Ohio State Basketball: 3 questions as new season draws near
By Riley Thomas
What will be the ideal, balanced starting lineup and rotations for the Buckeyes?
This is could be the most complicated and unclear question to answer right now regarding Ohio State basketball. How will Holtmann deploy rotations and what kind of starting lineup will he side with?
When picking basketball lineups, you must be aware of the players’ abilities on both sides of the floor. No one wants to go with an offensive lineup that cannot guard or a defensive lineup that cannot score at all times. There must be a perfect balance between the lineups that presents the best of both worlds.
Ohio State basketball had a potent offense last season but struggled to defend at times. Bringing in the defensive-minded Wheeler is one effort to sure up the defense. Starting Wheeler is a no-brainer right now since he presents some defensive ability no one else has on the roster being an outstanding on-ball and perimeter defender.
Wheeler does have some limitations in his offensive game and will probably be a facilitator for this offense. With that in mind, the Buckeyes will add a pure scorer or shooter at the SG position to complement Wheeler’s game (either being Russell or Ahrens).
Plus we know how good E.J. Liddell is as he is one of 20 players on the preseason watchlist for the Karl Malone Power Forward of the Year Award. Justice Sueing adds a dynamic offensive game himself, he is on the preseason watchlist for Julius Erving Small Forward of the Year Award.
Between, the shooting guard spot, Sueing, and Liddell there should be enough offensive firepower around Wheeler. The center spot will probably start Kyle Young, if not him then Zed Key. Both Young and Key are undersized, scrappy centers that have offensive limitations as well. However, there is no working around that, the Buckeyes have not recruited center well enough.
Considering Wheeler and either Young or Key have some offensive limitations, it is vital Holtmann starts the best scoring SG, likely being Russell.
Now focusing on rotations off the bench, Ohio State has the luxury of having depth this season. This should present the opportunity to feature either offensive or defensive centric lineups when the opportunities present themselves.
Overall, this should be another OSU team that scores with ease. The real question is how they fare on defense, and truly Wheeler alone is not going to solve everything on the defensive end.