F DeShaun "The Diesel" Thomas (Panathinaikos - Greece)

[NINJA BUCK13]

If Deshaun would come back for his Sr season (he won't) he would own the OSU career scoring record by over 500 points...

 

[Bestbuck36]

How does DT rate this season among prolific scorers at big schools? Will he be the best?

I think Craft is the best defensive player. If we could have the best defensive player and best scorer on the same team, that would be awesome.

 

[DZ83CK]

I don't know that he will be the best, but if he plays like the go-to guy that he probably will be, he should be one of the top 5 scorers from the top-25 teams. Doug McDermott at Creighton will be up there as his team will be in the top-25, probably #1, and perhaps a few other mid-major stars such as Murray State's Canaan as well. I'm not sure if there will be any top-25 schools from the power conferences that have any players who finish ahead of DT. But among scorers on top-25 teams, Deshaun will be right there behind the likes of McDermott. 20 PPG is not out of the realm of possibility for Deshaun this year. The highest scoring average of a Buckeye in recent years is ET who notched over 20 ppg in 2010 en route to NPOY honors. After him the last OSU player to hit 20 was Michael Redd, as #22 averaged about 22 a game during his frosh season. If DT approaches a frosh Redd-like average, he should be solidly in the NPOY running.

 

[Buckskin86]

For Buckeyes, all eyes on Thomas
Junior forward sure to draw extra attention with departures of Sullinger, Buford
By Brian Hamilton, Chicago Tribune reporter
November 9, 2012

Ohio State's Deshaun Thomas drives against Walsh Cavaliers' Jeff Copeland at Value City Arena. Ohio State won the game 83-71. (Greg Bartram-US PRESSWIRE / November 8, 2012)

Deshaun Thomas is a preseason All-American, which means the Ohio State forward has many new friend requests. He was a relatively popular guy before, but now the 6-foot-7 junior apparently knows a lot of people he is sure he doesn't know.

"A guy I never heard of, maybe once in my lifetime, just came out of nowhere: 'Hey, I want to work with you, I want to do this,' " Thomas said. "And I'm like, come on now, you weren't with me all my life. You weren't with me since I was young. Now all of a sudden you want to come into my life?"

It's a sad commentary and a dry run for this season all at once. Thomas will draw all kinds of attention as the Buckeyes attempt to match or exceed last season's Final Four run despite losing more than 3,000 career points with the departures of Jared Sullinger and William Buford.

Thomas is the only returnee who averaged double-digit scoring last season (15.9 points per game). Even if his play matches the All-America expectations, there are still holes to fill.

"Everybody says all eyes are going to be on me, you're going to see double teams and all that," Thomas said. "I can't see it. With the scoring that (Aaron) Craft does and LaQuinton Ross and (Lenzelle Smith Jr.), it's going to be hard to double-team and focus on one player."

cont...

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sport...-ohio-state-preview--20121109,0,1463494.story

 

[NINJA BUCK13]

I don't know that he will be the best, but if he plays like the go-to guy that he probably will be, he should be one of the top 5 scorers from the top-25 teams. Doug McDermott at Creighton will be up there as his team will be in the top-25, probably #1, and perhaps a few other mid-major stars such as Murray State's Canaan as well. I'm not sure if there will be any top-25 schools from the power conferences that have any players who finish ahead of DT. But among scorers on top-25 teams, Deshaun will be right there behind the likes of McDermott. 20 PPG is not out of the realm of possibility for Deshaun this year. The highest scoring average of a Buckeye in recent years is ET who notched over 20 ppg in 2010 en route to NPOY honors. After him the last OSU player to hit 20 was Michael Redd, as #22 averaged about 22 a game during his frosh season. If DT approaches a frosh Redd-like average, he should be solidly in the NPOY running.

I think Deshaun will average about 20-22 PPG this season and about 8 RPG...


I also think Hardaway Jr for _ichigan will average about 18+..

 

[LitlBuck]

-- Thomas missed six of his first seven shots but made six of his last 10.

"I give Deshaun a lot of credit because in the past, I don?t know if he could have played through that," Matta said.

"The one that went in and went around and around and around and came out, he had a hint of frustration, and even in the timeout, he was kind of in his own world and I had to get him back in our world. I told him, 'Look, I haven?t said anything to you because you?re taking good shots.' I thought he stayed pretty effective. He was huge for us down that stretch" late in the first half.

Thomas scored 13 points in a 17-2 run in the last 4:35 of the first half that erased a one-point Albany lead and put the Buckeyes ahead 39-25 at halftime.

He acknowledged that as a freshman two years ago, "I probably would have just hung my head down and pout and all that. But I stayed in it, and Craft and (Smith) said, 'It?s going to come to you, just let it come to you.' I knocked down a couple in a row and I was on from there."

Postgame Albany

 

[LitlBuck]

Matta said he saw “a hint of frustration” in his preseason All-American after Thomas missed six of his first seven shots from the field against Albany. But after Matta got on him during a timeout, Thomas responded by hitting his next five shots to spark a late first-half run. “I give Deshaun a lot of credit because in the past, I don’t know if he could have played through that,” Matta said. Thomas concurred. Two years ago, as a freshman, “I probably would have just hung my head down and pout and all that,” he said. “But I stayed in it. … I knocked down a couple in a row, and I was on from there.” Thomas made six of his last 10 shots.

The Thomas watch

 

[Buckskin86]

Deshaun Thomas Named Big Ten POW
Junior forward averages 28 points in pair of Buckeye wins
Nov. 19, 2012

Player of the Week
Deshaun Thomas, Ohio State
G ? 6-7 ? Jr. ? Fort Wayne, Ind. ? Bishop Luers

Scored a career-high 31 points against Washington and tallied 25 vs. Rhode Island to average 28.0 points per game over two contests at the Basketball Hall of Fame Classic
Grabbed 10 boards against Rhode Island and eight vs. the Huskies to average 9.0 rebounds per contest over the weekend, also totaling three assists and a steal
Shot 55.3 percent (21-for-38) from the field, including 46.2 percent (6-for-13) from long range
Earns his second career Player of the Week award
Last Ohio State Player of the Week: Jared Sullinger (March 5, 2012)

http://www.ohiostatebuckeyes.com/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/111912aaa.html

 

[LitlBuck]

Big Ten player of the week

Thomas showed against Washington why he was a preseason All-American ? because of the matchup problems he can pose for defenses. Washington started a 6-foot-10 freshman at his position, so the Huskies tried guarding Thomas with a smaller forward. The matchup tilted even more in Thomas? favor when the Huskies tried switching on screens, leaving an even smaller defender on him. ?Coach (Chris) Jent was like, ?Roll real hard (off the screen) and you?ll have a ?small? on you,? ? Thomas said. ?I got into a rhythm coming off the pick-and-roll and just shooting right over him. It was a mismatch.? Thomas? performance earned him two awards: the tournament MVP and Big Ten player of the week.

The Thomas watch

 

[LitlBuck]

Thomas hesitated for a second, then smiled, when asked last week if he wished he were Jack Taylor, who the previous night had scored 138 points in a game for Grinnell College of Iowa. ?Nah,? Thomas finally said. ?I?m a different player now.? But he also acknowledged that he might have wished he were Taylor when he was a freshman still trying to make the transition from high-scoring high-schooler to a cog in the Ohio State machine. Thomas is the third-leading scorer in Indiana high-school history, totaling 3,018 points in four seasons at Fort Wayne Bishop Luers. He averaged more than 30 points a game as a junior and senior.

Insider

 

[LitlBuck]

I have said on this site before that I did not think there Thomas should not declare early for the NBA because I did not think he would be ready. I would like to take those statements back. He will be gone after this season.

 

[OhioState001]

BTW no one mentioned it but Thomas went over 1000 points in his career.

 

[LitlBuck]

BTW no one mentioned it but Thomas went over 1000 points in his career.

The announcers were too busy praising all the dookie players.

 

[OHSportsFan]

Nice job putting the ball in the hoop on Wednesday, Deshaun.

But that effort on one of Duke's clinching layups with about 2 minutes to go was absolutely piss-poor.

Sorry, but when you need 1 stop and you give some 'ole' defense late in the shot clock- that costs you games.

 

[DZ83CK]

Nice job putting the ball in the hoop on Wednesday, Deshaun.

But that effort on one of Duke's clinching layups with about 2 minutes to go was absolutely [censored]-poor.

Sorry, but when you need 1 stop and you give some 'ole' defense late in the shot clock- that costs you games.

Yeah, that kind of summarizes DT in a nutshell, and why I'm skeptical of whether he'd be a 1st round pick in the NBA draft. He is a tremendous scorer in college, but he is a mediocre defender for a 3 in college, and that would only be magnified in the NBA. The effort is not always there, either. I'm skeptical that an NBA team would spend a high pick on a guy that they know was often a liability defensively in college.