Mad Question Askin', Blunt Passin', Music Blastin'

The #21/#22 Miami Hurricanes are now 4-1.  Like most had figured, the Canes went 2-0 against Florida Southern and Stetson and earned the bronze in the Paradise Jam tournament (beating Southern Miss and San Diego, losing to #2 UConn).  And, just as expected, the Top-25 Canes are heading into the most important week in recent history with something to prove.

Both match-ups this week loom large for Miami. First comes a Tuesday home contest against Ohio State in an A.C.C./Big Ten Challenge game (the Canes didn't play in the series last season).  Miami then travels to Kentucky to face the Wildcats on Friday night. Both opponents made it to the postseason last year; the Buckeyes won their second N.I.T. championship in program history and the Wildcats lost an opening round March Madness match-up with #6-seed Marquette.  

Although neither program is currently ranked, each game poses a huge challenge for a Miami program still trying to prove its for real.  Wins against Ohio State on Tuesday (7:00 PM, ESPN) and Kentucky on Saturday (5:30 PM, ESPN) would go a long way to help shut the naysayers up, at least for awhile.  

Let's start with Ohio State, shall we?

Yeah...there's not a whole hell of a lot to say about the undefeated Buckeyes just yet.  OSU has only played three games so far, and their competition hasn't been too difficult. Wins over Delaware State (70-42), Bowling Green (61-57), and Samford (59-22) haven't proved much for this team. Draw whatever conclusions you want from those results, but the truth is this: OSU is still a very large unknown.

Head Coach Thad Matta has worked wonders with the basketball program since taking over in Columbus five years ago.  After recruiting Greg Oden and Mike Conley in 2006, Matta led the Buckeyes to the 2007 National Championship game after winning the Big Ten tournament and earning a #1 seed for March Madness.  Last season resulted in the N.I.T. championship trophy for his Buckeyes, but this year's team...well, the potential for success remains somewhat in question.

Gone are the impressive play and three-point shooting of seven-footer Kosta Koufos (14.4 ppg), taken with the 23rd overall pick by the Utah Jazz in the 2008 NBA Draft.  The other two leading scorers from last year's team, seniors Jamar Butler (15.0 ppg) and Othello Hunter (9.9 ppg, 6.5 rpg), are long gone. 

So where does that leave the Buckeyes? Well, defending N.I.T. champions at the very least.

Matta brought in a Top-5 recruiting class to help counter his losses, but none of the Buckeye freshman have had a serious impact in the early going.  2008's #1 overall player and 7-foot center B.J. Mullens hasn't earned a starting spot yet, and he's averaging 5.7 points and 2.3 rebounds (!)  in only 16.3 minutes.  Fellow five-star freshman (#19 overall) William Buford is also coming off the bench for Matta, averaging an uneventful 8.0 ppg.

Sophomores have carried Ohio State in the early going.  Swingman Evan Turner (6-7) is averaging 12 points and over 7 rebounds in his first three games, and Jon Diebler (6-6) is not too far behind (10.3 ppg).  Both played bench roles for the Buckeyes last year but have earned spots in the starting five for '08/'09.  Fellow sophomore Dallas Lauderdale, who averaged less than a point per game in his first season with OSU, has stepped up big for the Buckeyes and is averaging 8.3 points and 5.3 rebounds in his own starting role.

Rounding out the starting five for the Buckeyes are juniors Jeremie Simmons and David Lighty.  Simmons, a 6-2 guard averaging eight points (43.8% three-point shooter), is in his first of two years of eligibility after transferring from D-II Mott College.  David Lighty is the only player left from Matta's outrageous '06/'07 signing class, which included Oden (Portland Trail Blazers), Conley (Memphis Grizzlies) and shooting guard Daequan Cook (Miami Heat).   

Matta has run a rotation of about eight guys, each of whom see over 15 minutes per game.  Miami is going to have to receive continued production from its equally deep line-up.  Crucial will be the play of Hurricane star Jack McClinton.  The senior is averaging his lowest points-per-game totals in three years at Miami (15.8) and has gotten off to very slow starts in the past two games, registering two points in the first half against San Diego and zero in the first half against Stetson.  

If anyone on the Hurricanes can take over a game, it's Jack. He might have to do just that if the Canes can't keep up the strong output across the board (nine different scorers in each of the past two games).  The Buckeyes are not particularly big, but Diebler and Turner are both starting guards listed at over 6-6. The Canes won't have to deal with an outrageous size disadvantage, but if Haith maintains his starting line-up, Dews (6-3) and McClinton (6-1) will be covering players taller than themselves (five inches taller in McClinton's case).  

Toss in the fact that the 7-footer Mullens is coming off his best performance of the season so far, and it means this: the Canes will have to fight a lot harder to win the battle of the boards than they did against either Stetson or San Diego (but probably not UConn...thanks, Hasheem.)  Dwayne Collins will probably be guarding Lauderdale (a player equal in height) at the outset, and Cyrus McGowan and Jimmy Graham should be able to take care of the other big men (none of whom are listed over 6-8 or who play a serious role).  

6-7 junior Brian Asbury, averaging 10 points per game over the past two games, could see serious minutes on the floor against the oversized Buckeye swingmen. This could also mean freshman sensation DeQuan Jones (6-6) will see the floor early as well; Jones is coming off a few decent appearances where his vaunted explosive abilities have been on display.

Will McClinton finally be able to score early and often to help the Canes handle the Buckeye guards?  Will the Canes look down low, where they seem to hold the scoring advantage, as their primary option?  What about James Dews, what’s he going to do with his match-up disadvantage given a very disappointing start to the season?  None of these questions have definitive answers just yet, but there is one conclusion to draw from all of this pre-game hoopla:

Tuesday is going to be one heckuva day for Hurricane basketball. Opportunities on primetime ESPN to help shut people up just don’t occur that often.  The last time one such opportunity arose, the football team blew it against Georgia Tech.  Let’s hope Tuesday goes a little better for the U-Crew.