From: doel@bae.bellcore.com (Michael Doel)
Newsgroups: rec.sport.basketball.college
Subject: Ohio State preview (LONG)
Date: 7 Oct 92 13:44:29 GMT
Distribution: rec
Organization: Bell Communications Research


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?



                     OSU BUCKEYES 1992-93 BASKETBALL

  Nov. 17   LAFAYETTE HUSTLERS (ex)............................. 8pm
  Nov. 24   RUSSIAN NATIONAL TEAM (ex).......................... 8pm
  Dec. 1    OHIO UNIVERSITY..................................... 8pm
  Dec.5     SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA................................. 2pm
  Dec.12    BOWLING GREEN....................................... 8pm
  Dec.16    WRIGHT STATE........................................ 8pm
* Dec.19    at West Virginia................................. 9:30pm
* Dec.22    NORTH CAROLINA................................... 7:30pm
  Dec.28    at Far West Classic vs. Oregon State............... 10pm
  Dec.29    at Far West Classic vs. Brigham Young or Oregon.... 10pm or 12:15am
  Jan.2     ILLINOIS_CHIGAGO.................................... TBA
* Jan.5     at Penn State.................................... 7:30pm
  Jan.9     IOWA................................................ 8pm
  Jan.13    MICHIGAN STATE...................................... 8pm
  Jan.20    at Wisconsin........................................ 8pm
+ Jan.24    at Indiana....................................... 2:45pm
* Jan.26    at Michigan...................................... 7:30pm
  Jan30.    ILLINOIS............................................ 1pm
  Feb.3     PURDUE.............................................. 8pm
  Feb.6     PENN STATE.......................................... 3pm
  Feb.10    at Northwestern..................................... 8pm
  Feb.13    at Michigan State.................................. 12pm
* Feb.16    at Iowa.......................................... 7:30pm
  Feb.20    WISCONSIN........................................... 8pm
* Feb.23    INDIANA.......................................... 7:30pm
+ Feb.28    MICHIGAN............................................ 2pm
  Mar. 6    at Illinois......................................... 8pm
  Mar.10    MINNESOTA........................................... 8pm
+ Mar.13(14)  at Purdue........................................ 12pm or 2:15pm

home games in caps
* = scheduled to be broadcast on ESPN
+ = scheduled to be broadcast on CBS
All other games will be broadcast on Raycom Network.
All times Eastern.



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.


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.


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.  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.



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.



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?

   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.

   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.

   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.

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
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Newsgroups: rec.sport.basketball.college