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2019-2020 Ohio State Men's Basketball (Official Thread)

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Re: According to college basketball expert Joe Lunardi, OSU is primed to finish even higher than they currently stand, and his final preseason projection has the Bucks earning a No. 3 seed in the NCAA Tournament.

Had March Madness spots been chosen right now, Ohio State would be a No. 5 seed. However, even despite a tough non-conference schedule, Lunardi expects the basketball Bucks to climb the rankings. Head coach Chris Holtmann has his work cut out for him right out of the gate, as his guys will face a gauntlet of tough opponents out of conference, including Cincinnati, Villanova, UNC, Kentucky and West Virginia.

The Buckeyes put together an better year than some expected in 2018, finishing 19-14 in the regular season and making it to the second round of the NCAA Tournament as a No. 11 seed before ultimately losing to No. 3 Houston. However, this year’s team should be significantly better, as Holtmann has put together perhaps his most talented roster in his short time in Columbus.
 
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The UC win is actually bigger for OSU than a lot of people think right now. It is going to be tough sledding for OSU to get another high quality nonconference win. KY, UNC and Nova all probably have better talent than OSU, at least in terms of the best players on the respective teams. WVU could be a win, but if they finish 7th in the Big 12, does that really help?
 
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regarding the very ugly start last night...


looked at osu's schedules from seasons past. specifically noted the schedules for teams expected to be good. the 12-13, 11-12, and 10-11 teams each started with one cupcake before facing a quality opponent. the 06-07 team? 6 cupcakes before unc. the great 90-91 and 91-92 teams? 7 complete laughers for the 90-91 team and 6 more "buy games" for the 91-92 team.

imagine how much better we probably would have looked in the first half versus cincinnati if we instead started the season versus umass-lowell, stetson, purdue-fort wayne, kent state, morgan state, and southeast missouri state. heck, imagine how much better we probably would have looked if we had only umass-lowell to shake some jitters and figure things out.

sure, going scoreless for the first 7 minutes or whatever was the kind of ugly you only expect to see if you get lost in gallia county, but don't blame the poor child for his third nostril. what else do you expect when his parents think sipping kerosene is an integral part of prenatal care?
 
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re: andre's injury


good news, bad news.


bad news is obvious.

1. injuries suck, especially for a senior who has played only one incomplete game. also, fear the re-aggravation late in the season.

2. can't afford to be down our best defender against nova. if i was ever going to take osu over nova -- and i'm not saying i was -- well, i certainly wouldn't now. situation is less than ideal at the small forward spot because we're also without andre's back-up. now we've got a net-negative defender in ahrens who is still not 100% and a true freshman in liddell who has had deer eyes in the exhibition and cincy games. don't fully trust either to defend saddiq bey or justin moore. furthermore, nova is stacked with elite players at least 6'7". we're at a steep deficit in terms of competent defenders with any length. don't think coach has any choice but to give gaffney a lot of minutes on sunday. we'll need him for wednesday.

good news is also obvious.

1. injury could be worse. i wasn't expecting any worse than this, but there is always the chance.

2. if the 2-week prognosis holds, then it's really just the nova game where we'll miss andre.

3. minutes abound for ahrens, liddell, and gaffney. assuming the 2 weeks will include the pfw game on 11/22. that's 3 gimme games for multiple players to get some minutes they wouldn't have otherwise.
 
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notable to me against umass-lowell was that not only did ahrens not start, which i thought he might since the other small forwards are out, but he also subbed in behind carton, liddell, and gaffney. my guess is his play in the games and exhibition have mirrored the practices. still contend that we need him to regain form sometime this season. he has the quick and deadly outside shot that complements walker and especially carton. i worry he won't regain form this season, though. his defense certainly lags right now. he's consistently a step behind. if he plays more than a minute or two against nova, i'll be surprised. think gaffney will find the court first and gobble up the remainder. can't teach length.
 
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Circling back to an issue Coach Holt addressed after the UC win, whether there would be future meetings between the in-state schools, he said nothing was planned.

Personally, I think OSU should have a home and home with each of UC, X and UD once a decade for each school. No need to play one of them every year, but those teams in many years can be ideal nonconference opponents from the standpoint of combining opponent quality and probability of a win for OSU. I'm OK with none of them being played regularly, but there are obvious reasons to schedule them occasionally.
 
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