#4 Ohio State 87, Walsh University 62 (Final)

[crazybuckfan40]

Nice post. I agree about Conley, the one time he went to the right side as he crossed half court he ended up getting trapped in the corner and had to call a timeout. He can get to the rack tho using his left hand and seems to pick and choose his times nicely.

I really like Cook's game and his ability to take his guy down low is going to be a great assest.

I think we will have some wild games where we just try to outscore teams.

I also agree about the rebounding. We have to be able to pull down some boards and not give teams second chance points.

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

This is not the #4 team in the country without Oden on the floor. It will be a tale of 2 seasons for Ohio State this season, one without Oden and one with Oden.

In the long run, the injury to Oden could be a blessing for this team come March.

Scout.com (Free)

Game wrap-up.

[jimotis4heisman]

i agree junking, but i also dont think it will be a he steps on the floor and they are a top five team, oden like every other player will have growing pains into the college game, its a matter of how quick he comes around. whether its a few games or a couple of months. come march things could be exciting

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

BSB (Free)

Game wrap-up.

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

i agree junking, but i also dont think it will be a he steps on the floor and they are a top five team, oden like every other player will have growing pains into the college game, its a matter of how quick he comes around. whether its a few games or a couple of months. come march things could be exciting

We are on the same page jimotis.......lets not forget that it will almost 8 months without playing organized basketball for Oden when he returns, so lets not expect him to carry the team from his very first game, it will take some time.

[crazybuckfan40]

The thing about Oden is that he is not going to have to carry this team from and offensive standpoint. We have plenty of weapons to score(Lewis, Butler, Cook, Lighty, Conley, Harris). So we are going to need him on the defensive end to be able to be big cause teams to not get such easy shots off down low and to help rebound. Also a lot of his offensive game revolves around dunking the ball so I don't really see it taking him that much time to get used to playing college ball. The only problem I forsee is just confidence in his hand to do the things he can do and his conditioning.

[Oh8ch]

Lewis not in the starting 5....interesting.

Twigs and Harris did not start as well - but did in game one. That means that in two exhibition games all 8 players have started. I think that may be the point.

And when I say 'all 8' Payne was not to be seen in uniform or otherwise. Anybody have any scoop?


Our big issues are as we would have predicted - rebounding and depth. Cook played 16 minutes and fouled out. Twigs did not play a lot for the four fouls he picked up either. We play a physical team and Payne better show up just to finish the game with an official lineup. This team against North Carolina or Florida will be very ugly.

that press was ugly. poorly executed

I agree. But nice to see that they are to a piont to even try a press this early.


These guys are raw and not playing well together as yet. Still they will be very, very good with or without Oden. But not top 10 good.

Today Hunter impressed me most and Cook least based on expectations.


And I have to call out the students.

There was a group of six OSU students in the first row under the basket. Other than that there were 18 cheereladers and a pep band of about 40. Those two groups easily outnumbered the total number of other students in the arena.

So on Thursday night they can't show up and on Sunday afternoon they can't show up. Plenty of good seats at $10 a pop. I don't get it.

Overall the place was half full at best. We whine about not having a Midnight Madness, but when anyone can go see the team everybody stays home and rakes leaves.