Jamar's Journey

COLUMBUS — With the final regular-season game of his Ohio State career less than a week away, four-year starter Jamar Butler is clearly the veteran voice of the Buckeyes men’s basketball team.But, as he gets ready for that game against Michigan State on Sunday at the Value City Arena, Butler can still hear the voice of a veteran player from the beginning of his college career.The 6-foot-2 point guard from Shawnee High School has had many coaches and many mentors during his much-decorated career. But maybe one of the most influential was former OSU guard Je’Kel Foster, who played alongside Butler his first two seasons in Columbus.On the surface, Butler and Foster were a fire and ice combination. Foster’s smoldering intensity was constantly on display, while Butler’s was often kept behind the drawn drapes of the impassive expression he presents to much of the world.“Je’Kel and I were really tight. He was that upperclassman I learned from, who pulled me aside and told me what I was doing wrong,” Butler said before a recent practice.  “He was a great leader and a great teacher. Without him, I don’t think I would be here right now, doing what I’m doing.”One final bit of advice rings especially true as Butler’s senior season rushes toward a close.“He said, ‘Don’t look back at your career and say, ‘I wish I would have done this or done that,’ ” Butler said.His career numbers say there are not many things Butler has left undone the last four seasons.He has scored more than 1,000 points (1,168), has more than 500 assists (541) and holds the Ohio State career record for 3-pointers (214). The Buckeyes played for the national championship last year and won Big Ten titles in 2007 and 2006. He has started every game but two since late in his freshman season.The high point of the last four years? Obviously, it was playing in national title game last year against Florida.“It would have been nice to win it, but just to say I did it, that I played in the Final Four, that’s something every college player wants to do,” Butler said. “Just to say I was there, that I did it is a great honor.”The low point was his freshman year when Ohio State ruled itself ineligible for post-season play during an NCAA investigation of violations under former coach Jim O’Brien, who recruited Butler to OSU.“After the Big Ten tournament, our season was over. That was hard to come in every day and work hard, and in the back of your mind, you’re thinking why are you doing it,” he said.Butler is scoring 14.1 points and averaging 6.2 assists a game this season. He averaged 8.5 points a game last season, 10.1 as a sophomore and 3.6 his freshman season.At Shawnee, he was one of the top scorers in Ohio high school basketball with 2,412 points. He was the state’s Mr. Basketball in 2004.He verbally committed to the University of Cincinnati as a sophomore, but reversed that decision the summer before his senior year of high school. By the time he arrived at Ohio State, O’Brien had been fired and Thad Matta hired.OSU basketball fans were looking for some bright spot and perhaps attached too high of expectations to Butler. When he wasn’t an overnight success, the call-in shows and internet boards drew some doubters.What Butler was going through is what almost all young college players face, Matta said.“It’s a different game and the quicker they understand, the quicker they become a bona fide player,” he said. “It took Jamar a little time, like ‘Boy, this isn’t as easy as I thought it was going to be.’ But to his credit, he just kept coming in every day and going at it. You give him a personal challenge, he’ll answer it.”He will answer it, but probably with actions, not words. Or at least not with a whole lot of words.When Butler offered a couple of opinions critical of the Buckeyes’ play this season, the reaction was probably greater than if another more outspoken player had said the same words.Matta says he remembers having numerous conversations of “probably half an hour” with Butler. “Several times. Just talking about whatever,” he said.On the other end of the spectrum, former Shawnee coach Jeff Heistan says he told Butler once during his high school career to let him know sometime when he was having fun on the court. “So he just pointed at me,” Heistan said.Butler says, “I talk a little bit around people sometimes, but I’m more a laid-back guy. They always say I don’t show any expression on the court, they always say I don’t show any expression at all. But it’s just the way I am, I guess.“Coach Matta says the same thing (as Heistan). He’ll say, ‘Can you smile one time for me on the court?’ ”Senior forward Matt Terwilliger is Butler’s closest friend on the team. They met when they were two eighth graders on an AAU team that was mostly older high school guys.Butler calls Terwilliger “one guy I can talk to always.” And his teammate confirms he and the other Buckeyes see a side of Butler not everyone does.“He talks around us,” Terwilliger said. “I don’t think it’s so much that’s he’s quiet. He’s kind of a lead-by-example guy. But I think that’s a good thing. Coach Matta always talks about being stoic and he’s a pretty good example of being stoic.” Butler was the only returning starter from last year’s NCAA runner-up team. Greg Oden and Mike Conley Jr. left for the NBA after their freshman seasons and the other two, Ron Lewis and Ivan Harris, were seniors.That meant Butler was going to be a key player in every way this season. “Coach told me I had to step up and be more of a leader,” he said.Ohio State (17-12, 8-8 Big Ten) has struggled and will probably finish its season with a trip to the NIT.Butler began the season on an offensive tear, but defenses have reacted to him when it became apparent he was the Buckeyes’ only consistent scoring threat.  And the wear and tear of playing nearly 40 minutes every game could have taken a toll.After shooting 44 percent overall and 43 percent on 3-pointers in OSU’s first 21 games, Butler is shooting 35 percent overall and 24  percent on threes the last eight games.He hopes to play professionally after Ohio State.  While this season has had its ups and downs, Butler still has enjoyed it. “I’m having a great time. I love basketball. I don’t know what I’d do without it.,” he said.Has he thought about what he will be feeling when he walks out onto the court with his mom and dad on Parents Day before Sunday’s game, about how much he will miss college basketball?“I do think about it. My career playing for Ohio State in this building will be over. I know they’re thinking about it. They love home games, making that trip from Lima,” he said.Certainly, Ohio State is glad he made the trip from Lima four years ago.