Ohio State vs North Carolina Nov 19th 2009

[Ttown]

Ohio State will play in the Coaches vs Cancer Tournament in Madison Square Garden and their opponent will be the University of North Carolina.
Man what a game this would be for us to win!
The Buckeyes return everyone from last season's roster except for backup center B.J. Mullens, who left Ohio State after his freshman season and was a first-round draft choice of the NBA's Oklahoma City Thunder. Guard David Lighty is back after missing most of last season with a broken foot and University of Alabama-Birmingham transfer Zisis Sarikopoulos, a 7-0 center, will make his Ohio State debut.

Lauderdale has a hand injury which will make the task harder. He has a broken finger and will be out for several weeks.

[OHSportsFan9]

Originally Posted by Ttown

Ohio State will play in the Coaches vs Cancer Tournament in Madison Square Garden and their opponent will be the University of North Carolina.
Man what a game this would be for us to win!
The Buckeyes return everyone from last season's roster except for backup center B.J. Mullens, who left Ohio State after his freshman season and was a first-round draft choice of the NBA's Oklahoma City Thunder. Guard David Lighty is back after missing most of last season with a broken foot and University of Alabama-Birmingham transfer Zisis Sarikopoulos, a 7-0 center, will make his Ohio State debut.

Lauderdale has a hand injury which will make the task harder. He has a broken finger and will be out for several weeks.

But is expected back for this game.

Can't believe this game is just 1 month away.

Also, a win could make for quite the weekend.

[mooktarr]

This has to be the big game in the early schedule. Wow, I'm excited for BB season now.

[crazybuckfan40]

Anyone got much on UNC this year? Haven't had the chance to really check anything out...

I know thye lost Ellington, Hansbrough, Lawson, and Green...but I am sure they are still loaded...

[LitlBuck]

Originally Posted by crazybuckfan40

Anyone got much on UNC this year? Haven't had the chance to really check anything out...

I know thye lost Ellington, Hansbrough, Lawson, and Green...but I am sure they are still loaded...

They are ranked by most prognosticators as one of the top 10, if not top five, teams in the country. I don't think they will have much problem with their frontcourt play because they have plenty of size and depth by where they are hurting is in the backcourt and especially at PG. Here is one guys analysis

Link

Losses: Tyler Hansbrough, Ty Lawson, Wayne Ellington, Danny Green, Bobby Frasor

Key Returnees: Marcus Ginyard, Ed Davis, Deon Thompson, Tyler Zeller, Larry Drew II, William Graves

Newcomers: John Henson, Dexter Strickland, Leslie McDonald, David and Travis Wear

Just the simple fact that the defending champs have a legitimate shot to return to the Final Four after losing Hansbrough, Lawson, Ellington and Green ? four starters ? is amazing. This team will have no shortage of long and athletic big men with the return of Davis and Zeller and the addition of Henson, but point-guard play will determine how successful UNC is this season. Drew II will likely get the first crack at replacing Lawson, but he's no Lawson. Ginyard returns after redshirting last season and two freshmen guards ? Strickland and McDonald ? may have to grow up quickly. Look for Davis to emerge as a star up front, and Thompson to become a more consistent scorer in the post without Hansbrough.

The Buckeyes have a pretty tough schedule this season with Butler and Florida State being pretty high ranked in addition to the game at West Virginia.

[Ttown]

Originally Posted by LitlBuck

They are ranked by most prognosticators as one of the top 10, if not top five, teams in the country. I don't think they will have much problem with their frontcourt play because they have plenty of size and depth by where they are hurting is in the backcourt and especially at PG. Here is one guys analysis

Link



The Buckeyes have a pretty tough schedule this season with Butler and Florida State being pretty high ranked in addition to the game at West Virginia.

I think we have more game experience in our starters than NC does and that might give us an edge so early in the season.

[DZ83CK]

I definitely think OSU should be considered the favorites in this game. For all the recruiting laurels Roy Williams gets, he did a [censored]ty job of "reloading" the backcourt in preparation for this season, or so it seems. Larry Drew is not a UNC-caliber starting PG, based on how he played last year and where he was ranked coming out of HS, but he's their starter. Roy has almost always had great PGs, the only year recently that he didn't have a great PG was that 2005-06 team that was like a 4 seed and lost in the 2nd round of the tourney. They have Marcus Ginyard back as their defensive stopper (just imagine how inexperienced their guards/wings would've been if he hadn't gotten hurt at the beginning of last season), and a McD's AA wing player coming in who's rail-thin. Those 3 seem likely to be their main backcourt guys, then you also have a couple moderately highly rated (for UNC standards) other frosh guards coming in, and it doesn't sound like a top-10 backcourt to me by any stretch of the imagination, at least not in November. Now, the frontcourt is loaded, but overall this isn't a UNC team that is bound to make the Final Four by any stretch of the imagination.

[Sportsbuck28]

Ed Davis is a monster... that's all I have to add.

I'm a Tar Heel fan, but when it comes to tOSU-UNC my love for the Bucks supercedes that!

[NFBuck]

Originally Posted by Ttown

I think we have more game experience in our starters than NC does and that might give us an edge so early in the season.

The guys they're plugging in saw significant playing time last year, so this won't be some inexperienced team. On top of that, with the talent they bring in every year, they go legitimately 10 deep. Gonna be a tough game.

[keeganbrick]

Yea, we will need Lauderdale's presence to defend Ed Davis because that dude is going to explode this season. Hopefully Lauderdale recovers quickly.

[Best Buckeye]

Originally Posted by NFBuck

The guys they're plugging in saw significant playing time last year, so this won't be some inexperienced team. On top of that, with the talent they bring in every year, they go legitimately 10 deep. Gonna be a tough game.

Sure it's going to be a tough game, they all are but I can see that we have more returning starters than them and we just might sneak up on them. With Turner playing lights out and Lighty coming back along with Buford and Deibs we just might do it.
I can see us with a legitimate shot to win this game.

[buckeyesin07]

FWIW (and this was from June 16, but I don't think much has changed since then), Andy Katz has UNC ranked #5 and OSU at #16.

Andy Katz: Final top 25 before the fall - ESPN

[LitlBuck]

Originally Posted by DZ83CK

I definitely think OSU should be considered the favorites in this game. For all the recruiting laurels Roy Williams gets, he did a [censored]ty job of "reloading" the backcourt in preparation for this season, or so it seems. Larry Drew is not a UNC-caliber starting PG, based on how he played last year and where he was ranked coming out of HS, but he's their starter.

I agree for the most part with your post. However, I don't know if I would considerthe favorite in this game. I think it is one of the games where we will be very outsized in the frontcourt and I would think will probably have to play quite a bit of zone defense because the frontcourt matchups will not be very good for us. I guess the PG position does not bother me as much as it does other people especially when you have a pretty nice surrounding cast around you. Maybe my rationale is completely off but I only thing that a PG becomes extremely important when you are being pressed or in the final couple minutes of a close game. Also, many people talk about Davis being their best frontcourt player. I would watch out for Thompson because not only is he very tall but he has quite a bit of bulk to him also.

[crazybuckfan40]

From the sounds of it, it should be a pretty good match up...

UNC has talent but it is a little unproven at this point, and tOSU has talent, but lacks some size down low to defend UNC...

Lauderdale will be back, bank on that...

I do think with our length we will pose many problems for teams on offense as Ligty, Turner, Diebs, Offut, Buford are all very long...

[LitlBuck]

Originally Posted by crazybuckfan40

From the sounds of it, it should be a pretty good match up...

UNC has talent but it is a little unproven at this point, and tOSU has talent, but lacks some size down low to defend UNC...

Lauderdale will be back, bank on that...

I do think with our length we will pose many problems for teams on offense as Ligty, Turner, Diebs, Offut, Buford are all very long...

Don't forget P.J. not very long but he will get you at the knees