Who do you not want to see in Ohio State's Bracket?

• Azubuike24

  

  Cousins put up 19 and 14 on Jarvis Varnado, by far the best defensive big man in the country. I do think OSU could beat UK on a given night, but I don't think it would have much to do with how Lauderdale matches up with Cousins. As for Lighty on Patterson, it would favor OSU if Patterson refused to play on the interior and strictly was a perimeter player.
• Laley23

  

  Azubuike24 wrote: Cousins put up 19 and 14 on Jarvis Varnado, by far the best defensive big man in the country. I do think OSU could beat UK on a given night, but I don't think it would have much to do with how Lauderdale matches up with Cousins. As for Lighty on Patterson, it would favor OSU if Patterson refused to play on the interior and strictly was a perimeter player.

  Yeah, but Id like to think Cal is successful because he is not an idiot. If Lighty had to guard PP, I would hope Cal put PP on the block. This would be easy buckets for PP or double teams for open 3s (which MAY be the ticket to a loss for UK).
• ohiotiger33

  

  Any team that can run the court and pull Offensive rebounds will give OSU fits. They are not extremely deep and don't rebound well. That being said, they can dictate tempo, and should be a good tourney team.
• Azubuike24

  

  It's more like Cal's system generally calls for 1 big man, and 4 wing players surrounding him. Cousins is too good to keep off the floor, but having him and Patterson out there (along with a group of suspect outside shooters) makes this offense stagnant and flat-out poor at times. Patterson's development of an outside game has actually saved UK a lot this year.
  
  One of the reasons I think that next year's team might end up being much better offensively if they can add guys like Brandon Knight, Terrance Jones and Doron Lamb to a group of Bledsoe, Miller, Dodson, Liggins and others. It would basically be an offense with 4 guys who can play on the perimeter (Jones or C.J. Leslie are both 6'8-6'9, but are suited to play more on the perimeter) built around Daniel Orton, which is a lot more conventional with a Calipari team.
  
  Then again, with the talent he has this year, it would be stupid to force a system on them that they couldn't really fit.
• Mulva

  

  I agree with CBF that Lauderdale could slow down Cousins. Now, I think he would inevitably get into foul trouble (and Cousins would then eat Madsen alive), but I think Lauderdale could definitely hold his own while he was in.
  
  If OSU went man (which would be the dumbest coaching move of the year), I'd actually be more worried about who was going to guard Wall and/or Bledsoe. Diebler or Buford would have no chance of staying in front of either of them, and Turner couldn't guard them both.
• thedynasty1998

  

  I'm wondering if some of you have seen Cousins play at all this year?
• Hb31187

  

  This is pretty funny lol
• Laley23

  

  I just fail to see how Cousins can be stopped by Lauderdale.
  
  Those saying Dallas can get him into foul trouble....I have to ask, is Dallas taking charges? I have no reason to believe that Lauderdales offensive post game is going to cause any kind of issue. Hell, I dont even think Dallas would touch the ball in the post but 5 times each half. It isnt like the guy has a plethora of moves on the blocks to get someone in foul trouble...
• Azubuike24

  

  You don't beat UK by slowing Cousins down. He had 19 and 14 this weekend against Tennessee and the Cats trailed by double digits for 80% of the game.
  
  As for slowing him down, I think Lauderdale would definitely be a challenge for him. However, OSU in a zone, Cousins would KILL them on the offensive glass. The Cats get 42% of their rebounds on the offensive glass, and they lead the nation in rebounding. That's where Cousins would have his monster game against OSU.
• mward31

  Like it was mentioned before, as a Buckeye fan, I would be pretty happy if we were talking about how they can't match-up with Kansas, Syracuse, or Kentucky. That would mean, they made it to the Elite Eight (assuming they'll be a #3 seed at worst) and I'm alright with that.
  Even if one of those squads ended up destroying the Bucks (though I would never count the Bucks out with ET).
  
  As far as the possible early round match-ups, I am a Big Ten addict, but I just don't watch enough of the other conferences to know which teams to be afraid of. As for a pressing team like Baylor, I don't know how big of an advantage that would be with Turner at PG this year. Not many teams have 4 starting guards, 3 of them as athletic as nearly anyone in the country (i think we all know which 3) and none of them shorter than 6'5", making it much easier to pass over traps. And I think the lack of depth is a bit overrated with all the TV timeouts and a day of rest in between games.
  
  But I would be afraid that a team would really concentrate on what Purdue did against Turner in Columbus. They had a man in his face every second he had the ball. Yeah, he had a great game, but when the game was there for the taking (down by 2, in the bonus with 8 mins or so left), Turner seemed to lack his killer instinct and aggressiveness for the only game this year. He struggled with turnovers and composure a little against UNC and WVU, but he seemed to run out of gas for a 4-5 minute stretch against Purdue and that scares me. When 2-3 of the supporting cast is playing well, the Bucks can blow decent teams out of the gym (Minney, @Ill, Cal @MSG until a late rally). But if not, they rely on ET to close out tight games in the last 10 minutes or so and he usually does. I'm just afraid an NCAA tourney opponent will use the Purdue strategy to their advantage.
• Laley23

  

  ^^^Just to clarify, the depth is an issue when fouls pile up either early in the games or late (if a game is tight and all the sudden Hill is taking a GW shot), or if Buford/Lighty is playing terrible and no one on the bench can come in and give that spark.
• cview

  Like some others have said, I'd be ecstatic if we were playing Kansas, Syracuse, or Kentcuky because we'd be in the Elite 8, Final Four, or title game.
  
  Kentucky would rape us. Badly. We'd get killed on the glass and if you can't board it you can't control tempo. If there's one team I would hope for OSU to avoid at all costs it'd be the Cats.
  
  Syracuse would just squeeze the life out of us when we are on offense and Jackson/Onuaku qould be a nightmare. Simply sooting it over the top of the zone isn't the way to go.
  
  Of the three I think we would match up the best with Kansas.