Men's basketball: Buckeyes, Illini face plenty of questions Ohio State in shooting slump; losses landing Illinois’ Weber on the hot seat
By Bob Baptist The Columbus Dispatch Tuesday February 21, 2012 5:22 AM
Two basketball teams searching for answers cross paths tonight at Value City Arena. And that’s where the similarity between Ohio State and Illinois ends.
Ohio State is trying to figure out how to make more baskets to stay on track to play for a third straight Big Ten championship on the final day of the season.
Illinois coach Bruce Weber should be so fortunate as to have 22 victories. He wouldn’t have to be wondering where he might be coaching next season.
The Buckeyes have lost two of their past three games to fall to a No. 8 ranking nationally and a game behind Michigan State in the Big Ten standings. In the two losses, to Michigan State and Michigan, they made less than a third of their field-goal attempts.
That’s nothing compared to the Fighting Illini, who have lost eight of nine games, five by five points or less, since upsetting Ohio State on Jan.10. The skid has fueled speculation that, with a new athletic director in charge, Weber’s ninth season at the school will be his last. An 80-57 loss at Nebraska on Saturday might have removed any doubt.
“I think all the close losses, the disappointment, the emotion, just finally took a toll on our guys and it kind of all unraveled,” Weber said yesterday.
Ohio State, by comparison, although not playing like the team that drummed Duke by 22 points in November, doesn’t appear to be a lost cause despite despair setting in among some fans.
Weber views OSU as many have since the season began: a talented but largely inexperienced group that has been unable to replicate the perimeter shooting and intangibles David Lighty and Jon Diebler provided the past several years.
“I said since the beginning they weren’t as good as a year ago,” Weber said. “I thought Lighty was MVP (of the Big Ten) last season, and Diebler was special.
“They’re still a very, very good team. But the conference is more balanced from one to 12, and, more than anything, that’s been (the reason).”
Another reason is the Buckeyes’ atrocious shooting in their two recent losses. They shot a Value City Arena-record low of 26.4 percent and lost to Michigan State by 10 points on Feb. 11. They shot 38.8 percent and lost by five at Michigan on Saturday. In each game, they limited their opponent to less than 60 points.
Senior William Buford has caught much of the flak. He made 5 of 24 shots and scored 10 points in the two losses after preceding each with games of more than 20 points. But coach Thad Matta said yesterday, “I don’t want to hang on Will that we lost the (Michigan) game because of him. We didn’t lose the Kentucky game (in the NCAA Tournament last year) because of him. We had other chances (in both games).”
Michigan “made some difficult shots,” Matta said, “and we didn’t.”
Matta and sophomores Aaron Craft and Deshaun Thomas mentioned “little things” such as screening, ball movement and missed opportunities to score in transition that have kept the offense from getting better scoring chances. Matta said he would like to see the Buckeyes in “attack mode” more than they have been.
“He’s been talking about it a lot . . . that we can get easy shots for each other, anybody can score, the play is not just for one person,” Thomas said.
“We can get easy buckets in transition. We haven’t gotten that in a couple games.”
Craft said he could look to fast-break more than he has to create man-advantage scoring chances.
“I think we’re pretty positive. We’re still able to reach the goal we set out for at the beginning of the year, and that’s to win the Big Ten championship,” he said.
But “time’s running out. There has to be a sense of urgency on our team now. I think we’re starting to understand that. There are four games left, and each one is going to be a big one.”
I hope Aaron is serious about the fast break. I love Sully but we can't wait for him once we force a turnover. Push tempo and get easy shots. That is the missing element of our defense being truly elite. We rebound and force turnovers without fouling. We just don't take advantage of it.
If this is true I expect Shannon Scott to get a lot more minutes. He has lethal speed and can finish in transition.
I love our pace in this game. It's like last year with transition. If Sully needs a breather take him out and put Ravenel in. We just really need to push tempo and get easy buckets.
Coach Weber is dead man walking. I wonder who will get that job.? Self had that program rolling, weber has brought it back down to mediocrity. Guy just can't recruit, so many great players have left the city of chicago to go play elsewhere.
I think weber is a good coach, but for whatever reason can't get the top talent like self did. When weber had derron williams, his offense was a thing of beauty to watch.
Quote: Coach Weber is dead man walking. I wonder who will get that job.? Self had that program rolling, weber has brought it back down to mediocrity. Guy just can't recruit, so many great players have left the city of chicago to go play elsewhere.
Recruiting is not a problem. He gets really raw athletes that are head cases but talented.
I disagree. I can't think of too many of his recruits that have gone to the nba, and had success, or were even good college players. Even this year, Paul, and Leonard are solid players, but not the type of players that blow you away. When you have Derrick Rose, and Anthony Davis in your own town, and can't even get 1, I think that says something about your recruiting ability.
Didn't play our best. In a tough environment against a desperate team. And fought back for a W. Neither of Caliparis previous Kentucky teams would have won that game tonight.
Man, the ref missed the biggest foul on our final shot. Pretty upsetting
Watched it with my buddies a few times on DV-R, it's so clear that the guy on Cuse with the orange headband is fouling Roscoe Smith on his way to the hoop (to fail to get a real shot off and we lose the game).
Point being, while Roscoe probably wouldn't have gone two for two, I'd like to see him at least get his shots.
I agree. just not enough offense to do much in the tourney. Thomas scored 13 points in the first few minutes, and was held in check most of the game. Buford and Sully jacking up wild shots. 8-21 combined. A good 7 or 6 seed, will have no problems taking care of the buckeyes.
It was a lot easier on him last year, with Diebler, and even Lighty able to hit the 3. He just forces the issue, when he goes inside, most of the time getting doubled teamed just throwing up wild shots. It's killing us not having anybody to stroke the 3, so Sully could get some single coverage every now and then.
I remember when Jim O'Brien was the coach and when he would be disgusted with his starters effort. He benched them all and started his backups. Thad threw them out of practice yesterday but that doesn't mean much if they know they're gonna play the next day. Send a message to them.
PG: Shannon Scott SG: Sam Thompson SF: JD Weatherspoon PF: LaQuinton Ross C: Amir Williams
You start these 5, play them the first 4 minutes of the game til the 16 minute time out, if your playing good keep playing them, if not make changes accordingly. Why not? Sully is gone, Buford is gone, IMO Thomas is gone, L Smith shouldn't be starting anyway, and maybe Craft is just a 6th man.
Was sick after watching this game, watching Sully get pushed around. Isn't he or wasn't he a projected top 5 pick in the NBA. just don't see it anymore. Did losing that weight hurt him that bad? He lose what 30lbs now he is a perimeter shooter? I could keep going, isn't he, or wasn't he a national player of the year contender? I'm so frustrated right now!!!
Northwestern's senior day, 4/5 guys being seniors and it's probably THE biggest game in their schools history as they're trying to get into the tourney for the first time ever.
Craft was huge. 4-5 from deep and we needed every one. Also, NW only had 7 TO's and 4 of them were Craft steals. If he can be the 4th scorer I like our chances.
I like the lineup Matta will throw in sometimes. Temporarily have Scott at PG and Craft at SG. It takes a TON of pressure off of Scott when you have scorers like Sully, Deshaun, Buford and Craft around him.
Damn this is heartbreaking looking at Northwesterns players. I am rooting for them to make it.
