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Men's Basketball Buckeye Tidbits 2007-08 Season

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OSUBasketballJunkie;1079182; said:
This is where we will find out if we play ourselves in the tourney or out. The game at home vs Indiana is the key.......we need to get a win there, that would be a huge confidence booster.
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Couldn't agree more...Hopefully the crowd is up and into that whole game, and the players feed off of that...
 
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OSUBasketballJunkie;1079182; said:
This is where we will find out if we play ourselves in the tourney or out. The game at home vs Indiana is the key.......we need to get a win there, that would be a huge confidence booster.
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I think the key here is beating all the teams that we should

@Iowa
Michigan
@Northwestern
@Michigan

win those 4 games then get at least 3 wins against the rest and we should easily get into the tournament

Indiana
Wisconsin
@Indiana
@Minnesota
Purdue
Michigan State
 
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Dispatch

OSU men's basketball: Matta asks for more on defense

Saturday, February 2, 2008 2:54 AM
By Bob Baptist


THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

When you're playing every minute of every game, as point guard Jamar Butler is, timeouts are not enough time to catch one's breath.
Are they, Jamar?
"Coach here?" Butler said last week, laughing nervously and peeking out the exit through which Thad Matta had walked a few minutes earlier.
With the coast clear, Butler admitted, "You get fatigued out there. You have to find someplace to get a little rest."
For a while, that place for Butler was at the top of the matchup zone defense the Ohio State men's basketball team has employed this season. But that holiday ended after Ohio State returned from Tennessee two weeks ago and Matta pulled Butler aside for a chat.

Continued.......
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Dispatch

February 1, 2008

Price of success

It?s great for fans that CBS decided to pick up Ohio State?s game against Wisconsin and televise it Sunday, Feb.24. That way, everyone will get a chance to see it, not only those with cable or satellite service and/or access to the Big Ten Network.
It?s not so great for the Buckeyes, though.
Two days after they play Wisconsin, they play at Indiana. One day between games is a tough turnaround anytime, but one day between games against Big Ten contenders is especially tough. Ohio State coach Thad Matta loves the exposure for recruiting and will say publicly ?it is what it is,? but privately he?s not thrilled.
But it?s his own fault.
Before Matta built the monster that reached the NCAA championship game in three years, the Buckeyes weren?t the darlings of CBS and ESPN that they are now.
This season, they are playing at least five times and possibly as many as seven on CBS, with three and as many as five of the games on Sunday.
ESPN, meanwhile, picked them up for at least six and as many as eight games. Six of those games are on Tuesday or Thursday nights, creating the possibility of one-day turnarounds.
Fortunately for the Buckeyes, they will be familiar with the drill. They played Texas A&M and VMI in November with only one day to prepare for each.
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I was reading (in the Sporting News?) about how the Pac10 does it's conference scheduling, and IIRC, they have these turn-around matchups built in their scheduling as the norm. If a team travels north to play at Oregon, for example, they usually have a game at Oregon State in the few days after.

Surely this is not how Matta would prefer to prepare for IU, but it's not the end of the world, and with a W vs. Wisconsin that Sunday, it may make for a nice turnaround with some confidence vs. IU.
 
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CPD

Ohio State basketball: Ten thoughts on the Buckeyes and the Big Ten

by Doug Lesmerises Monday February 04, 2008, 7:15 AM


1. In a conference race that's still there for the taking, Ohio State has the most room left to improve of any Big Ten team. If the Buckeyes ever put together a game where Jamar Butler is making his 3-pointers and driving and dishing; Kosta Koufos exhibits a little aggression on his post moves and makes, say, seven out of 12 of them; both David Lighty and Evan Turner are creating off the dribble and finishing; Othello Hunter is consistently active on the offensive glass; and, yes, Jon Diebler drains a few 3-pointers, they would beat any team in the conference, no doubt about it.

medium_JamarThad.jpg

AP"Do you want to yell at the young guys?" "No, you can yell at the young guys." "How about we both do it?



All those things have happened at times this year - Butler most of the time and the others a few times - but rarely do more than two happen in a game.
Against Tennessee, the Volunteers were intent on taking Butler away, and Hunter and Turner did their things and Koufos did his in the second half, and if Diebler had done his, the Buckeyes could have forced overtime against a top 10 team on the road.

Continued........
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CPD

OSU BASKETBALL: In the zone



Iowa loss can't shake Ohio State Buckeyes men's basketball team's faith in zone defense



Tuesday, February 05, 2008 Doug Lesmerises

Plain Dealer Reporter
Columbus- A year ago, when Ohio State's David Lighty came into a game, he knew his job was to get in the face of one of the best offensive players on the court and shut him down.
"You were accountable for your man," Lighty said. "So if someone made a mistake, you knew who it was or what happened. This year, it's a little bit different in the zone. I've got to lock down my area now."
Sometimes, that's not quite as personally satisfying. But nearly every Buckeye has expressed pride in the team's new zone defense that, though they weren't sure they'd be playing it until the tipoff of the season opener, has come to define them.




Cont...
 
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Canton

Ohio State Notebook: Butler expects more from team
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
BY Mike Popovich
REPOSITORY SPORTS WRITER

One disappointing road loss is one too many in the eyes of Jamar Butler.

The Ohio State point guard held nothing back after his team's less-than-stellar performance in Saturday's 53-48 loss at Iowa. After routing the Hawkeyes by 31 less than a month ago, the Buckeyes struggled through 38 percent shooting from the field in a defeat that pushes them another game back in the Big Ten race.

Butler had an off night, shooting 4-of-14 overall and 1-of-7 from 3-point range. What really bothered the 6-foot-1 senior was Ohio State not being ready to play.

"We keep trying to be positive, we're OK and blah, blah, blah, but I'm done with that," Butler said after the game. "I'm just going to start going at guys and tell them how it is."

Butler publically calling out his teammates apparently did not make things worse. Head Coach Thad Matta said his co-captain had a phenomenal practice Sunday and was more vocal than Matta ever saw him.

Cont...
 
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MaxBuck's comment regarding Turner being a bellwether for this team led to this somewhat info:

Player.....PPG in B10 wins......PPG in B10 losses
Butler...............14.9.....................19.3.............
Diebler..............6.86.....................2.33.............
Hunter..............10.1.....................7.0...............
Koufos..............11.4.....................8.67.............
Lighty...............9.4......................7.7...............
Terwilliger..........4.4......................4.3...............
Turner...............9.0......................6.3..............

Obviously, this is a very small sample size and one good or bad game can have a significant impact on the results, but at this point, every player except Butler is scoring more in the wins versus the losses. And Butler's scoring drops off significantly.

I'm not sure what to make of that. A couple of ways of looking at it:
1. Butler may try to do too much and it throws the offense out of rhythm, adversely affecting everone else's offensive play
2. The offense is struggling and Butler has to take the scoring load on his shoulders because nobody else can/will step up.

Additionally:
OSU's B10 wins - 69.7 PPG, 49% FG, 57.1 2FG%, 37% 3FG%, 14.7 assists, 13.4 TO's
OSU's B10 losses - 58.7 PPG, 37.8% FG, 47.6 2FG%, 22.4 3FG%, 10.3 assists, 12.7 TO's


They turn the ball over more in the wins? :tic:
More assists, signify more ball movement, (more chances for turnovers?), better shot selection, much higher shooting percentage.

OSU's opponents
OSU's B10 wins - 55.1 PPG, 35.7 FG%, 43.3 2FG%, 27.2 3FG%,
OSU's B10 losses - 64.7 PPG, 39.4 FG%, 39.1 2FG%, 40.0 3FG% (!!!)
40%.....wow....Anywho....just thought it was all kinda interesting.
 
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