• Follow us on Twitter @buckeyeplanet and @bp_recruiting, like us on Facebook! Enjoy a post or article, recommend it to others! BP is only as strong as its community, and we only promote by word of mouth, so share away!
  • Consider registering! Fewer and higher quality ads, no emails you don't want, access to all the forums, download game torrents, private messages, polls, Sportsbook, etc. Even if you just want to lurk, there are a lot of good reasons to register!

2020-2021 Ohio State Men's Basketball (Official Thread)

If the NBA completes its season successfully with very few COVID-19 cases, that would augur well for a college season. Players would need to be bubbled, though.
I have no idea where they would do that and still be able to attend classes. The NBA does not have to worry about kids going to school. Probably should but they do not.
 
Upvote 0
If the NBA completes its season successfully with very few COVID-19 cases, that would augur well for a college season. Players would need to be bubbled, though.

I have no idea where they would do that and still be able to attend classes. The NBA does not have to worry about kids going to school. Probably should but they do not.

Online classes while in "the bubble".
 
Upvote 0
Proposed start date of late November...



As first reported by CBS Sports' Jon Rothstein on Tuesday, the NCAA Men's and Women's Basketball Oversight Committee plans to propose a Nov. 25 start date for the 2020-21 college basketball season. The Athletic's Dana O'Neil, who confirmed Rothstein's report Wednesday, added that the Division I Council will vote to approve that start date on Sept. 16.

Starting the season on Nov. 25 – one day before Thanksgiving – would be just a brief delay from when the season was originally scheduled to open. Ohio State was initially set to open its season on Nov. 11 against Oakland at the Schottenstein Center.

 
Upvote 0
OHIO STATE TO PARTICIPATE IN SOUTH DAKOTA-BASED BATTLE 4 ATLANTIS INSTEAD OF TRAVELING TO BAHAMAS

116534_h.jpg


Ohio State signed up to take a trip to the Bahamas and will instead end up in South Dakota.

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Battle 4 Atlantis – an eight-team early-season tournament – will move from the Bahamas to Sioux Falls, South Dakota, CBS Sports' Jon Rothstein reported on Monday afternoon. The games will be played in Sanford Pentagon, which houses a G League team called the Sioux Falls Skyforce.

The field, which was announced earlier this year, includes Duke, West Virginia, Memphis, Texas A&M, Utah, Creighton, and Wichita State to go along with the Chris Holtmann-led Buckeyes. A limited number of fans will be able to attend the games, per Rothstein.



Neither the matchups nor dates of the tournament have been announced. Those will be made public at a later date.

Ohio State plans to play in an early-season tournament each season going forward.

“I do like them, and I think here it's also not a bad thing because football here in the fall, it controls a lot of things,” Holtmann said last fall. “So it's not a bad idea to take your team away for four, five days or a week and play neutral games in settings like that.”

In the next couple of years, the Buckeyes are slated to play in the Maui Invitational, which will be held in Lahaina, Hawaii – unless, apparently, a pandemic forces it to the Dakotas.

Entire article: https://www.elevenwarriors.com/ohio...le-4-atlantis-instead-of-traveling-to-bahamas
 
Upvote 0


Regarding Ohio State, Lindy’s has the Buckeyes pegged at No. 22 overall and fifth in the Big Ten for the new season. Here was their analysis:

“The Good: All Chris Holtmann has done in his career has produce winners and tourney teams. This one is led by the returning backcourt of Duane Washington Jr. and C.J. Walker, who aren’t huge scorers, but won’t have to be with the arrival of transfers Justice Sueing (Cal) and Seth Towns (Harvard) and the further rise of E.J. Liddell.

“The Bad: Holtmann has recruited at a high level, which is only a problem because guys tend to leave, either for the pros or additional playing time, as was the case with Kaleb Wesson (NBA) and Luther Muhammad (Arizona State).

“Our Call: Holtmann is an easy 20 wins a year, be it at Ohio State, Butler or way back at Gardner-Webb. Yet he’s only been to the Sweet 16 once and has yet to get the Bucks there. This ranking says he doesn’t make it this year, either … but we’re not sure we would bet against it. If Liddell improves as much as Holtmann suspects, this team has a chance to go far.”
 
Upvote 0


DOWNTIME? IN THIS ECONOMY? There are obvious perks to being a Division I men's basketball coach at a big-time program (I hear the pay ain't too bad, either), but downtime at your own home sure ain't one of them.

Unless, of course, there's a global pandemic.

... The pandemic has paused in-person recruiting and evaluation until at least the end of the calendar year, and it wiped out what are the two busiest months for college coaches: April and September. The former is busy on the recruiting trail for both high school prospects as well as the exploding transfer market and roster retention, while the latter often features 20-hour days as the Buckeyes start preparing for the season while also hosting official visitors on campus often for home football games.

Those months can prove even more consuming than the season.

“The dynamic that changed completely was just the travel,” Holtmann said. “The amount of time after the season that I was on the phone or working or conducting business was actually more. It’s been over 25 years since I’ve experienced consecutive months where I’ve not been gone for 15-20 nights out of a month.”

Put the nation on notice – Chris Holtmann is rested and ready to defend his (simulated) national title.
 
Upvote 0


Initially, Chris Holtmann hoped the initial slate of 31 games that had the Buckeyes set to tip off against Oakland on Nov. 11 would remain intact. As time passed this summer, it became increasingly clear that it will look notably different than expected when the program released the non-conference portion of its schedule in May.

“The schedule will look completely different,” Holtmann said on Friday. “It'll certainly measure up as the hardest in the history of our program just given how unique the year is.”

Here’s what we know for sure about the schedule:
  • It will max out at 27 games, which is a mark the NCAA has mandated across the sport.
  • Of those 27 games, 20 will likely be played against Big Ten opponents. However, that number isn’t set quite yet, and they could have more in-conference matchups.
  • Ohio State will play in the ACC-Big Ten Challenge, Holtmann said. His team will be on the road against a yet-to-be-determined opponent.
  • The Buckeyes will take on North Carolina in the CBS Sports Classic on Dec. 19. The location isn’t yet set for the game, Holtmann said.
  • Most of the games against low-major or mid-major teams in the non-conference portion of the schedule won’t be played for a “variety of reasons,” per Holtmann. The Buckeyes had Oakland, Akron, Alabama A&M, Niagra, Towson and Morehead State on their schedule released earlier this year.
“Beyond that, I couldn't give you really any more specifics, even including the South Dakota event,” Holtmann said, referring to the formerly-named Battle 4 Atlantis that has been moved to Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

Much of the holdup in finalizing a schedule, Holtmann said, comes down to how many conference games the Big Ten plays. Will it be 20 games, as usual, or will it be more?

Holtmann’s voice on the matter has been heard. He’s on a Big Ten scheduling subcommittee, which features several athletic directors and head coaches. The conference’s head coaches also have two weekly conference calls on Tuesday and Thursday mornings.

“I'm saying the same thing on those calls that we really do need to finalize the number,” Holtmann said. “I believe it to be 20 (Big Ten games). I expect that it's leaning in that direction. But if there's an increase, it just changes. I think everybody's concerned about over-scheduling to some point right now. I think, again, everybody's going to play a really challenging schedule. But that's what you're dealing with is waiting on final word from the Big Ten on how many games.”

IS THIS TEAM MATURE ENOUGH?
Nothing about the 2020-21 season will be normal. That’s the only thing anybody knows for sure.

Ohio State has already gotten a dose of that over the past few months, with players taking multiple COVID-19 tests per week and participating in workouts with stringent protocols. Knowing how much remains ahead for the Buckeyes who want to play a full season, does he think this group is mature enough to do what it needs to to remain safe and coronavirus-free? Yes, he says. He does.

“I've been incredibly impressed with their maturity these past 10 weeks,” Holtmann said.

What might help Holtmann is the veteran presence on the roster.

He only has four underclassmen, including two freshmen. The rest of the team is made up of upperclassmen – two fourth-year seniors, two fifth-year seniors, a fifth-year junior, two fourth-year juniors and two third-year juniors.

“I think we've got a group that is mature, that cares about each other,” Holtmann said. “That's a good place to start. Again, we've got a lot of questions we've got to answer. But I do feel pretty confident in seeing them operate. We know that there are certain things you can do to prevent the risk of getting COVID, but you can't completely prevent the risk. But I do believe after seeing our guys day to day here for the last 10 weeks, I like our maturity.”
 
Last edited:
Upvote 0
Back
Top