The NBA prospect and preseason pick for the Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Year, Osiris Eldridge, brings his considerable talents to the Convo Wednesday night. The 6-foot-3-inch Illinois State combo guard is the most talented player to visit Athens since Stephen Curry faced off against the Bobcats with Davidson in December 2006.

On the year, Eldridge is averaging over 20 points a game in the Valley, which is widely considered the premier mid-major conference. Eldridge is just as capable of raining it in from outside as he is slashing to the hoop and providing highlight reel finishes. He is shooting 46 percent from the floor and 40 percent behind the 3-point line. He was the conference Player of the Year runner-up as a sophomore, as well as the conference’s tournament Player of the Year last season as a junior.

Eldridge’s breakout performance was last year’s conference title game against Northern Iowa, where he dropped in 21 second-half points that featured five 3-pointers, with most of them coming from well beyond the arc. The performance vaulted him into the limelight with feature articles in both ESPN and Slam Magazines. Eldridge decided to forgo his senior season to enter the NBA Draft, but later withdrew his name to return to the Redbirds.

Most publications list the Chicago product as a late first-round to early second-round draft pick next spring. At the mid-major level, few players reach their goals of making a living in the NBA. As Eldridge said after he withdrew from the draft, however, he plans on doing just that. “It was really a great experience for me and I’m glad I did it,” Eldridge was quoted as saying. “I was provided a lot of feedback from NBA personnel on what I can do to achieve my goal of playing basketball professionally. I also appreciate the support of the Illinois State coaching staff and my Redbird teammates during this process.”

Illinois State has come out of the gate firing this season, tallying up a 7-1 record leading up to the showdown in Athens. While some of the credit for the fast start has to go to the low level of the competition, the rest has to go to Eldridge’s two fellow seniors: 6-foot-8-inch forward Dinma Odiakosa and 5-foot-10-inch point guard Lloyd Phillips rank second and third on the team in scoring, respectively.

The Redbirds’ key to success is the clearly defined roles among its three major players. Phillips is the distributor who can hurt teams if they fail to respect his shot, Odiakosa is the inside presence who provides rebounding and a post threat, and Eldridge is the star who does everything else.

For Ohio to emerge victorious from Wednesday’s battle, they will have to find a way to slow down the three-headed ISU attack. D.J. Cooper will attempt to contain Phillips, who is a solid passer, but boasts a less-than-stellar 1.4 assist to turnover ratio. If Cooper can get that number into the negatives through his high-pressure defense, it will disrupt the flow of the offense. Ohio Coach John Groce will likely try to thwart Odiakosa by using the same tactics that shut down Tulsa standout Jerome Jordan a few weeks ago: using frontcourt depth at to wear him down. Big men Devon Washington, Ivo Baltic, Kenneth van Kempen and Reggie Keely all should see increased playing time in this game.

The final matchup is the most intriguing, pitting Eldridge against Armon Bassett. Both share quite a few similarities on the court – both wear number 0, rely mostly on their outside shot to score and play with a distinctive swagger. Both have similar skill sets and had breakout freshman seasons, but Bassett’s future looked much brighter because he played for the prestigious Indiana Hoosiers and was McDonald’s All-American in high school.

Eventually, Eldridge became possibly the best mid-major player while Bassett changed schools twice before settling in at Ohio. After a couple of shaky games in his return to the court, however, Bassett has shown flashes of his promise. His career high 27 points led the Bobcats to a win at Delaware and helped him to secure the MAC East Player of the Week award. If he can out-duel the ISU star in the most high profile non-conference home game of the year, expect the Bobcats to pick up a huge win.

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