Ohio State Basketball Official Thread

• vball10set

  Matta might want to have someone guard Collins...I hate this 2-3 zone
• vball10set

  lol at all the morons who thought Scott should've been playing ahead of Craft last year :rolleyes:
• vball10set

  https://twitter.com/ramzy/status/543852953028005889
• vball10set

  Scott just turned the ball over on three consecutive possessions against their press...he's awful.
• vball10set

  Wildcats, thoughts on today's 1:00 game? Go Bucks!
• gerb131

  

  I think we should handle UNC by 10+ UNC is one of those teams that will keep getting better and be dangerous come tourney time.
• Azubuike24

  

  UNC in a really close one.
• SportsAndLady

  

  UNC by 4
• wildcats20

  

  Btw, worst court design ever
  
  
• wildcats20

  

  Loving has found his stroke, apparently.
• gerb131

  

  Tar Heel missed yet lol
• vball10set

  OSU playing a lot of one on one ball--not going to win that way.
• Azubuike24

  

  IMO, playing a zone every minute really is settling for nothing more than Sweet 16/Elite 8 potential. Look at Syracuse over the last 40 years. The biggest chokers come March of everyone.
• Laley23

  

  Especially when you aren't a great rebounding team. Seems like UNC has 3x as many rebounds as OSU.
• Terry_Tate

  

  Azubuike24;1687986 wrote:IMO, playing a zone every minute really is settling for nothing more than Sweet 16/Elite 8 potential. Look at Syracuse over the last 40 years. The biggest chokers come March of everyone.

  I agree.
  
  Ohio State doesn't suck, but I still stand by the notion that they are suffering from a brutally awful non conference schedule. It is taking them a half to adjust to these high level teams. They'll be fine halfway through the Big Ten though.
• Azubuike24

  

  Any insight on why they do it? They have some above average wing players and guards, along with experience. Sure, their bigs are underwhelming, but that doesn't inhibit you playing M2M in today's college game. You gotta at least show other looks...
• slingshot4ever

  Azubuike24;1687991 wrote:Any insight on why they do it? They have some above average wing players and guards, along with experience. Sure, their bigs are underwhelming, but that doesn't inhibit you playing M2M in today's college game. You gotta at least show other looks...

  No Aaron Craft
• vball10set

  Making a run, Scott playing stupid
• birddog23

  OSU is so soft inside
• vball10set

  birddog23;1687996 wrote:OSU is so soft inside

  very much so
• centralbucksfan

  Frustrating loss to say the least. Tired of watching Amir..do nothing. Tired of watching a senior in Scott make stupid turnovers in crucial situations. Like UL game, this team didn't start playing hard until they were down 15+ pts. Went through the motions in first half. How can you do that against teams like UL and UNC?
  And I am as big a fan of Matta as anyone...but I absolutely HATE the zone defense. Yes, if they play mm there is certainly some weak links. I am sure the freshman need to learn and I would assume that Loving isn't very good because of his lack of foot speed. But wow, this zone is horrid right now. And without any inside presence at all, this team will continue to struggle. The three headed posts players are giving OSU absolutely nothing on either end of the floor. They are soft defensively and they are just not very good offensively. Lee has most potential...but he has probably been the most disappointing player to date IMO. He was almost a double/double player at Temple. Where is that at?
  Still early in season and I am hopeful they will get better. Matta teams typically do.
• centralbucksfan

  Azubuike24;1687991 wrote:Any insight on why they do it? They have some above average wing players and guards, along with experience. Sure, their bigs are underwhelming, but that doesn't inhibit you playing M2M in today's college game. You gotta at least show other looks...

  Matta believes he has a very long/athletic team. Which he does. He thought based on that and his personal, they this would be the best defense for this team. I have yet to see it or believe it. Hate the zone. Always have, always will. Scott and Thompson are very good defenders. I am also a believer that you can teach someone to play good or better mm defense. And Matta has proven to be one of the better defensive coaches around when they play MM. Don't understand why so committed to the zone. Mix it up at least.
• Heretic

  

  I don't have any problems with the zone IN THEORY. But when half your rotation is freshmen, it isn't the best thing to do all the time. Athleticism and length regardless, a good zone is keyed by maturity and discipline, I think, to avoid people getting burned because they were cheating and not anticipating what was happening. I seem to see that a lot. Wide open 3s because someone was cheating or playing off in anticipation. Which makes their zone a concern.
  
  Along with how the team's biggest playmaker is a freshman who regularly enters "Freshman Year Deshawn Thomas" mode where he becomes a human black hole that gobbles up the ball and forces shit up every time it enters his hand. And how virtually every support player has two options: double digits or nothing. And how it's a guessing game which of the three posts is going to show up and try to contribute (yesterday, Amir was a negative, McDonald tried but didn't accomplish anything and Lee would have been decent except for missing a bunny putback or two that he got a chance at due to hustling).
  
  I guess since, other than Wisconsin, the Big 10 is looking as mediocre and pedestrian as it has in an eternity, they definitely have time to get shit together and be a force, but right now they are just lacking that "it factor" where a person has confidence they can get the job done against high-quality competition.
  
  I know, while at a friend's yesterday, we were harping on their generally shitty non-league schedule. When all you do is wax the shit out of your High Points and NC A&Ts, you're going to be out of sorts for a while when you play a team with equal or superior athleticism and ability. Just like with Louisville, for the entire first half, it looked like the Bucks were slower and physically inferior to UNC. Unlike Louisville, they weren't able to balance that out with a second half that nearly got them all the way back.
• Azubuike24

  

  The problem isn't the zone. It's NEVER going away from it and the other team knowing that's what you will show them game in and game out. I hate to keep bringing up Syracuse, but it's nearly impossible to win 6 straight games like this when you keep running into better and more-talented teams.
  
  I mean, next year OSU will lose Thompson, Scott and possibly Russell. They will be a more traditional team with some size coming in, but the way I see that roster, it will be more suited for the zone than this year's squad.
• centralbucksfan

  Azubuike24;1688166 wrote:The problem isn't the zone. It's NEVER going away from it and the other team knowing that's what you will show them game in and game out. I hate to keep bringing up Syracuse, but it's nearly impossible to win 6 straight games like this when you keep running into better and more-talented teams.
  
  .

  Maybe the zone is the problem. And often, less talented teams will play zone to neutralize teams. So a team with less talent, may often play zone against more talented teams as they dont' match up well. That being said, I believe OSU has enough talent to play MM except as I mentioned, they may have a player or two that could be weak playing mm.
  And, back to the zone being a possible problem...the mentality part of playing zone can have an affect on the offensive end as well. Mentally, zone can make players be a little lazy which often translates to the offensive end of the floor as well. Not playing with energy. I know many coaches who won't play zone for that reason.
  Right now, the OSU zone is just bad. UNC had plenty of wide open good looks. They were able to get the ball to the high post at will, and which will break down a zone big time. Then on top of it, UNC killed OSU on the boards. When you play zone, and you are not matched up with a man...that can lead to rebounding issues.
  So there is reason to believe that the zone could in fact, be a major reason with the way this team is playing IMHO.