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- Thread starter OSUBasketballJunkie
- Start date
daddyphatsacs
Let the cards fall...
Jay Bilas just picked Scum to upset tOSU.
Thanks for the laugh this morning.The Schott should be rocking today. If OSU can contain Michigan's inside game.....I think we'll be in very good shape.
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OSUBasketballJunkie
Never Forget 31-0
Dispatch
2/25/06
2/25/06
Coach makes point not to give away any secrets about Butler
Point guard has averaged 16.6 points, 4.4 assists in past 5 games
Saturday, February 25, 2006
Bob Baptist
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
Jamar Butler traces his aggression on offense to a conversation with Matta in late January, when he was struggling to make shots. Matta told him not to worry about the misses.
Exactly what is it that, in a little more than two weeks, has caused Jamar Butler’s offensive portfolio to mature to the point that he’s one of the best point guards in the Big Ten?
It’s a combination of things, the most revealing of which Ohio State men’s basketball coach Thad Matta will keep to himself for the time being.
"I’m not going to tell you," he said yesterday.
For good reason.
Butler’s coming-out began in the second half at Michigan 16 days ago, when he scored eight of his then-career-high 20 points in the final 8½ minutes to help rally Ohio State to victory.
Matta acknowledged he made an adjustment in that game that was good to Butler and the 13 th-ranked Buckeyes (20-4, 9-4) both then and since then. But now is not the time to expound on it with the Wolverines (18-7, 8-6) visiting Value City Arena this afternoon and Butler set for another showdown with Daniel Horton, who dropped 39 points on Illinois on Tuesday.
Suffice it to say that Butler is "playing well," Matta said.
Better than ever, he might have said.
A stout defender whose care of the ball and willingness to distribute it has ranked him all season among the Big Ten leaders in assistto-turnover ratio, Butler in the past five games has "blossomed," center Terence Dials said. The sophomore not only has averaged 16.6 points and 4.4 assists and been more aggressive with the ball but has shown a better feel for dictating tempo at the end of games.
"What I actually took notice of up at Michigan State was when he just took control of the team late in the game and got us into our offense," said Dials, who was on the bench Wednesday night for the final five minutes of the Buckeyes’ first win in the Breslin Center in 14 years.
"I was proud to see him get us set up in our offense and take control of the game and control the clock. That’s what good point guards do, and I think he’s on pace to be a good point guard in this league, if he isn’t already."
Butler also made two huge three-point shots in the final 3:34 of the game.
The first started a closing 12-2 run by the Buckeyes after Michigan State had pulled to a point. The second, from far behind the arc, came with a second on the shot clock with 1:13 left and was the dagger in the heart of the Spartans.
Butler traces his aggression on offense to a conversation with Matta in late January, when he was struggling to make shots. Matta told him not to worry about the misses. He said that as long as the shots were good shots, to keep taking them.
"That freed me up a lot. It let me know he had confidence in me," Butler said. "He said if I was open, take the shot, and if it goes in, it goes in, and if I miss, I miss."
Butler shot 39.6 percent from the field and 33 percent from behind the arc in January. He is shooting 51.8 percent overall and 53.8 behind the arc in February.
He also has been driving the ball to the basket more as defenses have crowded him and the coaching staff has designed plays to free him off of screens. His penetration in turn has freed up teammates by drawing help from other defenders, and his upper-body strength — his 325-pound bench press is the best on the team — has helped him handle the inevitable contact.
Butler’s teammate and roommate, Matt Terwilliger, said his friend looks like he’s "in high school again." Butler scored 2,412 points, 10 th most in Ohio history, at Lima Shawnee and was named Ohio Mr. Basketball his senior year.
"He was real reserved to start the season, and last year, because I think he was trying to find his niche on the team," Terwilliger said. "He wasn’t going to take the initiative. But once the coaches let him loose, he just went back to playing the way he was in high school. And he was a big scorer in high school."
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Saturday, February 25, 2006
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I get the game here in Hawaii. I'm going to record the game on DVD, so those who miss the game can PM me for a copy.
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All right boys, time to play. GO BUCKS!!!!!!!! Mili, I might take you up on that. I'd appreciate it. 
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Uh-oh I think we have an Ed Hightower spotting. That could be trouble..I can't really tell, the picture is terrible.
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