COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Kaleb Wesson's matter of fact response to a fair question nicely encapsulates the vibe around Ohio State basketball right now.
Wesson, a freshman, has been forced into some more minutes of late as fellow big man Micah Potter works his way back from an ankle injury. Potter played one minute on Saturday against Appalachian State. He's been seldom used since his injury on Nov. 19.
In the eight games since, it's been Wesson logging a lot of minutes and a bit of a patch-work effort behind him to find some other bodies capable of playing center. Wesson has handled it well. That should be a confidence boost for any young player.
But the tricky thing about getting a boost is that there first has to be some kind of lapse, or at least a plateau, in the area in need of boosting. Wesson says he never had such a lull in confidence.
"I feel like I'm playing with the same confidence I've always played with," he said after posting 16 points and eight rebounds before fouling out late in a 80-67 win over the Mountaineers.
"I work on my craft a lot. So I don't really have lapses as far as my confidence goes."
First the obvious statement that it's certainly easier to puff out your chest against a perfectly average (perhaps even less so) Appalachian State team. This isn't a win anyone will remember. (Except for, you know, the emergency smoke alarm that briefly forced Value City Arena to be evacuated). But Wesson's answer highlights a sense of purpose with this team that's been absent over the last few years.
Ohio State is on a four-game winning streak, including a pair of Big Ten wins over Wisconsin and Michigan -- impressive wins that matter. This season was always going to be more about how the Buckeyes played in their first year under Chris Holtmann than it was going to be about the results.
But you know what was the most noticeable missing element for this team in the final couple of seasons under Thad Matta? Progress. Saturday's win over the Mountaineers wasn't a season-changer. Far from it. It was, however, a stepping stone.
There's one more tune-up on Tuesday night against The Citadel (the worst team on Ohio State's schedule this year) before a tilt with No. 7 North Carolina next Saturday at the CBS Sports Classic in New Orleans.
It would be unfair to change the expectations for this team now. Though it sits at 9-3 with a couple of nice wins, it has still lost to three of the five top-100 teams it's played. Ohio State, though, has done enough to this point to make you intrigued about what might happen when it plays UNC. So progress matters, and it's happening.
"Our biggest goal is to get better every day, and that starts in practice," fifth-year senior guard Kam Williams aid. "We have to build good habits in practice for it to come out in the game. Coach is big on winning every possession. When we go out to play, that's fun time."
More fun that it's been in Williams' previous four years?
"Yeah," he said. "Winning definitely contributes to that. That's always more fun."
Losses will come. Holtmann is always quick to point out with each success that this roster is positioned in such a way that even the tiniest lapse in focus and effort can get this team in a big hole.
That's what happened when Ohio State got out-talented by Gonzaga, and blew double-digit leads against Butler and Clemson. In the aftermath of the loss to Clemson, Holtmann was the angriest he's been all season. He couldn't hide it. Since that game? The Buckeyes have played their best ball of the season.
Even on Saturday, with a final margin that shrunk because Ohio State fouled too much while holding a big lead in the game's final minutes, the Buckeyes had markers of progress.
For the second-straight game they consistently took away what the opponent does best offensively. Neither William & Mary nor App State are world beaters, but both are efficient offensive teams that shoot the 3-pointer well. Ohio State held them to a combined 8-for-35 (22.9 percent) from the 3-point line. It wasn't just missing shots, it was the Buckeyes running them off the line and contesting the shots that were attempted.
Ohio State had a season-high 11 steals on Saturday against a team not totally prone to turnovers. It was the second time in this four-game stretch that the Buckeyes have had double-digit steals. At the time this story is being written, Ohio State is a top-50 defensive team. Last year, with a lot of the same players, the Buckeyes were ranked No. 99 in adjusted defensive efficiency.
"I really believe this. It's not just something coaches say. If our identity is not making it hard for teams to score on us, then we're going to really struggle this year," Holtmann said. "We're going to really struggle. Our guys have to continue to embrace that."
Things are happening on the other side of the floor as well, where Wesson, Keita Bates-Diop and Jae'Sean Tate form a formidable inside scoring trio. The 3-point shot was bad for the Buckeyes on Saturday (3-of-14). Even with that, Ohio State is still shooting 41.9 percent from deep over the last four games.
And the turnovers, Ohio State's greatest struggle this year, have plateaued at about 11 per game over the last four outing. That's an acceptable number for this group, especially after the 24 it had against Butler.
All of that is to say that while this team is far from perfect and possibly playing near it's ceiling already, it's also stringing some things together. Things that, with some more fine-tuning from a new coaching staff, might force us all to alter our expectations a bit.
We're in a portion of Ohio State's schedule that should result in comfortable wins. Except that wasn't the case the last two years, when the Buckeyes would take the court against mid-to-low major programs, and you were worried a loss was coming. Ohio State planted that seed by playing unsure of itself far too often.
There's a confident vibe around this team that's been absent for too long. That won't always mask the deficiencies. But it's refreshing to see.
"I think it's a roster that's hungry to feel good about themselves, and is curious to see what can happen if we play together and play hard," Holtmann said. "We don't always do that, and when we don't we get exposed. But I think it's a group of guys that says we're hungry to see what we can do when we play together and play hard."