From: atchison@ozma.cis.ohio-state.edu (Mark Atchison)
Subject: Re: Ohio State preview (LONG)
Organization: The Ohio State University Dept. of Computer and Info. Science
Distribution: rec
Date: Wed, 7 Oct 1992 22:12:00 GMT

In article <DOEL.92Oct7094429@bbq.bae.bellcore.com> doel@bae.bellcore.com (Michael Doel) writes:

>I was going to wait to post this until later, but with all of these preseason
>mags picking the Buckeyes so high (#11!?!), I thought I'd set the record
>straight.
>
>Hello Buckeye Fans!
>
>We're rapidly approaching that time of year when thoughts move from
>football to basketball (especially after this past weekend's debacle
>in Madison).  As such, I thought I'd post what information
>I've been able to gather about the team.  Pretty much all of my
>information comes from Buckeye Sports Bulletin, so some of this may
>be old news to some.  Also, I'm assuming that Joe Reid will not be with the
>team this year.  Someone posted that he had transferred.  Can anyone
>confirm that?

Yep.  (see previous post)

 [...schedule deleted...]

>Overall
>-------
>Unfortunately, Ohio State will almost certainly not have the kind of success
>they've enjoyed the last two years.  Gone are Jim Jackson, Jamaal Brown,
>Mark Baker, Chris Jent, Bill Robinson, and Steve Hall.  Replacing four
>starters will be a daunting task.
>
>OSU's roster this year will feature the following players:
>
>   Seniors:     Alex Davis, Tom Brandewie
>   Juniors:     Lawrence Funderburke, Jimmy Ratliff, Jamie Skelton
>   Sophomores:  Antonio Watson, Rick Dudley, Doug Etzler
>   Freshmen:    Greg Simpson, Charles Macon, Nate Wilbourne, Gerald Eaker,
>                Derek Anderson, Otis Winston*
>* - walkon
>
>This is quite obviously a young team.  Only Davis, Brandewie, Funderburke,
>Skelton, and Dudley have significant playing experience.  Ratliff and
>Etzler saw spot duty last year while Antonio Watson sat out due to Prop48.
>
>The newcomers should provide lots of excitement.  Most experts had Ohio State
>as one of the top three or four teams in recruiting this year.  In Gibbons'
>final rankings, Simpson was 11th, Macon was 18th, Wilbourne was 24th,
>Anderson was 51st, and Eaker was 68th.

Most schools feel lucky to get 3 in the top 100.  We got 5 in the top 70!

>Guards
>------
>Davis and Skelton have the potential to be team leaders.  Both have shown
>tremendous shooting ability and defensive quickness.  Unfortunately, neither
>is a point guard.  Etzler and Simpson are both point guards, but neither
>has the experience that Skelton and Davis do.
>
>Thus, Randy Ayers has an interesting dillema right from the start.  Does
>he go with Davis and Skelton in the backcourt trying to make one or the
>other into a point guard, or does he start Simpson (or Etzler) at point
>while rotating Skelton and Davis at shooting guard?  It's a tough call
>either way, but I'm guessing we'll see Simpson and Skelton as the starters
>with Davis getting just as much playing time as the other two.  Derek Anderson
>(at 6'4" or 6'6" depending on whom you talk to) is one of those 'tweeners
>who may see time at guard from time to time.

I'll bet Etzler gets the majority of the time.  Definitely early, maybe all
year.  He's a pretty good ballplayer -- we have been giving default 
scholarships around here for a while (Eli Brewster, Kip Lomax, etc.).  He is
extremely quick on offense, and should settle into a pretty good shooting 
percentage with a little time.  I only saw Simpson play once in high school, 
but he looked like he had a lot of maturing to do before he's ready to lead a
div. I team.

>Center
>------
>After having been a team dominated by guard play last year, OSU will probably
>be much more physical inside this year.  Funderburke was a great addition
>to the team last year (no matter what Vitale says) as the center.  Also,
>he was the star player in the Worthington summer league which included all
>Buckeye players as well as former Buckeyes Perry Carter, Tony White,
>Jerry Francis, Ronnie Stokes, Brad Sellers, etc.  He's got big-time offensive
>moves and as you'll recall he is a tremendous shot blocker.  Unfortunately,
>he's a bit thin compared to most Big10 centers.

Just a bit, though.  Who uses big centers anymore (rhetorical)?  Smaller,
quicker guys in the middle are all the rage.

>						  No worry, OSU has a few
>recruits to provide backup support.  Nat Wilbourne and Gerald Eaker will
>both see duty at center from time to time.  Wilbourne has apparently been
>a bit stiff in the Worthington league and I've seen Eaker labeled as a bit
>of a project.  Thus, I expect Funderburke to spend most of his time at
>center.

>Forwards
>--------
>The power forward will most likely be manned by Rick Dudley.  This guy
>showed he could bang with the best of them last year and will probably
>move into the starting power forward spot this year.  He'll be pushed by
>Antonio Watson.
>
>The small forward spot is less clear.  Tom Brandewie has the most experience,
>but isn't as athletically gifted as Derek Anderson.  Jimmy Ratliff has spent
>the last two years playing Jim Jackson in practice and has apparently grown
>into a pretty good defender and has improved his offense (he was one of the
>leading scorers in the Worthington summer league after five games).  Charles
>Macon has the body of a power forward, but the range and desire to play small
>forward.  Who starts?  It probably doesn't matter, since all will probably
>get lots of time under Ayers' system.  I'll guess that Ratliff will start
>since Randy places such a premium on defense.

I see Brandewie platooning more with Dudley than with Macon, Ratliff, and 
Anderson.  Let's hope Ratliff's summer numbers weren't a fluke -- we could
definitely use lots of offensive potential on this team, 'cause they may be
inconsistent on an individual basis.  More guys with the ability to put it in
the hole makes it harder for everybody to be cold at once (nice circular logic,
eh?).

>Coaching
>--------
>In addition to the loss of last year's stellar class, Randy Ayers has been
>force to replace all but one of his assistant coaches.  Paul Brazeau left
>to become the head coach at the University of Hartford and took volunteer
>assistant Tom Souder with him.  Les Fertig resigned at the end of the
>season to pursue other intersts.  Dave Cecutti moved up to full time assistant
>and will be joined by Mark Anderson from Providence.  Former Akron assistant
>Randy Roth will be the part-time assistant.  The volunteer assistant
>position has been eliminated by the NCAA.

I hope these new coaches fit as well as the old ones seemed to.  And while were
on the subject of coaches moving, why haven't we signed Randy to a 200 year
contract, yet? :~)

>Keys
>----
>I beleve there are several key things which will determine Ohio State's level
>of success this year.  These are:
>
>   1) Lawrence Funderburke: as the only returning starter, Lawrence has
>      to provide leadership on and off the court.  Last year, all we asked
>      of him was to not cause problems.  This year, he'll have to take
>      another step and be a positive influence on the new guys.  Has he
>      matured enough to provide that leadership or will the old Lawrence
>      come back under all the pressure?

Probably #1 in importance, too.  The spotlight and scrutiny is definitely 
going to be on him.  Whereas a bad entry pass from Mark Baker might have been 
viewed by Sir Lawrence as "nice to be passed to by a senior," a bad pass from 
Etzler or Simpson could turn into a menacing glare (this would be bad, 
presumably -- not the role of "confidence builder" which I think Lawrence will
need to play).

>   2) Point guard:  For the Buckeyes to be really successful, I think
>      Greg Simpson must be the point guard.  He's one of the most talented
>      players on the team.  Unfortunately, he knows it.  From the little
>      I've seen and heard of him, Simpson likes to be flashy.  Randy will
>      have to tone him down early if Simpson is to succeed this year.

Which is why I don't think they will be *really* successful this year.  I think
they'll be successful, but with Etzler playing the point a lot.  *Really*
successful is the last 2 years -- successful, for me, would be making the
NCAA's.

>   3) Fan support: This hasn't been a problem with the basketball team
>      lately, but in Columbus you always have to worry about the fans turning
>      their backs on you.  This team is young and will make plenty of
>      mistakes.  If they get booed for not duplicating Michigan's
>      success of last year, it could really damage the team psyche.

Somehow, I don't think our hoops fans are as fickle as our football fans.  Of
course it's easy to say that when you're coming off the best 2-year run in the
last 30 years, too.  We'll see, I guess.

>   4) Early season success: Many have compared this team to the one Randy
>      inherited when he first assumed the head coaching position.  Well,
>      one thing which is definately better this year is the early season
>      schedule.  If you'll recall, that year there were early season games
>      on the road against Depaul, NC State, and Oklahoma State.  That's a
>      pretty tough group to build confidence against.  This year's early
>      season schedule is much easier.  The team should be able to go 4-1
>      or even 5-0 before the meeting with the Tarheels.  Those games will
>      be critical to building confidence and working with new teammates.
>
>   5) Early conference play: The beginning of the conference schedule is
>      very difficult this year.  The first six games include road games
>      against Penn State, Wisconsin, Indiana, and Michigan and home games
>      against Iowa and Michigan State.  Ohio State will do well to manage
>      2 or 3 wins during that stretch.  Hopefully, any confidence built
>      up during non-conference play won't be destroyed by these grueling
>      tests.

Even worse: the addition of Penn State takes away one of our games against
Northwestern, while *some* lucky schools get out of Michigan or Indiana!

I'd also add 1 additional key:

    6) I think either Skelton or Davis will have to step forward offensively
       and average ~20 per game for the Bucks to do well.  With the exception
       of Funderburke, I expect the scoring of each individual to be very
       spotty.  Davis certainly has the potential, if he can get himself shots
       (hope for zones?), and Skelton has shown periods where he can light it
       up too (least notably an intrasquad scrimmage in Marion, OH his freshman
       year when he led all players with about 40).

>If all of these things go exceedingly well, Ohio State can be one of the
>top three or four teams in the conference.  If not, Ohio State can fall
>all the way to eighth or so.  I'll guess that things will be somewhere
>in the middle.  I'll predict a final record of 16-11 overall with a 10-8
>record in the Big10.  That type of record was good enough for an NCAA bid
>three years ago.  This year, I'm not so sure.
>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>Mike Doel				<doel@bae.bellcore.com>
>444 Hoes Lane RRC 1B-209
>Piscataway, NJ 08854
>
>"For every complex problem, there is a solution that is simple, neat
> and wrong." - H.L. Mencken
>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Cool preview, Mike.  Thanks!

GO BUCKS!!!
-- 
_______________________________________________________________________________
 Mark Atchison, a.k.a. <atchison@cis.ohio-state.edu>; Graduate Student in the
Computer Science Dept, THE Ohio State University (NOT an Ohio State University)
		Any plagiarisms seen above are not my own...
Newsgroups: rec.sport.basketball.college