Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Associated Press
COLUMBUS
After a few years fighting a prematurely fading hairline, Ohio State power forward Dallas Lauderdale finally gave in and just shaved off what little remained.
“It made me a little quicker,” he cracked.
Heading into a senior season of high expectations and high promise, the Buckeyes big man will need every edge he can get.
Coming off a 29-8 season in which they shared the Big Ten’s regular-season title then won the conference tournament championship before advancing to the NCAA’s round of 16, the Buckeyes have just about everything they need for Lauderdale and his shaven pate to be playing even later in March.
With four starters back, buttressed by what some experts called the best recruiting class in the nation, preseason No. 4 Ohio State has all the pieces — it just needs coach Thad Matta to fit them all together.
It’s remarkable that the Buckeyes could lose the consensus national player of the year, Evan Turner, who left after his junior season to go No. 2 in the NBA draft to the Philadelphia 76ers, and still be a powerhouse. That is attributable to the persuasive powers of Matta, who is 258-85 over 10 years.
“I probably learned a great lesson many years ago because I had the player of the year at Xavier in David West,” Matta said. “The following year, we struggled at times because I think everybody thought, ‘Hey, I’ll just be David.”’
He doesn’t see that happening this time around, however.
“These guys have a very good understanding of how good Evan was and what Evan’s strengths and weaknesses were,” he said. “That was a tribute to how close that team was.”
This time Matta will try to mesh six standout freshmen with the four starters.
The returnees include Lauderdale, a 6-foot-8 physical force on defense and the boards, 3-point specialist Jon Diebler, do-everything swingman David Lighty and the team’s next big-time player, William Buford. Buford averaged 14.4 points a game last season, Diebler 13.0, Lighty 12.6 and Lauderdale 6.5 points and 5.2 rebounds.
Jared Sullinger, the Naismith Award winner as the top prep player in the land last season, received preseason All-America votes.
Aaron Craft, a standout quarterback in high school, is perhaps the only true point guard on the roster. DeShaun Thomas is a sweet-shooting lefty who finished as one of the highest scoring schoolboys ever in Indiana. Slasher Jordan Sibert, guard Lenzelle Smith Jr. (sidelined with an injury for at least another month) and Sullinger’s Columbus Northland High School teammate J.D. Weatherspoon round out the class.