Is Greg Oden a Big Foul Machine?

During the Ohio State/Georgetown game, I began to wonder ... is Greg Oden going to get to the NBA and start picking up fouls a massive amount of fouls?

He's not been playing a lot of basketball recently. His five-feet-off-the-ground heiney has been planted squarely on the bench next to Thad Matta, mainly because he's picking up so many fouls (some of them deserved, some of them not ... but the again, that's the case for every basketball player in history, is it not?)

In the past three games for the Buckeyes, Greg Oden is averaging 1 foul for about every 5.2 minutes he plays. For a point of reference, the most hack-happy guys in the NBA are Atlanta's Lorenzon Wright with 1 foul for every 5 minutes and Chuck Hayes of Houston, with 1 foul every 5.16 minutes.

So what's Oden's deal? Through the regular season, I never really thought of Oden as a hackmaster (on the entire season, his average is a much more manageable 1 foul for every 10.7 minutes), but in the tournament, he's fouling like Smokey bowling against The Dude and Walter Sobchak (though Oden, to my knowledge, is not entering a world of pain). I don't know if the disparity here is explained by better competition or a quicker style of play and more possessions per game.

You can tell me that a lot of them are cheap, ticky-tack calls, and that may be true, however ... if that is the case, it's still on Oden to adjust. If that's the way they call it, that's the way they call it.

As far as his NBA potential goes, I'd say it's a slight area of concern, and for tonight's game against Florida, a pretty huge area of concern, given the guys he's going to have to deal with in the paint.

Oden's showed some really quick feet with some offensive moves, but on defense, for whatever the reasons (and fatigue may be one of them) ... the quick feet seem to take a rest. He blocks shot with his length and his anticipation, but he's going to have to learn to move his feet on defense, too. Both for tonight's game and for his NBA career.