By: PETE THAMEL (NYTimes.com) —
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio State center B. J. Mullens clanged a dunk off the back rim on opening possession of the No. 15 Buckeyes’ game with West Virginia on Saturday. In the first five minutes, he had committed a goaltending violation, shot a ball off the bottom of the backboard and missed four of his first five shots.
The one shot he did hit early on, though, showcased the potential that made him the top prospect in the country by Rivals.com, a prominent recruiting site. He sealed West Virginia’s Wellington Smith, caught a lob and flushed home a one-handed reverse dunk.

But Mullens struggled throughout Ohio State’s 76-48 loss to West Virginia (10-2), finishing with the same number of points as fouls — 4.

Mullens’s flurry of errors and brief flash of promise underscored a larger theme for the 2008-9 college basketball season. After two years of precocious freshmen like Greg Oden, Derrick Rose and O. J. Mayo defining the game, college basketball is going old school again. It is going to be veterans, not kids, that dominate this season.

“This freshman class is nothing like it was last year,” Billy Hahn, a West Virginia assistant, said. “I don’t think that it’s close. The guys in this year’s freshman class are going to need a couple of years. Last year’s only needed one.”

Of the country’s top five teams — North Carolina, Connecticut, Pittsburgh, Oklahoma and Duke — only the Sooners lean on a freshman, Willie Warren, for major scoring.

West Virginia’s trip to Ohio State (9-1) promised to showcase two top incoming recruits: Mullens and the Mountaineers’ Devin Ebanks. Neither stood out. Ebanks, who entered the game shooting 19 percent from 3-point range, lacks the strength on his sinewy 6-foot-9 frame to create his shot consistently. He had a solid game with 10 points and 5 rebounds.

Mullens could not score consistently despite having a 5-inch height advantage most of the game against undersized West Virginia. He did not even attempt a shot in the final 35 minutes. With the star guard David Lighty out at least six weeks with a broken foot, Ohio State is still searching for someone to fill the scoring void.

“The sad part is that they all think they can do what all those freshmen kids did the last two years,” Hahn said. “You have no idea how good you have to be to do what they did.”

The last two college basketball seasons have been defined by freshmen. Oden and Mike Conley Jr. led Ohio State to the national title game two years ago, and Rose brought Memphis within one moon shot by Kansas’ Mario Chalmers of the national title last season. The only reason that players like Oden and Rose even made it to campus was an N.B.A. rule that essentially requires players with N.B.A.-caliber talent to attend college for a season.

Last season, 12 freshmen took the one-and-done rout from college to the N.B.A. draft, including four of the top five picks. After the 2006-7 season, eight freshmen took the same route. Freshmen accounted for three of the top four picks in the 2007 draft.

This year’s freshmen crop represents a significant drop-off. None of ESPN draft analyst Chad Ford’s top five prospects is a freshman. Mullens is expected to turn pro after this season, though, despite not having a consistent starting role in college. That is in part because this current draft class will be comparable to the talent-deprived 2006 draft, where Andrea Bargnani, Adam Morrison and Tyrus Thomas were among the top four players selected.

Even further watering down the college game this year is the fact that the player ranked No. 1 in the current freshman class by Scout.com, Brandon Jennings, is playing professionally in Rome instead of in college at Arizona. The players ranked behind him have juggled spells of production with stretches of disappointment.

“If you’re are an avid follower of recruiting, you kind of knew this could happen,” said Dave Telep, a recruiting analyst for Scout.com. “Typically, when there isn’t a consensus No. 1 player, it’s a bad sign for the class.”

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