LEXINGTON, Ky. — Greg Oden paused for a second while he considered the question.

No, not that one. Sorry, the Ohio State star remains coy about any potential NBA plans.

When asked if he knew why the top-seeded Buckeyes (30-3) were playing 16th-seeded Central Connecticut State (22-11) in the opening round of the NCAA tournament today, the freshman center stroked his neatly trimmed beard and mulled it over before the answer came to him.

"They won their tournament!" Oden said with an almost-relieved look on his face.

Forgive one of college basketball's most precocious talents if he's still getting a handle on all this. Oden has spent so much time over the past six months trying to fit in with his teammates and develop his game, the ins and outs of how the NCAA Tournament field is selected has escaped him.

Instead, Oden left it up to Ohio State coach Thad Matta to break down how the tournament field is selected.

"His thing was 'Hey Coach, how do we get in? Where do we play?' " Matta said. "I explained to him (teams play) Thursday-Saturday, Friday-Sunday and then he asked if the game was in the same place."

Matta laughed while talking about the conversation, but added Oden's relative innocence is indicative of his team's focus.

"Our guys have a pretty good feel for it," Matta said. "It's not another game, but it is another game. We're not going to change how we prepare or the way that we play."

Meaning the Blue Devils, the Northeast Conference champions, will see plenty of Oden, who will be in the kind of matchup he was used to while starring at Lawrence North High in Indianapolis. Undersized Central Connecticut forwards Obie Nwadike (6 feet 4) and Jemino Sobers (6-7) will be in charge of stopping the Big Ten freshman of the year.

Nwadike and Sobers combined to average more than 16 rebounds a game, though both know they've never had to face an athlete like the 7-foot Oden.

"If he gets in the paint, he's going to be pretty (darn) hard to stop," Sobers said.

Oden praised Nwadike's work ethic in becoming one of the NEC's best rebounders, heady stuff coming from a player who hasn't seen 6-4 since middle school.

"I couldn't imagine being eight inches shorter," Oden said. "That was probably eighth grade for me."

Like Oden, the Blue Devils have received a crash course in NCAA tournament culture over the past week.

"As I'm walking by the gym toward the locker room, I'm looking and there's more people watching practice than in some of the (road) games we've played this year," guard Javier Mojica said. "It's a great challenge."

A challenge Central Connecticut president John Miller helped prepare the Blue Devils for by providing them with stones to symbolize the battle between David and Goliath.

The Central Connecticut players laughed when asked if they planned to throw the stones at Oden, but added that might be the only thing they don't do in trying to stop him from having his way.

"I think one of the guys on our bench might think about it," Nwadike said with a laugh. "But I think we might get a technical."

Not much has stopped the Buckeyes lately. Ohio State has won 17 straight games as Matta has done his best to blend in talented freshmen Oden and Mike Conley Jr. with experienced upperclassmen.

For all the attention Oden and others have received, Matta said there's never been a class struggle. Of course, it helps that Matta brought the freshmen on to a team that was coming off a Big Ten title in 2006.

"The new guys came in and said, 'They've got something we want, let's keep our mouths shut and our eyes open,' and I think they've done a good job with that," Matta said.

"They listen to you," senior guard Ron Lewis said. "They're humble kids. We keep them focused."

And just in case his team gets a little full of itself, Matta is there to remind them that all the wins and all the highlights and all the hype the Buckeyes have created over the past four months don't mean anything starting today.

"Winning the Big Ten, going 30-3, it doesn't score one point," Matta said. "Anything is possible."