Basketball season is very nearly here, and the Buckeyes get their first chance to show what they can do on November 6th. The exhibition opponent is an old favorite – The Walsh University Cavaliers.
| School: | Walsh |
| Location: | North Canton, Ohio |
| Founded: | 1960 |
| Student Population: | 3000 |
| School Type: | Private, Catholic |
| Division: | NAIA |
| Conference: | American Mideast Conference (AMC) |
| Stadium: | Alumni Arena |
| Seating: | 2000 |
| Built: | 2009 |
| Head Coach: | Jeff Young |
| Year: | 7th |
This is hardly the first time we’ve covered Walsh on this blog. In fact, the Buckeyes have faced off with the Cavaliers each of the last three seasons in exhibition match-ups. This is likely a tip of the hat to just how good the Cavaliers have been recently. Two seasons ago, they managed to make the NAIA National Championship, though they only succeeded at being the runners up. Last year, the Cavs made it to the Sweet 16 before being tripped up.
Since 2005, when the Cavs won the National Championship, they have done no worse than make the NAIA tournament. That’s certainly a statement about the quality of Jeff Young as a head coach. Young won the National Championship in his first year at Walsh, and has done nothing but maintain their quality ever since.
The Cavs are currently in their second year of candidacy to become a Division 2 member. In 2012-2013 that Walsh will become the newest member of the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC), something I’m sure their players eagerly anticipate. This is exactly the reward deserved by Jeff Young and his program for all of the hard work they’ve put in the last few seasons.
This Walsh team has changed a bit from last season, but one place where it hasn’t is in the front court. Seniors L.J. Sutton (6-7, 200) and Ron Kinney (6-7, 200), and Junior Kenny Kornowski (6-9, 235) all return to the starting lineup this year. Walsh likes to go down low to find their points, and that starts with Kornowski. In an earlier exhibition matchup against Dayton, Kenny scored a ridiculous 30 points on 10-16 shooting, including 10-13 free throws. He will pound you down low and try to force you to foul him. He then makes you pay from the charity stripe.
Give Coach Young a lot of credit; his frontcourt is well trained and are very good at winning the boards. All three starters were in the top 4 in rebounding for the game, and outworked their opponents by 8 rebounds. They did a particularly good job cleaning up on the offensive glass, picking up 15 total rebounds to Dayton’s 9. In fact, Dayton only picked up 7 more defensive rebounds than Walsh did offensively. Grabbing 40.5% of the rebounds while you’re on offensive is a very impressive statistic.
The new guys on the court are the guys beyond the perimeter. Sophomore guard Cameron Mitchell (6-4, 187) (no, not this guy) is a huge matchup issue for most defenses. His size makes him difficult to defend on the outside for most guards and gives him the ability to see the basket, and his teammates, over the head of his defender. His shot could use some work, but he gives Walsh good production for his 26 minutes on the court.
The guy you really have to look out for is sophomore guard Brad DuPont (6-0, 195). DuPont went off on Dayton for 17 points, including 5-8 three point shooting, and 7 assists. He also added three rebounds to his statline, though he included a brutal 6 turnovers. He clearly needs to work on some of his decision making, but if you leave him open for any length of time he will make you pay. That will open up passing lanes for him most of this season. I see no reason why he won’t be one of the better point guards in the country at the NAIA level.
| Ohio State | GP | MIN | PPG | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | TPG | FG% | FT% | 3P% |
| Jared Sullinger | 37 | 31.7 | 17.2 | 10.2 | 1.2 | 1 | 0.5 | 1.6 | 0.541 | 0.704 | 0.25 |
| William Buford | 36 | 32.4 | 14.4 | 3.9 | 2.9 | 0.8 | 0.3 | 1.8 | 0.462 | 0.843 | 0.442 |
| Aaron Craft | 37 | 29.6 | 6.9 | 2.9 | 4.8 | 2 | 0.1 | 2.1 | 0.461 | 0.727 | 0.377 |
| Shannon Scott | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Evan Ravenel | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Walsh | GP | MIN | PPG | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | TPG | FG% | FT% | 3P% |
| LJ Sutton | 29 | 25.9 | 11.8 | 7 | 1.2 | 0.7 | 0.2 | 1.1 | 0.558 | 0.632 | 0 |
| Kenny Kornowski | 31 | 20.1 | 11.1 | 5.2 | 0.8 | 0.3 | 0.4 | 1.1 | 0.58 | 0.605 | 0.5 |
| Ron Kinney | 31 | 28.9 | 10.8 | 4.5 | 1.5 | 0.5 | 0.1 | 1 | 0.449 | 0.646 | 0.362 |
| Cameron Mitchell | 29 | 9.9 | 3.8 | 1.8 | 0.5 | 0 | 0.1 | 0.6 | 0.494 | 0.714 | 0.448 |
| Brad DuPont | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
All of the stats are per-game averages from last season. Players with dashes did not participate for their respective team last season.
Ultimately, a lot of this game is going to boil down to seeing what Ohio State can do with it’s various lineups. The Buckeyes have a plethora of different looks they can give, and which set of 5 provides the best range of talents on both sides of the court will be the most likely to start. The starting lineup provided here is nothing more than a guess at best, and we may see something completely different. I suspect that Ravenel, with his huge wingspan, will get the start for the first four minutes to play the tip and will be brought back to the bench after the first TV timeout – much like what we did with Dallas Lauderdale last season.
All in all, it will be very exciting to see this team take the floor again. I’m looking forward to seeing what they can do together, particularly with how deep the talent goes on the squad.
The game will be played at Value City Arena at 2:00 PM on Sunday. You’ll be able to see the game on the BigTenNetwork.com. Go here to see how you can get access for free, and for details on our LiveBlog for the game.
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