Preview: James Madison at #17 Ohio State
Always great to get a leader back.
 #17 Ohio State 1-0, 0-0 Big Ten Roster | Schedule |
November 12, 2009 7:00 PM ET – BTN —— The Schott Columbus, OH |
 James Madison 0-0, 0-0 CAA Roster | Schedule |
Fresh off signing the #1 recruiting class in the land yesterday and the 40-point pasting they put on Alcorn State Monday, the Buckeyes have their last tune-up before taking on the Big Boys in NYC next Thursday.
The signing of the Super Six solidifies the direction Thad has this program going, now if only the rest of Buckeye Nation can give notice and show up to the Schott to give their support.
It still blows my mind that there are 55,000 students on OSU’s campus and Thad can’t get at least 3,000 of them to every game. Perhaps the school should make it a required class, because the turnout for the season opener was pitiful.
| # | Name | PTS | REB | ASST | POS | # | Name | PTS | REB | ASST |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 21 | Evan Turner | 14.0 | 17.0 | 10.0 | G | 51 | Pierre Curtis | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 |
| 44 | William Buford | 19.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | G | 24 | Darren White | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 |
| 33 | Jon Diebler | 22.0 | 4.0 | 2.0 | F | 11 | Andrey Semenov | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 |
| 23 | David Lighty | 8.0 | 4.0 | 8.0 | F | 34 | Julian Wells | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 |
| 15 | Kyle Madsen | 7.0 | 4.0 | 0.00 | C | 41 | Trevon Flores | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 |
Opponent
The Dukes have yet to play a game, but are coming off an 21-15 season a year ago. Their roster is supposed to have 3 Columbus natives on it, but Devon Moore of Northland and Eric Beard of Reynoldsburg are both injured, while Trevon Flores, originally from Eastmoor will be playing with a broken nose.
Sophomore Julius Wells was the CAA Rookie of the Year last season and was a teammate of William Buford’s in high school. He is the leading returning scorer, averaging 11.6 points and 5.5 boards a game in the 2008-2009 season. It should be fun watching him and Buford go at each other tonight.
The other starters have a combined 17.5 points per game coming back. Flores and White are both freshman, while Curtis dumped in 9.3 and Semenov, 8.2. JMU will be coached by James Brady, in his second year at the helm.
Buckeye Breakdown:
The Buckeyes will have the services of Dallas Lauderdale back tonight. He had an X-Ray this morning and was cleared to play, but no word on how much he’ll play. Obviously inside is the only potential weak spot on this team, but with the depth at wings, Thad won’t expect much scoring from the bigs.
The triple-double debate has emerged after Turner’s feat on Monday night. The record books only have Dennis Hopson pulling it off before ET, but the legend of Bill Hosket is growing. Assists didn’t become part of the boxscore until 1973 and Hosket’s teammates claim there were a few games where the Big Man would have accounted for at least 10 dimes. Regardless of how many there have been, a triple-double is an awesome accomplishment and with the ease he got it on Monday night, don’t be surprised if that becomes The Villian’s standard all year.
It will be interesting to see if Diebler and Simmons can hit the open jumpers once again tonight. They were both inconsistent last year and another key to a successful season is getting them to hit around 40% of their 3-ball attempts this year. I’m not expecting a combined 9-14 from beyond the arc every game, but these two can open up the floor and driving lanes for Turner and Lighty, if they become consistent.
Another thing to watch for tonight is any potential improvement from Big Z in the middle. Early reviews are a little stiff, but if he can clog the lane for 10 minutes a game and pull down at least 5 boards, he can serve a huge role for this team.
Etc
- Surprisingly, OSU is 0-1 against JMU, losing 48-55 in the first round of the NCAA Tourney in 1982.
- Two of 11W’s favorites, Gus Johnson and Jimmy Jackson will call the game tonight.
- BJ Mullen’s Watch: He has yet to dress and play any minutes in 8 OKC games.
Gus and Jimmy are two of my favorites – but for far different reasons. From what I recall, Jimmy was pretty difficult on the ears last year while Gus is a legend that could make East Mississippi Valley A&M State versus Northwest Coppin State Community College of Architecture seem like a Final Four battle.
Agreed. I didn’t want to criticize JJ too much in his rookie year, I’m hoping he got better over the summer. The possibility of Gus or Tom Hamilton calling games is awesome.
The Dukes this Thursday night and North Carolina next Thursday night.
what is up with the lag in the time it takes you to post something here and for it to make it through to my google reader? is that a me thing or a technology thing i wouldn’t understand?
Google caches RSS feeds so there will typically be some delay between when a post goes live here and when it shows up in your reader.
gotcha. thanks!
the internet is a series of tubes.
Re: Student turnout – …Corey, maybe it has to do with playing teams like Alcorn State and James Madison….
You are right, but that’s still weak to me considering 100k have no problem showing up to watch Youngstown State across the street.
I won’t be going myself…. but My excuse is pretty solid.
Maybe its because football > bball?
Hey guys, I am a student at tOSU. I have to agree, the student showcasing on Monday was pitiful…can’t agrue with that. With that being said, not only are these games against inferior opponents- but they are priced the same as the Big Ten + Fl. State matchups.
I have season tickets for the big ten games and the Fl. State game which went for about $120 in total (something like $10-12/game). You could also buy tickets to these individual games against teams like Presbyterian College, Lipscomb for $10-12 as well. To the average fan, who’s going to buy those up? Maybe if they slashed the prices in half for those type of games, there would be a better turnout?? Schools like UNC, Duke dont have that issue because their football season is over before it starts and their student body is looking for some sporting event in which they can win…regardless of opponent.
still doesn’t apply because even North Carolina gets a good student turnout at their football games
games are at 7pm during the work week which doesn’t make it easy for me to get there
I’m not sure why the students aren’t going….
I just hate seeing empty seats behind the basket. I understand, to a certain extent why students can’t show up or shell out the $$$ for all games, but if they aren’t going to show up, then the ushers need to escort all fans in the building down to the lower bowl area.
Thad just scored the #1 recruiting class and the team is ranked 16, so for me, it’s more embarrassing that there are that many empty seats in the lower bowl when the program overall has been skyrocketing upward since Thad’s arrival.
I’ve actually partied with those Ohio State girls from the Iowa site. Small world.
?
Side note: Love seeing the Villain’s averages in the table above.
I thought Value City went out of business. I was looking forward to not hearing or seeing anything about them this season. Naming the arena “Value City” arena is one of the worst decisions by OSU since they turned down the Rose Bowl bid in 1960.
nope, i have a good friend that works at their corporate office.
Simmons’ nickname is AO? Who knew.
Trillion for Titus!
The universe is at peace.