COLUMBUS, Ohio — Every morning, when All-American Jared Sullinger looks at his bathroom mirror, he sees two things that should raise the enthusiasm level of Ohio State basketball fans.

One is a photo of Kentucky's Brandon Knight hitting the shot that knocked the No. 1-ranked Buckeyes out of the Sweet 16 in the NCAA Tournament last season. Sullinger put the photo where he could use it to drive him every day.

"I think about how this could have been different," Sullinger said. "It was a tough shot, and he made it. It's a motivational thing for me."

The other is the reflection of a sophomore, who, after averaging 17 points and 10 rebounds as a freshman, looks like a new man.

Sullinger dropped 20 pounds to get down to 265 and lowered his body-fat percentage from 16.7 to 12.1. OSU coach Thad Matta is eager for Sullinger to be more versatile and mobile, potentially able to avoid some of the pounding he took in the post last season.

Point guard Aaron Craft joked that Sullinger is more apt to walk around in cutoffs now, and Sullinger said he did buy a few new clothes but hasn't changed his entire wardrobe.

"As long as I have a belt, I'll be fine," Sullinger said.

Upcoming battles

Ohio State has four players almost locked into starting roles, and then a scramble to fill out the rest of the rotation. OSU coach Thad Matta, in his eighth season, expects some of the greatest practice competition he has seen.

C/F Jared Sullinger,

F DeShaun Thomas,

F/G William Buford,

G Aaron Craft,

G Shannon Scott,

C Amir Williams,

F Sam Thompson,

G Jordan Sibert,

F Evan Ravenel,

G Lenzelle Smith,

F J.D. Weatherspoon,

C Trey McDonald,

-- Doug Lesmerises

That should be the case with his game. Expect some more jumpers, a little more ballhandling and the chance to show off his passing skills when facing the basket. But he will still do much of his work down in the post, where he said he still has the rear end needed to clear space.

"That's still there. I didn't lose my best friend," Sullinger said.

He just added to it by taking some weight away.

"It's just the simple fact of what type of moves I'm going to use," Sullinger said. "It's not always going to be body-type stuff. It's going to be more finesse moves, sometimes. I'm going to switch it up this year."

Not like football: Senior William Buford said Ohio State will always be a football school first, but a few other Buckeyes recognize that the troubles with the football team may leave more OSU fans craving another outlet for winning. Especially one sure to be ranked in the top five in the preseason polls.

"I know people are depending on us, with the football team having a lot of problems," Sullinger said. "As far as everyone putting everything on us, it will really give us the motivation to get us going."

Craft added: "It's a good and a bad thing, I think. We have some of the greatest fans in the nation, and anticipating the excitement because the football team isn't doing as well as they usually do, that's definitely cool to see. It can also be a bad thing for us. It's the kind of thing we don't need to worry about right now. We need to worry about trying to make ourselves the best team we can."

Ohio State opens the regular season against Wright State on Nov. 11.

To reach this Plain Dealer reporter: dlesmerises@plaind.com, 216-999-4479