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

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LitlBuck said:
I guess I do not understand how you can make that statement about Ohio State being at their ceiling and other teams not. You really do not think Ohio State can improve anymore during the rest of the season… I guess you do not but other teams can:shake:
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I don't think this team can execute much better than they have been recently overall. I also think they are 2 quick fouls on Amir away from basically having no rebounding presence outside of Lenzelle, and he's still the streaky guy he has been. I'll be happy to be wrong, but I think come March we'll find this team struggling against teams that rebound well and can prevent penetration type baskets. The moment this team becomes perimeter oriented is the moment they will struggle mightily.

Craft is solid, Scott is as well, but I don't think this team is really any better than it was at this point last year. Like I said, unless the landscape of college basketball has shifted to where a superior defensive team like Ohio State is the best team in the nation, this team is top-10 at best. FWIW Wisconsin is at their ceiling as well.
 
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Mike80 said:
I don't think this team can execute much better than they have been recently overall. I also think they are 2 quick fouls on Amir away from basically having no rebounding presence outside of Lenzelle, and he's still the streaky guy he has been. I'll be happy to be wrong, but I think come March we'll find this team struggling against teams that rebound well and can prevent penetration type baskets. The moment this team becomes perimeter oriented is the moment they will struggle mightily.

Craft is solid, Scott is as well, but I don't think this team is really any better than it was at this point last year. Like I said, unless the landscape of college basketball has shifted to where a superior defensive team like Ohio State is the best team in the nation, this team is top-10 at best. FWIW Wisconsin is at their ceiling as well.
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Well, you have your opinion and I have mine:wink: I am not that concerned about our rebounding(that can be improved as the season progresses) and lack of another big man besides Williams. There are not many teams in the country that have dominating big man and there are ways to shut those guys down with good perimeter defense.

The one thing I will agree with you is that I hope Wisconsin has reached their ceiling because if they get any higher they might be playing the Heat for the championship..
 
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MaxBuck said:
I still expect all four of those teams to make a lot of noise in March and April. But they all have a lot more growing and gelling to do than the Buckeyes, who have terrific upperclass leadership depth that, frankly, isn't present on those other teams. And they all have some flaws, as does Sparty.

Michigan State is a bit of a cipher so far to me. Perhaps it's just a matter of Keith Appling never quite becoming as reliable as I figured he would. Nix was a huge loss.

Duke has mucho talent, but if they don't learn to play some D it could be an early out in the Dance. For as good as Jabari Parker is on offense, he couldn't stop my grandmother from driving the lane in her wheelchair.

Calipari is a fabulous coach (I know most people here don't agree with me, but he really is) who will likely have the 'Cats playing very strong through their SEC schedule (though the SEC looks even weaker this year than usual). The idea that Randle is offensively challenged doesn't seem consistent with his 17.2-ppg average and 52% from the field, and he's an absolute terror on the boards. But I think Cauley-Stein and the Harrisons need to grow up.
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Randle can dominate against teams that aren't able to match up with him physically - which is most of the teams in nonconference play. But from what I have seen he has a very limited skillset and he won't be able to just truck his way inside to big nights consistently in the SEC.
 
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But MSU was never quite as good as people thought they would be. Nix was a massive loss for them - way more important loss than Thomas to OSU, IMO, because OSU simply put Ross in Thomas' shoes and then got Loving to put in the role Ross had last year while MSU has to rely on scrubs to try to replace him. But what did we hear about all offseason? How Thomas was too tough of a loss for OSU to replace, and there was no mention of how Nix would be difficult to replace. All the media looks at is points, if you average 20 you're impossible o replace and if you average 10 you're easy to replace, no matter who the likely replacement will be apparently. Appling is great at some things but has too many flaws to be great game in and game out. I think at this point MSU is at best the #3 team in the B1G.
 
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Is it just me, or does Matta put the players out of sorts from the in-bounds play when he matches up the big against the in-bounder? It seems to equate to any easy deuce at least once a game. Sometimes an open 3 bomb when a big has to go out and match up. I'll step off my soap box when someone convinces me otherwise of why no one else plays it this way. He seems to be outsmarting himself. This is the one and only thing that has irritated me with Thad.
 
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TDunk said:
Is it just me, or does Matta put the players out of sorts from the in-bounds play when he matches up the big against the in-bounder? It seems to equate to any easy deuce at least once a game. Sometimes an open 3 bomb when a big has to go out and match up. I'll step off my soap box when someone convinces me otherwise of why no one else plays it this way. He seems to be outsmarting himself. This is the one and only thing that has irritated me with Thad.
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It might be just you. I have heard many color commentators raving about how OSU guards the in-bounds pass over the years.
 
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TDunk said:
Is it just me, or does Matta put the players out of sorts from the in-bounds play when he matches up the big against the in-bounder? It seems to equate to any easy deuce at least once a game. Sometimes an open 3 bomb when a big has to go out and match up. I'll step off my soap box when someone convinces me otherwise of why no one else plays it this way. He seems to be outsmarting himself. This is the one and only thing that has irritated me with Thad.
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I think it is just a matter of preference among coaches. Just think how many coaches say to themselves why did not I put my center on the guy throwing the ball in after slamming Sammy dunks an inbound pass. I do not think it is much different than having a big man guarding an inbounds passer when teams full-court press or at the end of games to prevent a long nice pass.
 
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Maryland is 7-5, Marquette is 7-4 and playing New Mexico tonight. Turns out 8-3 Notre Dame is our stiffest test to date and the Buckeyes are not impressing. The #3 ranking is looking fairly silly given tonight's performance. ND is not THAT good, given they've lost home games to Indiana State and North Dakota State.

At this point, we may be looking at a conference season unlike what we've grown accustomed to in recent years. This team needs to improve a lot, and in a hurry. I'm just not sure there is much room to grow for many of these players.
 
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Teams have poor games sometimes, Jake. I think it is without question that OSU was not playing their best against ND. They were out of synch offensively the whole game, couldn't get anything in the halfcourt offense and played with no confidence whatsoever. Clearly the defense that ND played threw off OSU - you know, ND had a week to prepare while OSU had 3 days and needed a tough test to grow from. 2013 National champion Louisville lost to ND last year in February, and didn't lose another game afterward.
 
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