Kosta Koufos will try to fit in with not one team but two this summer.

Koufos, the 7-foot-2, 260-pound centerpiece of Ohio State's 2007 basketball recruiting class, starts school June 18. He will begin playing in open gyms with his new teammates almost immediately.

A month later, though, Koufos will head overseas, to his mother's homeland, to practice and play with the Greek national team.

"I've got a good possibility of playing in the Olympics next year, hopefully," he said.

He will be the biggest player on both his new teams. "The tallest," he clarified, "but probably not the most muscular."

Improving his strength and conditioning has consumed Koufos this spring. He said he is training three times a day, in one form or another, to prepare himself for a more physical game in college. His forte at the high school level was his skill for his size, not his strength.

"I worked hard before but not as efficiently as I am now," he said.

Ohio State returns 6-9 Othello Hunter and 6-8 Matt Terwilliger inside next season and adds Koufos and 6-10 transfer Kyle Madsen of Dublin Coffman and 6-9 freshman Dallas Lauderdale.

"I think he's going to get a good feel early on for the size and that sort of stuff that he's going to have to go against," coach Thad Matta said of Koufos.

Koufos is not the only Ohio State men's basketball player hoping to compete overseas this summer. Sophomore David Lighty is scheduled to try out for USA Basketball's 19-and-under team June 28-30 in Dallas. The team will play in the FIBA U19 world championship July 12-22 in Novi Sad, Serbia.

Lighty was more efficient on offense in the NCAA Tournament than earlier in the season and will be expected to build on that performance going into next season.

"He's a tremendous defender," Matta said, "but the biggest thing he did as the season wound down was take care of the ball. I thought he was playing his best basketball at the end of the year."

The first official game of Konstantinos Koufos (216-C-89) with the Greek National team was out of this world!! The young talented all around center scored 21 points, dashed down 15 rebounds and block his rivals 6 timeswith one assist and three steals to voted as the MVP of the Day 1 for the Hellenic team in the European Championship which takes place in Madrid.

The first official game of Konstantinos Koufos (216-C-89) with the Greek National team was out of this world!! The young talented all around center scored 21 points, dashed down 15 rebounds and block his rivals 6 times with one assist and three steals to voted as the MVP of the Day 1 for the Hellenic team in the European Championship which takes place in Madrid. The Hellenic national team beat Israel 75-70 with quarters being: 16-21, 38-37, 60-62 and 70-75. The Greek Nt got serious at the end and with great defence didn't allow the Israelis to get the game.
The points for the two teams were made by the following player:
Israel: Daniel 16, Pitshon 11, Gosnhor 11, Rom 2, Sabag 10, Soutvic 15, Skverer 5
Greece: Pappas 7, Ioakeimidis 6, Matalon 14, Giannopoulos 10, Arapis 2, Theodorakos 7, Sloukas 8, Koufos 21.

In the other game of the group Turkey beat Bulgaria 81-78.
Next game for the Hellenic NT is tomorrow against Bulgaria

Another unbeaten run at the tournament was kept alive by Greece in an 87-59 win against surprise package Estonia.

Konstantinos D. Koufos was the star again for the Greeks, scoring 23 points and pulling down eight rebounds.




Marios Matalon had eight points and nine assists for Greece.
Greece started with a quick 9-0 run to give the impression that Estonia¢s win against Italy was going to be a one-off, and that a severe thrashing was about to be dealt.

But as their coach Indrek Visnapuu told FIBA Europe his side have heart, and they showed their character to fight hard and claw their way back from 13 points adrift to within two points of the Greeks.

Kosta Koufos, who had been dominant in the first quarter was kept quiet by the Estonian defence, limiting the Greek side to 12 points for the quarter and keeping the game tight.

Though in the end it was Koufos who stopped Estonia from finally drawing level with 48 seconds left with an astounding block which was followed by a Marios Matalon steal and two free throws, drawing the quarter to a close 39-35.

That seemed to be the turning point for Greece, who at the start of the third quarter went on a 13-2 run to build a big 52-37 lead.

Koufos was back running the show and added to his tally with a couple of acrobatic slam dunks to have the crowd on their feet.

Despite their best efforts Estonia were beaten, leaving Greece to run up another big final score and stay unbeaten along with Latvia.

He is leading points scorer and rebounder in the Euro Championships.

Looks like Greece will go all the way to win this to add to the senior teams title of Euro Champs.

here is a video of Koufos taken from his high school game in the US.

[youtube]GCWR1bzG3rI[/youtube]

Konstantinos Koufos made up for a slight amount of upset of missing out on the gold medal by picking up the UMCOR U18 European Championship Men Most Valuable Player award.

Koufos blew the opposition off the court averaging 26.5 points, 13 rebounds and 3.5 blocked shots whilst playing nearly every minute of the tournament for Greece.

“This is a proud achievement” said Koufos, despite his disappointment of not having the gold medal his performances deserved.

“A gold medal would have been better! MVP is usually the guy with the most points, but of course I¢m still proud, you know”.

Koufos not only scored the most points but also had the most rebounds and the most blocked shots, as he scored double-doubles in all but one game of the tournament.

In the final he managed 33 points and 13 rebounds, but was still philosophical about his side¢s defeat.

“Serbia is a great team,” he said.

“So you can¢t be upset about losing to them. We just wanted to do better.”

The highly talented center, who was raised in Ohio in the US by his Greek mother, has dazzled scouts, fans and reporters who hadn¢t had a chance to see his skills before this tournament due to him playing in the States.

Next season he will continue his highly promising career at Ohio State University.

All-Tournament Five:

Ricky Rubio (Spain)
Edwin Jackson (France)
Dairis Bertans (Latvia)
Milan Macvan (Serbia)
Konstantinos Koufos (Greece)