Bell, Giddens & Thompson Lead Revitalized Buckeye Frontcourt

By Mike Young on October 8, 2015 at 4:10 pm
Ohio State's Big Men
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Ohio State big men faced a constant barrage of criticism from fans and media in the past three seasons. While it was mostly directed towards Amir Williams, the fact no one could supplant him in the rotation meant people were almost equally frustrated with his backups.

Thad Matta brought in grad transfer Anthony Lee from Temple to provide depth on last year's team. Unfortunately, he spent a large portion of the season on the bench due to various injuries. A nagging groin injury sidelined him the last two months of the season. 

Williams returned to the starting lineup with Trey McDonald occasionally spelling him. In need of an offensive spark, Matta preferred to rely on a small lineup – Jae'Sean Tate and Marc Loving played up front. It was ideal for floor spacing but suffered defensively when Tate attempted to guard Frank Kaminsky on the blocks, for example. 

Buckeye lineups should return to a more traditional look this season since Virginia Tech transfer Trevor Thompson is eligible, Daniel Giddens is now on campus and Dave Bell returns from a redshirt season.

While Tate excelled at times, particularly with his low-post scoring, his role will no longer require him to play out of position.

"No question about that. I know it's been different this fall just in terms of when guys go down the lane, there's three guys that are going up and are ultra-aggressive in trying to block shots," Matta said at media day, Tuesday. "You hope that does take a little bit of load off the other guys and maybe we don't have to dig down as much or whatever it is."

Williams averaged 1.5 two blocks per game in his OSU career, but padded his totals in non-conference play and against Minnesota, for some reason. The defensive positioning lapses offset many of the productive plays he made. 

Matta explicitly compared Williams to Thompson, who had a lower block percentage than Williams but is more versatile.

"He’s probably more skilled than Trey or Amir that we had last year. Jared was probably the ultimate skilled big guy that we’ve ever had here," he said. "Trevor has been kind of chomping at the bit to get in here and make an impact. He’s been in the program for a year, he’s had a chance to learn, he’s had a chance to see the ups and downs of college basketball from Ohio State’s eyes and I know he’s excited to play. He can move, he goes up and gets balls, blocks shots above the rim, those types of things."

Obviously, having never played in a college game before, we don't know if Giddens and Bell's skill set will translate to the next level. Bell is considered a project and might be a completely different player after redshirting. 

Giddens' low post defense isn't as much of an unknown, it was his best asset as a prep player. We know he's unafraid to challenge anyone at the rim, as he proved here against Kansas five-star freshman Carlton Bragg:

Ohio State's rotation hasn't featured a consistent shot-blocking threat since Dallas Lauderdale left. With three players over 6-feet-9-inches tall, it might be the most imposing frontline since Greg Oden and Othello Hunter manned the middle for the 2006-07 Final Four squad. 

While they might not put up prolific numbers like Hunter and Oden, the hope is one of the three new bigs will be consistent in providing rim protection.

"We have to keep those guys ultra-aggressive because it's been a little bit different when guys go down in the paint now and guys try to go get the ball out of the air," Matta said. "Just altering shots, they don't have to block everything, if they can alter it that would definitely help us."

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