A lot of people had OSU pegged as a "surprise" team, and some analysts even had them in their preseason top 25. With a couple of transfers coming in, players rebounding from injuries, and even a guy just now academically eligible, people thought this team would have enough new and returning faces to recover from losing its leading scorers last year. But now they're 0-2. They lost to San Francisco and followed that up with a big loss to San Diego State. They also lost their last exhibition match-up to a struggling team. Why are they struggling? Jim O'Brien has had vocal chord damage, and can only speak in a whisper. He got ejected from the SF game by complaining about the referees after writing "This is sad," on his clipboard and holding it up. Have has absence and voice problems hampered Ohio State? Or will this new line-up just take some time to gel? It's still early in the season, do these guys just need some game experience together? It's not too late to rebound from an 0-2 start. Did these two opponents just play great? Wretched officiating in the SF game, and unbelievable three point shooting from SD State? I don't know. What I'm seeing is a lack of heart. This team has recently had great leaders, players that just will the team to victory, since O'Brien took over. This started when he brought in Scoonie Penn, and Michael Redd was of the same breed. When these players left, Brian Brown took over, and he was followed by Brent Darby. Now all those players are gone. Who's going to step up? Transfer JJ Sullinger, the team's most talented player? If he's the guy that's going to take over, he'd better make sure not to foul out in limited minutes like he did against SD State today. This team has twice the talent of last year's team. Here's hoping they can use it to turn this season around soon.
