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Ohio State Basketball Insider: 5 Things We Learned About The Buckeyes · Buckeyes TomOrrow Morning

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  Speaker 1: Welcome to Buckeyes Tomorrow Morning for Thursday, October 1st. I'm
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  Speaker 1: your host, Tom, or.
• 0:03
  Speaker 2: The Iowa game in two days, the game against Michigan
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  Speaker 2: in 58 days. Today's episode presented by Jeff Rubies of Columbus,
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  Speaker 2: proudly offering nationally acclaimed USDA prime steaks, seafood and sushi,
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  Speaker 2: impeccable service, live entertainment, and an attention to detail that
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  Speaker 2: is simply unmatched. Just go to jeffruby.com slash Columbus to
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  Speaker 2: check out the menu and make a reservation today. All right,
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  Speaker 2: it is the Wednesday or Thursday before the Iowa game,
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  Speaker 2: but we do have to talk a little bit of
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  Speaker 2: Ohio State basketball. I'll get a chance to talk to
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  Speaker 2: Jake Diepler, and the Ohio State Buckeyes men's basketball team
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  Speaker 2: on Wednesday evening at the shop for Men's Basketball Media Day.
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  Speaker 2: I'm joined by Buckeye Insiders basketball insider Marcus Hartman. And Marcus,
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  Speaker 2: I think the conceit of this show is going to
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  Speaker 2: be five things we learned talking to the Ohio State
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  Speaker 2: men's basketball team. First one is, and this is something
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  Speaker 2: you could tell just looking at them, They are definitely bigger,
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  Speaker 2: but that was not a coincidence. This was an intentional thing.
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  Speaker 2: They were focused on getting bigger, and they have done that.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, I thought that it was interesting.
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  Speaker 4: It's one of those times where you feel smart as
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  Speaker 4: an analyst because I remember looking at him last year
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  Speaker 4: and going, man. They sure are smaller than everybody that
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  Speaker 4: they play, and they don't have a lot of depth.
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  Speaker 4: And it turns out that Jake Diebler thought that as well.
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  Speaker 4: So they went out of their way intentionally to load
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  Speaker 4: up on big guys this year, and they want to
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  Speaker 4: have a lot better depth in the backcourt. Which, I mean,
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  Speaker 4: the second part is not surprising because they really had
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  Speaker 4: no depth in the backcourt last year. And obviously you've
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  Speaker 4: got to have a couple of guards there. But they
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  Speaker 4: may have four guys, you know, that they could come
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  Speaker 4: off the bench in the backcourt, and then they've got
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  Speaker 4: possibly could play four or five big guys, too. And
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  Speaker 4: then you've got sort of like... Bynum and Anthony Thompson
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  Speaker 4: could both be– they're sort of like big wings who
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  Speaker 4: could play a four type of a game and be
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  Speaker 4: versatile that way. So that was– like I said, I
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  Speaker 4: thought it was interesting that Jake came out and said
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  Speaker 4: that they intentionally wanted to get deeper but not just
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  Speaker 4: that but to get bigger. And because that is the
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  Speaker 4: way that the game has been going, the game has
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  Speaker 4: been trending. Obviously, we saw that with Michigan last year.
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  Speaker 4: But a lot of other teams, like Florida, played two
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  Speaker 4: bigs a lot. And then there's some teams that never
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  Speaker 4: got away from it, like Purdue. But that's sort of
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  Speaker 4: a thing where it does seem to be that's the
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  Speaker 4: way the wind is blowing. And it helps when you
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  Speaker 4: can have guys who can hang around longer and physically develop.
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  Speaker 4: So they've got guys at different stages of their career
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  Speaker 4: as well in terms of the frontcourt.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, and in addition to being bigger in the frontcourt,
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  Speaker 2: they are deeper in the frontcourt. They're deeper in the backcourt, too,
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  Speaker 2: and that gives them the luxury. It feels like Jake
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  Speaker 2: Diebler has always wanted to press. That feels like that's
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  Speaker 2: sort of spiritually, if Jake Diebler had his druthers, they
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  Speaker 2: would be a pressing team every year.
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  Speaker 1: This year, he might actually have the team to do it.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, that was another thing that he revealed. They said
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  Speaker 4: last year there were some teams that were able to
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  Speaker 4: press them, and it really bothered them. down the stretch
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  Speaker 4: of games that kind of will wear you out, especially
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  Speaker 4: if you're a team like Ohio State that doesn't have
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  Speaker 4: much depth, so you've got to play your guards a lot.
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  Speaker 4: And so he wants to be able to do that
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  Speaker 4: to other teams this year, which obviously makes things easier. And,
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  Speaker 4: you know, it helps your offense, too. If you can
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  Speaker 4: get some easy baskets, you're not trying to execute and
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  Speaker 4: grind out 20-second possessions. or 30-second possessions every time down
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  Speaker 4: the floor. So it makes a lot of sense a
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  Speaker 4: lot of different ways. And they've got the bodies to
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  Speaker 4: do it if they've got guys who can earn the
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  Speaker 4: trust of the coaching staff. here in the next month,
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  Speaker 4: something that's been going on since the summer, but, uh, um,
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  Speaker 4: you know, he's obviously, it's easy to be optimistic here
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  Speaker 4: at this point in the year, but he was very
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  Speaker 4: much so about that. And, and I have to say, I'm,
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  Speaker 4: you know, I, I think you should be someone who is,
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  Speaker 4: I mean, I think you, there was reason to feel
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  Speaker 4: optimism because, you know, they're doing the, they've, they've got
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  Speaker 4: these plans, um, and they're doing these things intentionally and it,
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  Speaker 4: They can explain to you why they're doing it, and
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  Speaker 4: it all makes sense. So, you know, we'll see how
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  Speaker 4: it all shakes out when the season comes around. But
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  Speaker 4: I'm very interested to see because it does feel almost
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  Speaker 4: like a new program. If you look at just the
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  Speaker 4: way the lineup that they were running out there last year,
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  Speaker 4: you know, they could only play about six guys.
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  Speaker 3: They didn't have much height.
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  Speaker 4: And now they're going to be a lot deeper and
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  Speaker 4: the ability to be a lot taller, but it's not
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  Speaker 4: like they're locked into being Purdue or having to play
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  Speaker 4: big guys to be at their best either when they've
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  Speaker 4: got some of these. I feel like they've got some
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  Speaker 4: versatility really at every level, so we'll see how that
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  Speaker 4: plays out once the games start.
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  Speaker 2: Well, more of the depth and versatility in the backcourt
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  Speaker 2: comes with the addition of Justin Pippen, and You said
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  Speaker 2: you were talking to John Mobley, and he mentioned going
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  Speaker 2: up against Justin Pippen a bunch during the summer. But
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  Speaker 2: that was something that Jake DeBleu talked about a bunch,
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  Speaker 2: how beneficial it was for those two guys to really
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  Speaker 2: be just going at each other all summer.
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  Speaker 1: And then now.
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  Speaker 2: Okay, now you're on the same team, and now, boy,
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  Speaker 2: it feels like life is probably getting a little easier.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, that was another interesting thing I thought.
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  Speaker 4: They intentionally had them facing off all summer to kind
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  Speaker 4: of iron sharpens iron type of a thing, because I
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  Speaker 4: think that they have games that could really complement that.
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  Speaker 4: I think Pippen is your modern big point guard who
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  Speaker 4: can score, but also is going to look to pass
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  Speaker 4: and play defense. I look at Mobley as more of
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  Speaker 4: two who can handle the ball as well, and so
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  Speaker 4: I really think they could really play well off of
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  Speaker 4: each other in terms of the size and just if
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  Speaker 4: both guys can make open shots and if both guys
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  Speaker 4: can set up their teammates. I really like Mobley. the
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  Speaker 4: potential of that, that maybe both of those guys, but certainly,
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  Speaker 4: I mean, I think Mobley has the raw, uh, offensive
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  Speaker 4: ability to really carry a team if you need him to,
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  Speaker 4: but if, uh, if he doesn't have to, but he's
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  Speaker 4: a guy that's got some spurt ability, you know, and can,
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  Speaker 4: can rip off 10 or 12 points for you at
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  Speaker 4: some point in the game, that can be really dangerous. Uh,
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  Speaker 4: and that was interesting. I talked to Justin Pippen first
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  Speaker 4: and I asked him, uh, you know, would you say
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  Speaker 4: that defense is in your DNA? And he said, and
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  Speaker 4: his eyes lit up and he goes, yep, I think
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  Speaker 4: you could probably say that. So being the son of
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  Speaker 4: one of maybe the best perimeter defensive player of all time,
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  Speaker 4: it seems to have rubbed off on him at least
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  Speaker 4: a little bit. He said, yes, he's trained him that way.
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  Speaker 4: He has watched videos of Scottie Pippen from the old days.
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  Speaker 4: And I said, what did that sneak out? What kind
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  Speaker 4: of stuck out to you? He goes, just the way
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  Speaker 4: that he could basically force the guy off the floor.
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  Speaker 4: He could just, he was able to be so aggressive
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  Speaker 4: and and take the opposing ball handler and really kind
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  Speaker 4: of do whatever he wanted with him. And so that's
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  Speaker 4: something that he tries to do himself. A little bit
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  Speaker 4: different than Scotty with 6'7. Justin, I believe they're listing
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  Speaker 4: at about 6'4. But he's got long arms and big hands,
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  Speaker 4: kind of like his dad. So you can see where
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  Speaker 4: he should be a big upgrade on the defensive end.
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  Speaker 4: And offensively, he's not going to be the same type
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  Speaker 4: of player as Bruce Thornton, but if he can be
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  Speaker 4: someone who gets everybody involved, they could be harder to guard.
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  Speaker 4: and maybe a more efficient offensive team overall. Jake did
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  Speaker 4: say efficiency is the thing that they're talking about with Justin.
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  Speaker 4: They're looking at him. Again, he was a very solid
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  Speaker 4: player last year at Cal, but they want him to
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  Speaker 4: level up. They don't want just the player they had
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  Speaker 4: last year. So be a guy who kind of knows
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  Speaker 4: when to pick his spots as a shooter, setting up
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  Speaker 4: other guys and being able to score. Because I believe
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  Speaker 4: he averaged about four assists a game last year and
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  Speaker 4: 14 points. You would take those numbers right now, I think,
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  Speaker 4: if you've got a more mature Mobley and Bynum, and
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  Speaker 4: then you throw in Thompson and see what he can bring.
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  Speaker 4: I think you would take that right now. But they're
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  Speaker 4: looking for more than that, which, again, it's September, or
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  Speaker 4: almost October maybe by the time you listen to this.
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  Speaker 4: I think it's an interesting vision that they've got for everybody.
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  Speaker 2: And, you know, all this new depth that they've got
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  Speaker 2: and the bigger size and more strength and all that
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  Speaker 2: kind of stuff, you're going to need that because, man,
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  Speaker 2: this is not an easy non-conference schedule. They open with
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  Speaker 2: BYU in Salt Lake City. That is technically a non-conference
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  Speaker 2: or technically a neutral site game, but I'm going to
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  Speaker 2: guess the crowd is going to be mostly clad in
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  Speaker 2: blue and not red. But they go play UConn in
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  Speaker 2: Gampel Pavilion on November 13th. They get Vanderbilt at the
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  Speaker 2: shot in late November. They get Notre Dame in South
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  Speaker 2: Bend in early December. They play Kansas in that CBS
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  Speaker 2: Sports Classic right before Christmas.
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  Speaker 1: That is not a joke.
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  Speaker 2: That is a challenging non-conference schedule with a lot of
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  Speaker 2: games away from home. But he said, you know, that's
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  Speaker 2: potentially big not only for getting them ready for the
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  Speaker 2: Big Ten, but also potentially giving them some pretty good
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  Speaker 2: resume lines before they even get into.
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  Speaker 1: Big Ten play.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, you know, last year I think the big storyline was, well,
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  Speaker 4: they didn't have a, I don't think they had a
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  Speaker 4: quad one win until like there were two.
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  Speaker 3: Weeks left in the season or something like that. Yeah,
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  Speaker 3: close to that, yeah.
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  Speaker 4: And so they're trying to avoid that this year. It
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  Speaker 4: all worked out in the end. But he said, you know,
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  Speaker 4: that can make a big difference, a whole seed line difference.
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  Speaker 4: And he said that's also sort of the trend. of
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  Speaker 4: teams playing more of these more power conference teams just
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  Speaker 4: to kind of be able to rack up points. That's
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  Speaker 4: not quite the word for it, but rack up your
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  Speaker 4: resume and be able to get as high in the
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  Speaker 4: NCAA tournament as you can. That gives you a little
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  Speaker 4: more chance to win a game or two once you
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  Speaker 4: get in there. So, yeah, that was interesting to see.
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  Speaker 4: It's interesting kind of envisioning it. It's not like this
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  Speaker 4: is a team that's, even if they are a lot
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  Speaker 4: better than they were last year, They're not going to
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  Speaker 4: just run through everybody.
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  Speaker 3: There's going to be some.
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  Speaker 4: Ups and downs, and that's going to be partly a
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  Speaker 4: result of just the type of schedule they're going to face.
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  Speaker 4: When they get into the Big Ten, there's some projections.
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  Speaker 4: I think I've seen seven or eight Big Ten teams
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  Speaker 4: could be in the top 25. And Ohio State is
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  Speaker 4: sort of one that would be on the fringe there. Now,
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  Speaker 4: I think they should be able to compete with a
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  Speaker 4: lot or all of those teams, but it's going to
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  Speaker 4: come down to making winning plays sometimes and trying to
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  Speaker 4: come out on top of some games where they came
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  Speaker 4: up just short last year.
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  Speaker 2: And the Buckeyes are going to open play with an
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  Speaker 2: exhibition game next Wednesday, October 7th, 3 p.m., down in
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  Speaker 2: the Lindner family teahouse. Center down in Mason. So that
• 10:02
  Speaker 2: you're thinking, hey, I didn't know that place had a roof.
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  Speaker 1: Well, guess what? It doesn't.
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  Speaker 2: And so Buckeyes will be playing Cincinnati outside. And then
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  Speaker 2: it's Dayton and Xavier after that, a doubleheader, four teams
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  Speaker 2: from Ohio, just exhibition games right now. But it is
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  Speaker 2: not hard. Sometimes you'll have coaches and they're kind of
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  Speaker 2: trying to fake enthusiasm for something. You can tell Jake
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  Speaker 2: Diebler is legitimately excited at this event. And not just
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  Speaker 2: this event, but also what this event could potentially turn
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  Speaker 2: into in a few years.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, I think that he has said this a couple times.
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  Speaker 4: If the fan reaction is strong enough, perhaps then they
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  Speaker 4: can convince somebody to pay them to do this for real.
• 10:40
  Speaker 4: the way the business end of things works these days.
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  Speaker 4: We've been talking about having an Ohio Crossroads Classic for
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  Speaker 4: a long time. I said back when I was in
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  Speaker 4: school there should be an Ohio tournament every year with
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  Speaker 4: about 10, 12, or 15 teams or whatever it was.
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  Speaker 4: And there's various reasons, business reasons again, that that's difficult.
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  Speaker 4: Everybody plays a bloated conference schedule now and everybody still
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  Speaker 4: needs their bye games. Even schools like Dayton and Xavier
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  Speaker 4: and Cincinnati need their bye games as well and Ohio
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  Speaker 4: State needs those. So There's only usually a couple of
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  Speaker 4: open slots on the schedule every year that they can
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  Speaker 4: try to fill, so it's difficult. A long time ago,
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  Speaker 4: I talked to Gene Smith, and he said, well, to
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  Speaker 4: be honest with you, we couldn't find the TV partner
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  Speaker 4: if we wanted to do that kind of a thing.
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  Speaker 3: Now it's a little bit different. Maybe they can find
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  Speaker 3: the streamer.
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  Speaker 4: The TV deals are set up a little bit differently
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  Speaker 4: for better or for worse, so who knows? But obviously,
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  Speaker 4: having a proof of concept would, I would think, make
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  Speaker 4: a big difference in terms of finding somebody to kind
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  Speaker 4: of make that worth their while monetarily. No matter that stuff,
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  Speaker 4: put that all aside. You guys don't care about that
• 11:42
  Speaker 4: because none of us get any money. None of us
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  Speaker 4: get any of the money that they would get, but
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  Speaker 4: we all enjoy seeing these teams face each other. And
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  Speaker 4: so I think it's going to be a lot of
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  Speaker 4: fun when you talk about teams that haven't played a
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  Speaker 4: whole lot in the regular season. I mean, Dayton and
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  Speaker 4: Xavier don't anymore. So getting these fan bases together, and
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  Speaker 4: for the people that are real hoops junkies, I think
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  Speaker 4: there's going to be a lot to like about what's happening.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, that should be a really fun event. We are
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  Speaker 2: planning to be there and to cover that event next Wednesday.
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  Speaker 2: I know it's football season. I know we've got football interviews,
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  Speaker 2: but this is one of these events where I'm officially
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  Speaker 2: intrigued enough by not only the event, but also by
• 12:18
  Speaker 2: this usual Ohio State men's basketball team that we are
• 12:21
  Speaker 2: going to make a point to go down there and
• 12:23
  Speaker 2: cover that event as well.
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  Speaker 1: Don't worry, Tony will be here covering football.
• 12:25
  Speaker 2: I may be able to, if traffic and the Ohio
• 12:30
  Speaker 2: Highway Patrol cooperate, I may be able to make it
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  Speaker 2: back in time for football interviews as well, but It
• 12:35
  Speaker 2: is going to be a really fun day down there.
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  Speaker 1: Forecast, at least the early forecast, looks pretty promising.
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  Speaker 2: It would be great if they got to hold that
• 12:41
  Speaker 2: outside and have that event and sort of see what
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  Speaker 2: that looks like. So we'll be down there for that,
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  Speaker 2: but we will obviously have a whole lot of football
• 12:48
  Speaker 2: talk between now and then. Don't worry, we have not
• 12:50
  Speaker 2: forgotten that a lot of you guys are interested in
• 12:52
  Speaker 2: football as well. Buckeyes are going to be out in
• 12:55
  Speaker 2: Iowa City. Don't worry, our team will be out there
• 12:56
  Speaker 2: as well. Tony, Chuck, and I hitting the road to
• 12:59
  Speaker 2: Iowa City on Friday. We'll be there for the team
• 13:01
  Speaker 2: arrival Friday night at the hotel, and then usual pre-
• 13:04
  Speaker 2: and post-game coverage tomorrow. from Kinnick Stadium as the Ohio
• 13:07
  Speaker 2: State Buckeyes. Number five, take on the number 14 Iowa
• 13:10
  Speaker 2: Hawkeyes Saturday in Iowa City.
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: Should be a really fun day.
• 13:14
  Speaker 2: We're going to have a bunch of content for you
• 13:16
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  Speaker 2: couple days, we have one that is a member-exclusive one
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  Speaker 2: coming from Justin Whitlatch. He's one of our other Scheme Insiders.
• 13:30
  Speaker 2: He did one last week that was sort of exclusive
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• 13:34
  Speaker 3: On Thursday.
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• 14:05
  Speaker 1: That will do it for today. Thank you guys all
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: for joining us.
• 14:07
  Speaker 3: Have a great day.
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: We'll talk to you tomorrow.