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According to KenPom, right now OSU is the 39th-best team, with the 26th-best offense and 67th-ranked defense. They had the 50th ranked D, 30th-best O and finished #37 last season.
On the bright side, it sounds like Tilly won't be out for long. Cupps, while not as important as Tilly, also is not expected out for long. So hopefully the Buckeyes will be close to full strength at Wisconsin.
On the flip side, the fact that they're not even mentioning Brandon Noel in interviews now is probably a bad sign - at this point, it kind of feels like he might not play at all again this season.
Yeah, you can't necessarily say any game is going to be an easy W for this team, as they have to bring their "A" effort even to win at "lowly" Maryland and PSU. When you're capable of being had in the paint and not particularly blessed with many physical specimens who can play lock down D, you've got to play like your hair is on fire as some would say. Defense travels, and that's been the weaker area for this team, so it's only natural that getting road wins is going to be a dicey proposition.
Thad Matta, while he struggled recruiting at the end, clearly knew what types of players he needed to win at the OSU level, and on literally every team he always had one starter who was a defensive ace that would help get big stops. When he recruited bigs, he went for the long and athletic big who provided rim protection & was adept at securing rebounds (things we don't really have right now). Additionally, his "defend without fouling" philosophy generally led to opponents getting fewer points the easy way. I don't think it's a coincidence that a good part of the struggles that OSU has had in recent years have been on defense, and the team has just not had the type of talent and emphasis that there was in the vintage Matta years.
