Upvote
0
-
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!
- Thread starter LitlBuck
- Start date
Upvote
0
ScriptOhio
Everybody is somebody else's weirdo.
FIRST THOUGHTS ON THE FRESHMEN
As Holtmann said in the summer on Real Pod Wednesdays, Ohio State didn’t bring in Greg Oden and Mike Conley Jr. as part of its 2020 recruiting class. But the coaching staff believes the duo of incoming freshmen who first made the hike to Columbus earlier this year should turn out to be multi-year contributors as Buckeyes.
Practices won’t get started for about another two weeks. The past few months, though, have allowed Holtmann to get an idea of what Ohio State has in 6-foot-6 wing Gene Brown and 6-foot-8 forward Zed Key, a pair of three-star recruits ranked among the 150 best players in their class.
“They've been working hard and have gotten better,” Holtmann said. “They both have to get in better shape. They both have to get in much better shape, and they have to be able to kind of push through fatigue – normal freshman stuff. And their work capacity has to continue to grow and increase. But both guys have done some really good things in our workouts so far. Zed has been, as we'd expected, he's physical. He's 6-8 with a 7-1 wingspan, about 255 pounds. He's used a lot of that 255 pounds in our workouts. He's a strong, strong kid. Gene has shown ability to defensively, we think, be able to help us. He's got to continue to improve some of his offensive skills and shooting at this level.
“But really pleased with both guys. Really pleased with them.”
Key provides some interior depth to a spotty area on Ohio State’s depth chart. Outside of Key, the only big men on the roster are 6-foot-8, 225-pound Kyle Young and 6-foot-10, 220-pound Ibrahima Diallo. Young’s undersized compared to many centers and Diallo played sparsely as a true freshman.
Right away, the New Yorker will have a chance to earn playing time as a big man with touch around the rim and enough size to potentially rebound well at a young age.
“Zed, very solid. A bigger dude,” Duane Washington Jr. said. “He's way more athletic than I thought, as well. That'll be helpful, as well. He has good timing on rebounding and blocking shots, as well.”
Upvote
0
Body type they are identical but Zed's offensive game is much more advanced than Dallas ever was. And I loved Dallas so don't get me wrong. Zed has a little bit of Dials' game imo
Upvote
0
Until he starts manning the middle and causing fear in the opponents on the defensive end, I'll reserve judgement and disagree with that statement. "Swatterdale" was a force and played his role perfectly. Zed is off to a good start but we don't have a force in the paint on defense at the moment.
Upvote
0
JohnnyCockfight
Beer is God's proof that he loves us.
Agreed. Zed looked like a magnet on the boards and is a natural scorer. Dallas was a fantastic shot blocker and defensive intimidator. I hope Zed has that ability on both ends.
One thing is for sure. He created high expectations for himself after that first performance.
Upvote
0
Lauderdale played 138 games (102 starts) while averaging 4.2 points, 3.5 rebounds and 1.5 blocks in 17.6 minutes per game. All I could find on particulars. Early on he didnt get as much quality playing time with a decent roster of bigs but his senior season he stepped into his role better. Key is definitely starting off higher especially on the Offensive end just has to keep up the boards and defensive improvement
Upvote
0
nomatta
Hall of Fame
Weird how certain guys grow in favor as time goes by.
I like Dallas, he was a strong hustle guy with freak length and he could jump. Had pretty good timing on his blocks. And that's about it! I won't count against him that he couldn't develop an offensive game that he never had an inkling of to begin with, but with his tools and physicality and the minutes he played, he should have had a lot more career rebounds. He was too busy swatting balls out of bounds (would have been nice if he had swatted more of those to teammates, or, like, just grabbed them).
As a true frosh in one game Key has already shown better touch, FT shooting, footwork, board positioning, BB IQ, etc. than I ever saw from Dallas in his whole time here. That's not trying to hype Zed, that's just an honest comparison to Dallas. Zed likely won't ever be the post intimidator that Dallas was, and I don't want to undersell how valuable that was against certain teams, but overall I think Zed's got a lot more going for him.
I would agree that Dials is probably the more apt comparison for Key. People fret over landing a top big in the next two classes--and I want that, too, but I'm not overly concerned about it. If, for instance, we don't get Reid, then pretty sure Zed will be a very capable starter at the 5. The question mark will be the quality depth in the frontcourt. If Young doesn't use the extra eligibility then we'd only have two frontcourt guys (EJ and Zed) that I'd have any confidence in. Definitely would need a grad transfer to help down there and then in 2022 need to bring in a couple quality forwards.
I like Dallas, he was a strong hustle guy with freak length and he could jump. Had pretty good timing on his blocks. And that's about it! I won't count against him that he couldn't develop an offensive game that he never had an inkling of to begin with, but with his tools and physicality and the minutes he played, he should have had a lot more career rebounds. He was too busy swatting balls out of bounds (would have been nice if he had swatted more of those to teammates, or, like, just grabbed them).
As a true frosh in one game Key has already shown better touch, FT shooting, footwork, board positioning, BB IQ, etc. than I ever saw from Dallas in his whole time here. That's not trying to hype Zed, that's just an honest comparison to Dallas. Zed likely won't ever be the post intimidator that Dallas was, and I don't want to undersell how valuable that was against certain teams, but overall I think Zed's got a lot more going for him.
I would agree that Dials is probably the more apt comparison for Key. People fret over landing a top big in the next two classes--and I want that, too, but I'm not overly concerned about it. If, for instance, we don't get Reid, then pretty sure Zed will be a very capable starter at the 5. The question mark will be the quality depth in the frontcourt. If Young doesn't use the extra eligibility then we'd only have two frontcourt guys (EJ and Zed) that I'd have any confidence in. Definitely would need a grad transfer to help down there and then in 2022 need to bring in a couple quality forwards.
Upvote
0
ScriptOhio
Everybody is somebody else's weirdo.
The amount of minutes Key played in the first two games of the Buckeyes’ 2020-21 season indicates that he will have plenty of other opportunities to make plays that lead to celebrations over the course of the next few months. He recorded 12 points and five rebounds versus the Redbirds in what head coach Chris Holtmann deemed a “good first outing,” then had eight points and four rebounds against UMass Lowell, playing 17 minutes in each game.
“I thought Zed played well,” Holtmann said after beating the River Hawks on Sunday. “He's got to understand he's a big body, so they're going to look, particularly early in the season, at some of his offense and defensive plays. He's had a couple offensive fouls. He'll get better at that. He brings great effort and energy to our group, which we desperately need. He's been a lot of fun to coach.”
Upvote
0
ShowMeBuck
You know what? Chicken butt.
We will look back one day and shake our heads at how low this guy was ranked coming out of HS.
Upvote
0