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Ohio State Basketball: 5 Buckeyes To Watch This Season · Buckeyes TomOrrow Morning

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  Speaker 1: Welcome to Buckeyes tomorrow morning for Sunday, June twenty. First
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: time your host Tom Rthy ball State game in seventy
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  Speaker 1: six days, the game against Michigan in one hundred and
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  Speaker 1: sixty days. Thanks to our friends at Jeff Ruby's Columbus
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  Speaker 1: for sponsoring today's episode, probably offering nationally acclaimed USDA Prime stakes,
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  Speaker 1: attention to detail that is simply unmatched. Just go to
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  Speaker 1: Jeffruby dot com slash Columbus to check out the menu
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  Speaker 1: and make a reservation today. All right, on today's show,
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  Speaker 1: going back to a format we haven't gotten to do
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  Speaker 1: much recently, and that's because we haven't gotten to hear
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  Speaker 1: from Ohio State players or coaches in a little while,
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  Speaker 1: at least in sort of a press conference setting. Got
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  Speaker 1: a chance to talk to Ohio State head coach Jake
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  Speaker 1: Diebler on Thursday last week. I want to let you
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  Speaker 1: hear a little bit from him about the men's basketball team.
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  Speaker 1: This is actually a pretty intriguing team this year. Get
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  Speaker 1: Juni Mobley back, you get amri Byam back. You add
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  Speaker 1: a couple five star freshmen, including one who was sort
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  Speaker 1: of a surprise early enroll lead that they just added
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  Speaker 1: about a week ago, and all of a sudden, you
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  Speaker 1: get the makings of a really intriguing team when you
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  Speaker 1: add some interesting transfer portal additions and Moregan could hear
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  Speaker 1: a bunch about all of those guys, And we're going
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  Speaker 1: to start with Jake de Bler's thoughts on Junie Mobley.
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  Speaker 1: He is back after taking a look at the NBA
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  Speaker 1: Draft and getting some feedback and then decided to come
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  Speaker 1: back for another year. So what's the plan for Junie
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  Speaker 1: Mobley this season?
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  Speaker 2: Obviously when we were putting this roster together, he was
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  Speaker 2: a he and Omar that was the foundation we were
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  Speaker 2: building around. Really confident in that decision. And you know
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  Speaker 2: what I'm expecting him to do is make a jump.
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  Speaker 2: So what area specifically, you know, efficiency like you saw
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  Speaker 2: I think from Bruce from year over year to year,
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  Speaker 2: Like we want to see JUNI make a jump in efficiency,
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  Speaker 2: which we anticipate he will. He's got to take a
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  Speaker 2: jump in his leadership, which he's been phenomenal, phenomenal since
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  Speaker 2: we've been together this summer, been really impressed ahead of
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  Speaker 2: schedule so far in my opinion, with what he's done
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  Speaker 2: from a leadership standpoint, and then he's got to continue
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  Speaker 2: to grow as a playmaker. He can do it. He
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  Speaker 2: has it within him. He can read the game at
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  Speaker 2: a high level. We want him to be a playmaker
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  Speaker 2: for us. That's not right absent of scoring. We still
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  Speaker 2: want him to be really aggressive scoring the ball. But
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  Speaker 2: I think you'll see his assist numbers go up, as
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  Speaker 2: you saw right from the year from freshman year sophomore year.
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  Speaker 2: So those are some of the specific things we're talking
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  Speaker 2: about when we say make a jump in those areas.
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  Speaker 1: We got a chance to talk to Mobley as well,
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  Speaker 1: and he said the feedback he got from the NBA
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  Speaker 1: was he really needed to get more physical on both
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  Speaker 1: ends of the floor, but especially on defense. Needed to
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  Speaker 1: work on his defense. So is that a focus for
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  Speaker 1: Mobile this season.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, everybody's working on defense, right, But I think you
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  Speaker 2: saw he's pressuring the ball more.
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  Speaker 3: He's being more physical on the ball. Again. I think
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  Speaker 3: he can do it. You know, we got to work
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  Speaker 3: at it.
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  Speaker 2: Something we want to do that we haven't really put
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  Speaker 2: in yet or talked about yet, but we're seeing a
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  Speaker 2: little bit just off the personnel the ball pressure be better.
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  Speaker 3: So he's certainly going to play a role in that.
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  Speaker 1: Next up, Jake Diegbler is going to be talking about
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  Speaker 1: one of the new additions for the buck Eye. Someone
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  Speaker 1: who entered through the transfer portal. That's Justin Pippet and
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  Speaker 1: he started his career at Michigan, then went to cal
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  Speaker 1: now coming to Ohio State. And you're going to hear
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  Speaker 1: Jake Diebler referenced Justin Pippens's dad a couple times in
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  Speaker 1: this answer. Why is he talking about Justin Pippen's dad. Well,
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  Speaker 1: Justin Pippen's dad is Scottie Pippen, who you may recognize
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  Speaker 1: from the nineteen nineties Chicago Bulls team. And it seems
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  Speaker 1: like Justin Pippen is going to play a major role
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  Speaker 1: both on and off the floor this year.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, great, great, So a little kind of behind the
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  Speaker 2: scenes when he was on his visit, We're sitting in
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  Speaker 2: sitting in my office and you know, his dad's in
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  Speaker 2: there and we're talking and I told him, right hey,
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  Speaker 2: we're going to need your voice. You know, you're a
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  Speaker 2: you've got proven production at the high major level and
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  Speaker 2: did it on a team that was, you know, right
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  Speaker 2: there on the cusp of getting in the NCAA tournament.
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  Speaker 2: So his experience is valuable for us, and he's got
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  Speaker 2: the personality to lead well. He sees things, you know,
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  Speaker 2: which helps him lead well. And he's got a person
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  Speaker 2: out of that connects people. So with his dad sitting
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  Speaker 2: there and his dad kind of reinforcing right what.
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  Speaker 3: I talked about, you can tell he took it to heart.
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  Speaker 2: He's been here, He's had a great voice in the
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  Speaker 2: weight room, he's had a great voice in team meetings.
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  Speaker 3: He's had a great voice on the court as well.
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  Speaker 3: So that's going to be important for us.
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  Speaker 2: We're still developing our leadership team, but I anticipate I'll
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  Speaker 2: play a major role.
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  Speaker 1: In that mentioned earlier, the early en roll lee who
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  Speaker 1: changed his mind and he was supposed to be come
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  Speaker 1: a next year and just ended up deciding to come
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  Speaker 1: this year and roll early a year early. That would
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  Speaker 1: be LJ. Smith, a five star prospect. According to some sources.
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  Speaker 1: He literally just got the Columbus last week. We got
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  Speaker 1: a chance to watch about an hour of practice. He
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  Speaker 1: didn't do a whole heck of a lot because he's
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  Speaker 1: really still just sort of getting acclimated to stuff. But
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  Speaker 1: here is some early thoughts on LJ. Smith from J Deep.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, well that was the He literally has been here
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  Speaker 2: maybe twenty four hours, right, but you know, so we're
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  Speaker 2: kind of easing right, easing him in. There's some certain
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  Speaker 2: things got to get caught up on. We're doing a
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  Speaker 2: bunch of testing stuff like we did with our other guys.
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  Speaker 2: Our team did a great job kind of turning everything
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  Speaker 2: around as quickly as possible so he could get out
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  Speaker 2: here and get some shots up and get with his team.
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  Speaker 3: You know.
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  Speaker 2: So, Listen, he can really score the ball, and he
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  Speaker 2: can score it from multiple levels. And his ability to
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  Speaker 2: create gravity on the court where defense has to honor
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  Speaker 2: him even if he's a couple of feet behind the line,
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  Speaker 2: is a great thing for everybody else. But I think
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  Speaker 2: one of the things that you know, he hasn't always
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  Speaker 2: shown at the level he's capable of.
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  Speaker 3: It is his ability to play make too.
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  Speaker 2: And he's got good size for a guard, but he
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  Speaker 2: sees the game well. And Listen's he's younger, right, inexperienced,
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  Speaker 2: but he's talented.
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  Speaker 3: So it'll be a process. Well, it's great having him here.
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  Speaker 2: There's been a lot of work to get that done
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  Speaker 2: and we're excited to have him and excited to see
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  Speaker 2: his growth here, you know, starting really next week.
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  Speaker 1: So we have seen guys enroll early, both through the
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  Speaker 1: football team and the basketball team. Meetia Johnson, for example,
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  Speaker 1: did on the basketball team. And of course you remember
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  Speaker 1: Quin you weers, you remember sunny styles on the on
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  Speaker 1: the football side of things. So what went into the
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  Speaker 1: decision to bring in LJ. Smith a year early?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, great question.
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  Speaker 2: So when the roster was taking shape, and there had
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  Speaker 2: been some conversations even going back to uh we call
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  Speaker 2: it towards the end of his high school season, that hey.
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  Speaker 3: This could be a possibility. It was initiated by them.
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  Speaker 2: We had some initial conversations then then it really kind
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  Speaker 2: of shifted to hey, we think, you know, maybe that's
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  Speaker 2: not best right now. So those conversations started happening again
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  Speaker 2: later in the spring, and we watched.
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  Speaker 3: Him in Memphis.
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  Speaker 2: It was with his AAU team, and you know, it
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  Speaker 2: felt like he could come in have an impact, add
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  Speaker 2: value to the roster as it had shaped formed, and and.
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  Speaker 3: So we had that conversation.
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  Speaker 2: But in order for this to work right, everybody had
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  Speaker 2: to be on the same page, and so it just took.
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  Speaker 2: It just took kind of just transparent dialogue to get
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  Speaker 2: to that point, and once we realized everybody was on
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  Speaker 2: the same page, Hey, this is good for him, it's
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  Speaker 2: good for us, then it was all right, how do
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  Speaker 2: we get this done? So it was an ongoing process
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  Speaker 2: kind of I guess we'll say fluid, okay, but we
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  Speaker 2: felt like really excited about our backcourt, but you know,
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  Speaker 2: we needed some more. We needed another piece, and we
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  Speaker 2: want to be able to shift between playing bigger at
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  Speaker 2: that third perimeter position, we're also playing three true guards
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  Speaker 2: and having that versatility.
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  Speaker 3: We needed another piece to do that.
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  Speaker 1: So for a guy like that, who is obviously extremely
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  Speaker 1: talented but also should technically still be playing high school
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  Speaker 1: ball for another year, what are the expectations for him
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  Speaker 1: this season?
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  Speaker 3: You know, I'm expecting him to be impactful.
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  Speaker 2: What that impact looks like, ultimately, he's going to decide.
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  Speaker 2: But he's he's got a high basketball IQ, and he's talented,
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  Speaker 2: and he's got a skill set that'll translate right away.
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  Speaker 2: So beyond that, you know, in my mind, it's, hey,
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  Speaker 2: there's a baseline level of impact that I'm expecting, and
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  Speaker 2: then leaving room for this ceiling that he's ultimately going
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  Speaker 2: to push up.
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  Speaker 3: And so that's my expectations.
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  Speaker 2: You guys might have other ones, but I'm expecting him
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  Speaker 2: to impact winning, you know, and from there what that
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  Speaker 2: looks like, how much that is like, time will tell,
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  Speaker 2: But I think there's no question he wouldn't be here
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  Speaker 2: if we didn't feel like he was going to have
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  Speaker 2: an impact on this team.
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  Speaker 1: The other five star in this class is Anthony Thompson.
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  Speaker 3: They knew he would be here.
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  Speaker 1: That was not a surprise, So that was not quite
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  Speaker 1: as newsworthy that he was at practice on Thursday when
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  Speaker 1: we were there, and he was obviously a lot more
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  Speaker 1: involved because this was not a big surprise that he
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  Speaker 1: was there. So what is Jake Deeper looking for out
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  Speaker 1: of Anthony Thompson this year?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah?
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  Speaker 2: I think again, when you got to talented young players,
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  Speaker 2: there's nothing wrong with expectations, but I think you got
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  Speaker 2: to leave room in those expectations for them to determine
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  Speaker 2: ultimately what it looks like. And you know, kind of
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  Speaker 2: felt that way when I was here and d' angel
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  Speaker 2: Russell was here, right, felt that way when you know,
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  Speaker 2: I was coaching Darius Garland for five games. But you know,
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  Speaker 2: so like when you have talented young players, certainly okay
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  Speaker 2: to have expectations, but you almost got to let them
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  Speaker 2: determine and push ultimately what it ends up being as.
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  Speaker 3: Far as how high that that ceiling goes.
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  Speaker 2: Because we've seen in this program, right, We've seen a
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  Speaker 2: guy like Malachi Branham who you know, first half of
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  Speaker 2: the season was good, impacted winning, but took a major
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  Speaker 2: jump second half of the season.
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  Speaker 3: And ends up being a one and done.
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  Speaker 2: So oftentimes I think if if we set a certain
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  Speaker 2: whether it's minutes, points, whatever, right you said, then that
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  Speaker 2: that can oftentimes cap maybe what a guy could grow into,
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  Speaker 2: because they could get discouraged or they could get frustrated.
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  Speaker 2: Like I want them to know, we believe in them.
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  Speaker 2: Both those guys, we believe in them. They're both going
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  Speaker 2: to impact winning for us. And I'm excited to see
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  Speaker 2: certainly how they play for us in November because we
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  Speaker 2: need them to play well our schedule, but also who
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  Speaker 2: they are a player in January.
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  Speaker 3: He's going to look different and that's exciting.
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  Speaker 1: And finally, one of the biggest wins for Ohio State
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  Speaker 1: in the last year was when Amari buying him decided
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  Speaker 1: he was going to come back and play his sophomore season.
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  Speaker 1: That was huge to get him back for the buck
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  Speaker 1: Eyes obviously had a very impressive end to his true
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  Speaker 1: freshman season. So how much can he change this team
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  Speaker 1: this year.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, he's worked really hard.
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  Speaker 2: He's had a great spring, spending a lot of time
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  Speaker 2: with us, spend a lot of time with his trainer
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  Speaker 2: and things, and we've had dialogue with them back for
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  Speaker 2: making sure everybody's on the same page in basketball now,
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  Speaker 2: like each guy almost has a little team around him,
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  Speaker 2: and so what we try to do in our program
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  Speaker 2: is just keep constant communication, make sure our guys have
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  Speaker 2: the resources a right to grow.
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  Speaker 3: And he has.
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  Speaker 2: Pushed really hard. So I think you're seeing his body
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  Speaker 2: change a little bit. You saw his game as changing
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  Speaker 2: a little bit. He's playing with confidence on the perimeter,
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  Speaker 2: he's got confidence on the interior. Really excited about the
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  Speaker 2: player he's going to be this year.
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  Speaker 1: All right, there you go, a little men's basketball talk
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  Speaker 1: for you. We're gonna try and cover more men's basketball.
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  Speaker 1: That was some feedback that we had gotten before that
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  Speaker 1: people wanted a little more basketball coverage, So we have
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  Speaker 1: a plan for that. We have another team member who's
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: joining us relatively soon. We'll be announcing that very soon
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: for you. At Buckeyeinsiders dot com have someone focusing on
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: men's and women's basketball for us, as well as maybe
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  Speaker 1: some other sports as well. We know you guys love
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: your football coverage. Don't worry, We'll still be covering plenty
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  Speaker 1: of football there. But we heard you. You guys want
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: more basketball coverage. You're going to have more basketball coverage
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  Speaker 1: for you at Buckeye Insiders dot com and at YouTube
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: dot com slash Buckeye Insiders. If you were not already
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: signed up to get any emails at Buckeye Insiders dot com,
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: go ahead, go there right now Buckeye Insiders dot com.
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: We're gonna be launching the site very soon. We will
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: have updates for you this week, probably hopefully with some
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: with a specific timetable on when that site's gonna launch.
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: Believe me, we are just as excited as you are,
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: maybe more, And of course you can also find us
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  Speaker 1: at YouTube dot com, slash at Buckeye Insiders, and thanks
• 12:06
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• 12:17
  Speaker 1: and make a reservation today. That will do it for today.
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: Thank you guys all for joining us. Have a great day.
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: We'll talk to you tomorrow