He threw a punch at the sky, when the buzzer finally sounded. Then he shouted. Then he leaped – no, bounded was more like it – into the arms of one his coaches, Paul Gunsett.Deshaun Thomas and Russell Byrd don’t have to look too far in the past for inspiration for their next basketball endeavors.
The two Fort Wayne boys basketball standouts officially signed Wednesday with a pair of Big Ten schools that have recently been in the NCAA national championship game.
Thomas will be headed to Ohio State, 2007 runner-up, while Byrd will join Michigan State, which finished second in April.
Thomas, a 6-foot-7 forward who led the state in scoring last year with 30 points per game, will join five other Buckeyes recruits that make up the No. 1 class in the nation, according to some recruiting Web sites.
Also coming aboard next year for Ohio State will be Columbus (Ohio) Northland teammates Jared Sullinger and J.D. Weatherspoon; Findlay (Ohio) standout Aaron Craft; Cincinnati’s Jordan Sibert; and Zion (Ill.) product Lenzelle Smith Jr.
“I am thrilled to add these six young men to the Ohio State basketball family,” Ohio State coach Thad Matta said on www.ohiostatebuckeyes.com. “All six have won or played for a state championship and four were part of three national AAU championships during the summer.”
Thomas led Bishop Luers to a second straight Class 2A state title last year, and Sullinger and Weatherspoon also played on a state championship team.
The class reminds some of the Buckeyes’ 2006 haul of future NBA picks Greg Oden, Mike Conley and Daequan Cook. Ohio State lost to Florida 84-75 in the national championship game that season.
“We have six of them, and they had three,” Thomas said of comparisons between the two recruiting classes. “We are looking for a national championship. We are the ‘Super Six.’
“They (Sullinger and Weatherspoon) texted me and said ‘good luck with the signing.’ It is going to be crazy seeing us down there playing together. We already have good chemistry.”
Thomas committed to Ohio State as a freshman and had a brief period when he questioned his decision.
“At one point my sophomore year, I was thinking about going to IU,” Thomas said. “But I picked the right school. There was a lot of stress, but I just sat down one day and picked the best school for me, and that was Ohio State.”
Michigan State lost to North Carolina 89-72 in last season’s NCAA championship game.
“It makes me even more confident of my decision to go there,” Byrd said of the Spartans. “After I committed, they were top 15, and they were a good program. But to see them make that run and see them come out as the preseason No. 2. I am sure they will be solid again this year.
“You have to be tough (in the Big Ten). You can’t go in there prancing around. You have to be a pit bull in there. That’s what I am planning on doing.”
The 6-6 Byrd averaged 19 points last year.
“We are happy about his decision and now just to see how far the Big Ten has come in the last couple of years and know what he is going to be up against,” said Byrd’s father, Kelly.
