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Men's Basketball
Buckeyes Hope to Measure Up Against Stepped-Up Competition
By John Porentas

Delaware State, Bowling Green and Samford are going to seem like an eternity ago for the Buckeyes, because this week they exit cupcake city and see some real Division I basketball competition.

The Buckeyes venture to Miami, Florida on Tuesday to take on the No. 21/22 Miami Hurricanes in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge, then take the short drive over to Indianapolis this weekend where they will face No. 7 Notre Dame this Saturday.

There is a similarity between this year's schedule and last year's. Last season OSU opened with two exhibition games (one a loss to Findlay) and tune ups against Wisconsin-Green Bay and Columbia before taking on No. 21 Syracuse and Texas A. & M. Last year's young team got past the Orange before taking a real thumping at the hands of A. & M.

Matta's scheduling philosophy seems to include tough matchups in the early going each season. The tough games serve as measuring stick for his teams. If they are successful, good, but even if they are not, they can usually draw on the experience of a loss to know where they must improve. That was true for the Greg Oden/Mike Conley team of the 2006-07 season as well. That squad lost to both North Carolina and Florida in the early going before coming together to win the Big Ten Regular Season Championship, Tournament Championship, and make an NCAA run to the Final Four. Matta said the loss to Florida really was a catalyst to that team's improvement.

"I think that no question they can learn from that," said Matta.

"You go back to the Florida game, that was a butt-whoppin'.

"I can remember the look in the locker room after the game. Guys were saying 'We've got to get better.'"

It all worked out for the Buckeyes after that loss. They cruised through the Big Ten schedule with just one loss on the road against Wisconsin, a defeat they avenged in the last game of the regular season and again in the tournament. The whoppin' at Florida definitely did that team some good.

"That was the competitive nature of that basketball team. They had the maturity to grasp and say that they have room to grow and to get back at it. To their credit they did that," Matta said.

Last year's team did not do as well responding to adversity. They really struggled to season's end to find and an identity and the edge that's needed to be a consistent winner.

The question this year is whether Matta's third-consecutive young team will more-resemble the one from last season or the one from two seasons ago. While there are similarities between this year's squad and last, there are also differences.

"I think there are a lot of similarities in the fact that there are a few unknowns," said Matta.

"One thing that we had a little bit different last year was that you knew that Jamar could do this, that Matt was going to give you this, that Othello was going to be able to do this. Now there's a little bit of a different feel there, but as I go back and I look a lot of the things are the same from the standpoint of trying to get a better flow and continuity to what we're doing, getting a rotation down, who plays well with who. Certain situations, what's good for us," Matta said.

Matta said the Buckeyes are not going to duck playing tough competition just because they are young. To the contrary, he likes the tough schedule so that both he and his team can see where they stand. That being said, he is not hoping for a loss.

"We've got to figure it out. We're not going to hide behind the fact that we have some youth.

"We're going to get the job and find the guys that can get the job done. Excuses have never won you a game," he said.

"You've got to create the cause and get the job done."

Putting that all together with a young team is difficult, but this is the third-consecutive season that Matta is taking on that task. He says he's getting better at it with experience, and even though there's still plenty of guess work for him and his staff, he is learning how to deal with the situation.

"When I started nine years ago I thought I knew everything and every day I'd go home and say 'You don't know anything.'

"Ironically every time I go home now I'm saying gee, you don't know anything,' but you've got a lot more to draw from, a better understanding maybe of what's going through player's heads in certain situations," Matta said.

Matta's learning curve is not a whole lot different from that of his young players who are still really learning how to do things like practice at the Division I level.

"We've got a lot of guys on this team that have practiced 37 times. I had an incident the other day in practice where a guy was questioning a call. I called him over and I said 'Do you really think I care whose ball it is? We're trying to run certain things here. That's all I care about.' He kind of looked at me like 'Ah!, I didn't really think about that.' A freshman. That's part of learning what practice is all about," said Matta.

Scouting Miami

The Hurricanes are 6-1 on the season, their lone loss coming at the hands of No. 2 Connecticut on November 23 in the Paradise Jam at St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands. Though they eventually lost by 13 (76-63) the Hurricanes showed the ability to be competitive with the Huskies. They trailed by 19 in the first half but rallied to within four just before the half ended, only to give up four unanswered just before the end of the half to trail by eight. The rest of their schedule has been rather tepid. Their best wins are a 70-60 win over Southern Mississippi, an 80-45 whooping up on Sand Diego State and a 79-65 win over Stetson.

Miami's outside threat is 6-1 senior guard Jack McClinton. McClinton is averaging 15.8 points and 2.8 assists per game. He led the Hurricanes with 27 points against UConn when he went five-for-eight from three point range. As a junior, he became the first Hurricane to earn First Team All-ACC recognition. Last year he converted on 91.9 percent of his free throw attempts.

McClinton has carried the load out front this season but will have some help against the Buckeyes. Guard Lance Hurdle returned to Miami's starting lineup for the first time in 2008-09 the win over Stetson, finishing with eight points, three assists and three rebounds in 21 minutes. Miami's starting point guard in 20 games in 2007-08 -- including the final 18 straight, the senior missed the first game of the season and came in off the bench in the three games of the Paradise Jam.

Down low Miami depends on 6-8 junior forward Dwayne Collins. Collins averages a double-double with 13.6 points per game and 10.0 rebounds per game. Redshirt junior 6-9 forward Cyrus McGowan contributes 8.6 points and 5.4 boards per contest.

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