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2013-14 Ohio State Men's Basketball (Official Thread)

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Forget the OOC record, built mostly against cupcakes. The 3-5 B1G record is our team at this point.

These were BEFORE tonight's PoSU game.

POINTS PER GAME
151st OVERALL

REBOUNDS PER GAME
180th OVERALL

ASSISTS PER GAME
158th OVERALL

FIELD GOAL PCT
100th OVERALL

Nothing there suggests contender. It's difficult to imagine significant improvement the rest of the way, but we'll see what happens. :eek:
 
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Honestly, if Coach Matta can get this year's team in the tournament, this is his best or second-best coaching job while at Ohio State (IMO).

The first year when the team was postseason banned was tough.

There seems to be so many deficiencies with this year's team.
 
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Ultimately, it all comes back to talent. The exact same players with Ravenel and Thomas made the Elite 8 and had a great year in a strong Big Ten - add one star player and fortify the play at the C position, and you're back to that level in no time. Unfortunately, there's not much you can do this year. You can try to tweak the lineup but if guys can't shoot very well, you're not going to win anything worth a damn. Amir needs to man up or else this team is dead in the water.
 
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BVistahC said:
Honestly, if Coach Matta can get this year's team in the tournament, this is his best or second-best coaching job while at Ohio State (IMO).

The first year when the team was postseason banned was tough.

There seems to be so many deficiencies with this year's team.
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But how do you explain those deficiencies?

This is the same team that won the B1G and went to the elite eight, minus two players. This is a team with the #8 recruiting class in the country from 2011 remarkably in tact 3 years later. It is by far Matta's most experienced team. And it is getting worse as the season goes on.

Stuff happens. Bad chemistry, whatever. And Matta has absolutely earned a pass for an off year. But I would not argue this season in any way reflect a good coaching job.
 
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I was thinking this same thing about the experience of the returning players. This team is the epitome of a Matta coached team, with one exception, no go to player has emerged. I think we all thought Ross was the next man up, but he disappears way to often to be the guy. I get frustrated year in and year out with the fact that no bench gets developed through the OOC cupcake schedule. Young, talented players sitting and watching does only so much good. They need experience in games. Games get tight later in the season and the bench gets short.
 
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This team is not as good as last year, but they are not this bad. Smith has every reason to feel embarrassed but a better response is for the team's leadership to pull them together and get them to get their heads right. The season is not yet lost but it is close.
 
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This article was posted in the Penn State game thread but deserves to be added here because it says a lot about what is happening this year.

Lenzelle Smith Jr. after No. 24 Ohio State's loss to Penn State: "This is embarrassing. Every other team in our conference is laughing"

Ohio State snapped its four-game slide with a win over Illinois at home last week. That could have been the win that helped the Buckeyes bounce back, but Smith said it made Ohio State feel too comfortable too soon.

“Everything was back to normal,” Smith said. “Prior to (the Illinois win) we lost everything. Our toughness, our team chemistry, our heads were down and we just got to rock bottom. We said we had a purpose, that we had to beat Illinois to get back on the winning side. Once we got one win, we felt like we were winners again.

“In reality, we lost four games and just because you win one (doesn’t mean much). In this league, if you don’t come ready to play every night, you’re going to lose. Their second win? Top 25 teams at home don’t lose these games. And we lost.”
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Here's the thing. This team has been within buckets of winning all the games they've lost so I'm not ready to cancel the season just yet. That said, Matta is going to have to try something different. The lineup he put on the floor to end the game is only viable when its playing suffocating defense. Well....they've become porous on D so there is no valid reason to keep Craft and Scott on the floor together considering their offensive woes.

I understood the 3 guard theory early in the year because Shannon appeared to be a much improved offensive weapon but once that faded nearly 2 months ago, this lineup needs to be put on the shelf. That line up leaves us with 2 non offensive guys, 2 inconsistent players (amir, smith) and one scorer. I say keep Smith (slumps and all) in the starting line up because he adds another reliable handle besides Craft. My favorite look would be having Loving at the 4 and Ross at the 3. Loving at least brings the treat of jumper and some rebounding to the court. Or start Thompson at the 3 with Ross at the 4.
 
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Much of what I am going to say was said by different posters in the Penn State game thread but when defenders can layoff your guards by 5-7 feet and dare them to shoot you are not going to win many games. I would love Craft but he has got to shoot the ball when a defender is daring him to. I do not care if he makes it or not he has to give it a try. I do not know what to say about Scott but he is not a very good shooter from the outside either and unfortunately he takes too many outside shots. With a weak post game and no outside shooters, we just are not a very good basketball team and I do not know how Matta is going to be able to turn it around this season.
 
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LitlBuck said:
Much of what I am going to say was said by different posters in the Penn State game thread but when defenders can layoff your guards by 5-7 feet and dare them to shoot you are not going to win many games. I would love Craft but he has got to shoot the ball when a defender is daring him to. I do not care if he makes it or not he has to give it a try. I do not know what to say about Scott but he is not a very good shooter from the outside either and unfortunately he takes too many outside shots. With a weak post game and no outside shooters, we just are not a very good basketball team and I do not know how Matta is going to be able to turn it around this season.
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He has to put ADV in the game more, he is a legitimate threat from 3 land and will help pull the defense out more clearing lanes for driving. I would play him right now over Scott. Too late this year, well maybe not, but next year he has to build a bench that he can go to throughout the season. In my opinion this has hurt us every year in the NCAA because he wears the starters out.
 
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buckeyebri said:
He has to put ADV in the game more, he is a legitimate threat from 3 land and will help pull the defense out more clearing lanes for driving. I would play him right now over Scott. Too late this year, well maybe not, but next year he has to build a bench that he can go to throughout the season. In my opinion this has hurt us every year in the NCAA because he wears the starters out.
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I agree regarding ADV but disagree with regard to the bench. I think if you go 7 deep you are find. These guys are young and should not wear out. Other teams do not play their entire bench and make it pretty deep in the tournament.
 
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This team has been within buckets of winning all the games they've lost so I'm not ready to cancel the season just yet.
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Being within buckets of beating Nebraska and Penn St is not a particularly strong statement.

I'm not ready to cancel the season yet either because I believe the pieces are there. It is not about changing pieces or moving pieces around. It is about effort and heart and the absolute will to win. That can still happen. But all five guys on the court at any given time have to have that will.
 
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DZ83CK said:
Ultimately, it all comes back to talent. The exact same players with Ravenel and Thomas made the Elite 8 and had a great year in a strong Big Ten - add one star player and fortify the play at the C position, and you're back to that level in no time. Unfortunately, there's not much you can do this year. You can try to tweak the lineup but if guys can't shoot very well, you're not going to win anything worth a damn. Amir needs to man up or else this team is dead in the water.
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The bolded above is probably true. But I think the lineup can be tweaked such that OSU could be, at a minimum, 18-3 right now (5-3 in the conference) instead of 16-5 (3-5 in the conference). Tweak the lineup and you beat the teams you should and you get into the tournament. Don't tweak the lineup and you lose to teams like Nebraska and Penn State and you're looking at an NIT or CBI bid. Shannon Scott has proven in the past that he can provide a spark off the bench, whereas he's struggled mightly as a starter and a guy who is getting 29 minutes a game. Switch him out for Thompson or Loving and give one of those two more minutes. Loving played all of 9 minutes last night.
 
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buckeyesin07 said:
The bolded above is probably true. But I think the lineup can be tweaked such that OSU could be, at a minimum, 18-3 right now (5-3 in the conference) instead of 16-5 (3-5 in the conference). Tweak the lineup and you beat the teams you should and you get into the tournament. Don't tweak the lineup and you lose to teams like Nebraska and Penn State and you're looking at an NIT or CBI bid. Shannon Scott has proven in the past that he can provide a spark off the bench, whereas he's struggled mightly as a starter and a guy who is getting 29 minutes a game. Switch him out for Thompson or Loving and give one of those two more minutes. Loving played all of 9 minutes last night.
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Matta sees these guys every day in practice. All of them so I will go with whomever he puts on the floor at any given time despite what some people might think in this forum. I know everyone has their opinion but Matta has won more games than any of us including myself :lol:
 
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