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- Thread starter ScriptOhio
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The last 10 game stretch is pretty brutal. Theres no gimmie games in this conference this year and with how these guys go definitely no gimmies for them.
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Don't have a lock down defender, though team Defense is usually pretty good. Don't have the go-to guy when needed which hurts. Probably a better scoring team without CJ except at the line but no one has stepped up as the true leader so they lose their identity too often. These deficiencies aside they are fun to watch most games and they are freaking tough. Couple breaks and finding a leader and who knows what they can do
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Road to the Final Four Discussion (if someone wants to make a new thread out of this by all means)
These are all my opinions about this team so feel more than free to agree, dispute or reason away. No bashing Buckeyes though for those of you new to BuckeyePlanet.
Best lineup: - Has a piece of every factor needed to be great.
CJ Walker - floor general, catalyst. Best FT shooter in the country. Smart, quick player. Plays good defense. Starting to score more but needs to look for it more.
Duane Washington - microwave, energy mover, big time scorer. Can ignite the team when he's hot. Can decimate the team with turnovers when he's not.
Justin Ahrens - deadly from distance. Imo, best 3 shooter in the country. Improved defense but not the quickest. Knows his role and plays it very well.
Kyle Young - The glue. Plays hard defense, is everywhere. Secnd best rebounder on the team. Surprisingly good shooter mid and 3 distance. Takes a beating
EJ Liddell - The star. Can do everything and when he's asserting himself, not stoppable. Good defender not great. Needs to be more consistent FT shooter
This lineup to me is our best regular options and here are my reasons why:
Both inside and outside options in this lineup. Floor general in CJ. Guy who can get his own shots in Duane. Deadly shooter in Justin. Role player and big time rebound option in Kyle. All around game in EJ. There isnt any faction of the Offensive game that this lineup can't do unless a team has two 7 footers in at the same time that have some athleticism because leaving EJ mid range or deeper is also a losing situation. CJ is the key though. The team has to recognize the runs both for and against and determine the proper tempo or who might even have the hot hand. Duane has a tendency to try to do it all on his own which makes him too erratic. When he operates within the offense he can go completely off.
Defensively they are really good. There are lapses which every team has but overall, they are one of the best in the country or at least in conference and most of that credit goes to coach Holtmann. If you dont play Defense for him, you wont play and there's evidence in Ahrens getting more play this year and his defense is greatly improved. The weaknesses seem to be recognition more than effort. Example: EJ's guy back picks Duane at the point. They switch leaving Duane on Potter. They didnt work to get that switched back and eventually Duane gets lit up by Potter because Wisconsin moved the ball well and found him. What EJ should do in that situation is step out and slow the movement of Duanes man to prevent him from driving by but staying close enough to get back to the huge mismatch. Inside against dominant Offensive opponents can be an issue especially when this happens. Sometimes the help defense gets lost also leaving a wide open 3 pointer. Most guys we have though are decent on ball which is a huge improvement.
Bench: - Legitimate 9 man rotation for this team.
Zed Key - first man in. Gets better and better every game. Great rebounder and good defender against bigs.
Justice Sueing - Gets to the basket with some distance ability. Needs to be stronger and I think he's learning the hard way in conference. It's rough
Seth Towns - Seriously coming on. Super smooth and confident. Might be a huge piece come tourney time. Lateral quickness hurts him on Defense, health
Meetchie Johnson - Plays within himself every time he's on the court. Showed some shooting ability and handles. Average Defender
Musa Jallow - Maybe the best defender on the team. When he's "getting loose" he's good on both ends. Disappears too often.
Eugene Brown - Still finding his niche. Occasionally has a good shooting game. Occasionally plays really good defense. Too much in front of him for big minutes.
Jimmy Sotos - was just starting to come on offensively when he got hurt. Damn shame. Defensively not great on ball but very smart on the court
Ibrahim Diallo - Still waiting on him to be healthy and realize he's huge and should crush people
Walkons - wont see the court unless its a total blowout which we probably wont see anymore this year unless it's early round of the NCAA tourney
Thats my honest take on these guys and I truly believe it's the situational awareness that is the only thing stopping them from a Final Four run. They aren't superb at any one thing really but they aren't really bad at one thing either except understanding when to play a certain way. Some complain that the aren't "big" enough but they've proven that they play bigger than their physical size and they are tough as hell. If they really needed to go to a bigger lineup they could put Zed at the 4th position and Justice in for Ahrens or the second guard which they've done this season. 6-1/2, 6'7, 6'7, 6'8, 6'8. That seems like a pretty big lineup to me unless you can put multiple 6'10 to 7 footers on the floor at once but then who has that for one, and how are they going to guard us on the other end? I have high hopes that regardless the lineup they'll battle til the last horn.
What does everyone else think?
These are all my opinions about this team so feel more than free to agree, dispute or reason away. No bashing Buckeyes though for those of you new to BuckeyePlanet.
Best lineup: - Has a piece of every factor needed to be great.
CJ Walker - floor general, catalyst. Best FT shooter in the country. Smart, quick player. Plays good defense. Starting to score more but needs to look for it more.
Duane Washington - microwave, energy mover, big time scorer. Can ignite the team when he's hot. Can decimate the team with turnovers when he's not.
Justin Ahrens - deadly from distance. Imo, best 3 shooter in the country. Improved defense but not the quickest. Knows his role and plays it very well.
Kyle Young - The glue. Plays hard defense, is everywhere. Secnd best rebounder on the team. Surprisingly good shooter mid and 3 distance. Takes a beating
EJ Liddell - The star. Can do everything and when he's asserting himself, not stoppable. Good defender not great. Needs to be more consistent FT shooter
This lineup to me is our best regular options and here are my reasons why:
Both inside and outside options in this lineup. Floor general in CJ. Guy who can get his own shots in Duane. Deadly shooter in Justin. Role player and big time rebound option in Kyle. All around game in EJ. There isnt any faction of the Offensive game that this lineup can't do unless a team has two 7 footers in at the same time that have some athleticism because leaving EJ mid range or deeper is also a losing situation. CJ is the key though. The team has to recognize the runs both for and against and determine the proper tempo or who might even have the hot hand. Duane has a tendency to try to do it all on his own which makes him too erratic. When he operates within the offense he can go completely off.
Defensively they are really good. There are lapses which every team has but overall, they are one of the best in the country or at least in conference and most of that credit goes to coach Holtmann. If you dont play Defense for him, you wont play and there's evidence in Ahrens getting more play this year and his defense is greatly improved. The weaknesses seem to be recognition more than effort. Example: EJ's guy back picks Duane at the point. They switch leaving Duane on Potter. They didnt work to get that switched back and eventually Duane gets lit up by Potter because Wisconsin moved the ball well and found him. What EJ should do in that situation is step out and slow the movement of Duanes man to prevent him from driving by but staying close enough to get back to the huge mismatch. Inside against dominant Offensive opponents can be an issue especially when this happens. Sometimes the help defense gets lost also leaving a wide open 3 pointer. Most guys we have though are decent on ball which is a huge improvement.
Bench: - Legitimate 9 man rotation for this team.
Zed Key - first man in. Gets better and better every game. Great rebounder and good defender against bigs.
Justice Sueing - Gets to the basket with some distance ability. Needs to be stronger and I think he's learning the hard way in conference. It's rough
Seth Towns - Seriously coming on. Super smooth and confident. Might be a huge piece come tourney time. Lateral quickness hurts him on Defense, health
Meetchie Johnson - Plays within himself every time he's on the court. Showed some shooting ability and handles. Average Defender
Musa Jallow - Maybe the best defender on the team. When he's "getting loose" he's good on both ends. Disappears too often.
Eugene Brown - Still finding his niche. Occasionally has a good shooting game. Occasionally plays really good defense. Too much in front of him for big minutes.
Jimmy Sotos - was just starting to come on offensively when he got hurt. Damn shame. Defensively not great on ball but very smart on the court
Ibrahim Diallo - Still waiting on him to be healthy and realize he's huge and should crush people
Walkons - wont see the court unless its a total blowout which we probably wont see anymore this year unless it's early round of the NCAA tourney
Thats my honest take on these guys and I truly believe it's the situational awareness that is the only thing stopping them from a Final Four run. They aren't superb at any one thing really but they aren't really bad at one thing either except understanding when to play a certain way. Some complain that the aren't "big" enough but they've proven that they play bigger than their physical size and they are tough as hell. If they really needed to go to a bigger lineup they could put Zed at the 4th position and Justice in for Ahrens or the second guard which they've done this season. 6-1/2, 6'7, 6'7, 6'8, 6'8. That seems like a pretty big lineup to me unless you can put multiple 6'10 to 7 footers on the floor at once but then who has that for one, and how are they going to guard us on the other end? I have high hopes that regardless the lineup they'll battle til the last horn.
What does everyone else think?
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I very much dislike the 7 day gap until the Iowa game. Unless there's been a recent schedule change and one's been added, this is not good for the Bucks. Too long in between with us just getting a great win and Iowa losing.
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DZ83CK
Not Banned
Usually the teams that make the Final Four have at least one top quality big man. OSU has no defensive stopper in the post, and I don't see a surefire NBA talent out there either, both of which makes it hard to get to the F4. If they get a lucky draw they could get there. If they don't have to play Gonzaga or Baylor, their F4 odds are much better. Maybe if the basketball gods smile upon them and the bracket breaks their way, they could get there, but this team looks like more of a Sweet 16 team.
I love the depth on this team. The bench is excellent. They have variety and can excel in the tournament setting where being able to withstand some foul trouble and converting FTs at a high rate are huge factors because every game is an elimination game. I like where the program is headed.
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ORD_Buckeye
Wrong glass, Sir.
I dig this new Cheese coach. Knows how to lose like a man and give credit to his opponent. That's a far cry from that walking dead, skeletor motherfucker they used to have.
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ScriptOhio
Everybody is somebody else's weirdo.
Two weeks ago, it reentered the Associated Press top-25 poll at No. 21, a week later it jumped to No. 15, and on Monday it appeared at No. 13.
The Buckeyes have impressed analysts over the past few weeks, winning four of their past five games while beating Wisconsin, Illinois and Rutgers on the road and topping Northwestern at home. A rise in the polls has followed their victories.
They're now the third-highest ranked Big Ten team, following No. 4 Michigan and No. 7 Iowa. No. 14 Wisconsin, No. 19 Illinois and No. 21 Minnesota also appear in the top-25.
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