2009-2010 Men's Basketball

[LitlBuck]

Kevin Kuwik's new cause
When coach Thad Matta hired Kevin Kuwik as the program's video coordinator in August, I was well aware of Kuwik's story from when The Dispatch profiled him as an Ohio University assistant coach in 2005. Then, he was on leave from his job and in Iraq as a captain with a U.S. Army Reserves engineering unit. He served for 14 months, returning in December 2005, and was awarded a Bronze Star for meritorious service.

I was unaware of the rest of his story until this morning, when I read The Washington Post account of yesterday's Senate aviation committee hearing in Washington on legislation that would enhance aviation safety regulations.
Kuwik served as spokesman at the hearing for a group representing passengers of Continental Connection Flight 3407, which crashed Feb.12 in icy weather while on approach to Buffalo Niagara International Airport in New York.

Why Kuwik?

His girlfriend, Lorin Maurer, a fund-raiser in the Princeton athletics department, was a passenger on the flight and died, as did all others on board. Maurer, 30, was en route to Buffalo to meet Kuwik for his brother's wedding Feb.14.

Kuwik was working as director of basketball operations at Butler last season. He and Maurer had met less than a year before the crash while attending the Final Four in San Antonio.

"Coming back from Iraq and I didn't lose anybody," Kuwik told the Buffalo News the day after the accident. "You think if you can get through Iraq unscathed, you wouldn't have something like this happen."

Posted by Bob Baptist on October 30, 2009 11:59 AM

Hoops & Scoops: an OSU basketball blog

[Buckskin86]

Hoops Practice Report
By Brandon Castel

The Buckeyes will hit the hardwood Wednesday night (8 p.m. ET, BigTenNetwork.com) for an exhibition game against Walsh University as they prepare to tip off the sixth season under Head Coach Thad Matta, but they will do so without starting center Dallas Lauderdale.

The 6-foot-8 junior out of Solon broke a bone (fourth metacarpal) on the back of his right hand and was scheduled to miss 4-6 weeks following surgery back on Oct. 14th. Although Wednesday?s game will officially be the four-week mark since the surgery, Matta said Monday there was no chance Lauderdale would play in the team?s exhibition game.

?He goes to the doctor tomorrow morning, they?ll take another X-ray. We?re kind of hoping that we can devise something that if we get it done, he?ll be able to practice tomorrow.?

Meanwhile, Lauderdale was in shorts doing all of his work on the side Monday as Ohio State held an open practice for the media. He still had a wrap and tape on his right hand/wrist, but seemed able to dribble with it just fine.

He didn?t take part in the team portion of practice, but did swish a left-handed free throw, which if you've ever seen Dallas shoot right-handed you know is a miracle. Afterwards, Evan Turner said, "Wow, the next Greg Oden."

-- Backup center Zisis Sarikopoulos ? a transfer from the University of Alabama Birmingham who sat out last season ? was also held out of practice Monday after banging knees with another player in the last practice.

?Zisis tweaked his knee so we held him out. He?ll go tomorrow,? Matta said.

-- With Lauderdale and Big Z (as he is known by his teammates) out of the lineup, 6-9 senior Kyle Madsen ? a product of Dublin Coffman ? worked at center with the first group. Madsen averaged just over one point and one rebound per game last season in 7.7 minutes, but Matta said the former Vanderbilt will likely get the start against Walsh.

-- The rotations today at practice were Madsen, David Lighty, Jon Diebler, William Buford and Turner (at the point) as the first group. Nikola Kecman, Walter Offutt, Danny Peters, Jeremie Simmons and P.J. Hill were the second group. Mark Titus missed practice to attend class.

The-Ozone, Ohio State Football, Wrestling, Softball, Basketball, Hockey, Baseball and More

[Buckskin86]

Men's basketball: Buckeyes return to more man defense
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
By Bob Baptist
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

Two years later, Evan Turner can look back on that exhibition game against Findlay and laugh.

"Coach was going nuts," he said. "He got so mad, he fell in the locker room trying to kick a chair and hit the ground."

Ohio State men's basketball coach Thad Matta, in turn, had Turner and his teammates hit the ground, running, at 6 a.m. the next day. A loss to an NCAA Division II program has consequences.

And brings change.

That game was the last time the Buckeyes played primarily man-to-man defense. Aghast at how his young guards got caught under screens, miscommunicated on switches and gave up back-door alley-oops, Matta switched to a zone and, for better or worse, rode it for two seasons.

But when the Buckeyes open their 2009-10 schedule tonight with an exhibition against Walsh, an NAIA Division II team, they are expected to be back in man-to-man despite the fair amount of success they had with the zone.

"I wouldn't say we're (going to be) exclusively a man-to-man team," Matta said. "I think there's going to be times we'll play a lot of zone because the last couple of years it's kept us in some games we probably shouldn't have been in and even won us some games."

But Matta, like a majority of coaches, believes man-to-man is a superior defense. So does David Lighty, who earned his minutes as a freshman three years ago as a defensive role player.

"When you hear 'zone,' it just makes you lazy," Lighty said. "It's like, 'OK, I'm protecting my area, I'm good.'

"With man, you've got to hold yourself accountable. You know who scored. You know whose man it was. There's no (sloughing off the blame)."

BuckeyeXtra - Men's basketball: Buckeyes return to more man defense

[Buckskin86]

With roster intact, OSU meets lofty expectations as season arrives
By Nick Otte
otte.28@osu.edu
Tuesday, November 3, 2009

For the first time since 2005, the hype surrounding the Ohio State men?s basketball team has nothing to do with incoming freshmen. It has nothing to do with recently departed stars and nothing to do with ?what could have been.?

The Buckeyes, who had become all too familiar with players leaving early for the NBA, return all but one player from last year?s team and have zero incoming freshmen.

The focus on this team is not on the talent leaving Columbus, but rather on the talent staying in town.

A sense of continuity is something that has been absent from the program since 2006, when Greg Oden began a trend of ?one-and-done? players making short stays at OSU. The team?s familiarity with one another is something coach Thad Matta knows is important.

?Repetition builds confidence in my mind,? Matta said. ?I think that?s the beauty of seeing guys that have been in the program for more than one or two years. Now, there?s not a lot that they?re going to see that?s going to be new to them.?

The Lantern - With roster intact, OSU meets lofty expectations as season arrives

[CHU]

It was strange that majority of the file footage on the ESPNU Big Ten Preview, the highlights showed the Big Ten team playing Ohio State.

It was like ESPN didn't have any footage of Michigan State playing someone else, Michigan playing someone else, Purdue or Illinois playing someone else, and so on.

[Buckskin86]

OSU men: Let the games begin
Experience puts Buckeyes in line for shot at Big Ten title
Sunday, November 8, 2009
By Bob Baptist
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH


More coverage from our 2009-10 college basketball special section


Neal C. Lauron | Dispatch

Ohio State returns an experienced nucleus that includes, from left, Dallas Lauderdale, Jon Diebler, Evan Turner, Jeremie Simmons and William Buford.
Coaches spend long days and sleepless nights trying to prepare for every conceivable situation their players will experience in a game. Videos are shown, greaseboards marked up and plays walked through again and again.

But there's one aspect that can't be covered regardless of how good the sound system in the practice facility.

"You really can't simulate 15,000 people going crazy on the road, yelling and screaming at you, all of them against you and on your back," David Lighty said.

The only way to prepare for that is to have experienced it, Lighty said.

For the first time in an untold number of years, everyone on the Ohio State men's basketball team has. The only newcomer to the team is 7-foot Zisis Sarikopoulos, a third-year sophomore who played at Alabama-Birmingham as a freshman two years ago and has international experience playing for his native Greece.

BuckeyeXtra - OSU men: Let the games begin

OSU men: Keys to the season
Sunday, November 8, 2009

Key offensive players

It will be interesting to see the point-guard experiment with Evan Turner progress. Ohio State wants him to initiate the offensive possession and, at times, finish it. He should have space, with defenders obliged to honor perimeter threats William Buford and Jon Diebler. Getting the ball back to Turner after he gives it up will be something defenses will try to deny. Buford and Diebler would help the flow if they can score more off the dribble. Regardless, the Buckeyes should be able to score, especially if they can run as much as they hope to.
Key defensive players

To run, the Buckeyes must rebound better than they have the past two years. To rebound, they must force missed shots. Long-limbed center Dallas Lauderdale can do that, but whether he can do it for 30 minutes a game depends on his foul situation. David Lighty is ready to be his relentless self again, defending the opponent's best scorer and then crashing the board when the shot goes up. Turner also fancies himself a defensive stopper. But can he stay in front of the smurf guards such as Kalin Lucas and Talor Battle?

BuckeyeXtra - OSU men: Keys to the season

[Buckskin86]

Experienced Buckeyes revive an old defense as 2009-10 season opens Monday
By Doug Lesmerises, The Plain Dealer
November 08, 2009


Joshua Gunter/The Plain Dealer
Finally healthy again, OSU's David Lighty should be back to bedeviling opposing ball-handlers, as he did here against Cleveland State's J'Nathan Bullock in a 2007 game at Quicken Loans Arena.

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- For a team that sent five freshmen to the first round of the NBA Draft the last three years, the Ohio State Buckeyes will look unusually familiar on the basketball court this season. There's not a freshman on the roster.

That will allow the Buckeyes to deploy some of their old parts in very different ways.

The biggest changes in personnel are the addition of sophomore 7-footer Zisis Sarikopoulos, who sat out last season as a transfer from Alabama-Birmingham but practiced with the team every day, and the return of junior forward David Lighty, who missed the final 26 games in 2008-09 after breaking a bone in his foot.

Skip Peterson/Associated Press
Evan Turner's all-around game will energize the OSU offense, while his steady play will anchor the shift to a man-to-man defense.

The other changes aren't that big of a deal, are they? All the Buckeyes, ranked 16th and 17th in the preseason polls and picked to finish third in the Big Ten, are doing is putting their best player in a new position and changing their defense of two years.

Evan Turner is now a point guard, the Buckeyes are a man-to-man defensive team for the first time since reaching the NCAA championship in 2006-07, and the chances of winning an NCAA Tournament game for the first time since that Greg Oden-Mike Conley team are very good.

"I've been waiting for it for a while," said fourth-year junior Lighty of the man-to-man defense, which he

Experienced Buckeyes revive an old defense as 2009-10 season opens Monday | Ohio State Buckeyes - cleveland.com - - cleveland.com

[osubuckeyes2731]

I am so excited for us this year. Great team.

[LitlBuck]

Everyone who reads the basketball threads should give props to Bucksin86 for all of his great finds throughout the Ohio State basketball forum He is a man of few words but post some great stories.

[holybuckeye22]

not so sure florida state is such a winnable game. they are very well coached and play stingy defense and they return 4 of 5 starters. granted they lost douglas their best player but they have established big men who could cause some problems down low. they also have a great defender named jordan demercy who has great hands and mad hops so i think that our full court press will have to be very effective to get points off turnovers. and this season i want to see ohio state show a more sense of urgency and sense weakness and attck it. and close out games convincingly . go bucks

[LitlBuck]

Originally Posted by holybuckeye22

not so sure florida state is such a winnable game. they are very well coached and play stingy defense and they return 4 of 5 starters. granted they lost douglas their best player but they have established big men who could cause some problems down low. they also have a great defender named jordan demercy who has great hands and mad hops so i think that our full court press will have to be very effective to get points off turnovers. and this season i want to see ohio state show a more sense of urgency and sense weakness and attck it. and close out games convincingly . go bucks

Not sure if anyone thought the Florida State would be a winnable game. In fact, earlier in this thread I said that Florida State, Butler, West Virginia, and North Carolina would all be very tough opponents. Florida State has a very strong from line but we don't play them for a while so let's concentrate on the games in the near future.

[MaxBuck]

Originally Posted by holybuckeye22

not so sure florida state is such a winnable game.

You, sir, are nuts. This Buckeye team is really, really good. I expect them to wipe the floor with the Noles.

[Buckskin86]

With Lighty's glue-guy abilities (and his rebounding skills) back in the lineup, the Buckeyes are a legit Big Ten contender. And as long as Dallas Lauderdale (who's recovering from a broken finger) is at full-strength by next week, OSU is my pick to upset North Carolina and Cal and win the Coaches vs. Cancer tourney in New York.

Read more: College basketball opening-night impressions - Luke Winn - SI.com

[Oh8ch]

Not sure if anyone thought the Florida State would be a winnable game. In fact, earlier in this thread I said that Florida State, Butler, West Virginia, and North Carolina would all be very tough opponents.

Indeed they will be tough - but all winnable.

We need to remember that as much as a big lineup gives our smaller guys trouble, our quickness does the same for them.

IMO this is Matta's dream lineup. Big man in the middle (OK, a little bigger would be a little better) and weapons all around him. The key is Dallas ability to stay on the floor.

[LitlBuck]

Originally Posted by MaxBuck

You, sir, are nuts. This Buckeye team is really, really good. I expect them to wipe the floor with the Noles.

I don't want too get far ahead in the schedule But to say that we will wipe the floor when we play the Noles is a little bit of a stretch. They are a very athletic team and I have a very big frontcourt which probably averages around 6'8"+. They will be very very tough to beat and will be a very stern test for our Buckeyes.

Originally Posted by Oh8ch

Indeed they will be tough - but all winnable.

We need to remember that as much as a big lineup gives our smaller guys trouble, our quickness does the same for them.

IMO this is Matta's dream lineup. Big man in the middle (OK, a little bigger would be a little better) and weapons all around him. The key is Dallas ability to stay on the floor.

This team sort of reminds me of the team that Matta had when he was down at X which made their run to the Elite Eight. Played with one big man (West) and a 4 very similar to Lighty (David is much better) and three excellent perimeter players with a little bit of size.