• Follow us on Twitter @buckeyeplanet and @bp_recruiting, like us on Facebook! Enjoy a post or article, recommend it to others! BP is only as strong as its community, and we only promote by word of mouth, so share away!
  • Consider registering! Fewer and higher quality ads, no emails you don't want, access to all the forums, download game torrents, private messages, polls, Sportsbook, etc. Even if you just want to lurk, there are a lot of good reasons to register!

2010-2011 Men's Basketball (Outright Big Ten & BTT Champs)

Jump to latest Follow Reply
Sort by date Sort by votes
A few other things of note:

-- Buford, Lighty and Jon Diebler are doing the same ballhandling and passing drills Evan Turner did last spring, when he made himself into a point guard.
It remains to be seen whether any of the returning three can develop enough of a handle to initiate a half-court offense, especially in the defensively focused Big Ten. But if Matta has his druthers, "I?d like to continue to play the way we?re playing right now," he said, "where a guy gets a rebound, busts out dribbling and we?re flowing off of it."
Click to expand...
-- It has not been decided, Matta said, whether Zisis Sarikopoulos will return to his homeland again this summer to play for the Greek national team. "He may go back," Matta said. "We're working on that."
Other players, such as Buford and David Lighty, may spend a week as counselors at one of the skill camps Nike sponsors for high-school recruits.
Click to expand...

Florida back on the schedule (Hoops & Scoops: an OSU basketball blog)
 
Upvote 0
Buckeyes' Thad Matta hoping more players follow Evan Turner's slow route to NBA
By Doug Lesmerises, The Plain Dealer
April 29, 2010,

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Ohio State coach Thad Matta has acquired unwanted expertise on one-and-done college basketball players, becoming a go-to quote on freshmen leaving college after one season since five Ohio State freshmen departed Columbus in a three-year span.

With Evan Turner now preparing for the June 24 NBA Draft as a probable top-three choice after being college's basketball's player of the year as a junior, Matta won't be shy about pointing to Turner's way as another option.

Maybe, even slightly, it already helped with Ohio State's William Buford, who will be back for his junior year. Buford didn't ask Matta to help him gain an NBA evaluation of his status, but Matta did it anyway.

Regardless, Buford said all along he'd be back for a third year, and Matta's expectations are high.

"You're always looking out for your guys and getting them to understand what is best for them. Some listen and some don't," Matta said Wednesday at a news conference to officially introduce new OSU assistant coach Dave Dickerson. "We finally had the proof for kids that going back to school is not all that bad.

"Evan probably made himself an extra $7 million by doing that. So Will has a pretty good understanding of what he needs to work on, and I do think he will play in the league, there's no question in my mind."
Click to expand...

Buckeyes' Thad Matta hoping more players follow Evan Turner's slow route to NBA | cleveland.com
 
Upvote 0
Will all of the freshmen be eligible?

The academic eligibility of one or more of the Buckeyes' six incoming freshmen has been a recurring topic on online message boards and in conversation since they signed in November.

So, with their senior year of high school winding down and enrollment at Ohio State little more than a month away, I tried to contact all six during the past week to see where they stand academically.

Three -- guards Aaron Craft, Jordan Sibert and Lenzelle Smith Jr. -- said they have been certified by the NCAA Initial-Eligibility Clearinghouse. That means they're eligible.

Two -- the highest-rated prospects in the class, forwards Jared Sullinger and Deshaun Thomas -- have not been certified but are optimistic they will be.

continued...
Click to expand...
 
Upvote 0
From the article in the above post

Ohio State coach Thad Matta indicated recently that if the recruits at least maintain the status quo regarding their grade-point averages this spring, all should be eligible for the 2010-11 season.
Click to expand...
I sure hope that Thad is correct but as every day passes without seeing anything in print I have my doubts if all 6 of them will be eligible. Hope I am wrong.
 
Upvote 0
LitlBuck;1700788; said:
... as every day passes without seeing anything in print I have my doubts if all 6 of them will be eligible.
Click to expand...
Given that finals have probably not yet been given at any of the schools, and that it would violate any number of laws to obtain current and accurate scholastic-status information on the young men, this comment is off-target. Whether we "see anything in print" or not is completely irrelevant.

I'm with you on this, though, obviously - hope they're all eligible in the fall.
 
Upvote 0
according jeff goodman, ohio state will play at florida state in the b10/acc challenge. msu will play at duke, unc at illinois, purdue at virginia tech, and nc state at wisconsin. the match-ups don't surprise me. some thought that ohio state deserved to play at duke, but i never thought that the selection committee would pass on the opportunity of pitting two preseason top 5 teams (which osu won't be) against each other.

maybe matta should schedule miami at miami, too. he can make a "florida swing," considering that the bucks are already scheduled to play the gators.
 
Upvote 0
like i stated, there was almost no way that the selection committee would choose ohio state to play duke when two big 10 opponents will be ranked ahead of the buckeyes. msu and purdue will be ranked in the preseason top 5 and ohio state will not be. "deserving" to play duke has nothing to do with it. prior matchups have nothing to do with it. pitting two top 5 teams has everything to do with it. look for msu to be ranked in the top 2 when the first poll comes out, with purdue right behind. that is what determined duke's opponent.
 
Upvote 0
Andy Katz's Preseason Top 25: Defending champ Duke will start new season No. 1 - ESPN
6. Ohio State: The Buckeyes did lose the national player of the year in Evan Turner. That's a fact. But they also brought in the top recruiting class in the country to join perimeter players like David Lighty, Jon Diebler and William Buford. The recruiting class, led by big man Jared Sullinger and Deshaun Thomas, give the Buckeyes more balance and plenty of options offensively. The Big Ten was hyped as the best conference by some last preseason. It didn't live up to it throughout the season, but it'll be hard to dispute in 2010-11.
Click to expand...
 
Upvote 0
No, Buckguy, the preseason polls did not determine who played Duke. The fact that MSU made the Final Four (and OSU and PU didn't) was what made them the opponent of Duke. Purdue is generally regarded as better than MSU and higher rated in all the preseason polls I've seen, but they're not playing Duke, which is contrary to what you kept arguing for. You even concede that MSU is behind Purdue in the polls. So preseason rankings, the justification you used to argue for Purdue instead of OSU, aren't the ultimate deciding factor in these matchups. They are even making MSU go on the road for the second year in a row in order to get the MSU-Duke matchup, so obviously that is what they wanted and the "1 versus 2" Duke-Purdue matchup fell by the wayside. According to your logic, it would be irrational/unusual to pass up "1 versus 2" for "1 versus 3," but that's what they did.
 
Upvote 0
like i stated, the selection committee would choose the match-up they deem to draw the best interest. they were not going to select ohio state, who would not be ranked ahead of either msu or purdue. again, it's not about who "deserves" to play duke. you thought that duke wouldn't play purdue because they've already played and the blue devils proved that they're the better team. with that kind of thinking, how do you explain ohio state playing florida state after easily beating them last season?
 
Upvote 0
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top