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2015-2016 Ohio State Men's Basketball (Official Thread)

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Hetuck said:
"Crow" for what? Go back and read what Kellogg said. I stand by my analysis.



You don't see that as a nice way of saying this team isn't very good and that you're going to have to look beyond the w/l record in order to see progress? Just not getting blown out or it embarrassed is a goal. He's not talking about this team competing for a championship.

Maybe they will. I still think they won't. I still think they're probably bound for a middle-of-the-pack finish in the B1G and the NIT. Time will tell. I'm less worried about them finishing at the bottom of the conference, though, so the UK game brightened my outlook some. Sorry if I don't think it suddenly means they're a top 10 team.
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Hetuck, the anti-homer, or is it the anti-analysis?

:roll1:
 
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Don't look now, but ... Purdue was 8-5 entering B1G play last season (same mark OSU will enter conference play with should they beat SC State), including home losses to North Florida and Gardner-Webb (// UTA & LT), and made the NCAA tourney as an at-large with 12 losses. In fact, there has been at least one team from the B1G make the NCAA tourney as an at-large with 12+ losses in each of the past five tournaments (usually it is only 12 losses, tho).

So what I'm saying is if OSU can manage a 12-6 mark in conference play, they will have a shot at getting in the field. If they get a few wins against tourney teams during conference play plus get that 12-6 record, they will have a great shot. I know many of us have been seeing this season as an NIT-type team or worse, but the KY win gives them some hope going into conference play, where if they perform well they could make it. That's one of the great things about college basketball, you can still get in the tournament even if you lose some games a tourney team typically doesn't, so long as you make up the difference some point along the way.

I'm not saying I think OSU will make it - at this point nobody is picking them as a tourney team based on the season thus far - but I think now they have a better shot at it than most anyone is portraying it to be. Looking at OSU's conference schedule, there are a lot of winnable games there (13 of 18 games vs teams that are currently unranked).
 
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Need to start strong in conference play. First 3 games are Minnesota Illinois and Northwestern.

Minnesota and Illinois arent very good at all.

Northwestern is 11-1 but their best wins are against Va Tech and Columbia.
 
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buckeyemania11 said:
Need to start strong in conference play. First 3 games are Minnesota Illinois and Northwestern.

Minnesota and Illinois arent very good at all.

Northwestern is 11-1 but their best wins are against Va Tech and Columbia.
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Right now the Buckeyes are #49 in kenpom, just behind Northworstern (#46) and well ahead of Illinois and Minnesota. A chance for a strong start to the league season.

We're rated 8th in the conference, but this young team has a lot more upside than many previous Matta teams. It will be interesting to see what they do from here on out. Still predicting 17-14 at the end of the regular season, but hoping for better.
 
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I'll say this, Matta may have to evolve himself a little this season. There are at least 10 guys who should get minutes this season and I wouldn't terribly mind if he found some chemistry with one 5 and tried going it a 5 and 5 type of rotation. Pretty much anything that finds a tight team unity. The energy last night after the first 10 minutes was much much better. Definitely have to shoot better than that though.
 
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buckeyemania11 said:
Need to start strong in conference play. First 3 games are Minnesota Illinois and Northwestern.

Minnesota and Illinois arent very good at all.

Northwestern is 11-1 but their best wins are against Va Tech and Columbia.
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I agree it is important to start off winning those games at home, but the NW game is the next one I look at as a big one in the sense that both teams will have a chance at a top-100 quality win in that game. It will be a chance to take a step forward, or backward.
 
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I would love to see Kam Williams get more PT but I do not know where he is going to get it from because he would have to be put in for Loving or Bates-Diop and I do not see that happening for any extended period of time during a game.. I do not want Tate coming-out for extended minutes and with Mitchell now ready to play Williams is just not going to see many minutes which is unfortunate. I just think that he could be a really good player if given more minutes and he has really a team player because he did not get many minutes last year either and should have IMO
 
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A win over Minnesota to start conference play definitely wont be impressive in any sense

But a loss would be a pretty bad way to start it

The Goofers are 6-6 coming off a loss to Milwaukee (9-4 #118 Kenpom) in their non conference finale. Also they have 2 more losses to teams outside the top 100 (Temple, South Dakota (#208)

Minnesota themselves is currently #151 in Kenpoms rankings and has lost 4 of their last 5 (Milwaukee, Okie State, South Dakota State and South Dakota. Lone win vs Chicago State)
 
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Kams PT has been about right since AG's departure and has averaged over 20 mpg starting with the UK game. I think he certainly fills more of a need than Mitchell and Mitchell isn't going to play any 2G, so I don't see him eating into Kams minutes much. KBD, Loving and Tate all seem to be more effective when they play 30-32 mpg instead of iron man minutes. If they play 32 minutes, that leaves 24 minutes at the 2G/wing and Kam should get most of those minutes. I'm not sure how much MM will be in the regular rotation with the start of conference play, but I see Matta sticking with mostly an 8 man rotation.
 
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Matta has never been much for developing and playing a deep bench and it has always seems to get shorter the deeper the season goes. This is something that I have always personally felt has been a detriment to the team, but hey that is probably just me. I could easily see Kam's minutes getting smaller if things hold true to form.
 
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Well I don't think the criticism of the bench usage is very fair. The best college basketball teams are the best because they know they have 7 or 8 guys that are very good. Playing a bunch of bench players usually isn't an effective strategy at the highest levels of college basketball, because you're never going to have 10 or 11 very good players & the deeper you go on the bench, the worse of a product you put out there. They actually got a break when Grandstaff transferred, because it has helped Kam and solidified the top-8. Although Mickey is the type of player who is easy to play considering his varied contributions, I wouldn't be surprised to see him be the one whose minutes get cut as the season wears on since they have their 8 without him & he is arriving so late to the party, roles of the other players are already pretty well set.
 
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Tough road game for the Buckeyes tonight at Northwestern. Can't remember ever having the 'Cats rated higher than us by kenpom; right now we're at 62 and they're 49. This will be a good test of how much the team has improved since its early-season embarrassments.

GO BUCKS!
 
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