With just one starter returning, 4 new freshmen, and a few key transfers, things have been a little up and down to start the season. I should note that I am talking about the Ohio State Buckeyes. THE Ohio State University lost 4 starters, including All-Big Ten performer E.J. Liddell. Head Coach Chris Holtmann most likely entered last season expecting Liddell to leave for the NBA following his junior year. He probably didn't expect freshman Malachi Branham to be drafted in the 1st round. The loss of Branham, Liddell, and several other experienced veterans and starters have led to a summer of restocking the roster in Columbus. The new players include a deep recruiting class of 4 top-100 players as well as experienced transfers from both high- and mid-majors. So far, the formula has been a success as Ohio State jumped into the Top 25 of the AP Poll.

One year ago, a surging Duke, fresh off wins over Kentucky and Gonzaga, came into Value Center Arena and, after a disjointed start, collapsed down the stretch to tOSU. This year, it is the Buckeyes that will visit Duke on November 30th. Will a young Duke team repeat a second-half collapse or did they already get that out of their system?

The headliner for the Buckeyes is 6'8" 245 lb JR C Zed Key. The big man has a below-the-rim game that torched Duke and Mark Williams last season. Key has gotten into better shape and conditioning in the offseason and has added a 3-point jumper to his arsenal. He had been taking mid-range jumpers but has taken a few steps back for a modest volume (8 attempts in 6 games) with decent success (3-8 / 37.5%) so far. His bread-and-butter, though, is around the rim. He's an old-school big man that uses angles and his strength to get his shots. When Key is out, Holtmann will turn to 6'11" FR Felix Okpara, a very different type of big man. Okpara can run and jump. He provides a little bit of rim protection as well in his ~15 minutes per game. Key is going to see a lot of minutes if the game is close and he isn't in foul trouble. Okpara will spell him, but Key is the center on this team, much like Zach Edey is the man in the middle for Purdue.

If we are looking at Ohio State, we are going to talk about wings. They have so many and they all do different things. Let's start with one of the freshmen, Brice Sensabaugh. The 6'6" F is a very unique player. He's a big body, about 240 lbs, but can score from all three levels. Through the first 6 games, he is leading tOSU in scoring at 15.8 pts and doing so off the bench. While he's athletic, he's not necessarily a high riser. The starting wings for tOSU include 6th-year SR 6'7" Justice Sueing and the ultra-versatile Oklahoma transfer and 5th-year SR 6'5" Isaac Likekele. Sueing is a jack-of-all-trades kind of player. He missed all but 2 games last year with an abdominal injury, so the Buckeyes are delighted to have him back. He has been productive for them and shows little rust from missing the last season outside of his dreadful shooting from deep (14.3% on 3.5 3PA). Likekele is not a shooter but does almost everything else. He can even run the team as a point guard and leads tOSU in assists so far this season. He can be a pest defensively and has been vital in that area for Holtmann. Ohio State has not been a stout defensive unit, giving up a lot of points against the two Quad-1 opponents they have faced so far this year (an 88-77 loss to San Diego State and a 80-73 win over a short-handed Texas Tech). Another wing off the bench is 6'6" SR Tanner Holden, a transfer from Marshall. Holden was a big-time scorer at Wright State and was a 2-time 1st-team All-Horizon league player. He is looking to make his mark at the high-major level this year but has been relegated to a reserve role so far. Holden has done most of his scoring inside in his career, rarely taking 3's.

One of the keys for Ohio State this year is replacing the scoring of Branham in the backcourt. Holtmann has an all-new cast of guards, including former West Virginia G Sean McNeil and a pair of top-100 recruits. The starting PG is 6'2" FR Bruce Thornton. The Alpharetta, GA native can shoot the ball and will be given every opportunity to prove he can run a team. So far, he's done a good job and is shooting the ball very well at 47.4% from 3. McNeil is known as a gunner but has a more well-rounded game than that. He's plugged right into the Buckeyes offense and is leading the team in 3-point attempts. The reserve is another top-100 recruit, FR Roddy Gayle, Jr. Thornton and Gayle are the present and future of the Ohio State backcourt and are getting lots of game action right from the start.

Holtmann runs a relatively deliberate pace of play on offense and knows how to get his teams to score the basketball. Defense has been a bit of a bugaboo for the past 2 seasons. This year's squad is no exception. So far, the Buckeyes have excelled at generating second-chance opportunities, ranking 17th in the nation in OREB%. That stat might have been padded to some degree by some noise. In three of their six games, they have grabbed nearly half of their misses while have faired much worse against San Diego State and Texas Tech. Duke is going to have a pretty significant size advantage in this one. They don't have players with the height and length to deal with Filipowski and Mitchell at the 3 and 4. The big key for Duke, though, is finding its shooting touch again. Simply put, the team cannot afford to be so inconsistent from 3. Hopefully the home environment will help with that.