oden has been hearing all season: Will it lead him to decide to make his money in the NBA? Or will he enjoy his "freedom" at OSU again next season?

"He gives me mixed emotions," Zoe said. "Half of him will say: 'Mom, I'm really enjoying this. Right now, I don't feel like I'm ready to go on.' But the other half of him says, 'If I have to get beat down like this, I might as well get paid for it.' I really don't know."

When Oden returned to Lawrence North to watch a playoff game this season, he made sure to shake hands with the team's bus driver and ask him how he was; he had built a relationship with him in high school, something none of Keefer's other players had done. McCord once asked him to attend one of her 10-year-old son's basketball games. He showed up and talked with him afterward.

So is Oden a teenager trapped in an adult's body? A center blessed with Hall of Fame potential? An accountant cursed with a seven-foot frame?

"He's one of us," said Q Owens, one his high school teammates. "He don't act different because he's got the name Greg Oden or he's seven foot. He acts like one of us. He's a normal 19-year-old."