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2009-2010 Men's Basketball (Big Ten Regular Season and Tournament Champions)

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It's Alcorn State, not Florida International

The Gazelle Group has released the complete list of games for the 2K Sports Classic benefiting Coaches vs. Cancer and it has Ohio State opening the season against Alcorn State on Nov. 9.

Florida International had been scheduled to open here, but tournament officials switched FIU and new coach Isiah Thomas to have them play on ESPNU that night at North Carolina. Ohio State's game will be televised by the Big Ten Network at 7 p.m.

They did it despite the objection of FIU athletic director Pete Garcia, who now is threatening to pull out of the tournament.

Ohio State will play host to James Madison on Nov. 12 at 7 p.m. in the second round of the tournament. Regardless of the outcome of either game, the Buckeyes will advance to New York the following week for a semifinal against North Carolina in Madison Square Garden.

Ohio State has not released its nonconference schedule because the Big Ten Network is still deciding starting times, an athletic department official said. The schedule of conference games was released last week.
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http://blog.dispatch.com/hoopsscoops/2009/08/its_alcorn_state_not_florida_i_1.shtml

Updated: August 25, 2009
FIU wants to open vs. Ohio State
By Dana O'Neil
ESPN.com

Florida International will pull out of the Coaches vs. Cancer Tournament unless tournament organizers allow FIU to open with Ohio State instead of North Carolina, as the Golden Panthers had expected.

FIU officials were equal parts incensed and stunned when they received an e-mailed press release of the Tar Heels' schedule, listing Florida International as the season opener. Athletic director Pete Garcia said the school had been approached by the Gazelle Group, the tourney organizers, about switching its opener from the Buckeyes to the defending national champions but refused.

"We knew nothing about this until the press release from North Carolina today," Garcia said. "We told them last week we would not change the game and had never agreed to this."

Gazelle Group president Rick Giles said that he has a contract, signed by Garcia, which stipulates that FIU would play either Ohio State or North Carolina, leaving the choice at the discretion of the Gazelle Group. He said that is the way his company has written contracts for 15 years and fully expects the school to honor its agreement.

"I would be stunned if Isiah Thomas' first act as a head coach was to break a contract," Giles said, although Thomas pointed out that the contract, signed in November 2008, was agreed upon before he arrived at FIU.

Florida International contends that though the original contract offered an either/or option, the school had agreed to open its season with Ohio State and had gone so far as to publicize that information. In an August AP report, new head coach Thomas is quoted about the opener with the Buckeyes.

"Big Ten country," he said. "If at some point and time you're going to be able to compete with the big boys, you might as well jump right into the fire and get started."
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Florida International threatens to pull out of Coaches vs. Cancer Classic - ESPN
 
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CPD

Ohio State Buckeyes men's basketball team heads to Canada for exhibition games

Friday, August 28, 2009 Doug Lesmerises
Plain Dealer Reporter

Columbus- Ten days of practice with a roster that includes no clueless freshmen and the return of injured David Lighty, the glue of Ohio State's basketball team?
"It's almost like we're cheating," Lighty said Thursday.
And that tells you how far ahead the Buckeyes should be when normal basketball practice begins in September.
Right now, Ohio State is preparing for three exhibition games in Windsor, Ontario - two against the University of Windsor today and Saturday, and one against Western Ontario University on Monday. The trip is allowed under an NCAA rule that permits teams one international tour every four years, and for noted homebody Thad Matta, just over the bridge from Detroit was as foreign as that coach was willing to get. Ohio State's last trip was to Europe in 2001 under Jim O'Brien.
The timing of this jaunt is no coincidence. Incoming freshmen aren't allowed on these summer trips, so Matta chose a season when he has no freshmen. His entire roster is back, save for B.J. Mullens, who left early for the NBA. There are no new guys - just Lighty back from the season-ending foot injury he suffered last December; Nikola Kecman still on his way back from a torn ACL; and 7-footer Zisis Sarikopoulos joining the fray after sitting out the mandatory year following his transfer from Alabama-Birmingham.

Cont...
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Buckeyes running an isolation play
Matta and his team heading to cabins in Ontario after Italy trip proves too costly
Friday, August 28, 2009 By Bob Baptist
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

0828_OSUMBK_sp_08-28-09_C1_KUET671.jpg

ERIC ALBRECHT | Dispatch
David Lighty and the Buckeyes will get a workout playing exhibition games against Canadian colleges.

0828_OSU_MBK_sp_08-28-09_C2_82ET77G.jpg

ERIC ALBRECHT | Dispatch
Evan Turner, left, might find himself practicing his casting as well as dribbling if teammate Jon Diebler can talk him into doing a little fishing while the team is up north.

When David Lighty saw his mother last weekend, she did what a lot of moms of college students do.

"She told me to get a haircut," Lighty said. "But I didn't. She's going to be a little upset about that.

"But they told us we've got three cabins in the woods or something, so I told them I'm going Paul Bunyan on them. I'm ready for the wilderness."

If not exactly to the north woods, the Ohio State men's basketball team bused north yesterday to Canada, where it will play three exhibition games the next four days against Canadian college teams. The first is at 6 tonight at the University of Windsor.

The Buckeyes, scruffy but with their passports in order, crossed the border at Detroit last night. Rather than check into a Windsor hotel, though, they headed 30 miles farther southeast to Kingsville-on-the-Lake, Ontario, where they will stay in beachfront cottages on the northern shore of Lake Erie.

NCAA basketball teams can travel to foreign countries for games once every four years. The original plan was to visit Italy, coach Thad Matta's ancestral home, but when the economy went south last year and Ohio State sports were told to trim their budgets, David Egelhoff, the team's director of basketball operations, looked north.

The $25,000 cost of the trip -- paid for with discretionary funds from booster clubs -- is about $200,000 less than what a trip to Italy would have cost, Egelhoff estimated.
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BuckeyeXtra - The Columbus Dispatch : Buckeyes running an isolation play
Basketball Buckeyes Headed North of the Border, eh.
By Brandon Castel

What's this?

Ohio State basketball in August?

And in Canada none the less.

Blasphemy!

It's football season in Columbus and Jim Tressel's Buckeyes are just over a week away from their season-opener against Navy, which means not much else is going to penetrate the minds of Ohio State fans at the moment.

That didn't stop Thad Matta and the OSU hoopsters from taking the court at St. John Arena Thursday for their 10 th and final practice before a trip north of the border for a three-game exhibition series in Windsor, Ontario.

"It's been tremendous for us. The 10 days that we've had I think we've utilized them well," Matta said. "You find yourself sometime standing in the gym saying, 'It's August 21 st and we're practicing.' We haven't gone for more than an hour and a half. We've tried to keep it light. It's more 'We want to win the war and not the battle' type of deal."
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http://www.the-ozone.net/hoops/09-10Mens/precanda.htm

ozone photos...

http://photo.the-ozone.net/default....000&PhotographerID=0&RowCount=12&PageNumber=1
 
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Throwback Vid: Matta All-Access 2006

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pUA_HtSbEZg"]YouTube - All-Access: Ohio State Basketball 2006[/ame]


You have to think this year's training camp is a welcoming one for Coach Matta and the staff. They find themselves in a 'unique' situation where they can just coach instead having to additionally acclimate freshmen into the program. I'm not sure if there will be the same buzz as the last 2/3 years, but I expect a much stronger team, lead by one of the best players in the nation Evan Turner, and the return of David Lighty. I look back at what Matta was able to do with the 2005/06 Big Ten Title Team (reg season). That squad had a solid core of players who returned from 2004 with one tranfser (Ron Lewis). Now coach finally has another core of experienced players again.
 
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Bucks win 90-39

Hill had 18 points!

From Bob Baptist & The Ozone

-B. Castel
Kecman did not play, but big Z had 5 points and 7 rebounds in his first 19 minutes as a Buckeye.

Player stats:
Hill - 18pts (7-9), 4 ast, 4reb, 20min
Lighty - 16pts (7-9), 4reb, 2ast, 2stl, 25min
Turner - 13pts (6-7), 8reb, 6ast, 2stl, 2blk, 24min
Diebler - 10pts (4-7), 3ast, 1reb, 23min
Buford - 8pts (3-8), 3reb, 2ast, 20min
Lauderdale - 7pts (3-4), 5reb, 2blk, 14min
Simmons - 6pts (3-8), 3reb, 3ast, 21min
Z - 5pts (2-3), 7reb, 19min
Offutt - 5pts (2-4), 3ast, 1reb, 20min
Madsen - 2pts (1-4), 1reb, 13mi
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crazybuckfan40;1524377; said:
Very excited about this year...

Talking to the guys they are very excited about the season as well...

Gonna be lots of talent, and PJ will take the pg spot...
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Nice call on PJ:). 18 points and 4-4 from beyond the arc. Sounds like they might play a little more man to man this year. Teams should be very exciting. Get the rebound and go.
 
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My Opinion...

Turner is not a pg. He is our best player, he needs to be the guy with the ball in his hands the most, he needs to be our point forward, playing off the bounce, creating for teammates, much like LBJ in Cleveland...I have said it many times...

The reason Matta would put Turner at the PG is to get our 5 best players on the floor...But bringing a guy like Buford or Diebler off the bench is not a horrible thing IMO...Brings scoring off the bench in a big way, probably about 10pts or so...

I don't like the idea of Turner manning the ball in the backcourt against pressure, and I like the idea of him coming off screens to get the ball up top, and then run the pick n roll...When the pg (Turner) brings it up the court, then works the offense, it seems to be that other guys don't get involved, they stand and watch, and wait for the pass after Turner works hard to so all the work.

and the caveat to this, and where many will tell me that I am wrong, but PJ is ready to take on the pg full time...30 mins/game...He can create, shooting has improved tremoundsly, not overmatched on the defensive end, and plays with more heart than anyone. Puts so much time in the gym, and will be the leader of this team. And his hair has gotten longer!

This is just my opinion on the situation and I know many disagree with this as I have seen and heard many people say put Turner at the point, so Shoot away with your criticism of this post.
 
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