O’Brien Inks Three to Complete 2001-02 Recruiting Class – Ohio State Buckeyes
11/9/2000 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Nov. 9, 2000
COLUMBUS, Ohio-Jim O’Brien, Ohio State head men’s basketball coach, signed one of the best recruiting classes of his coaching tenure Wednesday during the first day of the fall NCAA men’s basketball signing period. Three student-athletes were added for the 2001-02 season.
Matt Sylvester (Loveland, Ohio/Moeller), Terence Dials (Youngstown, Ohio/Boardman) and Brandon Fuss-Cheatham (Beaver Falls, Pa./Blackhawk) all signed NCAA National Letters of Intent Wednesday to play for Ohio State.
“I am excited these three young men have signed to play at Ohio State,” O’Brien said. “They are all terrific basketball players but their talents extend beyond the court. They are all quality students and outstanding young men. They bring a complete package to our program.”
O’Brien said this class will be the core for building the Buckeyes over the next several seasons.
“This class will be the nucleus for the future of our program,” O’Brien said. “All three young men are proven winners and care deeply about winning. That really attracted us to them in the recruiting process. I could not be any happier with our recruiting for this year.”
The Sporting News ranked the class among the best in the Big Ten.
John Stoval, an Ohio basketball recruiting expert, said O’Brien and assistants Paul Biancardi and Dave Spiller positioned the Buckeyes for future success with this 2001-02 recruiting class.
“I would say that’s a great job of targeting recruits early and going and getting them,” Stoval said. “It’s without a doubt the best early recruiting class (summer of 2000) in the country.”
Sylvester, a 6-foot 7-inch, 200-pound wing forward, is considered to be among the top two players in Ohio. He is ranked by Prep Spotlight Magazine as one of the Top 60 players in the country. Sylvester played for the powerful Cincinnati AAU summer program.
“Matt is throwback player,” O’Brien said. “You don’t find kids who play his style anymore. He has an understanding of how to play. Matt is a multi-skilled player who can do it all. I love his fiesty-ness.”
He scored 17 points in the title game of the 2000 Kentucky Hoopfest to lead his Cincinnati AAU team to the championship with a 7-0 record.
Stovall called him one of the fastest-rising players in Ohio during the recruiting process.
“Matt is a very versatile player who could feasibly play every position on the court,” Stovall said. “His game probably most resembles a right-handed Toni Kukoc.”
Sylvester was offered scholarships by Cincinnati, Dayton, Xavier, Michigan State and Utah.
As a junior, he averaged 22.0 points and 8.0 rebounds. As a sophomore, Sylvester helped guide Carl Kremer’s Moeller squad to a Division I State Championship.
Bob Gibbons, editor-in-chief of All-Star Sports Report, ranked Sylvester as one of the Top 30 players nationally and called him arguably the best player in Ohio. Sylvester has been compared with former Utah player Keith Van Horn because of the ability to shoot the 3-point shot for his size. Sylvester connects with 40 percent accuracy from 3-point range.
Dials, the second recruit from Ohio to sign with the Buckeyes, is a 6-foot-9-inch, 240-pound power forward/center. He gives the Buckeyes an athletic big man.
“Terence will bring us rebounding and scoring in the front court,” O’Brien said. “He is athletic with a nice touch and good hands. He will add a tough presence and is physically mature, which will help him down low in the Big Ten. I look at Terence as someone who will bring toughness and a competitive spirit to our team.”
Dials is described by Stovall as an excellent baseline scorer who has the ability to step out and hit the 15-foot shot. Stovall has Dials as the No. 1-rated front court player in Ohio.
As a junior, Dials averaged 18 points and 12 rebounds and 4.0 blocks at Boardman.
This year, Coach Dan Gorski’s Boardman squad will be one of the top teams in Ohio.
Dials received offers from Michigan State, Purdue, Wisconsin, Penn State, Xavier, Pittsburgh, Georgia Tech, Clemson and N.C. State.
He is considered by various recruiting services as a consensus Top 100 player nationally.
Stephen Wacaser of The Sporting News said: “Dials has tremendous potential at the power forward position.”
Fuss-Cheatham (6-1, 190) is the No. 1-ranked point guard in the Midwest by Vince Baldwin of Midwesthoops.com and the No. 6 nationally-ranked point guard. He also is considered a Top 30 all-around player in the high school class of 2001.
“Brandon is everything we were looking for,” O’Brien said. “He is the ultimate point guard. He is an extension of the coaching staff on the floor and an outstanding floor leader with the ability to score. He has been associated with winning his entire career. Playing for Coach John Miller, he is well-schooled in the fundamentals of the game. Brandon is a winner.”
Fuss-Cheatham led his camp team to the championship of the 2000 adidas ABCD Camp in New Jersey. Twenty teams competed. He was selected to the all-star game following the tournament.
He averaged 21.3 points, 4.5 assists, 4.0 steals and 3.1 rebounds as a junior. He shot 59 percent from the field (279-476) and 77 percent (123-160) from the free-throw line. He has been Blackhawk’s starting point guard since his freshman season. The Cougars are 85-11 during that time. Over the last two seasons, Blackhawk is 62-4 with two conference championships and a state title.
Fuss-Cheatham is one of three NCAA Division I point guards to come out of Blackhawk in the last 15 years. Sean Miller, son of Cougars’ coach John Miller, played at Pitt and Sean’s brother, Archie, currently plays at North Carolina State.
Fuss-Cheatham was recruited by Pittsburgh, North Carolina State, Xavier, Memphis, Kentucky and Duke.
The Buckeyes filled all available scholarships for the 2001-02 season and do not expect to add any additional student-athletes this fall or during the spring 2001 signing period.
Quotes From Head Coach Jim O’Brien
On the signing of Terence Dials, Brandon Fuss-Cheatham and Matt Sylvester:
“We’re thrilled. We are very happy to get all three kids officially signed. We think we have done very well this year with the three scholarships that we had available. All three of them are the type of guys that we really want to have representing our program. I think the fans will really enjoy watching the three of them play. We know that they are going to represent us with a lot of class. And all three of them are good students, as well. We’ve done very well in recruiting them.”
On how the new guys will impact the team:
“The young guys, in fact, everybody next year will have another year of experience with the exception of (Ken Johnson). So that’s a big loss. But I really believe that our young big kids will be ready to be more assertive and more productive probably once they get a year under their belt, they will get a bit stronger.”
Comments on each player and how they fit in with the other new guys:
“(Brandon) Fuss-Cheatham is your prototypical point guard who can score. He’s very much a point guard-type player.”
“(Matt) Sylvester gives us the type of guy that’s a classic wing player. At 6-foot-7 inches, he has the ability to shoot threes, he’s a really clever passer and he gives us size at that position. He’s real feisty, a real throwback-type of a player.”
“(Terence) Dials is another big body. He’s at 240-pounds now and he’s about to come off his knee problem. He’s got to play next year. He gives us good size, another 6-foot-10 inch kid.”
“The three guys go along with Velimir (Radinovic), Timmy (Martin), (Will) Dudley and Zach (Williams). Also (Matt) Marinchick, who will be eligible again next year, and I think the extra year will really help him. We still have a number of good-sized kids. That group is going to be really young, but the extra year will really help. I think all three of those kids will fit in perfectly with our program.”
