Offutt Is On It

Inside-outside attacks are as common as pregame layup lines in high school basketball, but an inside-outside career? Conventional it's not, though neither are the winters leading up to this, the senior season of Warren Central guard Walter Offutt. Regarded as one of the nation's premier '2' guards entering the 2007-08 campaign, the 6-foot-3 Offutt, who in November will sign a national letter of intent to play for coach Thad Matta at Ohio State University, wasn't always a backcourt fixture the way he is today. What elementary school coach is going to take his best player, the one closing fast on 6-feet tall, and float him along the perimeter? "I was taller than most kids my age growing up," says Offutt. "I played against big men in grade school and then shifted to forward in middle school and big guard in high school." This along with a vertical leap planted somewhere in the mid-30s explains why Offutt isn't a prototypical high school off-guard, someone chomping at the bit to show off his textbook 3-point shooting form only after teammates free him with a series of screens. Offutt is more than capable of creating his own offense, thank you very much. Having grown up taking the ball inside among the trees, Offutt early in his varsity basketball career discovered it to be a difficult habit to break even if it does mean the occasional random forearm to the chops. "My biggest thing is driving, slashing to the basket," he says. "The thing I need to work on most is my outside shot, but it's getting better. That's a part of my game I can do now." Whatever leaks - if any - continue to exist in Offutt's game, rest assure the senior isn't afraid to incorporate the time and sweat necessary to fix them. Flash back to the summer of 2005. Fresh off of an impressive freshman season during which Offutt found himself in the starting lineup from Game 1 (a 55-46 victory at Greenfield-Central in which he tallied 12 points), Offutt, during a June open gym session, tears his anterior cruciate ligament and must undergo surgery. January of the 2005-06 season was the targeted date for a basketball comeback, though Offutt wound up playing much earlier. "It was a frustrating year for all of us because Walter just didn't have that explosiveness. Man, he did everything he could to get back. He basically made All-MIC (Metropolitan Interscholastic Conference) on one leg," remembers 12th-year Warren Central coach Scott Heady. "I've never coached a player as competitive as Walter, and he's probably the most complete player I've ever coached. He's not just looking to score points and he's always trying to get better." Competing in the brutal MIC against the likes of Lawrence North, North Central, Ben Davis and Carmel tends to sharpen the nails of teams and players alike. Offutt, who averaged a well-rounded 18 points, five rebounds, four assists and two steals per game as a junior for a 17-7 ballclub, is no exception. A big-time talent taking it to the hoop against big-time competition. Same can be said once Offutt is donning the scarlet and gray of Ohio State. Which begs the question: Why the Buckeyes? "One simple answer: My relationship with coach Matta and the coaching staff," says Offutt. "First, he knows how to communicate with the parents, and he's there for you other than just with basketball. When you get to campus he's not going to dog you out." Just like Offutt isn't going to dog it on the basketball court or in the classroom. A solid 'B' student pretty much his entire academic career up to this point, Offutt is excited about the fact that he's closing in on his first all-'A' report card, a distinction sure to add padding to his 3.1 grade-point average while applying another bruise to the dumb-jock stereotype. Bringing his 'A' game to both the classroom and those familiar 84 feet of hardwood, the next few months should be ones to remember for Mr. Inside-Outside.