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Tuesday, July 9
Updated: July 12, 3:58 PM ET
 
Marquee Matchup: Wooden vs. Ebi

By David Benezra
Special to ESPN.com

INDIANAPOLIS -- Baseball has Randy Johnson vs. Barry Bonds. The big screen features Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones vs. cool aliens in a matchup of good vs. evil. Take your pick between Tommy Lee vs. Pamela Anderson or Michael Jackson vs. Tommy Mottola when it comes to celebrity catfights we love to read about, or watch for ourselves.

In Indianapolis on Monday, however, we couldn't find any matchups nearly as interesting as those above. So, as the Rolling Stones like to still sing, "You can't always get what you want."

What we got, or at least the best we saw, was an interesting clash between 6-foot-8 Keith Wooden of Lawrence Freestate H.S in Kansas vs. 6-7 Ndudi (just call him "Indy") Ebi of Westbury Christian in Houston.

Yes, we're featuring Ebi for a second straight day. Hey, sometimes talent finds its way into these matchups.

Besides, Ebi had supposedly declared that when July 8 came around -- the first day Division I college coaches could be in attendance -- he would pick it up a notch. We had to see if he would.

As for Wooden, being from the state of Kansas, he is naturally under-publicized. But more importantly, he's a very good player who could provide Ebi with a challenge and the two feature vastly different games.

And, as they say in boxing, style makes fights.

Wooden is more powerful, but he can and does play out on the wing, as well as face the basket. But he is so strong in the post, backing players down is his game.

Now, we aren't saying Ebi is soft, but he does seem to visit that in-between land a little to often, and he borders being labled a "finesse" player.

Nevertheless, on Monday, Ebi did indeed seem to be playing with more energy and focus than Sunday's encounter with Luol Deng. As a result, looked much better for longer periods of play.

Benezra's Scorecard
Wooden came right at Ebi, beating him off a good first step from the wing and then pounding him relentlessly in the post. Ebi looked for help to handle Wooden's powerful post presence. However, while Wooden took it to Ebi early, he appeared to wear down and the fast pace of camp ball eventually favored Ebi, even while exposing more deficiencies.

Ebi's jumper was more effective and he ran the floor very well, in addition to out-quicking Wooden to the glass for putbacks.

In a more organized, structured team game, like a college basketball game, Wooden would probably wear Ebi out. But in a wide-open camp game, Ebi proved both to be both sprinter and marathon man.

It was our first good look at Wooden and we liked what we saw, but the decision goes to Ebi.

David Benezra and Mark Mayemura cover the national college basketball recruiting scene. E-mail at: hoopsusa@mindspring.com or call (818) 783-2244 or (818) 783-2212 for subscription information.




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