Wait, it's basketball season already?
That's correct. Well, sort of.
Ohio State's lone exhibition is Sunday at Value City Arena. The Buckeyes host Division II Walsh for their only tune-up game prior to Friday's season-opener at Navy.
"I want to find out how we come out and play, how we come out and compete," head coach Thad Matta said Friday. "Are we doing the things that we've made important?"
For Ohio State, Sunday marks the beginning of a rather large swing season in the Matta tenure. The Buckeyes went 21-14 last season and were 11-7 in the Big Ten, but the team missed the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2008. Ohio State was eliminated by Florida in the second round of the NIT.
| WHO | WHERE | WHEN | TV |
|---|---|---|---|
| Walsh | Value City Arena | 4 p.m. | BTN-plus |
After the season, a trio of freshmen — Daniel Giddens, Mickey Mitchell and A.J. Harris — transferred out of the program. There was quite a bit of negative attention surrounding Ohio State for the first time in quite awhile as those three transfers combined with the midyear departure of Austin Grandstaff, the Buckeyes were left with just one member of their once highly-touted 2015 recruiting class.
Still, at the core of it all, Ohio State brought back the majority of its team. The Buckeyes had zero seniors on last year's squad and only one junior. The top-six scorers from last year's team all returned and now all focus is on a bounceback season. Chris Jent also returned to Matta's staff in place of Jeff Boals, who left to become head coach at Stony Brook.
"I think we're a lot further than we were last year in terms of offensive and defensive chemistry," junior forward Keita Bates-Diop said. "From that standpoint, I feel like we've come a long way."
Bates-Diop, Jae'Sean Tate, Kam Williams, JaQuan Lyle, Trevor Thompson and Marc Loving — the lone senior — will log the majority of the minutes this season for Ohio State. A four-man incoming class of C.J. Jackson, Derek Funderburk, Micah Potter and Andre Wesson figure to fill the minutes of the departed players from last year's team.
The Buckeyes can use a number of different lineups as they have multiple players who can play multiple positions. Jackson and Lyle will man the point guard duties while Williams will also get heavy minutes in the backcourt. On the wing, Tate, Bates-Diop, Loving and Funderburk figure to log the majority of the time. Wesson can play either the off-guard spot or the wing. In the middle, Thompson, Potter and David Bell figure to be the rotation in some order.
Ohio State's success this season will depend on the improvement of the core six returners, though.
"I think those six have been pretty good to this point," Matta said, "but the young guys have done a nice job as well and I think they're getting more and more comfortable with the roles that they have on this basketball team."
As far as Sunday goes, the Buckeyes face a Walsh team that went 16-13 a season ago. The Cavaliers are led by head coach Jeff Young, who is entering his 14th season at the helm, is the winningest coach in program history.
“I think a lot will be known on Sunday just in terms of sort of how we play with the lights on," Matta said.
Ohio State hosts Walsh 4 p.m. Sunday. It's an opportunity for fans to get their first look at this year's team, one that certainly wants to rebound from a disappointing 2015-16 campaign.
"We just kind of to make sure that we are where we think we are," Bates-Diop said. "We don’t want to have a bunch of holes on offense or defense where we have to go back and work on things five days before we play our first game. It’s just kind of tuning up.”
