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BONUS: Buckeye Basketball Playing At Home, Thad Matta Returns To Columbus · Buckeyes TomOrrow Morning

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: It has been a very busy week on the football
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: side of the house at Buckeye Insiders, but we got
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: to talk a little basketball as well. The men's basketball
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: team tipping off its home schedule on Sunday at 2
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: o'clock against the Butler Bulldogs. The game will be televised
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  Speaker 1: on BTN Plus at the Schottenstein Center, and it is
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  Speaker 1: going to be a little bit of a special day. Yes,
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  Speaker 1: it's just an exhibition game, but the Butler Bulldogs and
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  Speaker 1: Ohio State Buckeyes, two programs closely associated with former head
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  Speaker 1: coach Thad Mata. and Mata is actually going to be
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  Speaker 1: honored this weekend during that exhibition game against Butler. Jake
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  Speaker 1: Diebler's brother John, who you of course will remember as
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  Speaker 1: a guard for Thad Mata's great Buckeye teams about 15
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  Speaker 1: years ago, he is an assistant at Butler now, so
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  Speaker 1: this all came together pretty easily, and it seems like
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  Speaker 1: we're on deck for a really fun weekend.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I love Thad, and Um, he's a mentor of mine. Uh,
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  Speaker 2: obviously he meant a great deal to, to our family, John,
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  Speaker 2: having played for him. And, and so, you know, I
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  Speaker 2: think when I got the job, I talked to him
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  Speaker 2: about coming to watch practice. He was obviously, you know,
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  Speaker 2: getting busy coaching at Butler. And I think it was,
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  Speaker 2: I think there was just some challenges of coming over here. We,
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  Speaker 2: he and I've talked throughout these two years, two and
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: a half years. And, And we got him to come
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  Speaker 2: over this summer. And what started as, you know, was
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  Speaker 2: going to be a quick pop-in for maybe an hour
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  Speaker 2: of vet camp ended up, you know, being here for
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  Speaker 2: a while, staying the night, coming back the second day.
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  Speaker 2: And watching from a distance the interaction between him and
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  Speaker 2: his former players and the smile on his face and
• 1:43
  Speaker 2: the smile on their face. I mean, you're talking about
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  Speaker 2: some of the, and I've said this, right, the peaks
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  Speaker 2: of the program. You're talking about a guy who's had some,
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  Speaker 2: some pretty heavy influence on the peaks of the program.
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  Speaker 2: So he absolutely is celebrated around here. You don't have
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  Speaker 2: those numbers on the wall, right? Without that modest. So
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: we celebrate them. And my brother and I were talking
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  Speaker 2: this summer, they needed an exhibition. We needed an exhibition and,
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  Speaker 2: you know, make sense, good team, uh, play big East team.
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  Speaker 2: You can tell with our exhibitions, we're, we're, you know,
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  Speaker 2: playing some good teams and, We started talking and it
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  Speaker 2: just organically came up between the two of us like, hey,
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  Speaker 2: we should honor Thad. You know, he just picked up
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  Speaker 2: his 500th victory. He's obviously in the rafters here. He's
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  Speaker 2: had tremendous influence, you know, on Butler's program, our program.
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  Speaker 2: So it's just my brother and I were just talking
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  Speaker 2: about it and it kind of took off from there.
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  Speaker 1: Thad Mata is not the only former Buckeye who you're
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  Speaker 1: seeing around the program a little more these days. Guys
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  Speaker 1: like Jared Sullinger, William Buford. they are back with the
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: program in more official capacities. They're sort of assistant coaches
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  Speaker 1: this year. We saw them at practice this week, working
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  Speaker 1: hard with the scout team and scrimmaging against the current players.
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  Speaker 1: So what does it mean to Jake Diebler to have
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  Speaker 1: those guys back?
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  Speaker 2: Well, I think their approach to mentorship has been tremendous.
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  Speaker 2: And it's one of the things I talked about with
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  Speaker 2: both of them in hiring is when you're here, like,
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  Speaker 2: spend time with the players, pour into the players on
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  Speaker 2: the court, off the court. And, you know, when we
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  Speaker 2: talk about, you know, the standard and we talk about
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  Speaker 2: where we're trying to go and all of that stuff,
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  Speaker 2: you got to just living, breathing examples who both won
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  Speaker 2: championships here and both went on to have long professional careers,
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  Speaker 2: which is valuable as guys navigate that and they can
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  Speaker 2: ask questions with them. And listen, our scout team got
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  Speaker 2: a lot better this offseason, right? That's why I jump
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  Speaker 2: in there sometimes. I didn't jump in here because I
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  Speaker 2: didn't want you guys to see me airball or anything today.
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  Speaker 2: But I jump in there sometimes, and the basketball IQ
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  Speaker 2: and how that stresses our team is really valuable. I mean,
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  Speaker 2: I can't even explain to you how valuable it is
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  Speaker 2: to have kind of a scout team out there who
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  Speaker 2: can just test you over and over and over again.
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  Speaker 2: And those guys that close out short to Will Buford,
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  Speaker 2: he's probably going to make it, right? And, you know,
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  Speaker 2: we talk about giving guys mid-range shots. That guy's like
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  Speaker 2: a mid-range king. So, you know, they're like, oh, bad shot. No, no, no,
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  Speaker 2: that's what he does. So you've got to take that.
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  Speaker 1: Away, right?
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  Speaker 2: And then you've got Sully who's 6'9 and can post you.
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  Speaker 2: He can pass you. He can shoot it. He got touched.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, so, yeah, it allows us to really stress
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  Speaker 2: our defense. And I think that's going to– we're going
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  Speaker 2: to see dividends of that all year long. I've got
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  Speaker 2: to keep those guys healthy. We're going to put them
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  Speaker 2: on the same recovery plan, I think. that our team is,
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  Speaker 2: but we're blessed to have them. They've embraced, you know,
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  Speaker 2: their role. And I'll say this too. I think I
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  Speaker 2: wanted to provide, you know, almost a pathway and really
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  Speaker 2: mentorship to some former players who wanted to go into coaching.
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  Speaker 2: You know, I mean, I trained those guys back when
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  Speaker 2: I was video coordinator for Thad, and I've known those
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  Speaker 2: guys have high basketball IQs. I've seen them work out
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  Speaker 2: different people. I've seen their basketball IQ in a coaching
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  Speaker 2: setting So we get them here, it was a no-brainer
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  Speaker 2: for me. We got guys who can, man, he can
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  Speaker 2: be on scout team and he can mentor guys and
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  Speaker 2: they want to get into coaching. Like we, and those guys,
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  Speaker 2: what they did with this program, it's the least I
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  Speaker 2: could do, in my opinion, to do it because, you know,
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  Speaker 2: it makes sense for them and it impacts winning. I
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  Speaker 2: ultimately believe that. So that's why they're here and it's
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  Speaker 2: been great so far.
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  Speaker 1: Do you ever find yourself dreaming if those guys had
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  Speaker 1: another year of eligibility?
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  Speaker 2: Man, I told them right away, we could get a
• 5:30
  Speaker 2: lawsuit going, you know. Hey, The way these lawsuits are going, man,
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  Speaker 2: somehow our schedule keeps getting harder by the day. So
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  Speaker 2: maybe it's worth looking into. But no, I joke with them. I'm,
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  Speaker 2: I guess, a little more eager to get on a
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  Speaker 2: scout team knowing I get to play with those guys
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  Speaker 2: because they have a tendency to make everybody else look good.
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  Speaker 1: Another former Buckeye was out there scrimmaging with the scout
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  Speaker 1: team as well, Keyshawn Woods. You may remember him as
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  Speaker 1: a point guard a little while back. How much does
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  Speaker 1: that say about the program that guys who may have
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: even played most of their careers elsewhere, are still willing
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  Speaker 1: to come back.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, again, you had him out there. We've
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  Speaker 2: had Dr. Aaron Kraft out there on the scout team
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  Speaker 2: who can still pick up full court and guard. And, again,
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  Speaker 2: it's tremendous. And I think you guys get glimpses of
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  Speaker 2: the family that Ohio State basketball is. You see glimpses
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  Speaker 2: when we do the vet camp. You see glimpses of
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  Speaker 2: it when guys come back to games. I mean, we
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  Speaker 2: have former players in practice, you know, regularly. So it's awesome.
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  Speaker 2: It's awesome because those guys all know, you know, while
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  Speaker 2: they're sometimes demonstrating drills or, you know, another coach is talking,
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  Speaker 2: they'll just pull a guy aside and pour into him,
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  Speaker 2: talk to him, coach him. And I trust them. I
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  Speaker 2: trust those guys. They're high basketball IQ guys. So it's
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  Speaker 2: one of the best things about Ohio State. And I just,
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  Speaker 2: I hope our former players feel like this is an
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  Speaker 2: open door, open invitation, be a part of what we're
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  Speaker 2: doing anytime, anywhere we are. And I think a lot
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  Speaker 2: of guys have embraced that.
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  Speaker 1: Mentioned earlier that Jake Diebler's brother, John Diebler, is an
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  Speaker 1: assistant for Butler on Saturday. Are those guys, the brothers,
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  Speaker 1: going to be able to sort of set aside their
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  Speaker 1: competitive nature and just sort of enjoy being on opposite
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  Speaker 1: sides of an exhibition game?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's a good question. You know, I think, listen,
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  Speaker 2: same thing applies. It might be a little different if
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  Speaker 2: this was a regular season game. And certainly he and
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  Speaker 2: I grew up competing in everything. I think we even
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  Speaker 2: competed with who could finish dinner first. It was that
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  Speaker 2: level of competition in our house. But it'll be a
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  Speaker 2: special moment for me, one, to have him back here
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  Speaker 2: because he was a part of some big-time peaks of
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  Speaker 2: the program. So that's special to me. And then as
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  Speaker 2: an older brother, you're proud of a younger brother who's
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  Speaker 2: got a great start to his coaching career, started a
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  Speaker 2: little later because he had an awesome professional playing career.
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  Speaker 2: and just to see what he's been able to do. So, yeah,
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  Speaker 2: I'll look down there before the game, and probably there
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  Speaker 2: will be a moment where I'm not thinking about the competition,
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  Speaker 2: to be honest. Then once the ball's thrown up, it
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  Speaker 2: may become an element of personal, you know, just because
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  Speaker 2: I don't know if you could turn that off the
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  Speaker 2: way we raise, but we always competed hard, and we loved,
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  Speaker 2: you know, even better, and that'll never change. So there'll
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  Speaker 2: be a lot of family. in the gym for that one.
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  Speaker 2: I had to get some extra tickets for, for this one.
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  Speaker 2: So it'll be fun. It'll be different though.
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  Speaker 1: All right. Once again, Ohio state and Butler Sunday at
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  Speaker 1: two o'clock at the shot again, televised on BTN plus
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  Speaker 1: the Thad Mata ceremony will be at halftime of that game.
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  Speaker 1: And then the Buckeyes will open their regular season on Monday,
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  Speaker 1: November 2nd at nine o'clock Eastern on FS one, as
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: they take on the BYU Cougars out in salt Lake city. So,
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  Speaker 1: A little basketball talk for you there. You want to
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: talk basketball with us? We would love to do that
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: at BuckeyeInsiders.com. We have a basketball insider, Marcus Hartman, who
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: covers a team for us that does practice earlier in
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: the week. Did a show with him earlier in the week.
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  Speaker 1: We're going to have plenty more basketball talk coming up
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  Speaker 1: over the coming weeks and months as the Buckeye men's
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  Speaker 1: basketball team tips off its season. Of course, you can
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: also find us there for lots of football coverage as well.
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  Speaker 2: Don't worry.
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  Speaker 1: We have not forgotten about the football team. Buckeyes will
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: head out to USC next weekend. Chuck, Tony, and I
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: have our plane tickets. We are ready to go. Looking
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  Speaker 1: forward to what should be a really interesting game after
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  Speaker 1: a very interesting week for the Ohio State football program.
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  Speaker 1: So enjoy any of that and all of that. You
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: can find us at BuckeyeInsiders.com. We would love to see
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: you there to talk about it all.