We can't really say we learned much tonight about the Ohio State basketball team, but I do think we saw some early signs of both good or bad things. A quick rundown:

• Evan Turner at the point appears to be working, so expect to see PJ Hill and Jeremie Simmons seeing less and less time.
• Speaking of Turner, he recorded the program's second triple double of all time tonight, with 14 pts, 17 rebounds and 10 assists.
• Ohio State seemed to stay in man coverage tonight, and held its own, which is exactly what you'd hope for against Alcorn State. That said, there were a few frustrating moments where ASU's Jonathan Boyd was left open and able to take a few threes, which he drained.
• Which leaves me to ask.... is Alcorn State really a game that will help us measure any progress in the perimeter defense? Paul Keels said on the radio broadcast that ASU had made just 2 of 6 shots behind the arc in its prior exhibition game, and was reputedly a drive, low-post oriented team. I'm not sure Ohio State limited the Braves' outside game to the extent that it should have.
• Believe it or not, we're going to be missing Dallas Lauderdale. Big dude may not be the most talented player around, but the dropoff from him to Sarikopolous and Kecman looks to be pretty severe. Zisis looked foul-prone tonight, and I don't recall Kecman doing much of anything in limited time. Still, even with Lauderdale, physical big men will give this team all sorts of trouble. Cross your fingers and hope this doesn't kill us in Big Ten play.
• PJ Hill is a fun little ball of energy to watch, but he doesn't have a lot to show for all that effort usually. If he can just cut down on the turnovers and let other guys do most of the work, he's serviceable as a one.
  
• On a lighter note (no pun intended), David Lighty looked to be in excellent form tonight. His second-half drive-and-dunk was stupendous, and he did an excellent job of spreading the ball around.
• Consistency from Buford and Diebler may end being the difference between a 2nd-round tourney exit and a far deeper run. These guys could be the non-Turner focal points of a dominant backcourt, or they could be intermittently hot and cold like, well, every set of Ohio State guards in recent memory.