Basketball Recruiting Update - Lenzelle Smith, Jr. + Robbie Hummel's Injury

Time to see what he can do

Lenzelle Smith, Jr.

Lucky player #4 in our adventure through player profiles of all newcomers to the basketball team is Lenzelle Smith, Jr. Lenzelle is the third highest ranked recruit in this class, according to ESPN, along with having the coolest first name in the class (according to me). In my last player preview, I gushed over Aaron Craft because he is what many pundits would call a "true" point guard, in that he is a great distributor of the ball, and also he is a great defender, thus making him exactly the type of player I want running my team. Lenzelle Smith, Jr. is essentially the exact opposite type of point guard that Aaron Craft is.

At 6'3" and 230 pounds, he is bigger than Craft is. In high school, his size allowed him to match up against bigger players, so much so that he was consider a "point forward". Now, with Ohio State being infinity deep in the frontcourt, Smith likely fits in Thad Matta's schemes as a combo guard (one who can run the point but is a good enough scorer to play the shooting guard position). Basically, my fantasy of having multiple ball-handlers (insert dirty joke here) that can compliment each other on the floor has finally manifested itself.

Do you all remember Mike Conley, Jr? He was a great college point guard, and is an above average NBA point who is still improving his game. Very good ball handler with an O.K. outside shot who was a solid free throw shooter, serviceable defender, and a great passer. Every NCAA team wants a guy like that. The problem was that Ohio State already had a guy like that in Jamar Butler. And since neither player was big enough or had a great enough jump shot to play/defend the shooting guard position, Matta was pretty much forced to play one of the other.

History lesson over. The point is, Smith's versatility gives the coaches even more flexibility in setting lineups . If the opposing team has point guard that is a very quick off the dribble and a great scorer, Aaron Craft can slow him down and run the offense just fine. Maybe the other team has a point guard that isn't much of a threat to score himself. In that case, plugging Lenzelle Smith in at PG gives the Buckeyes more firepower on offense. Player versatility creates lineup flexibility, causing favorable match ups for Ohio State.

The season really needs to start so I can stop imaging what lineups will be used and actually analyze what is going on in real life. Lenzelle Smith's real life statistics from high school were pretty impressive, and wouldn't you know it, I happen to have them with me. Hailing from Zion Benton High School in Illinois, Smith averaged 20 points and 8 rebounds a game as a senior. That is a hefty rebounding average for a point guard, and shows he isn't afraid to stick his nose in there with the big fellas. I hope you don't feel I am skimping on the statistics portion of these write ups, but at this point it is becoming redundant. Every single one of Ohio State's commits was a star player in high school and every single one has a chance to see significant minutes either as a starter or coming off the bench.

Robbie Hummel's ACL

Now what?

By now it is late news, but it was a rough weekend and basketball took a backseat for a few days. Early Saturday morning ESPN reported that Purdue forward Robbie Hummel would miss the entire upcoming basketball season after tearing the same ACL he had repaired at the end of last season. Obviously, this is a huge blow for the Boilermakers. Think if Ohio State didn't have Evan Turner last year. They would have been good, but definitely not one of the elite teams in D-1 last year. Purdue returns a lot of starters and had a solid recruiting class as well, and because of that they were one of the early favorites to contend for the national championship. Probably not going to happen now. My personal view is that they will still be a very good team and will definitely factor into the Big Ten race. That team is experienced enough and still talented enough to beat any team that travels to West Lafeyette. For the Boilermakers, it is better to lose a player before the season starts than to lose him halfway through. This at least gives them more time to adjust instead of having to change their entire game plan mid-season. That said, I now see the Big Ten as a 2 team race between Ohio State and Michigan State.

Basketball season is not too far away. The season kicks off in the beginning of November with several (hopefully) easy games sandwiching a match up with Billy Donovan and his Gators at Gainesville. Prepare yourselves for what could be a very special upcoming basketball season.