Ohio State men's basketball coach Thad Matta is repeating a successful formula.
Instead of worrying about whether recruits will mesh, he signed players who already have.
On the first day of the early signing period Wednesday, the Buckeyes landed the top class, according to ESPN.com and Scout.com. Ohio State signed six players. Four of them, Jared Sullinger, J.D. Weatherspoon, Aaron Craft and Jordan Sibert, were on an AAU team, All-Ohio Red, that was 201-9 the last three summers. Sullinger, a 6-8 forward, and Weatherspoon, a 6-5 forward, also played for Northland (Columbus) High, last season's Ohio champion.
"(They) bring a culture of winning to our program," Matta said.
In 2006, Ohio State signed Greg Oden, Mike Conley Jr. and Daequan Cook, all of whom won several national AAU titles on the Spiece Indy Heat. The next season, those players were the nucleus of a Buckeyes team that lost to Florida in the NCAA title game.
The consensus top 2010 recruit, 6-7 guard Harrison Barnes of Ames, Iowa, is expected to announce his choice Friday. Other recruiting winners included Illinois, Memphis and Syracuse.
