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2014-15 Ohio State Men's Basketball (Official Thread)

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MaxBuck said:
Yep. Quality depth and, aside from Scott, no clear top talent to play long minutes.

Russell can be great if he can learn to hold onto the ball. Seven turnovers? Yikes!
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I will be surprised if you see a performance like that from Russell again. He is a top talent who will see many minutes before the season is through.

I love watching a team with weapons after last season. Long arms and aggressive D. Lots of bad basketball tonight, but gonna be a fun year.
 
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BuckeyeMafia said:
I don't like the zone defense. Matta is one of the best coaches in the country, but I don't like zone. I would be surprised if they're not forced out of it or willingly go to man-to-man defense before the season's over.
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I hate the zone defense and have not read any place for the reason that Matta has decided to go that route this season. I could see it in past years when bench depth might have been a problem but that certainly cannot be the reason this year. I would think that the majority of the younger guys have played man-to-man in high school and AAU.

I think this zone is going to cost us some games this season because it will give good shooting teams some pretty easy looks. I am trying to think of the benefits of the zone and cannot really come up with any so I guess I will just defer to Matta.
 
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BuckeyeMafia said:
I don't like the zone defense. Matta is one of the best coaches in the country, but I don't like zone. I would be surprised if they're not forced out of it or willingly go to man-to-man defense before the season's over.
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I think I read a quote recently from Matta that said he already knows they can play man. I think he may be fine tuning the zone in the early season and it certainly needs fine tuning. He needs film against opponents to break it down.
 
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This team just shows how open minded Matta is as a coach. He has a team that doesn't have a superstar, doesn't have a lot of strength/muscle (several players with slight builds, but a lot of length), and he will find a way to get that team to be a contender in the B1G. One of the things that gets overlooked about Matta is he does an excellent job of featuring star talents and building the team around them, really a better coach for a 1 & done player than many out there would be. But this year with a team of many guys at a similar talent level, they're opening it up and playing more as a team.

I could come up with 10 good reasons to go zone this year for this team, but I'm not going to make guesses about the main reason why when I don't know. But I will say that with the emphasis on freedom of movement now in college basketball, it's not easy to go through a season planning on playing tough m-t-m D when you know the refs are inconsistent (sometimes wildly inconsistent) from game to game about what type of contact is allowed and what you are allowed to do defensively. Suffice to say this team is in the early stages of the season with a lot of freshmen and a new style of play, so they will improve in almost every facet of the game from here forward, including defense.
 
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DZ83CK said:
This team just shows how open minded Matta is as a coach. He has a team that doesn't have a superstar, doesn't have a lot of strength/muscle (several players with slight builds, but a lot of length), and he will find a way to get that team to be a contender in the B1G. One of the things that gets overlooked about Matta is he does an excellent job of featuring star talents and building the team around them, really a better coach for a 1 & done player than many out there would be. But this year with a team of many guys at a similar talent level, they're opening it up and playing more as a team.

I could come up with 10 good reasons to go zone this year for this team, but I'm not going to make guesses about the main reason why when I don't know. But I will say that with the emphasis on freedom of movement now in college basketball, it's not easy to go through a season planning on playing tough m-t-m D when you know the refs are inconsistent (sometimes wildly inconsistent) from game to game about what type of contact is allowed and what you are allowed to do defensively. Suffice to say this team is in the early stages of the season with a lot of freshmen and a new style of play, so they will improve in almost every facet of the game from here forward, including defense.
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I do hope you're right on the defensive side. The affinity for ball-screens in CBB today is something the zone tries to take away. With Amir, Trey, and Lee, the zone takes the necessity for them to hedge out of the equation, which is good based on what we've seen from Amir/Trey, and what has been discussed regarding Lee's defensive prowess while at Temple. IF the Buckeyes can fine-tune the zone, I'm good with that as the primary defense. However, I'd still like to see OSU switch it up from time to time, especially from one possession to the next or out of a timeout. Do something to make the opponent adjust on the fly once in a while.

One last thing on the zone though - this team has a LONG way to go for this to be an effective defensive strategy. I've seen some OSU writers talk about it's overall effectiveness against Marquette, but Marquette had a ton of wide open, fairly uncontested looks at the basket. The rotations were slow, the hands were not as active as they needed to be, and I could go on. With the length and athleticism of this team, if everyone is active the zone can be very tough to break. I'm a little scared how it will look against the likes of UNC and Louisville, to be honest.
 
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Nebraska-Omaha 97, Marquette 89

The Mavericks lost their previous game by 24 points against Seattle so their win at Marquette is a bit of an eye opener. Whether it says anything about the strength of our 14/15 squad remains to be seen.
 
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My expectations are a bit lower this year due to their youth and the lack of a real star. Maybe a Sweet 16 and a top 20 ranking? Good teamwork can overcome the lack of a star and I'd love to be surprised otherwise, though. Depends on how much progress Matta can make with them (e.g., the progress with the Buckeye football team this year.)
 
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Clearly they need to cut down on the turnovers and get a little tougher on D. Russell in particular needs to learn how to play at the college level and not take nearly as many risks. The good news is they have over a month before B1G play starts to improve and gain experience, and they have a lot to work with.
 
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DZ83CK said:
Clearly they need to cut down on the turnovers and get a little tougher on D. Russell in particular needs to learn how to play at the college level and not take nearly as many risks.
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What did you think about his performance yesterday? I get your point though. He does need to tighten up his handles a little and not force things, into double teams in particular. He was just the better athlete last night and got hot. I love their aggressiveness in their offensive approach this year so far. I wonder how it changes when they actually meet an opponent that can match them athletically? I think we are going to see some highs and lows. What you would expect with so many young guys in the rotation. Love what I see, especially Shannon distributing and guys hitting open shots.
 
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mendensa said:
What did you think about his performance yesterday? I get your point though. He does need to tighten up his handles a little and not force things, into double teams in particular. He was just the better athlete last night and got hot. I love their aggressiveness in their offensive approach this year so far. I wonder how it changes when they actually meet an opponent that can match them athletically? I think we are going to see some highs and lows. What you would expect with so many young guys in the rotation. Love what I see, especially Shannon distributing and guys hitting open shots.
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I'd like to see how Russell responds to some adversity again. He kept digging a deeper hole against Marquette. There was basically no resistance against Sacred Heart. Russell can make a lot of improvement this year from where he was against Marquette. Let's hope he quickly figures out what he can and can't do against legit college competition (i.e., not Sacred Heart). I'm still concerned that Russell will be turnover-prone (partly due to his risky/out of control passes) and get frustrated against the better teams. He can make a lot of improvement from where he started this season, here's hoping he "gets it" in time for OSU to contend for the B1G title.
 
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DZ83CK said:
I'd like to see how Russell responds to some adversity again. He kept digging a deeper hole against Marquette. There was basically no resistance against Sacred Heart. Russell can make a lot of improvement this year from where he was against Marquette. Let's hope he quickly figures out what he can and can't do against legit college competition (i.e., not Sacred Heart). I'm still concerned that Russell will be turnover-prone (partly due to his risky/out of control passes) and get frustrated against the better teams. He can make a lot of improvement from where he started this season, here's hoping he "gets it" in time for OSU to contend for the B1G title.
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@DZ83CK Russell does have a thread. I know that you are not the first offender but it would be nice to keep individual players in their own friend..
 
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