First of all, I highly recommend it if you are a bball junkie like me and live in the area. It's free (they take donations), it's air conditioned (Ohio Dominican University), they have concessions, and the announcer is worth the trip. This dude isn't announcing at the scorer's table. It is non stop commentary, with ridiculous nicknames included, as he walks up and down the sidelines and is actually on the court quite a bit. Some might find it distracting. I thought it was hilarious.

As for the Buckeye players, obviously take all my thoughts with a grain of salt. It is basically pick up basketball. But there is some pretty damn good talent out there.

Brice Sensabaugh (nicknamed "Smooth Criminal"). As I mentioned on other threads, Brice hurt his ankle and left the game mid 3rd quarter. It did not seem serious, he casually walked off in the middle of a play on his own power but iced and elevated the rest of the afternoon. He also showed up late for the game, so I did not see him much. But he lived up to the hype even though he was nowehere near on pace for another fifty burger. He faced Zed and Sully's team, which is pretty stacked. His ball handling is really what stood out. I knew he could shoot and was pretty explosive. You just don't see that kind of ball handling from a dude that big. He had a cross over straight into a between the legs dribble in traffic against multiple defenders that was absolutely disgusting. He missed the shot, but I could care less.

Zed Key ("T-E-D Ted") Zed was probably 2nd most impressive behind Brice. He missed his only three and mid range shot (though it went in and out), but he just seems to be running the floor really well and looks a little more explosive. He had 2-3 dunks but his missed dunk on a fast break was maybe the most impressive. He took off a few feet from the hoop and tried to posterize his defender with a one hand jam. It flew off the back of the rim but both my brother and I were shocked Zed even attempted that. If he can keep up that conditioning and body frame, he reminds me a bit of what Xavier Tillman brought to the table for Sparty a few years ago. Not saying he will be that good, especially defensively, but I like how Zed his moving right now.

Sean McNeil ("The Shooter")- Ironically, Sean was probably 1-6 or 7 on threes, but it did not change my opinion of him. I think he will have his fair share of Will Buford type 2-9, 3-12 type games because he mainly scores from jump shots. But I still think he is our best bet to be our leading scorer. Every shot he took looked liked it was going in, just seemed slightly short on most everything (though I think he was 3-3 on two pointers including and "and one"). His one made three was about a 30 footer that he shot casually. I think he will likely consistently shoot deep threes at a level we have not seen since Scoonie Penn. And the Justin Ahrens comparison in person is even more ridculous. His stocky build and fearless style actually reminds me of former PSU hooper Joe Crispin. Not the ball handler of Crispin, but there is a reason McNeil has 166 free throw attempts and 146 made two pointers in 3 years in the Big 12. He's primarily a 3 pt shooter, but not totally one.

Kalen Etzler ("K Spot")- I like Etzler's game. I still kinda doubt he is a regular contributor to next year's squad. He's comfortable shooting threes, though I am not sure he would be that efficient, at least at this point in his career, at the collegiate level. And he is pretty athletic (dare I say sneaky) as well, but not a freak athlete or anything. If he was in the 6'4"-6'6" range I am not sure he would be worth the investment/scholarship. But he looks like a legit 6'8" to me. He's pretty comfortable with the ball in his hands for a dude that tall. It seems impossible to predict his role this year and even in a year or two, but I think he is worth the risk.

Felix Okpara ("Blood Diamonds"- I understand this one may be viewed as offensive/racist, but don't shoot the messenger. I did not come up with it)- Felix is what I thought he would be. His offense was all over the place. Had a made three, dunked off a pick and roll, and had a nice post move against Zed, though he missed the shot. His offense otherwise was as raw and shaky as has been described. But he is certainly a threat on the defensive side that we haven't seen at osu for a long time. Even though his offense needs a lot of development for him to be a starter level player, I think he could possibly play 8-12 mins a game this year just due to the impact he has on defense of blocking and altering shots. We'll see.

Unfortunately I left before I could see Thornton and Holden. Maybe I will have reports on them next week.