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2nd Thoughts: Ohio State Over Kentucky and Beyond
Ken via our good friends at Buckeye Battle Cry
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
(Thad liked what he saw on Saturday. So did we.)
Well, well, well… The Buckeyes (6-5) moved above .500, again, with a somewhat unexpected (Vegas had Ohio State +10) win over #4 Kentucky. The 74-67 win extended OSU’s winning “streak” to 2 games. After the late November 4-game losing streak, Ohio State has now won 3 of 4 games.
In Joe’s recap, he referred to the win as a “statement win”. I’d agree with that in the specific context that “a focused, energetic effort”, will end up with good results. The ‘good results’ may not always be a win, as it did on Saturday, but it does move along the process of melding this group of young players into a coherent, competitive team. Joe Dexter and I touched on this a bit in Monday’s tBBC Radio Hour, but here we go…
Viewing Experience
This was a pleasant game to watch. The team didn’t appear to be too scarred from getting dismantled by UConn last week. Maybe that’s a plus with a young team, their memories may be shorter than a more experienced team. Two things impressed me about their play; their effort and intensity throughout the game and their relaxed, confident approach to the game. They were creating loose-ball situations, then chasing down and retrieving the ball. ESPN’s Dana O’Neil penned a post game piece and her title of the article was exactly on point; “Ohio State out-efforts Kentucky.” I’m not sure that “out-effort” is a verb that I’d use, but she exactly captured Ohio State’s attitude. I would love to have the concession to sell Thad’s team “Floor Burn Salve”. I was also impressed by their composure, particularity in the last six minutes. They went through a frenetic comeback attempt by KY (thanks to Jamal Murray) but countered almost basket-by-basket. It seemed that the Buckeyes stayed focused to hold the course.
The Thad Matta Factor
The Kentucky game, although encouraging, is still a pretty limited data point. This is still a young team both in terms of playing at this level and are inexperienced in playing with one another. I think they are still learning what Thad expects/demands of them and they are still learning that “if you’re there, I’m supposed to be here”. They will still be making mistakes through the end of the season, but they’ll be more “effort” mistakes than “standing around” mistakes. I can live with that. This will be a year that puts Thad more into a “teaching” situation than he’s had for a while.
Big Ten Contenders?
Well, Ohio State just took down the #4 team in the country, so you’d think they could contend for a conference title. The problem this year is, even if the Buckeyes make progress, the B1G has several top-notch teams; Michigan State, Maryland, Purdue, Northwestern. They also have a solid 2nd tier with Indiana, Michigan, Iowa and maybe Penn State. I can see them being very competitive in their games, but a lot will depend if Ohio State brings the same level of intensity that they did against Kentucky. Kentucky definitely got OSU’s best effort of the season. Over a 31 game regular season, that type of effort will be hard to replicate game in and game out. But, this team is young enough, they may not be aware of how difficult that is. Their last five games are brutal; Michigan, Nebraska, Iowa and Michigan State, twice. That’s a tough stretch. Fortunately, the Michigan, Iowa and one of the MSU games are at VCA, so the crowd energy could make things interesting.
The Three Magi:
The “senior statesmen” of Marc Loving, Kieta Bates-Diop and Jae’Sean Tate are finding themselves in different roles this season, for a couple different reasons. Last season, the Buckeyes had an upperclassman laden team, and Marc/Kieta/Jae’Sean had roles of a complementary manner to fill. This season, rather than bit players, they are required to play leading roles on Thad’s stage. They are frequently, at least initially, on the floor at the same time and are the core group that Thad “bolts” his lineup to. Their combined playing time is up close to 50% from last season and their performance metrics are up more than that, so the three of them are responding productively to their increased playing time.
Last season, let’s admit it, Ohio State was D’Angelo Russell’s team. This season there is no “D’Angelo Russell” on the floor for the Buckeyes. The freshmen are very talented, but there is no “DR” suiting up for Thad. The Three Magi (Balthasar, Caspar, Melchior) (Loving/Bates-Diop/Tate) need to perform at a consistently “good” level game in and game out to provide the bedrock for these freshmen to anchor their play. As much as Thad needs to teach his freshmen in the wiles of Big Ten play, he needs to challenge his Magi to bring their gifts (effort, consistency, effectiveness) to each game, and practice.
Lineup Mix-n-Match:
Both freshman guards, JaQuan Lyle (50 turnovers) and A.J. Harris (13), are turnover prone. Both average around one turnover for 9 minutes of game time. OSU ranks 230 (of 351 teams) in T/O per game at 13.8. With freshmen handling the ball, this shouldn’t be a big surprise. Offensively, both are comparable, so it’s not like one player is the clear preferred choice over the other. Lyle (6’5″) brings size to counter opponent’s big guards, while Harris (5’9″) brings quickness against opponent’s shorter guards. One possible lineup would have Harris as PG and Lyle as the #2, shooting guard. The Center would be Thompson/Giddens/Bell. That leaves the forward positions to Loving, Bates-Diop and Tate. Some of this decision takes care of itself due to Tate’s propensity to fouls. Jae’sean logs the 4th most game time, but for the 2nd year running, leads the team in committing fouls. His inability to keep his hands to himself, and hence stay on the floor in some ways forces Thad into various lineup combinations. The lineup combinations for Thad are mind-boggling.
Interior play, Center(s) of Attention:
I was very impressed with what I saw against KY, it is a continuing trajectory of OSU’s interior play this season. Thompson and Giddens had good games against some KY front line players (Labissiere, Poythress and Lee) that are likely to move on to the next level next season. Comparing this season-to-date to last season, this season’s trio (Thompson, Giddens, Bell) are performing as good, or in some measures, better than last season’s trio (Williams, Lee, McDonald). Considering this year’s players are a freshman, a RS freshman and a sophomore and last year’s were all seniors, I’m comfortable with this year’s performance.As a group (Thompson/Giddens/Bell) seem to be more active at both ends of the floor in terms of rebounding, blocks and assists.
Getting Defensive about it:
According to site Team Rankings, the Buckeyes are 34th in the country by allowing opponents to convert 38.9% of their FG attempts. The only opponent that really lit them up was UConn (60%). I agree, there has been steady improvement in that the opponents aren’t getting the “easy” baskets due to OSU defensive confusion/hesitation. In the CT game, OSU gave up easy layups due to hesitation & confusion.
But, they are improving: against KY, the Wildcats scored 67 points and shot 40%. Jamal Murray had 33 points on 13-23 (57%) shooting; the rest of the team provided 31 points on 12/40 (30%) shooting. For the season, Kentucky makes 47% of their FG attempts, placing them at 49th in the country. Despite Jamal Murray’s stellar performance, the Buckeyes clamped down on Murray’s team mates. Overall defense is getting there, but there is still work to do with defensive rotations to shut down an opponent’s hot scorer. Of course, improved interior defense will always be welcome.
And…
As Joe, JC, Brandon and I have mentioned, this team will be fun to watch this season. We urge you to make it a point to do so. You won’t regret it.
The post 2nd Thoughts: Ohio State Over Kentucky and Beyond appeared first on The Buckeye Battle Cry: Ohio State News and Commentary.
Continue reading...
Ken via our good friends at Buckeye Battle Cry
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
(Thad liked what he saw on Saturday. So did we.)
Well, well, well… The Buckeyes (6-5) moved above .500, again, with a somewhat unexpected (Vegas had Ohio State +10) win over #4 Kentucky. The 74-67 win extended OSU’s winning “streak” to 2 games. After the late November 4-game losing streak, Ohio State has now won 3 of 4 games.
In Joe’s recap, he referred to the win as a “statement win”. I’d agree with that in the specific context that “a focused, energetic effort”, will end up with good results. The ‘good results’ may not always be a win, as it did on Saturday, but it does move along the process of melding this group of young players into a coherent, competitive team. Joe Dexter and I touched on this a bit in Monday’s tBBC Radio Hour, but here we go…
Viewing Experience
This was a pleasant game to watch. The team didn’t appear to be too scarred from getting dismantled by UConn last week. Maybe that’s a plus with a young team, their memories may be shorter than a more experienced team. Two things impressed me about their play; their effort and intensity throughout the game and their relaxed, confident approach to the game. They were creating loose-ball situations, then chasing down and retrieving the ball. ESPN’s Dana O’Neil penned a post game piece and her title of the article was exactly on point; “Ohio State out-efforts Kentucky.” I’m not sure that “out-effort” is a verb that I’d use, but she exactly captured Ohio State’s attitude. I would love to have the concession to sell Thad’s team “Floor Burn Salve”. I was also impressed by their composure, particularity in the last six minutes. They went through a frenetic comeback attempt by KY (thanks to Jamal Murray) but countered almost basket-by-basket. It seemed that the Buckeyes stayed focused to hold the course.
The Thad Matta Factor
The Kentucky game, although encouraging, is still a pretty limited data point. This is still a young team both in terms of playing at this level and are inexperienced in playing with one another. I think they are still learning what Thad expects/demands of them and they are still learning that “if you’re there, I’m supposed to be here”. They will still be making mistakes through the end of the season, but they’ll be more “effort” mistakes than “standing around” mistakes. I can live with that. This will be a year that puts Thad more into a “teaching” situation than he’s had for a while.
Big Ten Contenders?
Well, Ohio State just took down the #4 team in the country, so you’d think they could contend for a conference title. The problem this year is, even if the Buckeyes make progress, the B1G has several top-notch teams; Michigan State, Maryland, Purdue, Northwestern. They also have a solid 2nd tier with Indiana, Michigan, Iowa and maybe Penn State. I can see them being very competitive in their games, but a lot will depend if Ohio State brings the same level of intensity that they did against Kentucky. Kentucky definitely got OSU’s best effort of the season. Over a 31 game regular season, that type of effort will be hard to replicate game in and game out. But, this team is young enough, they may not be aware of how difficult that is. Their last five games are brutal; Michigan, Nebraska, Iowa and Michigan State, twice. That’s a tough stretch. Fortunately, the Michigan, Iowa and one of the MSU games are at VCA, so the crowd energy could make things interesting.
The Three Magi:
The “senior statesmen” of Marc Loving, Kieta Bates-Diop and Jae’Sean Tate are finding themselves in different roles this season, for a couple different reasons. Last season, the Buckeyes had an upperclassman laden team, and Marc/Kieta/Jae’Sean had roles of a complementary manner to fill. This season, rather than bit players, they are required to play leading roles on Thad’s stage. They are frequently, at least initially, on the floor at the same time and are the core group that Thad “bolts” his lineup to. Their combined playing time is up close to 50% from last season and their performance metrics are up more than that, so the three of them are responding productively to their increased playing time.
Last season, let’s admit it, Ohio State was D’Angelo Russell’s team. This season there is no “D’Angelo Russell” on the floor for the Buckeyes. The freshmen are very talented, but there is no “DR” suiting up for Thad. The Three Magi (Balthasar, Caspar, Melchior) (Loving/Bates-Diop/Tate) need to perform at a consistently “good” level game in and game out to provide the bedrock for these freshmen to anchor their play. As much as Thad needs to teach his freshmen in the wiles of Big Ten play, he needs to challenge his Magi to bring their gifts (effort, consistency, effectiveness) to each game, and practice.
Lineup Mix-n-Match:
Both freshman guards, JaQuan Lyle (50 turnovers) and A.J. Harris (13), are turnover prone. Both average around one turnover for 9 minutes of game time. OSU ranks 230 (of 351 teams) in T/O per game at 13.8. With freshmen handling the ball, this shouldn’t be a big surprise. Offensively, both are comparable, so it’s not like one player is the clear preferred choice over the other. Lyle (6’5″) brings size to counter opponent’s big guards, while Harris (5’9″) brings quickness against opponent’s shorter guards. One possible lineup would have Harris as PG and Lyle as the #2, shooting guard. The Center would be Thompson/Giddens/Bell. That leaves the forward positions to Loving, Bates-Diop and Tate. Some of this decision takes care of itself due to Tate’s propensity to fouls. Jae’sean logs the 4th most game time, but for the 2nd year running, leads the team in committing fouls. His inability to keep his hands to himself, and hence stay on the floor in some ways forces Thad into various lineup combinations. The lineup combinations for Thad are mind-boggling.
Interior play, Center(s) of Attention:
I was very impressed with what I saw against KY, it is a continuing trajectory of OSU’s interior play this season. Thompson and Giddens had good games against some KY front line players (Labissiere, Poythress and Lee) that are likely to move on to the next level next season. Comparing this season-to-date to last season, this season’s trio (Thompson, Giddens, Bell) are performing as good, or in some measures, better than last season’s trio (Williams, Lee, McDonald). Considering this year’s players are a freshman, a RS freshman and a sophomore and last year’s were all seniors, I’m comfortable with this year’s performance.As a group (Thompson/Giddens/Bell) seem to be more active at both ends of the floor in terms of rebounding, blocks and assists.
Getting Defensive about it:
According to site Team Rankings, the Buckeyes are 34th in the country by allowing opponents to convert 38.9% of their FG attempts. The only opponent that really lit them up was UConn (60%). I agree, there has been steady improvement in that the opponents aren’t getting the “easy” baskets due to OSU defensive confusion/hesitation. In the CT game, OSU gave up easy layups due to hesitation & confusion.
But, they are improving: against KY, the Wildcats scored 67 points and shot 40%. Jamal Murray had 33 points on 13-23 (57%) shooting; the rest of the team provided 31 points on 12/40 (30%) shooting. For the season, Kentucky makes 47% of their FG attempts, placing them at 49th in the country. Despite Jamal Murray’s stellar performance, the Buckeyes clamped down on Murray’s team mates. Overall defense is getting there, but there is still work to do with defensive rotations to shut down an opponent’s hot scorer. Of course, improved interior defense will always be welcome.
And…
As Joe, JC, Brandon and I have mentioned, this team will be fun to watch this season. We urge you to make it a point to do so. You won’t regret it.
The post 2nd Thoughts: Ohio State Over Kentucky and Beyond appeared first on The Buckeye Battle Cry: Ohio State News and Commentary.
Continue reading...