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Men's Basketball Tidbits 2008-'09 Season

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DDN

Once again, OSU hoops very young

For the third straight year, Buckeyes men's squad will feature more newcomers than veterans.


By Rusty Miller
Associated Press

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

COLUMBUS ? Here is the Ohio State men's basketball team in a nutshell: no seniors, missing its top three scorers, but lots of promise, lots of possibilities.
For the third year in a row, coach Thad Matta will be overseeing a Buckeyes team that has more newcomers than veterans, more freshmen than anything else, more questions than answers.
"I really like this team," Matta said Monday, Oct. 13, during the team's media day. "But there are so many unknowns. We have to get into it and see what happens and how things shake out. There are some pieces here."
The first time Matta had to rebuild with youth was two years ago, when freshmen Greg Oden, Michael Conley and Daequan Cook led the Buckeyes to the national championship game where they lost to Florida. Then all three left early for the NBA.
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Canton
College basketball: New-look Buckeyes ready to reload
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
BY MIKE POPOVICH
[email protected]

COLUMBUS Coach Thad Matta knows the drill by now.

Once a group of Ohio State basketball players end their college careers, he must start retooling his roster right away. It's not as easy as filling a spot here and there. The revolving door of Buckeyes leaving for the NBA or completing their eligibility seems to be continually spinning.

The Buckeyes will have seven new players in camp when they start preseason practice Friday. McDonald's All-Americans B.J. Mullens and William Buford lead a group of five freshmen that also includes Anthony Crater, J.J. Grycko and Walter Offutt. Sophomore Nikola Kecman and junior Jeremie Simmons are junior college transfers.

For the third straight season, Matta finds himself starting from scratch with a good chunk of his team.

"There are a lot of new guys, a lot of young guys, lack of experience," Matta said Monday at the team's media day. "I told a group of freshmen the other day that I don't have a drill and there's not a segment of practice being dedicated to getting you experience. You're going to have to go through the wars.

"The biggest challenge we have is trying to get them as ready as we can through practice, through film, and mentally get them tough enough to play at this level. I really like this team. They're great guys. They worked extremely hard throughout the course of the summer and into the fall. But there are so many unknowns still. I think we have to get into it, see what happens and see how things shake out."
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CPD

Unity on everybody's mind: Young Buckeyes see bonding as key to team success

Posted by Doug Lesmerises October 14, 2008 08:33AM



medium_lighty.jpg
Associated PressOhio State guard David Lighty talks about the upcoming basketball season during photo day Monday in Columbus.
Columbus -- A year ago, Ohio State's basketball team was behind before it started. There was a summer of potential bonding lost while key players David Lighty (Villa Angela-St. Joseph) and Kosta Koufos (Canton GlenOak) spent much of that time playing in international competitions and Jamar Butler spent most of his summer working out at home instead of in Columbus.
"We didn't really have any team unity," sophomore forward Dallas Lauderdale, a Solon graduate, said Monday. "I can see that [unity] now already, just in the open gyms, learning each other's games and how to talk to each other. So when we do get into situations, we have that trust. Last year, we really didn't have that trust."
If that ever came, it wasn't until the Buckeyes ran to the NIT title after being denied an NCAA bid despite a 19-13 record.
"People would be like, Team unity? What's team unity have to do with winning?' " sophomore swingman Evan Turner said. "It plays a lot into winning. If everyone's not on the same page, that will kill you -- you're not only battling the other team, but battling yourself.
"So if we got into an argument with each other, the other team saw weakness, and there you go from there."
Butler, a senior point guard last season, and Koufos, a freshman who became a first-round NBA draft pick last summer, never seemed in sync with each other. Current sophomore Jon Diebler indicated it was tough for the five freshmen to relate to the three seniors last year -- Butler, Othello Hunter and Matt Terwilliger -- because the age gap was so great, and there weren't many players in between.
This year, there are no seniors -- just five freshmen, four sophomores and six juniors.

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Link

College hoops countdown: No. 28 Ohio State
Posted: October 13, 2008
Jack Ebling
For Sporting News
Sporting News is counting down its Top 40 teams leading into the beginning of the season. For more on No. 28 Ohio State, be sure to visit Sporting News Today. More: Find your team among the 40

Thad Matta has been through this before. When he wonders if his Buckeyes are good enough, strong enough, deep enough or experienced enough to compete in the Big Ten, he won't need exceptional long-term memory.

Matta didn't bring nametags, just big-name talent, when once-in-a-decade center Greg Oden, his point guard and pal Mike Conley, wing Daequan Cook and two others arrived in 2006. Together, the Thad Five brought enough expectations to fill Ohio Stadium and nearly won an NCAA championship as freshmen, falling to Florida in the title game.
But when Oden, Conley and Cook left campus to become instant NBA millionaires, Matta had to rebuild again. He did that with holdovers Jamar Butler and Othello Hunter and another high-powered recruiting haul, including heralded center Kosta Koufos. A four-game skid in February kept the Buckeyes out of the 2008 NCAA Tournament, despite upsets of Purdue and Michigan State in the final week of the regular season.

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Don't know enough about other teams right now but 28 is fine to start off...With some early season wins, and teams like Miami, Notre Dame and West Virginia on the schedule we are going to have the chance to grow up quick and have some big games before big ten season...

The article says they see us from 4-8 in the conference...I still think we have a team that could win it, but I see a 2nd or 3rd place team...If PG plays out...

Mullens will present matchups for about every team, and we should have a very good defensive team...
 
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Upstart Buckeyes Ready To Roll Behind Fresh Faces
ShareThis
October 15, 2008 4:36 a.m. EST

​
AHN Sports Staff
Columbus, OH (AHN) - Ohio State should be reeling from last year's exodus of players that helped the Buckeyes win the NIT title. That's far from reality at least from the perspective of coach Thad Matta.
The school returns to the NCAA season with a lot in store, promise and talent that should bode well for Columbus diehards.
For one, the Buckeyes own 7-foot behemoth B.J. Mullens and spitfire guard William Buford, both McDonald's All-Americans.
The two will spearhead Ohio State's campaign in a season that has no Kosta Koufos, Othello Hunter, Matt Terwilliger and All-Big Ten point guard and assist champ Jamar Butler.
David Lighty appears to be the most valuable holdover and will show the ropes to Mullens and Buford.
Three freshmen are also in the mix for minutes-Anthony Crater, J.J. Grycko and Walter Offutt. Two junior college transfers in Nikola Kecman and Jeremie Simmons should likewise compete for exposure.
"There are a lot of new guys, a lot of young guys, lack of experience," Matta told the Canton Repository. "I told a group of freshmen the other day that I don't have a drill and there's not a segment of practice being dedicated to getting you experience. You're going to have to go through the wars."
"The biggest challenge we have is trying to get them as ready as we can through practice, through film, and mentally get them tough enough to play at this level. I really like this team," he added. "They're great guys. They worked extremely hard throughout the course of the summer and into the fall. But there are so many unknowns still. I think we have to get into it, see what happens and see how things shake out."
Mullens should make the biggest impact of them all, primarily because of his searing senior performance at Canal Winchester.
He pounded the shaded lane at the prep school with norms of 27.4 points and 15.1 rebounds per game
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crazybuckfan40;1291699; said:
Don't know enough about other teams right now but 28 is fine to start off...With some early season wins, and teams like Miami, Notre Dame and West Virginia on the schedule we are going to have the chance to grow up quick and have some big games before big ten season...

The article says they see us from 4-8 in the conference...I still think we have a team that could win it, but I see a 2nd or 3rd place team...If PG plays out...

Mullens will present matchups for about every team, and we should have a very good defensive team...
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Agree with everything you say, my only concern is BJ getting into foul trouble and I think that would hurt us on offense where I don't think Dallas brings as much to the table as BJ will. I could be wrong though because Dallas improved significantly learned the very latter part of the season.
 
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