• Marquette's Non-Conference Schedule Part II: Ohio State


    Sam Thompson put up 13 points & 8 rebounds in a win over Marquette last season



    The second installment of our non-conference previews will look at Marquette’s first high-major opponent, the Ohio State Buckeyes. This road game will be a stern early test for this young Marquette team, though Ohio State has quite a bit of youth of their own to acclimate to D1 basketball.

    Ohio State



    The Coach: Thad Matta has posted 20+ wins every season as a D1 head coach with a 275-83 record in Columbus. The Buckeyes always play tough defense, having transitioned from zone to man during his time there. This season Matta is talking about switching between the two, largely because of the length his team has.
    Projected Starters: G Shannon Scott (Sr), G D’Angelo Russell (Fr), F Sam Thompson (Sr), F Marc Loving (So), C Amir Williams (Sr)
    Key Returning Players: Scott (7.5 ppg/3.4 rpg/3.4 apg) will be expected to lead this team along with veteran Thompson (7.9 ppg/2.7 rpg). Big man Williams (7.8 ppg/5.8 rpg/1.8 bpg) will need to make strides as well.
    Key Newcomers: Buckeye fans have huge expectations for Russell, a dynamic scoring guard that is a McDonald’s All-American. The guy they maybe should be talking about is Temple transfer Anthony Lee (13.6 ppg/8.6 rpg) who could challenge Williams for the starting center job. In the spirit of reloading over rebuilding, the Buckeyes also welcome 5-star freshmen Keita Bates-Diop & Jae’Sean Tate. Wiry freshman wing Kam Williams has had a year to bulk up & should add scoring off the bench.
    On The Court: The Buckeyes are a matchup nightmare, featuring 9 players that are 6’7” or taller. The main question will be who scores the ball? LaQuinton Ross, Lenzelle Smith, & Aaron Craft were their top three scorers last year & all are now gone. If Russell can add some immediate punch while Scott & Thompson can provide consistency, they’ll bounce right back from their losses. On defense, Matta’s teams are always among the best & most disciplined in the country. This team is experienced at playing a grueling man defense, though losing one of the best on-ball defenders in the country in Craft will hurt. Matta has coached zone before & it sounds like they plan to mix that in. If they can get Russell to play the point, this team could put 5 on the floor with the 6’4” freshman the only one shorter than 6’7”. Playing at the Shoe will be an incredibly difficult early litmus test for Marquette.
    Season Projection: The Buckeyes were picked second in the Big 10 despite not having a single player listed on the preseason all-conference team. Part of what makes them so dangerous is how deep this team is. Matta could legitimately go 10 or 11 deep. That said, Ohio State does have some areas they need to improve to be elite. They were poor both on the offensive glass & shooting from range last year. With all the talent Matta has, this should be a top-25 team throughout the year. If scoring & shooting emerge, they could challenge for the Big 10 title & make some serious noise in March.


    What They’re Saying: I talked with Oh8ch, a moderator for BuckeyePlanet.com. Here’s some of what he had to say:

    What are realistic expectations for the Buckeyes in 2014-15?
    National Championship of course – not that I am a homer. Matta has only won fewer than 24 games with OSU (and never less than 20) despite having to replace four starters three different times. We have 4 kids on the roster who were rated in the top 10 at their position out of high school. This team is long & athletic. We lost some talent from last season but I think we had some chemistry issues as well. If Russell can be the point guard we need I see us battling for a Big 10 title, a Sweet 16 berth, & top-10 final ranking.

    Who can replace the leadership Aaron Craft brought to the floor?
    Nobody can be a Craft & this is a tough call because Craft didn’t leave much room for other folks to say ‘charge’. In some ways that hurt us last year because there seemed to be a tendency to look for him to bail the team out. When he didn’t, nobody else did. In my opinion that wasn’t because they couldn’t – it was just part of the way the team worked.

    Thompson & Scott are the best candidates to step up. I put my money on Thompson & don’t think this will be a huge issue as we will have 4 seniors getting serious playing time. On the court it will be interesting to watch how much Scott steps out of the shadow of Craft he worked under for three seasons.

    Can Sam Thompson step into the wing role played so well by Smith & Ross in recent years?
    Sam Thompson is one of the most athletic players to ever wear the Scarlet & Gray. Consistent shooting has been an issue but improved down the stretch last season. Yes, he can step into that role. I don’t look for him to be the scorer Ross was, nor should he need to be. The incoming class (particularly Russell & Bates-Diop) has offensive threats we were missing last season. Teams collapsed on us & we couldn’t shoot them out of it. If we can create a balanced attack that we did not have in 2013-14, look for some highlight reel stuff from Sam in the middle.

    Any other thoughts on Ohio State?
    Last season was the most disappointing for me of Matta’s tenure. We had no balanced offense & could not bring other teams out of the zone. We had extended stretches in many games where we were sleepwalking. Ross was inconsistent at both ends of the court & Williams had one brilliant moment for every 5 what the f**ks. When these things don’t get better over the course of a season you can look at coaching or chemistry. Matta keeps losing assistant coaches to head coaching jobs & perhaps he has lost one too many. But here I am whining about 25-10 & 5th in a very strong Big 10.

    Scott & Williams are two players who have never approached their potential. In my opinion that has to do with Craft’s shadow for Scott & attitude for Williams. If those guys & loving make serious forward strides this team could find itself in the Final Four.