Ohio State at Michigan,2/18...

• SportsAndLady

  

  vball10set;1090179 wrote:Buford 6 pts., Smith, Jr. 2 pts., OSU bench 0 pts....as I said after the Purdue game (even though we hung on to win), this team is digressing, and will be a sweet sixteen team at best.
  
  
  ...and, I will admit it now, OSU really missed out on Trey Burke--I guess you can't get 'em all.

  I was gettin on here to see if your mind changed about Burke...not being a dick, just curious on the answer.
  
  I really don't think it's that big of a stretch to think the coaching staff regret not offering Burke, the kid is really, really good.
  
  Reps for admitting it on here before I called you out
• Prescott

  Only scoring 20 points in a half is coaching and game plan. Not playerrs.

  It is about TEMPO and number of possessions. UM controlled TEMPO. OSU became impatient and started jacking up 3's.Shooting 20 3's per game is not a recipe for OSU succwess.
• WebFire

  Your point about Sullinger is probably the best way to shut down OSU if you can do it. I think a player that was key to the game last night that has been overlooked is Jordan Morgan. He had a double-double, but more importantly, he played aggressive defense on Sullinger and made him work for anything he did get. Could have been the main reason OSU was never able to really get it going.
• centralbucksfan

  Disappointing game to say the least. It was obvious early in the season OSU was not a good shooting team from the perimeter. Now its becoming even more evident. Last nite, they were jacking three's in the first half and not looking for Sully at all. 9 three pt attempts in first half. This team is not a 3pt shooting team. Why they are starting this, at this point in the season, is beyond me. They are not attacking the basket as they did early on, which then gets them to the FT line. When UM, as a spot up shooting team shoots nearly as many FT than OSU, thats not a good sign at all.
  Digressing? I am not sure about that. Bball is a simple game. Make some shots, and its amazing how that can make a game look a whole lot better. Its not panic mode. I said before season this team was a 4-6 loss team. I also didn't see them as being better than last year. But its far from panic time. Still time to get things going.
  Yes, Burke is damn good. If OSU missed out, then so did MANY other programs that didnt' recruit him. Yes, be great to have him. Hell, it be great to have A LOT of players out there for that matter. But he was not so highly recruited as many of you think. And has been said at nausia, OSU had Scott in the bag. There was NO need for another PG with two on the roster already. Is that hard to understand for some of you? Yes, ,Burke is better than Scott. But he wasn't in HS. Sometimes guys like Burke fly under the radar and turn out to be better than expected. There are many like that playing around the country at mid majors. It happens. He has obviously improved tremendously to get to where he is now.
• Ironman92

  

  OSU should still manage a #1 or #2 seed....but to win after round 1 they'll need solid games by Thomas, Sullinger and Buford because it's just too seldom anyone else to step up. I can see Thomas being solid every game....I have pretty good trust in Sully playing well and staying on the court....but I could see Buford struggling 2 out of every 3 games. My bracket will have OSU going Elite 8 or so....but a 3/14 game from Buford and we're done IMO.
• Ironman92

  

  Burke being a kid who played in Columbus in high school is what the main sting is...reminded me of Humpty Hitchens but 4 inches taller.
• ytownfootball

  

  Really don't care about Burke other than how to limit his production, water under the bridge. Without specific suggestions I think it's safe to say Thad really needs to shake things up to get the starters to think about how they're going to finish the year. Right now they are an average team partially handcuffed by the gameplan (which is difficult to see right now). After about 6/7 games we decided we were going to feed Sully and it worked great, now it is a freaking struggle to get it into him and the defense has adjusted to it. Thad really needs to adjust accordingly or it's going to be an early exit.
• centralbucksfan

  Ironman92;1090252 wrote:OSU should still manage a #1 or #2 seed....but to win after round 1 they'll need solid games by Thomas, Sullinger and Buford because it's just too seldom anyone else to step up. I can see Thomas being solid every game....I have pretty good trust in Sully playing well and staying on the court....but I could see Buford struggling 2 out of every 3 games. My bracket will have OSU going Elite 8 or so....but a 3/14 game from Buford and we're done IMO.

  OSU is NOT a #1 seed. Not unless they win out from here, including Big Ten tourn. I see them losing again at MSU. But as I said, #2 is just fine. Of course, now they are toying with a #2, #3 if they slip up again against Ill or NW.
• centralbucksfan

  ytownfootball;1090270 wrote:Really don't care about Burke other than how to limit his production, water under the bridge. Without specific suggestions I think it's safe to say Thad really needs to shake things up to get the starters to think about how they're going to finish the year. Right now they are an average team partially handcuffed by the gameplan (which is difficult to see right now). After about 6/7 games we decided we were going to feed Sully and it worked great, now it is a freaking struggle to get it into him and the defense has adjusted to it. Thad really needs to adjust accordingly or it's going to be an early exit.

  Its a struggle when you can't make shots from the perimeter. Defenses are sagging, playing helpside. Thats why the struggle is there for Sully. Until guys start making shots, its going to continue against good teams. Its really that simple. When you make shots, defenses have to adjust.
• ytownfootball

  

  centralbucksfan;1090273 wrote:Its a struggle when you can't make shots from the perimeter. Defenses are sagging, playing helpside. Thats why the struggle is there for Sully. Until guys start making shots, its going to continue against good teams. Its really that simple. When you make shots, defenses have to adjust.

  Well yeah, I mean what is the cure for poor shooting? They all have the ability to make a higher percentage of shots than what they are, thus my suggestion to shake the line up a little bit, not for long I guess but long enough to force some concentration and sense of urgency from a starting lineup that appears to have lost focus. They've been flat and uninspired imo.
• vball10set

  ytownfootball;1090274 wrote:They've been flat and uninspired imo.

  I alluded to this same thing on another thread over a week ago, and it's one of my biggest concerns. I just don't see the passion, the enthusiasm, the comaraderie I saw during the first half of the season, even during our six game win streak prior to the MSU loss. Something's missing, and I just don't know who's going to be the rallying force in the attempt to get 'it' back.
• ytownfootball

  

  They're not having fun that's for sure. Too much whining about officiating, justified but not helpful, think Thad should get T'd up once if nothing else. Need to make shots...that's not happening.
• Prescott

  Shooting 3's have nothing to do with tempo.

  Sure it does. Tempo made OSU impatient.

  But their offense doesnt follow any sound rationale.

  Yet, they hung 85 on duke.
• reclegend22

  

  For those who keep up with Buckeye recruiting, does OSU have a shooter in the mold of Diebler or maybe even Nick Dials on the way anytime soon?
  
  As has been stated here repeatedly, that's the missing piece, and I'm somewhat surprised Matta didn't have a replacement in mind over the past couple of years with Jon's graduation looming.
• Mulva

  

  LaQuinton Ross was supposed to be/still could be that piece.
• ytownfootball

  

  reclegend22;1090297 wrote:For those who keep up with Buckeye recruiting, does OSU have a shooter in the mold of Diebler or maybe even Nick Dials on the way anytime soon?
  
  As has been stated here repeatedly, that's the missing piece, and I'm somewhat surprised Matta didn't have a replacement in mind over the past couple of years with Jon's graduation looming.

  Ross actually foots the bill as a spot up 3 guy but started late and hasn't seen the floor, also tough to line up recruits when you're looking at Buford as the only senior.
• reclegend22

  

  Gotcha. Thanks for the feedback. I am not that familiar with the attributes of some of OSU's bench guys, so I figured that one of them fight fit that shooter's role.
  
  While I don't think OSU is as dominant as they were when the Bucks humiliated Duke -- they were firing on all cylinders at that time -- this team still has arguably the best traditional big man in the game and, if they can simply start making shots, a run to New Orleans could still be in the cards. Definitely not time to start jumping ship just yet.
• centralbucksfan

  reclegend22;1090313 wrote:Gotcha. Thanks for the feedback. I am not that familiar with the attributes of some of OSU's bench guys, so I figured that one of them fight fit that shooter's role.
  
  While I don't think OSU is as dominant as they were when the Bucks humiliated Duke -- they were firing on all cylinders at that time -- this team still has arguably the best traditional big man in the game and, if they can simply start making shots, a run to New Orleans could still be in the cards. Definitely not time to start jumping ship just yet.

  Well put, and agree.
• centralbucksfan

  Mulva;1090306 wrote:LaQuinton Ross was supposed to be/still could be that piece.

  He hasn't seen the floor. We are 27 games in. If he hasn't seen any significant time yet, he isn't going to. Accept it and move on.
• centralbucksfan

  ytownfootball;1090274 wrote:Well yeah, I mean what is the cure for poor shooting? They all have the ability to make a higher percentage of shots than what they are, thus my suggestion to shake the line up a little bit, not for long I guess but long enough to force some concentration and sense of urgency from a starting lineup that appears to have lost focus. They've been flat and uninspired imo.

  I don't disagree with this. And, Jay Billas made a comment about toughness. Which right now, this team lacks. They are not dealing with adversity very well at all. You either go one way or the other with adversity.
  
  The cure for poor shooting? Well, some of it is shot selection. I can remember one time in second half where Sully kicked it out, OSU reversed teh ball and Thomas hit a nice open shot in the corner. At times their shot selection is good, at times its poor. I'd like to see them attack the basket more. Get to the FT line. Seems they settle for too many jumpers at times. Its a mental thing. Its that toughness I elluded to above IMO.
• Mulva

  

  reclegend22;1090297 wrote:For those who keep up with Buckeye recruiting, does OSU have a shooter in the mold of Diebler or maybe even Nick Dials on the way anytime soon?

  centralbucksfan;1090326 wrote:He hasn't seen the floor. We are 27 games in. If he hasn't seen any significant time yet, he isn't going to. Accept it and move on.

  "On the way anytime soon" isn't limited to the last 5 weeks of this season.
• Footwedge

  2 things.
  
  1. This team does not have the talent it had last year...especially outside shooting and
  2. Walking the ball up the court virtually every single time is losing basketball.
• SportsAndLady

  

  Yes, Burke is damn good. If OSU missed out, then so did MANY other programs that didnt' recruit him. Yes, be great to have him. Hell, it be great to have A LOT of players out there for that matter. But he was not so highly recruited as many of you think. And has been said at nausia, OSU had Scott in the bag. There was NO need for another PG with two on the roster already. Is that hard to understand for some of you? Yes, ,Burke is better than Scott. But he wasn't in HS. Sometimes guys like Burke fly under the radar and turn out to be better than expected. There are many like that playing around the country at mid majors. It happens. He has obviously improved tremendously to get to where he is now.

  LOL that's the worst logic I've ever heard...Burke was from Columbus and a high school teammate of Jared Sullinger!! Obviously the staff saw him play many times.
  
  There's a huge difference in saying we missed out on a guy in our backyard (Columbus) and we missed out on a guy from Arizona who is now really good.
  
  I mean hell, Ohio State sure did miss out on Anthony Davis didn't they cbf? lulz
• SportsAndLady

  

  Oh and enough with the "we already had the PG position filled up"
  
  That's no excuse for missing out on a local kid who plays on the same damn high school of your star recruit.
  
  It's like saying the Trail Blazers didn't miss out on drafting Jordan because they already had that position filled, so they made a good pick w/ taking the 7'1 Bowie.
  
  Burke would be the best PG on OSU's team..they need/needed him, and they missed out. Stop making excuses. Thad missed on his recruitment, no need to cover up the blunder with your scarlet colored semen.
• vball10set

  SportsAndLady;1090456 wrote:...Burke was from Columbus and a high school teammate of Jared Sullinger!! Obviously the staff saw him play many times.

  This is what stymies me. Matta has been recruiting Sully since he was in junior high, so he had to have seen Burke play many, many times. Also, you gotta' think Sully and Weatherspoon both had to have been in Matta's ear, at least a little bit, on how good this kid was. I know hindsight is 20/20 and all that, and I'm not saying I'd take him over Craft, but it'd be interesting to find out what Matta's thought process was on this kid all the way through.