2010-2011 Men's Basketball (Outright Big Ten & BTT Champs)

[Oh8ch]

True but none of the other Big Ten powerhouses are blowing anyone out either

Purdue has beaten Iowa, PSU and UM by an average of 20 points.

Of course, there is that loss to Minnie.

 

[LitlBuck]

Purdue has beaten Iowa, PSU and UM by an average of 20 points.

Of course, there is that loss to Minnie.

I fear them much more than Sparty especially at their place. It seems like they are getting a third scorer from different sources each game and Johnson can probably play Sullinger one-on-one or at least probably take him away from the basket on defense. However, when they play, they will probably offset each other but Purdue is very good and not to be taken lightly.

 

[MaxBuck]

I have to disagree with your statement that this team would not be average without Buford or Diebler. Buford provides much-needed rebounding and if he was not such an unselfish player is probably the best overall shooter on the team. JD is just an all around good player not to mention the best outside shooter on the team.

Reading comprehension alert. I said the team would not be "average" even if Diebler and Buford lost their shooting stroke in a game - not if we didn't have them at all.

 

[brutus2002]

Potentially - I agree. But after four straight wins (two at home) by 5 points or less against unranked Big Ten opponents there is plenty of room for question.

I view these close games as a plus. I'd rather have close games because it forces your team to learn how to win close games and it keeps them humble. We are getting everybodies best shot. 3 B10 road wins...I'll take it. PSU is very hot and have found their groove. The have serious confidence and might help us win the B10 title.

Another thing it has done has shown teams that we have 6 players that can go double digits on you...6 players that can realistically put 20 on you on a given night...maybe 3 teams in the country can do that.

Anybody who thought Michigan would not be a dogfight or that we would beat PSU by 18+ has serious problems...people are giving us their best shot!!

 

[CHU]

Watching/listening to Fran McCaffery on "The Journey" romanticize the Siena win over the Buckeyes in the NCAA Tournament was kind of sickening (but understandable).

Bad memories of Dayton and Ryan Rossiter grabbing boards.

 

[Jake]

It shows how much our basketball program has grown under Matta when the topic du jour is margin of victory, while sitting here undefeated and ranked number one in the country.

 

[CHU]

Objective statement/view with statistics to back, so not the "half-asleep" approach of some ESPN commentators who cover college football.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/writers/seth_davis/01/17/hoop.thoughts/index.html

It might surprise you to learn that Ohio State's biggest problem right now is rebounding. Yes, Jared The Man-Child is grabbing nearly 10 boards a game, but in the Buckeyes' last three games, their opponents got a combined 14 more rebounds than they did -- including Penn State, which owned a 25-15 advantage on Saturday. In Big Ten games, Ohio State is ranked seventh in rebound margin.

The main reason for this shortcoming is the necessity to play freshman point guard Aaron Craft a lot of minutes. That means sending senior center Dallas Lauderdale has to spend a lot more time on the bench. (Craft played 35 minutes against the Nittany Lions, Lauderdale played nine.) Buckeye fans should enjoy the view from the top of the polls for now, but they also shouldn't ignore the warning signs. Like I've been saying, there simply aren't any great teams in college basketball now.

 

[generaladm]

Bad memories of Dayton and Ryan Rossiter flopping on the ground like a dying fish every time he got touched.

FIFY

Fuck that virgin-for-life dive-master Ryan "I ain't got no chin" Rossiter. Fuck Sienna.

 

[CHU]

FIFY

[censored] that virgin-for-life dive-master Ryan "I ain't got no chin" Rossiter. [censored] Sienna.

You forgot to mention his "Boxer-like", oversized mouthpiece.

Although the kid for St. Mary's last year had a bigger one (the Aussie who gunned 3's from the parking lot).

 

[Buckskin86]

Mirror Images: Buckeyes resemble 2006-07 team
By Ben Axelrod
[email protected]
Published: Tuesday, January 18, 2011

When the Ohio State men's basketball team (18-0, 5-0) was named the No. 1 team in the nation in both The Associated Press and ESPN/USA Today coaches' polls Monday, it became the first OSU men's team to accomplish such an honor since the 2006-07 squad, which finished its season as the runner-up to national champion Florida.

As this year's group continues to replicate the 2006-07 Buckeyes' success in the polls, grabbing a hold of the No. 1 ranking isn't the only similarity between the two teams, as both squads have found their ways to the top of the polls through the play of blue-chip freshmen and the leadership of veteran role players.

The star freshman: 2010-11 Jared Sullinger and 2006-07 Greg Oden

Both the 2006-07 and 2010-11 Buckeye teams received boosts in preseason hype and attention because of the additions of heralded freshmen post players in Greg Oden and Jared Sullinger.

Cont...

http://www.thelantern.com/sports/mirror-images-buckeyes-resemble-2006-07-team-1.1880566

 

[Buckskin86]

College Basketball's Next Power?
With a No. 1 Ranking, Strong Local Talent and Another Star, Ohio State Could Join the Elite
By DARREN EVERSON

College basketball has a royal class, an exclusive fraternity of elite programs. These are the schools whose tradition and recruiting pull are so powerful, their continued success is virtually inevitable.

Duke, of course, sits at the head of the table. Kansas and Kentucky are full-fledged members too. The question before the sport now, though, is whether another school is on the verge of joining them.

The Ohio State Buckeyes, who took over the No. 1 ranking in both polls this week, loom as college basketball's next potential power program. They hardly have as many banners as the others: Ohio State's only national title came in 1960, back when a kid named Bob Knight was a reserve for the Buckeyes. But today, because of years of recruiting momentum and growing success on the court, Ohio State is uniquely poised.

In the Big Ten Conference, where rosters are overwhelmingly composed of homegrown players, Ohio State has become the place to go for top Midwestern recruits. The reasons for this are equal parts luck, good recruiting and great timing.

The state of Ohio has had an unusually rich crop of elite high-school players recently: seven top-20 recruits in the past five years, according to the recruiting site Rivals.com. Ohio State has grabbed five, the latest being star freshman big man Jared Sullinger, who is the younger brother of a former Buckeye.

Nationally, the game's top coaches keep chugging along?but for how much longer? Duke's Mike Krzyzewski turns 64 next month, North Carolina's Roy Williams is 60, Syracuse's Jim Boeheim is 66 and Connecticut's Jim Calhoun is the dean of the group at 68. Sooner or later, each of these schools will have to endure a coaching transition that could halt their program's perennial success.

With a young coach (43-year-old Thad Matta), a strong recruiting base, a parade of recent first-round NBA draft picks (six in the past four years) and spare-no-expense facilities (Ohio State plays in a near-20,000-seat arena and is raising funds for a practice facility) the Buckeyes are set up for the future as well as arguably any team. All the program needs to do to vault itself into the sport's upper crust, observers say, is to win a championship.

Cont...

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703954004576090390898408786.html

 

[LitlBuck]

I guess a little practice on Monday about defense paid off last night.

Ohio State continued to lead the nation in scoring margin (22.7 points per game) entering this week's games. That's a testament to how much the Buckeyes outscored opponents during the nonconference season, because their past four games have been decided by a total of 15 points.

There are a couple of reasons for it:

On offense, the Buckeyes? are averaging 13 fewer field goal attempts and 10 fewer points per game in the Big Ten than they did in nonconference play. Opponents are slowing the tempo and prolonging their possessions, and Matta said he's not sure how to change it.

"It just sort of is what it is," he said. "But it is amazing how much slower the games have been, and fewer possessions."

The other reason is that the Buckeyes' defense is not shutting down Big Ten teams as well as it did nonconference opponents. Big Ten teams have shot 48.2 percent from the field. Nonconference teams shot 38.9 percent.


Conference teams seem to have gotten an inordinate number of open looks, and I asked Matta if his players perhaps were guilty of helping teammates too much and being a step late recovering to their own man. He acknowledged that's been a problem.

"It?s a matter of doing both (better), and right now we?re not getting both the help and the recovery at the level we need it," he said. "We?re long enough, we?re athletic enough, that we can do both. It?s just a matter of doing that."

So is it just a matter of players competing harder than they think they can now?

"No question about that," Matta said. "We can do it."

Given that, Jared Sullinger and Aaron Craft said the Buckeyes went through an arduous practice Monday that they said was reminiscent of preseason drills.

"We've got to get back to the way we were playing defense," Craft said.http://blog.dispatch.com/hoopsscoops/2011/01/why_the_games_have_been_close_1.shtml#more

 

[LitlBuck]

Players like new seating

Lighty and Craft said they welcome the impact of the new student section along the sideline behind the team benches.

"It?s a lot more hectic because they?re right on top of you," Lighty said. "It was always loud, but it?s louder, more continuuous throughout the game now. I think it puts a little bit of pressure on the opposing team because they?re right behind their bench, screaming and yelling at them the whole game. I don?t think they like that too much."

Craft: "Having the games over winter break when (the students are not) there, you definitely feel a difference when they?re there. They show up hours before the game and are ready to go. It?s a confidence boost for us and gets us excited, and as (Lighty) said, I don?t think the other teams like it too much."

http://blog.dispatch.com/hoopsscoops/2011/01/the_first_pick_in_the_draft_1.shtml#more

 

[brodybuck21]

http://blog.dispatch.com/hoopsscoops/2011/01/the_first_pick_in_the_draft_1.shtml#more

i would agree with this. the atmosphere was pretty nice last night

 

[CHU]

No "pain" references from Gus Johnson in the first two games he's called this season (with OSU as a participant). No breakaway dunks in either game (to lead to the call).

Although you could just go with the Soundboard for instant gratification

http://www.gusjohnsongetsbuckets.com/

Here's hoping Saturday produces some good calls and a win (with Johnson calling the game on CBS). Best play-by-play hire by BTN.