When previewing the 2015-16 Ohio State men’s basketball team, you first must start with the most pressing question, one that doesn’t yet have a definitive answer.
How will the Buckeyes replace do-everything guard D’Angelo Russell?
The likely response would be you can’t replace a player like Russell — not with one guy, anyway. It’s going to have to be a collective effort. That doesn't help ease the minds of Ohio State fans, but it's the reality.
Russell orchestrated the Buckeyes' entire offense last year and was the single reason Ohio State had a chance to win every game in which it played. He was a pass-first point guard consistently in control of the game, but he could also take over and score when needed and rebound with the best of them at his position.
Russell did everything for Ohio State. The silky smooth left-hander averaged 19.3 points, 5.7 rebounds and 5.0 assists per game. His rapid rise to superstardom last year allowed Russell to leave Columbus after just one season and enter the NBA Draft. He was the second overall pick by the Los Angeles Lakers.
That’s not the type of production head coach Thad Matta can get by simply plugging in another player into Russell’s position.
“With D’Angelo, there was a certain element of maturity about him, there was such a high level of basketball IQ,” Matta said. “Kids might say, ‘I’m going to be D’Angelo Russell,’ and it’s just like, ‘No. You don’t think the way he thinks.’”
Fair or unfair, a lot of the burden left by Russell's departure will be placed on freshman point guard JaQuan Lyle, who started for the Buckeyes at the position in their exhibition win over Walsh on Sunday.
Like Russell, Lyle is a bigger point guard — he's listed at 6-foot-5 and 210 pounds — and can use his size to his advantage at the position. Both feature a smooth game and a unique passing ability. Lyle, like Russell, can also rebound at his position very well. In his first action in an Ohio State uniform — an exhibition against a Division II opponent, mind you — Lyle had 19 points, nine rebounds and seven assists.
“That’s kind of what he’s done," Matta said of Lyle after the game. "He was a little bit hesitant at the beginning, but I thought he really did a nice job."
Added Lyle: "I’m a bigger guard so I’m not scared to go down there and rebound with the big guys, I did a little of that today. Just scoring options, that’s from them making shots and the defense adjusting to them then that gives me an open lane. It’s all a team effort and that’s the bottom line.”
Lyle will need help from his fellow backcourt mates; it's not realistic to expect him to replace Russell's production from a numbers standpoint. Kam Williams, A.J. Harris and Austin Grandstaff will have to assist.
But if the Buckeyes' exhibition was any indication, a large portion of Ohio State's success this season will hinge on the play of Lyle. He'll have plenty of opportunities to be the leader of this year's team much like Russell was one season ago.
"So many things [Russell] did as a player can become contagious," Matta said. "You want to build off of the guys who played with him last year and what he was capable of doing, but also get some production from the new guys."
