Category: OSU Basketball (Page 10 of 11)

It wasn’t always pretty, but the Buckeyes got the job done tonight on the road against Iowa State 60-57.

The # 25 Buckeyes are now off to their best start in 15 years at 7-0 and tonight’s win told a lot about the makeup of this team. Iowa State hasn’t lived up to their billing, but make no mistake, this is a very talented team. They aren’t that different from the ISU that gave UNC everything they could handle in the NCAA tournament last year. Curtis Stinson is one of the best players in the Big 12 and tonight he again showed flashes of brilliance, but OSU was able to keep him in check for most of the game.

Game ball has to go to Je’Kel Foster for his 28 points. This kid is flat-out incredible and he put the team on his back at times tonight. These types of games are a great test for a team and it really takes solid leadership and character to gut out these close-game wins on the road in a tough enviroment.

The Buckeyes are undefeated going into tonight’s game against Belmont and OSU should easily be able to extend their winning streak to six games. Ohio State is finally in the top 25, where they belong, but it’s tough to get a good gauge on this team. They are taking care of business so far, which is all you can ask, but their non-con schedule has been light. Their win over St. Joes was impressive and they have difficult games with Iowa State and LSU, but on the whole, this team shouldn’t have more than one or two losses heading into conference season. It will be in big 10 play that Thad will really earn his paycheck.

Despite sending three teams to the elite 8 last year, Big Ten basketball may be stronger overall this season. This is how OSU starts Big Ten play in the new year.

01/07 at #18 Indiana 4:00 PM
01/11 at Purdue *8:00 PM
01/15 #12 Mich St TBD
01/18 #24 Wisconsin 8:30 PM
01/21 at Penn State *12:00 PM
01/28 at #23 Iowa *8:05 PM

02/04 Minnesota *3:00 PM
02/09 at Michigan 7:00 PM
02/12 #8 Illinois 1:00 PM
02/15 at #24 Wisconsin *8:00 PM
02/18 N’western *12:00 PM
02/22 at #12 Mich St *8:00 PM
02/25 Michigan

Northwestern, Purdue and Penn State are all easy victories. The rest will be a dogfight. Even taking out the ranked teams, Minnesota is starting to play like people thought they would since Grier is healthy (Grier has often been called the toughest player to defend in the conference) and Michigan is also loaded wil talent.

The B10 sked is rough, no doubt, but by building the team’s confidence through the non-con schedule, the Buckeyes should have the talent and experience to be in the thick of the Big Ten race.

Wow. This is amazing. Greg Oden and Mike Conley announced today that they have selected Ohio State over Indiana, Michigan State and Wake Forest. They both cited Thad Matta as a big reason why they decided to become Buckeyes.

On paper, this gives Ohio State one of the best recruiting classes of all time, and many are starting to call this class the “Fantastic Four,” with standouts Daequan Cook of Dayton Dunbar and David Lighty of Cleveland Villa-Angela St. Joseph already committed. Oden is the biggest prize of the group. The 7-footer was expected to be the top pick out of high school in next year’s NBA draft, but he always maintained he wanted to attend college and the NBA also just instituted an age minimum.

It’s amazing that Matta was able to land these recruits in light of all the negative publicity surrounding the basketball program. This might be the beginning of an awesome hoops program in Columbus.

Can we actually believe these reports that Greg Oden has decided to play for the Buckeyes? With the recent NCAA problems and the lame recruiting history over the past ten years, this is almost too good to be true. I won’t celebrate until this is set in stone, but this would be awesome. He has not confirmed the reports that OSU is his choice, so we’ll have to wait until Wednesday’s news conference for this to be made official.

Greg Oden is a seven-footer who most believed would be the top selection of the 2006 draft as a high school player. Yes, he’s supposed to be that good. Nevertheless, Oden has been telling anyone who would listen that he wanted to play in college first and that he was looking at Indiana, Ohio State, Michigan State and Wake Forest. Now, with the new age limit established by the NBA collective bargaining agreement, he doesn’t have a choice. If he comes here, he will be joined by teammate Mike Conley, an excellent point guard. This would be an amazing coup for Thad Matta and Ohio State. Let’s hope all is confirmed this week.