Basketball Bucks’ tip-off tonight vs. Findlay
The defending Big Ten regular season champion Ohio State Buckeyes open their exhibition portion of the season tonight against the University of Findlay Oilers. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:00 pm. at Value City Arena.
On Monday, the Big Ten Conference media selected Ohio State as its preseason favorite to win the league crown for 2006-07.
Freshman center Greg Oden, who will not play tonight against Findlay, is still recovering from right wrist surgery he had last June. He is expected to be in the starting lineup no later than January 2 when the Buckeyes host the Indiana Hoosiers.
Oden was named to the preseason first-team All-Big Ten list as voted by the media, and it marks the first time a true freshman has been recognized in conference history.
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Guard Jamar Butler, swingman Ron Lewis, and center Matt Terwilliger will be in the starting lineup tonight. As for the other two spots, any guess could be the right guess.
Matta has yet to name a starting lineup for tonight’s game. The Oilers, who return four starters and 11 letter winners, are ranked sixth in the nation according to the 2006 NCAA Division II Preseason Bulletin Poll. Last season, Findlay won their fifth consecutive Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference South Division title and made their fifth straight appearance in the NCAA Division II National Tournament. This season the Oilers will be entering their 100th year of competition in intercollegiate athletics and they enter it as the fifth most successful team in NCAA Division II during the 2000’s with 145 wins and only 39 losses. During this 100th year of men’s basketball, the Oilers will be led by seniors Frank Phillips, Dorian Bass and Brent Schnipke, who were named all-conference last year for Findlay. Phillips, a senior from Cincinnati, Ohio, returns after being named first team all-GLIAC as a junior. A 6-4 forward, Phillips has scored 1,120 career points heading into his final year and averaged 13.6 points and 4.4 rebounds per game as a junior. Bass, a 6-1 senior guard from New Concord, Ohio, was named second team all-GLIAC last year after averaging 11.9 points and 2.3 rebounds per game while Schnipke, a 6-8 senior center, was voted to the all-defensive team after averaging 8.7 points and 4.7 rebounds per game as a junior. Also looking to make an impact are some of the Oilers younger players who gained valuable experience last year. This group of standouts includes sophomores Josh Bostic, Morgan Lewis, Aaron Laflin and Lee Roberts. Bostic, who leads the talented sophomore class, started 26 games as a freshman and averaged 8.6 points and a team-high 5.6 rebounds per game. Lewis, Laflin and Roberts all have a year under their belts and have showed tremendous improvement heading into the 2006-07 season. Juniors Tyler Niekamp and Jordan Hilsher will also be counted on to provide depth off of the bench for head coach Ron Niekamp. |
