Columbus, Ohio ? Ohio State freshman Greg Oden will make himself available for the NBA Draft today, a family friend said Thursday night.

“There will be a release in the morning from Ohio State. Greg Oden will be hiring an agent,” said Al Powell, who has been a party to meetings between Oden and two other Buckeyes freshmen stars considering the draft.

As for the two others, Powell was less specific.

“Mike Conley Jr. and Daequan Cook will not be hiring an agent at this time,” said Powell, a paid assistant coach at Dayton’s Dunbar High School who helped coach all three players when they played AAU ball.

If Conley and Cook don’t hire agents, they’ll retain the option of returning to school next fall. College underclassmen have until midnight April 29 to declare whether they intend to make themselves available for the draft.

Dunbar coach Pete Pullen – Cook’s high school coach and the current coach of Oden’s brother, Anthony – also said Oden would announce his intention to enter the draft today and that the other two players hadn’t yet decided whether to hire agents.

Ohio State spokesman Dan Wallenberg said Thursday night that he was unaware of any announcement from Ohio State or any news conference regarding the three players involving the university.

Coach Thad Matta was unavailable because he’s out on the road recruiting players.

The decision to enter the draft is not irreversible until players sign with an agent. Players can work out for NBA teams and gauge interest – as long as they do not have an agent – and have until June 18 to withdraw their names from the draft pool. They still could retain their Ohio State eligibility at that point.

The players are expected to be represented by Conley’s father, Mike Conley Sr. He won the Olympic gold medal in the triple jump in 1992 in Barcelona. In addition to running a company – World Sport Chicago – that helped garner that city the U.S. bid for the 2016 Summer Games, he also has created another sports-representation company – Mac Management Group – and applied to the NBA to be a player agent.

Oden, who turned 19 on Jan. 22, is a two-time national player of the year in high school who lived up to all of that promise after getting a late start at Ohio State.