Ohio State Basketball Preview

Well here we are with one week to go before the start of the college basketball season. This season is looking pretty exciting for the Big Ten with seven teams expected to make it to the big dance. Heck, this might be the conference’s first real chance to take home a Big Ten/ACC Challenge title. But we’re not here to talk about that, we’re here to talk about our Buckeyes!

Thad Matta is now entering his sixth season as Head Coach with a record of 127-46 at the helm of the Buckeyes. This is Matta’s first season the he has fielded a team made predominantly of veterans since the ’05-’06 team which included such luminaries as Ja’Kel Foster, JJ Sullinger, and Matt Sylvester. More amazing than that fact is that this team has precisely no Freshmen! The coaching staff did this intentionally so that they could save scholarships for the upcoming recruiting class, which is supposed to be on par with the original Thad Five (at least in Scout’s and Rival’s rankings).

Also on the coaching staff is a new face in Assistant Coach Jeff Boals. Boals spent the last three seasons coaching the post players for the Akron Zips, and aided in a 23-13 MAC Tournament Championship season that saw the Zips earn their second ever NCAA tournament bid. More familiar to Buckeye fans will be returning Assistant Coach Alan Major who has spent 9 straight years working with coach Matta, including three years at Xavier.

Let’s now take a look at the players position by position. Honestly, it’s a little difficult to do, since Matta likes to play many different sets of 5 players with many players contributing in many different roles. We’ll see if we can do it any justice!  All Stats refer to the player discussed beneath them and are courtesy of ESPN (where available).

Point Guards:

One of the biggest changes coming into this season occurred at this position. We saw the making of the change last year when Evan Turner (6-7, 205) would sub in at point, but it seems like Matta is substantially more comfortable with Turner in the position, implying that he is going to be the likely starter at the position. Turner, a Junior, has impressed every season he’s played in the Scarlet and Gray, often dazzling us with his excellent ball control (picked up from years of practice annoying the neighbors) and shooting skills. As PG, he will have a direct hand in making this offense tick. The biggest benefit is that it guarantee’s the ball will be in the hands of the team’s most dangerous player, while also guaranteeing a solid, experienced floor general to lead the team.

Backing him up are the duo of Jeremie Simmons and PJ Hill, who will likely enter interchangeably as the #2 point guard. Each brings a different set of skills to the table.

Simmons (6-2, 170) is a player probably more suited for a shooting guard role, where he will likely see some playing time as well. he has had some issues with running the offense, but a year of seasoning may have helped quite a bit with his decision making.

PJ Hill (6-1, 165) is a high energy player who brings a spark on the floor. Often last season he would come in to provide a jump-start to the team when they were lagging. Look for him to continue this role, and enter as a defensive specialist. He is not a spectacular shooter, and will be mostly a floor general style player.

New to the team is Eddie Days (6-0 180), a walk-on Junior who joined during tryouts in August. He may be a new addition to Club Trillion, but hopefully he’ll get to see some appreciable playing time this season.

Shooting Guards:

OSU’s starting shooting guard is a Junior who came in highly touted from High School. Jon Diebler (6-6, 205) is the current State of Ohio High School basketball points leader having surpassed LeBron James (!!!) in his Senior season. He seriously underwhelmed his first season as the stats indicate, but he made strides last season to improve his shot selection and percentages. He looks to make a big splash this season as a super-dangerous outside threat to compliment Evan Turner’s Slash and Shoot style.

William Buford (6-5, 190) was seen often last season in a back-up role to Diebler. Depending upon the offensive style Matta chooses to employ this season, he could be a starting 3 man and see an expanded role. Buford proved that he was quite capable on offense last season, showing an impressive mid-range jumper off the dribble drive. He started out rather weak on the defensive side of the ball which limited his minutes early, but that quickly began to change as the season wore on and he developed into a competent defender. By the end of the season, he was a regular, solid contributer.

Walter Offutt (6-3, 190) did not see much action last season, averaging just under 5 minutes a game. He obviously played young and struggled often on both sides of the ball. Given Matta’s propensity to run a fast paced style of basketball, there’s a good chance we’ll see Offutt contribute more this season, assuming he’s begun to understand the system and improve his defense and decision making.

Everyone’s favorite mop-up guard Mark Titus (6-4, 190) has returned for his Senior season after being denied by the NBA draft. I’m sure he’ll continue to update his hilarious blog Club Trillion for all of our amusement, and we will continue to root hard to see him hit the floor.

Ohio State Fans’ second favorite mop-up guard Danny Peters (6-2, 180) is also back for his Senior season, and we will look forward to cheering him on in the later stages of any lopsided affairs.

Small Forwards:

The team is led by returning starter David Lighty (6-5, 220), the lone holdover from the ’06 “Thad Five” recruting class. He is a solid, consistent player who has shown great growth and development over his career and was the unquestioned emotional leader of last year’s team. His loss in December to a broken foot during the Jacksonville game on December 17th. His return will be greatly appreciated this season as he provides an emotional balance and experience to the team.

Another walk-on who joined the team in October is Dustin Reynolds (6-6, 215), who has Junior eligibility. He will most likely be seen in mop-up duty with our traditional favorites.

Power Forwards:

Returning Junior Dallas Lauderdale (6-8, 255) has unfortunately been missing practice due to a broken bone in his right hand. This means that Dallas will likely miss the first few games of the season, but should be ready to go after 2 weeks or so. He is unquestionably the big-man down low, and has grown to be a dominant player at the position over the course of last season. Don’t let his small size fool you, as he has very long arms and able to stretch out as much as 7-0 BJ Mullens last season – despite the 4 inch difference in height. Lauderdale is a force that will be missed early.

Nikola Kecman (6-8, 220) returns from injury after tearing his ACL last season in only his second game, after having to sit out the first 12 games due to suspension. We haven’t been able to see much, but he is rumored to have a strong outside game and could give many defenses a matchup problem.

Centers:

Now available after sitting out a year due to transfer rules is Zisis Sarikopoulos (7-0, 265) who will likely start in the place of the injured Dallas Lauderdale in the 5 spot. He continues the proud (well…you know what I mean) tradition of 7-footers at Ohio State which started with Greg Oden back in 2006. His height should give him a significant advantage down low, especially with the weapons OSU has on the perimeter – even if they decide to “go big” with Nikola Kecman. He has a year of playing experience at UAB with 4 total starts, and will likely make a big impact this season.

Kyle Madsen (6-9, 240) returns for his Senior season after a solid but unspectacular year last year. He will likely be seen most often in backup roles, and at times when the Buckeyes want to have a smaller, faster lineup on the court. He will see significant playing time this season, especially if Lauderdale and Kecman have conditioning issues after their injuries.

As a whole the team is finally deep and skillful. No-longer does Matta have to worry about getting significant playing time out of freshmen who haven’t yet fully grasped his particular styles of offense and defense. In fact, given the veteran nature of this team, there is a very good chance we are going to see some new things that we just haven’t been able to put into place in previous seasons.

Most visible of this will be Matta’s prefered defense of choice – man defense. The last several years, Ohio State has spent the vast majority of it’s time on defense in various forms of the zone. This has made the Buckeyes particularly susceptible to the deep ball – and it has shown. Teams have often taken advantage by trying more three-pointers against the Buckeyes than they have in any other games they’ve played, and sometimes that has been to their benefit. This season, now that the team will have had an entire year to work on the man defense we should see better control of the perimeter and fewer attempted three pointers by the opponents.

Ohio State’s offense will also be very interesting. Depending upon the personel on the floor, OSU can easily play anything from a traditional 2 guard, 2 forward, 1 center big-man centered offense to a 3 guard, 2 small forward fast paced run-and-gun style and everything in between. Given the depth of the bench (realistically 11 players), the Bucks will be able to stay well rested and have fresh legs far later than most teams in the nation.

During the season, the Bucks will face several big challanges. The most notable of these is North Carolina on November 19th. North Carolina isn’t expected to be quite as dangerous as they were last season when they kicked the living crap out of a good Michigan State team twice, including in the national championship game. However, anyone thinking that means that UNC will be a pushover clearly doesn’t watch basketball often, as UNC often reloads very easily.

Also of note is a return date with West Virginia on January 23rd at Morgantown. For those that remember, West Virginia came into the Schott last year and dealt the Buckeyes their first loss of the season in a literal butt-kicking 76-48. OSU will also play a return date with Butler, one of Matta’s former teams, in Indianapolis on December 12th. Ohio State won last years game 54-51. Last but not least is a battle with Florida State on December 2nd in Columbus. The full schedule can be found courtesy of theozone.

There’s a lot to look forward to this season, and the first “game” (it’s an Exhibition) is this coming Wednesday, November 4th against Walsh. The first official game of the season is 5 days later against Alcorn State and will be televised by the Big Ten Network for those of us lucky enough to have it.