OSU vs Walsh exhibition

[BUCKYLE]

As for the cartoon...Eric Turner is said to look like Kermit the Frog...Probably the funniest thing I heard all night...

Team looked great...Saw walk thru practice, and we don't see to miss many jumpers...Diebler, Buford, Lighty are going to be knocking down the outside jumpers with high regularity...

Buford looks great...He could be starting very soon if we look to go with a 4 out 1 in lineup like tonight...Will struggle at times on the defensive end I think....But man can he score...He can shoot it, take it to the rack and seems to get lots of put backs...

Diebler looks to have more confidence in the shot...Only took 3...Went 1-3 and took it to the rack once and got fouled and went 1-2 from the line...Poised for a big year...

Lighty looks great...It is his team...he is going to excel in the open floor type game this year...He was really soaring on his dunk attempt when he got fouled and his jumper looks great this year...He is really playing above the rim and got quite a few tip backs tonight, and look great off his curl cut...

Mullens looked good, not great, he has some work to do, and just needs to get stronger with his hands to grab more rebounds and realize that he can get to more balls rebounding and blocking than he things, with his long wingspan and his height...There are balls that are in his area, that maybe he feels he can't get to, but it sure looks like he should be able to...Going to need to work on refining his touch, as he isn't going to be able to just turn and dunk it, but his free throw touch is very good, so he needs to be able to get there, so pump fakes and going up strong with two hands will benefit his game greatly, instead of trying the reverse finger rolls...

Madsen looked very good tonight...He is not an above the rim player at all, but scores the ball well around the rim, and seems to understand position...He will be a solid role player this year...

Simmons reminds me of a little more athletic Jekel Foster...He looked good on his one little take to the hoop with the scoop layup...He is smooth, but really isn't what you look for in your pg...More of a SG...You can see the difference between him and Crater...He misses open guys on the break with a chance to push it, and just little things like that...His jumper is very smooth tho...Surprised to see him get the start...Honestly I see Crater starting within a couple weeks...

Crater...Very smooth...Hit some shots from deep...Does a good job of controlling the ball, looks great on the break...Very quick hands on defense...Not as long as Rajon Rando, and not quite a quick, but he reminds me of him with a little better jump shot...He does a good job on defense, picking balls off and tipping lots of passes...Huge ceiling, we will see improvement from game to game much like when Conley was here...Not gonna be as good as Conley his freshmen year, but he will improve every game, but will have games when he takes steps back...

Turner...He could slide himself into a first round draft pick this year...He has imrpoved his ability to not turn the ball over...Still has the nice little spin move, and jump shot solid...Playing above the rim, tip ins, etc...Great in the open court, and like him controlling the ball some up top...

Kinda dissapointed we didn't see Hill more...You guys know I was pimping him and I truly believed he improved quite a bit, but just not enough...Dissapointing to me...Maybe he will see more itme as the season goes on, but maybe not...

Offut looked like he belonged out there...Not a great jump shot...Saw him in warm ups...It isn't horrible but he isn't the type that is going to be taking a whole lot...He will be in for his defense tho as it is very good...

Played lots of zone tonight...Looked pretty good, but I hate ending up with Lighty or Turner on big guys, the walsh guys had their own a little bit when they got in that situation...

The 3 pointers are worrisome, but we improved in that area last year, and shut down the 3's and I see that happening this year...

not real worried about the defense once Lauderdale gets back it will be very hard for teams to score in side and we are very long to defend shots on the perimeter...

I look to see many highlight plays from this team this year...There were about 3-5 tonight...Mullens with monster dunks...Buford had 2...One on an alley oop from Crater, who recognized that very well...Lighty looked like superman on the one when he took off and got fouled...Tuner is above the rim...Just not what we are used to lately, but I can get used to it...

But I know it was Walsh but I don't care if it is a jv squad or a high school squad, I love seeing us put up 90 points, and only having 10 turnovers...

Going to be very exciting to watch this year...It is basketball season and I am very excited...

Basically the exact same thing I said, but whatever.

:p

 

[Best Buckeye]

Too late I already gave 40 the rep .

 

[buckeyemania11]

Lauderdale did not play tonight either

cant wait to see what the team looks like when he gets in there

 

[BuckTwenty]

Sorry about how late this is. Went to the game, but had to watch the Crew vs Fire game that I tivo-ed first(Go Crew!).

This is going to be an exciting team to watch this year. This team really hustles- both on the offensive end and the defesive end. I think any questions about PG play have been answered tonight, as I think we have 2 and maybe 3 guys that are very capable of quarterbacking the offense. This team looks light years ahead of the same team I saw at this time last year and I could not be more excited about that. The guys seemed to really celebrate the successes that each of them was having their tonight, which really brought us a lot of momentum. On D, they REALLY work. Their breakdowns seemed to be on switches and Walsh got the majority of their points on the 3 ball, which is worrisome. In the paint, the guys really shut down the passing lanes and moved most of the play to the outside. Looks like we're going to play mostly Thad's traditional "4-out, 1 in" offense, but at one point Mullens was put in with Madsen, giving us more of a "3-out, 2 in" look. Overall, the team just looks like they are all on the same page.

The scoreboard looks BRAND new. 8 big flatscreen panels are now on top of the traditional scoreboard so everyone in the stadium can see what is on and the old screens in the corners of the arena have been done away with. Looks really neat, but the scoreboard sits REALLY low in the arena. Gonna make 3/4 court shots and passes extremely hard because you really can't put much arc on the ball. I'm serious.

Lighty - Like CB40 said, it's his team. You can tell he's the leader. His play on defense seems to be contagious. He had one play where he pulled about 4-5 moves on a guy under the basket and finished with a reverse lay-up. Just abused the guy. Thinking he's going to be the rock of consistency that this team needs. IMO, a lock for 1st team all-defense in the Big Ten.

Turner - Looks to be the 1 guy that teams are going to have to shut down to have a chance. Seems to do everything on both ends of the court- score, rebound, steal, assist. Looks a lot more calm and relaxed this year as opposed to last year. Turner and Lighty complement each other so well, which is good because they are going to have the 2 highest minutes on the team this year. He was good on D last year, but seems to have turned it up a notch. Looking to see how he does as the year progresses in relation to his problems with turnovers and consistency. If he can do what he did tonight on a regular basis, we're gonna win a lot of games this year.

Mullens - I was expecting a lot more from him. On offense, he's a handful in the paint. Looks like he wants to dunk everytime he gets the ball. Needs to work on his post moves and needs to look for open players when he gets double (or triple) teamed like he did tonight. Really impressed with his free throw shooting- you could tell he practices a lot on them. He's going to be at the free throw line a lot this year. On defense, he has a LOT to learn. Looked out of place a lot and because of that, looked a step slow to rebounds, his man to block out, and possible blocked shots. At times, it even looked like he didn't know who he was guarding. Moves up and down the floor really well and knows when to call for the ball. Thad has him guarding the inbounder when inbounding the ball, which is brilliant, given his stature and his athletic ability. It looks like a daunting task to get the ball in with him standing in front of you. I like what I see, but he has a lot to learn and I would not be surprised in Dallas starts and you see Mullens come in off the bench. Now THAT'S depth.

Diebler - His shot looked scarily the same as it did last year (which is a bad thing), but you could see that it looks like he's finally got it as far as where he needs to be on both ends of the floor. Diebs was distributing the ball REALLY well from the top of the key getting it down low. Really impressed with his passes tonight. Defensively, seemed to be in the right spot at the right time, but seemed to quit on the ball if it bounced wrong and someone else picked up the statistic. Now that he's a year older, people are going to be expecting big things from him, especially on offense. Would like to see him answer the call.

Crater - More than anyone else, Crater makes this team extremely fun to watch. To quote the guy sitting next to me, "You just don't know where or who he's going pass it to next". He can pass the ball on a frozen rope and seems to find players in wide open positions. Looks to be a pass first, pass second, shoot third type of player, not too dissimilar from Mike Conley (though Crater's shooting seems a lot more confident and natural). Runs the floor well, handles the ball well, and can push the tempo. Had some nice outlet passes that started breaks. Only real negetive I saw was that at times he was threading the needle with some of his passes to mixed results (the further across the court, the most often bad things happend). Knows the art of the no-look pass. On D, he looks active. Picked the opposing PGs pocket to start an impressive fast break. Looks to be our PG of the future, and his future looks very bright. Love the energy he brings to this team on both ends.

Simmons - Looks really solid on offense and handles the ball well. Plays similarly to Je'Kel Foster, though he substitutes some of Foster's D ability for some extra offense. He's got a scorer's mentality that you look for in a SG, though I thought he passed the ball really well.

Madsen - W-O-W. Most improved player from a year ago and it is not even close. Plays with a lot of energy and came up with a lot of rebounds. Believe he had a couple of blocked shots and was active on both sides of the floor in the paint. Had a surprisingly accurate shot tonight. Guarded the inbounder when Mullens was out of the game and deflected a couple of passes. Could well be a very vital piece of the puzzle for us, seeing as though Kecman won't be able to play until January. Will NOT be a bench player this year like he was last year. I'm still shocked at his transition from last year to this year. The dude ate his Wheaties during the summer.

Buford - If Buford had 17 points, those were the quietest 17 points I've ever witnessed. He really heated up in the 2nd half. Looked like he was channeling Michael Redd or Jimmy Jackson out there (probably JJ, considering he's from Toledo). Was not impressed with him in the 1st half. He just kinda disappeared out there his 1 shift in that half. Doesn't look like he "gets it" yet on defense, which might affect how much time he gets until he starts playing some real D. Wouldn't be surprised to see him used like Daequan Cook and come off the bench as our killer-shooting 6th man this year.

Offutt - He played a lot more than I was expecting tonight, but he didn't really make much of a splash out there. Hate too make too many generalities, but looks to be a learning year for Walter this year.

Hill - Extremely surprised to see him not come off the bench until late in the 2nd half. I thought he was fighting for the starting job with Simmons and Crater very favorably. Didn't play enough to really get a bead on him.

Lauderdale - Looked very imposing in his black sweater vest overtop his dress shirt tonight. Team played really well without him and can only get better with him on the floor contributing. Expecting him coming in where he left off in the NIT with the same energy, with him looking to make things happen.

 

[crazybuckfan40]

Agree with everything other than the chance of Mullens coming off the bench to backup Lauderdale...Don't see that happening...

If Lauderdale is going to start it is going to be at the 4 spot, which I think there is a high possibility of that happening...

 

[osugrad21]

CPD

Buckeyes cruise past Walsh in exhibition win

by Doug Lesmerises Thursday November 13, 2008, 10:00 PM



Columbus - Ohio State's five newcomers combined for 46 points as the Buckeyes beat Walsh University, 90-63, Thursday night in their only exhibition game of the season.
Forward William Buford scored 17 points and point guard Anthony Crater had eight points, six assists and no turnovers against the NAIA Division II opponent.


Center B.J. Mullens, the No. 1 recruit in the country according to Rivals.com, scored 12 points, missing all six shots that weren't dunks, but aggressively throwing down three slams, including two in the first five minutes.
"The coaches have been wanting me to do that every day in practice," Mullens said. "That's my role and that's what I've got to do."

Cont...

 

[osugrad21]

BN Free--Photo Gallery: Ohio State-Walsh Exhibition

 

[osugrad21]

BG$--Born to Run

Rundown of the game and the overall athleticism on this roster.

 

[osugrad21]

Dispatch

Men's basketball: Defense deciding factor in win
Backcourt pressure keys 22-6 OSU spurt at start of second half
Friday, November 14, 2008 3:06 AM
By Bob Baptist


The Columbus Dispatch

Neal C. Lauron Dispatch
Ohio State's William Buford shoots over Walsh's Lamar Skeeter. Buford, a guard, scored 17 points, 15 in the second half.




A large question entering the season is who's going to make jump shots for the Ohio State men's basketball team. It was not answered last night. But the Buckeyes had an antidote anyway.
Backcourt pressure by their 1-2-2 zone defense forced Walsh University into eight turnovers in the first nine minutes of the second half in Value City Arena. It fueled a 22-6 run that boosted Ohio State to a 90-63 exhibition victory over the Cavaliers, an NAIA Division II team.
"Coach told us to come out and just play as hard as we can and heat the ball up, which is what we did," said freshman guard Anthony Crater, who had two of the Buckeyes' five steals in the run.
Sophomore Evan Turner had 17 points, nine rebounds, four assists and four steals to lead Ohio State, which put five scorers in double figures and looked to run more than any of coach Thad Matta's four previous OSU teams. Even centers B.J. Mullens and Kyle Madsen finished on the break.
"We played Akron (in an exhibition last week) and I thought we did a really good job of taking care of the basketball. That kind of kept us in the game," Walsh coach Jeff Young said.
"Tonight we didn't do that -- 19 turnovers, and I think they had 28 points off our turnovers. That's a killer when you're playing a team like Ohio State.
Cont...

 

[Oh8ch]

Sorry if I missed it in a quick scan of the above - but do we have a point guard?

 

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Sorry if I missed it in a quick scan of the above - but do we have a point guard?

The jury is still out...........my guess is it will be Crater and Simmons splitting minutes most of the year...........Simmons started last night.......both played well in my opinion.

Dispatch

Postgame thoughts

A little of this and a little of that about the Buckeyes? debut against Walsh tonight:
- Walsh picked apart the Buckeyes? 1-2-2 zone defense in the first half, going inside for its first 12 points and then making six three-pointers in the final 9:32. It trailed by only nine points with less than three minutes to go in the half.
Freshman B.J. Mullens looked to be caught out of position in the zone a number of times, trying to defend from the paint to the corner on the baseline.
?You?ve just got to keep active, moving around and keep your head on a swivel,? Mullens said. ?We practice it every day and we?re getting better at it.?


Continued.................

 

[jimotis4heisman]

Mullens looked good, not great, he has some work to do, and just needs to get stronger with his hands to grab more rebounds and realize that he can get to more balls rebounding and blocking than he things, with his long wingspan and his height...There are balls that are in his area, that maybe he feels he can't get to, but it sure looks like he should be able to...Going to need to work on refining his touch, as he isn't going to be able to just turn and dunk it, but his free throw touch is very good, so he needs to be able to get there, so pump fakes and going up strong with two hands will benefit his game greatly, instead of trying the reverse finger rolls...
he wastes a lot of motion. needs to tighten his game up. to much movement, a lot of action that results in nothing. needs a more compact drop and cleaner hook and seal. he put the ball on the floor a couple of times, in b10 play he wont be able to get that ball back up. quicker than i thought. hell improve as the season goes on just like oden and kk.

Madsen looked very good tonight...He is not an above the rim player at all, but scores the ball well around the rim, and seems to understand position...He will be a solid role player this year...
need kyle to be a plug, nothing more, nothing less. hell be needed for 5-8 mins. those mins will be key. he just needs to hold his ground and not let a run go when hes in there. higher energy player, well see how he does as the other team gets more physical.

Simmons reminds me of a little more athletic Jekel Foster...He looked good on his one little take to the hoop with the scoop layup...He is smooth, but really isn't what you look for in your pg...More of a SG...You can see the difference between him and Crater...He misses open guys on the break with a chance to push it, and just little things like that...His jumper is very smooth tho...Surprised to see him get the start...Honestly I see Crater starting within a couple weeks...
hard to tell. walsh is walsh. looks to be serviceable or better.

Crater...Very smooth...Hit some shots from deep...Does a good job of controlling the ball, looks great on the break...Very quick hands on defense...Not as long as Rajon Rando, and not quite a quick, but he reminds me of him with a little better jump shot...He does a good job on defense, picking balls off and tipping lots of passes...Huge ceiling, we will see improvement from game to game much like when Conley was here...Not gonna be as good as Conley his freshmen year, but he will improve every game, but will have games when he takes steps back...
needs to dial his game back a tad, less is more at the point. like many young guards has a tendency to dribble once to much. conley had the same thing. hell adjust and hell be a better player for it. quick hands.

Turner...He could slide himself into a first round draft pick this year...He has imrpoved his ability to not turn the ball over...Still has the nice little spin move, and jump shot solid...Playing above the rim, tip ins, etc...Great in the open court, and like him controlling the ball some up top...
taller/longer than i remembered.

Kinda dissapointed we didn't see Hill more...You guys know I was pimping him and I truly believed he improved quite a bit, but just not enough...Dissapointing to me...Maybe he will see more itme as the season goes on, but maybe not...
well need pj for minutes this year. he can play but he will be a program depth player. nothing wrong with that.


The 3 pointers are worrisome, but we improved in that area last year, and shut down the 3's and I see that happening this year...
hitting out jumpers will be key also.


I look to see many highlight plays from this team this year...There were about 3-5 tonight...Mullens with monster dunks...Buford had 2...One on an alley oop from Crater, who recognized that very well...Lighty looked like superman on the one when he took off and got fouled...Tuner is above the rim...Just not what we are used to lately, but I can get used to it...

But I know it was Walsh but I don't care if it is a jv squad or a high school squad, I love seeing us put up 90 points, and only having 10 turnovers...
what about the coaching, calling a full to at 1608ish. any decent coach would wait a few seconds. or calling a full when you can extend a 20 to a full. or leaving his kids out on the floor during the tv timeout. apparently he doesnt watch much college ball on tv...

lets be frank they might be a good d3 school but that team could be run out of the mens gym on a tuesday night...

Going to be very exciting to watch this year...It is basketball season and I am very excited...
a 2-25 team would excited you, its basketball season

maybe more later, who knows.

 

[mooktarr]

The team looked pretty good last night However I remember that they are very young as a team and may have some rough spots to overcome this year.
When we hit the Challenge and the B10 is when we will see our real team. We know they can play the Walshes of the world next is more to come.
Looked good - need a lot of work yet.

 

[crazybuckfan40]

he wastes a lot of motion. needs to tighten his game up. to much movement, a lot of action that results in nothing. needs a more compact drop and cleaner hook and seal. he put the ball on the floor a couple of times, in b10 play he wont be able to get that ball back up. quicker than i thought. hell improve as the season goes on just like oden and kk.

Agree with this, this is why he struggles to get boards he should and blocks that he should...He will tighten it up tho as you said with Major coaching him...

need kyle to be a plug, nothing more, nothing less. hell be needed for 5-8 mins. those mins will be key. he just needs to hold his ground and not let a run go when hes in there. higher energy player, well see how he does as the other team gets more physical.

Much like Twig in his career...I see his minutes getting smaller tho once we have Kecman and Dallas back...

hard to tell. walsh is walsh. looks to be serviceable or better.

True, but the atleticism is there, and we know he can shoot the ball and handle the ball...

needs to dial his game back a tad, less is more at the point. like many young guards has a tendency to dribble once to much. conley had the same thing. hell adjust and hell be a better player for it. quick hands.

Lots of the same things we saw with Conley and we knew about Crater coming in...extra dribble, thread the needle passes...etc...He will be fine as the season goes on...

taller/longer than i remembered.

He got himself into much better shape and more muscle as well...I think he could play himself into the first round by the end of the year...

well need pj for minutes this year. he can play but he will be a program depth player. nothing wrong with that.

I agree, was just hoping for more than that this year...

hitting out jumpers will be key also.

Lots of big time shooters this year...We will be fine in this respect...

what about the coaching, calling a full to at 1608ish. any decent coach would wait a few seconds. or calling a full when you can extend a 20 to a full. or leaving his kids out on the floor during the tv timeout. apparently he doesnt watch much college ball on tv...

True but it is an exhibition game and he needed to yell at his team at that time...

lets be frank they might be a good d3 school but that team could be run out of the mens gym on a tuesday night...

True I talked to the coach before the game and he told me that they needed 30 points...But they did give Akron a tough game who usually has a solid team...We will have our test coming up...Just good to see some good things out there...

a 2-25 team would excited you, its basketball season

Very true...

 

[jimotis4heisman]

True but it is an exhibition game and he needed to yell at his team at that time...

id disagree. he didnt seem real antimated. that timeout was poor coaching. had he walked the ball up the floor he could have used his 20 and made it a tv. that would have been an ok choice, a good coach would have known he had the long tv coming and sat on it.

sending his kids back out on the floor was a joke. once he realized it he didnt bring them back together, they stood out on the floor looking like morons, starring at cheerleaders, waving to their moms etc. a joke. poor to. then sednign your kids out there, you lost the emphasis you could of had and then you let kids stand around and day dream for 90 seconds. not real effective move. granted thats why hes at walsh. im sure hes a great guy and knows basketball and what not but thats why hes at walsh..