DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Tailgate Forum College Basketball Part 2

Dear OSU,

There is a 6'9 270 lbs scoring monster named Jared Sullinger. You might want to get him the ball.

Sincerely,
Everyone

20 points at the half??

Dear lord. What were we? 0 - 9 from outside the arc?

::banging head on desk::

I love Sully but damn, I have come to the conclusion he is not the type of big man Matta wants in his system. He wants big men that can run in transition. BJ Mullens, Greg Oden, Terrence Dials, Ivan Harris, Deshaun Thomas, Amir Williams and Evan Ravenel are those types of guys.

Our guards can't hit shots. They had great shots, but just can't hit them. That's our biggest weakness. hitting outside shots.

This team can't win when they are getting out hustled

I still think we're gonna win have played horribly and only down 6.

I've noticed disturbing trends from Matta.

All these circus shots would stop if Thad Matta yanked guys from the game. I will never understand why he always lets guys try to shoot out of a slump.

Matta will live and die with his starters. he's been like that since he's been at osu.

Agreed.

Looks like the team is getting the rock to Sully a bit more..

LOL Thomas just got raped under the hoop, nice job of muscling that in.


Of course the refs give them the and 1 on the other end.

I really don't feel like we've gotten the calls tonight...

gotta get it going! Running out of time... keep feeding Sully and Thomas!

We could make a drinking game out of the ESPN announcer saying "(insert UofM player here) was lucky to not pick up a foul there." He's had to say something along those lines at least 10 times.

A TRAVEL!?!? ARE YOU KIDDING ME????

Thomas gets bumped down on a rebound and they call a friggin travel... horrible officals tonight.

Then Craft gets hacked... no foul....

This team is not winning a championship if they keep playing like this.

Sweet 16 if they're lucky

I'd really love to see how many no calls there were for UM... that was crazy...

oh well... will have to get them in the tourney...

It's the same old story. Outside of Thomas, no one had a good game. Sully it seems will never dominate, just a solid player. Buford is wildly inconsistent. I do think this team could be beaten in the 2nd rd, depending on matchups. Just can't score enough.

Right now they have the feel of one of those talented 2 or 3 seeds that gets upset in the 1st or 2nd round.

Well phooey.

Where did I say fire him?

He's just too much of a players coach to make guys mentally tough.

Personally, I think it is more a case of we miss David Lighty A LOT more then we though we would. He was the pulse of that team last year. Buford has zero leadership qualities. Our team leader is a, what, 19 year old kid. You can blame the coach, but IMO the leadership has to come from someone on the team.

It didn't help that Craft got two early fouls so he couldn't be as tenacious as he normally is... then it felt like in the first half we got nervous about going inside or we really wanted to get the 3 going... either way we totally went away from going inside.

To me that does go on the coach... need to call a TO and go over the game plan a bit more...

Bufoed needs to see a sports psychologist.

He is just completly damaged mentally.

Now that I've had time to relax. William Buford reminds me of Steve Bellisari. Eighth-most passing yards in Ohio State history. However nobody will remember him for that. Same way with William. He could finish with the 2nd most points in school history and nobody will remember him for that. OSU will only go as far as William Buford will take them. Dallas Lauderdale tweeted that he thinks he is fine. I don't believe it at all. He is my least favorite good OSU athlete ever. Kid has insane talent and skill on both sides of the ball. He just doesn't have it mentally.

Also I love Matta, but his coaching style is absurd at times. He has completly driven Craft into the ground. He becomes completly exhausted at the end of games.

Pretty tough, physical game.

Refs certainly swallowed a lot of whistles but I partly blame that on OSU, in terms of how they established their style of play for the first 30+ minutes.

They by in large just hung around the perimeter and just jacked up 3's for most of the game. They refused to drive, refused to work the ball inside and just settled for way too many jump shots. Even Sullinger shot three 3-point attempts (he came in to the game 23 attempts in 26 games).

As the game progresses and a flow develops, officials have a tendency to give calls (or non calls) to the more aggressive team. Not really arguing the merits of such cause and effect but that seemed to be what happened last night.

And really, the box score says the game was called fairly evenly.

FT attempts:

OSU: 15
Michigan: 14

Fouls:

OSU 13
UM: 15

There's always one fan base who feels like the officiating was bad. I agree that there were some 50/50 calls that went Michigan's way more than 50% of the time but Michigan just played better last night. Better spacing, ball movement, effort. They looked like they wanted it more.

My only concern with OSU heading in to tournament play is their bench is just meh. Their starting 5 is great but they get next to nothing from anyone outside the top 5. Is someone hurt that I'm missing? I can't remember an OSU team that didn't have someone on their bench who could provide a spark.

All and all though, the Big Ten has 3 really tough teams heading in to the NCAA stretch. With Michigan surging, it's likely the Big Ten gets three teams slotted at a 3 seed or higher (Michigan, MSU, OSU). If all play well, there could be a nice B1G contingent at the sweet 16.

I think moving forward OSU will be fine but they really need to remember who they are. Ignoring Sullinger for as long as they did cost them the game. Michigan had no answer for him when he caught the ball inside 5 or 6 feet.

Sully is getting treated like Greg Oden did. If the ref's are just going to let the other team beat the crap out of him without calling fouls, he's going pro so at least he can get paid for it. Guys defend Sully like they defend shaq, flop as if your life depends on it. Sullinger is unstoppable in the post when you allow him to establish position because he's so damn strong.

Come on now. You're talking about a guy who's main offensive move is lowering his shoulder and running you over lol.

Quote:

---

And really, the box score says the game was called fairly evenly.

FT attempts:

OSU: 15
Michigan: 14

Fouls:

OSU 13
UM: 15

---

Didn't see the game, have no dog in the fight but I've had this argument with Duke fans for years who point to the fact that sometimes other teams shot more free throws than they did.. just because they had about the same number of fouls called, doesn't mean they committed the same number of fouls.. your stats don't count missed calls at all..

Oh well.. have had a chance to watch a few Terps games lately and man, they need to figure out the second half. I wonder if it's poor coaching adjustments or if they just don't have the horses to hang with good teams for 40 minutes, I'm hoping it's the latter...

They have played 5 games against Duke, Carolina, Florida State, and UVA, the 4 best teams in the ACC and in the first half they have been outscored by a total of 6 points.. every game has been +/-3 points.. in the second half they have been outscored by a total of 75 points.. including this weekends 44-13 second half debacle against UVA.. how do you suck that bad in the second half when it was tied at halftime?

web page

OUCHIE.. when this is on the front cover of the Sports page.. you are kinda being called out..

Rob Oller commentary: Crucial for Buford to step up

William Buford leads Ohio State in shots, but ranks ninth on the team in field-goal percentage. William Buford is the cause in Ohio State’s effect, meaning the Buckeyes will not get to where they want to go unless the senior shooting guard gets it going.

Causality often is overlooked in athletics because it requires big-picture analysis, and most observers focus more on the micro side of sports — an athlete’s ups and downs — versus the macro side of how that athlete’s performance affects a teammate, or the team as a whole.

It is easy to get caught up in looking at how a single performance can turn a game — for instance, whether a shooter is 8 for 8 or 0 for 8 from behind the three-point arc — and miss what that performance, for good or bad, does to help or hurt how others are able to play.

As Buford has struggled to make shots against the better Big Ten teams — against the top four in the conference, he is 22 of 71 (.310) overall and 4 of 21 (.190) from beyond the three-point line, with 13 assists to 20 turnovers — sophomore center Jared Sullinger has found the sledding to be increasingly difficult. Without consistent scoring from mid-range and the perimeter, and Buford is counted on to provide such consistency, Sullinger is more apt to stall in the post, and the offense with him.

If Buford can’t open the floor with his scoring — he is averaging 8.8 points against the top four Big Ten teams, 18.4 against the bottom seven — there is little reason to believe the Buckeyes will advance beyond the Elite Eight, and probably not past the Sweet 16.

Yes, Buford’s production is that important. Ohio State cannot expect to compete against Kentucky and Syracuse — or Michigan State and Michigan, for that matter — with Buford leading the team in shots (357) while ranking ninth in field-goal percentage (.426).

It already had become almost painful to watch Buford sputter offensively before Saturday, when he looked maybe his worst during a 56-51 loss at Michigan. He shot 3 of 12 overall, including 0 for 3 from three-point range. The Buckeyes’ best free-throw shooter (.866), he missed back-to-back foul shots with 6:18 left and the Buckeyes trailing 47-43. It wasn’t just that the 6-foot-6 swingman missed shots, but how he missed him. Far range. Up close. Off the dribble. And almost always in a rush, which also describes an OSU offense that stiffens against the John Wooden teaching of “be quick, but don’t hurry.”

The Buckeyes have half of that quote down. They are fast, but too often lack a controlled “flow” to their games. That need for “aggressive patience” is where, entering this season, Buford was supposed to help younger players who tend to brain cramp in certain situations because of a lack of experience. Instead, they have rubbed off on him more than he on them.

People like to criticize Buford for lacking leadership, which they define as providing mature guidance to excitable younger players on and off the floor. Although not entirely wrong, this strict definition of leadership misses the larger point that Buford can lead simply by taking his game up a notch. Teams take it deep into March when their most veteran players achieve what is known as the “senior step-up,” measured as a jump in improved play that kicks in as seniors realize their college careers have no tomorrow.

So far, the likable and overly humble Willy B. has shown only flashes of that “final-year fantastic,” which is a puzzler. In 2009-10, there was no doubt Buford had an NBA future. In 2010-11, no doubt became “probably.” Today? Might he be headed to Europe?

Buford still has time to step up, but something needs to click. And in a hurry because if he doesn’t quickly help improve the Buckeyes’ cause, the ill effect will arrive sooner than it should.


Rob Oller is a sports reporter for The Dispatch.

Part of the blame is on Matta as well for not developing a bench. It's not like he doesn't have talent on the bench, they rarely play. I remember when we played tennessee 2 years ago in the tourney, bruce pearl said his 10 was better than ohio state's 5. It's the same situation this year. We're relying on 5 guys to carry the load, while teams like kentucky, and syracuse have 8-9 players to choose from.

Thats a fair knock on Matta.. He does need to develop the bench.

It seems like Matta doesn't realize what happens when you only play 5 guys and make them hustle every possesion on defense. Guys get tired, lose their legs and can't make jump shots. This is a huge reason why Craft struggles on offense.

It's funny how teams that play tough D and keep their opponents to a low scoring number are usually low scoring teams as well.

Few players can do it all well, so a good coach needs to pick and choose who is going to get some free time on D so they can light it up on the other end.