Three-pointers and a cloud of dust: Buckeyes need to bring gridiron attitude to hardwood
by Doug Lesmerises / Plain Dealer Reporter Thursday March 19, 2009, 2:33 AM
Charlie Neibergall / Associated PressBetter screens set by Buckeyes players like Dallas Lauderdale, right, are helping teammate Jon Diebler, left, get free for clear looks at the basket on 3-pointers.
COLUMBUS -- The basketball Buckeyes need to take a little football attitude with them to Dayton.
Siena is expected to use a variety of zones, a man-to-man defense and a three-quarter-court trap against Ohio State in their first-round NCAA Tournament game Friday night. But if Ohio State's big men play like offensive linemen and Evan Turner hits the lane like a running back hitting the hole, it might not matter what defense Siena tries.
Blocking like
a left tackle Jon Diebler isn't the lineman in this analogy. He's the guy getting free off the block.
After going 0-for-3 on 3-pointers against Wisconsin on Feb. 14 under constant harassment, Diebler has made 48 percent of his 3-pointers in the past nine games (36-of-75). Running from one corner of the court to the other, sliding along the baseline and curling up to the 3-point line, Diebler has seemed to have an extra half-step on his trailing defenders, giving him a better look at the rim when he catches a pass and turns to shoot.
That's because the linemen -- OSU big men B.J. Mullens, Kyle Madsen and especially Dallas Lauderdale -- have been laying down better screens to block defenders and give Diebler some breathing room.
"Screening is another art of the game that's lost," Lauderdale said Wednesday in Columbus before the Buckeyes hopped a bus for Dayton. "A lot of people don't like to screen. But there's a huge difference."
Michigan State's Travis Walton, the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year, noticed it in Ohio State's upset win over the Spartans in the Big Ten Tournament, listing Lauderdale's screens near the top of a list of reasons for the Buckeyes' win. Early in the season, Lauderdale seemed to be getting called for a foul on nearly every other screen he set.
"He's getting there quicker and he's getting set quicker and not leaning or lunging," OSU coach Thad Matta said.
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