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Men's Basketball Buckeye Tidbits 2007-08 Season

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Dispatch

Bob Hunter commentary: Network may be hurting Big Ten more than helping

Sunday, February 17, 2008 3:33 AM
By Bob Hunter



butler_200.jpg
Renee Sauer | Dispatch
Since the Big Ten Network starting showing OSU games, Jamar Butler's text messaging skills have improved.
hunter17.IMG_02-17-08_C1_5C9CO5F.jpg



When Jamar Butler was asked if his buddies back home in Lima get to see his Ohio State basketball games on the Big Ten Network, he laughed.
"I get 50 text messages after every game (that) 'I didn't get to see it, I had to listen to it, how did you do?' " the senior guard said.
Fifty? Wow. Well, at least it seemed like a wow until I exchanged e-mails with Big Ten public relations executives in a futile attempt to ask Big Ten commissioner/cable salesman Jim Delany whether the decreased exposure people are complaining about is good for the conference. Network spokesperson Elizabeth Conlisk responded that "many of the (ESPN Plus) games that were only seen locally (before) are now seen by more than 30 million people" and that "the Big Ten is actually getting more exposure, not less."
Thirty million? That makes Butler's measly 50 text messages seem pretty trivial, and it's a lot more impressive than the lousy anecdotal evidence you probably knew I was going to offer anyway:

Continued.......
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Dispatch

"Gentlemen's" agreement

Purdue football coach Joe Tiller indirectly referred to new Michigan coach Rich Rodriguez recently as ?a guy in a wizard hat selling snake oil.? Tiller complained in The Indianapolis Star after Rodriguez received a signed letter of intent from a player who had orally committed to Purdue last spring.
What?s this have to do with Ohio State basketball?
Well, supposedly there is a gentlemen?s agreement among Big Ten coaches in all sports that if a recruit commits to one of them, the others back off. That?s why there?s been tension between OSU coach Thad Matta and Indiana coach Kelvin Sampson since last spring, when five-star 2010 recruit DeShaun Thomas of Fort Wayne, Ind., made a commitment to Matta during a visit to Ohio State, only to rescind it a week later -- publicly, at least. He did so after pressure from those around him that Ohio State suspects originated from Sampson?s office.
Now this:
The (Toledo) Blade reported yesterday that Libbey High School guard William Buford, who committed to Ohio State in October 2006, received a telephone call from Indiana coaches last summer, almost a year after making the commitment.

Continued......
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For those saying they would like to see us get out of the zone...

Basically Matta said very bluntly the zone is the least of our worries...Michigan made some shots, lot more than they usually make...

Said our main problem is getting shots to fall and getting things going on offense...

Straight from the horses mouth...
 
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Hindsight is 20/20........how nice would it be to have Drew Lavander on this team.

At the time when he wanted to become a buckeye, we just didn't have room with the excellent class we had coming in. Mike Conley leaving early, left an enormous hole at PG. Had the staff known Mike would leave after his freshman year, there's no doubt they squeeze Drew in.

I continue to appreciate the job Jamar does at the point but it's just not a natural fit for him.

Watching Drew play tonight left my jaw on the floor. His numbers weren't flashy, but it's always amazing to watch a guy single handedly beat a 3 man press with ball handling/quickness. He'd add a dimension that this team is sorely lacking. The addition of a guy who can create by taking the ball to the rim would be huge.

Ohio State is a top 15 team with Drew at PG.

Xavier is a legit sweet 16 team, with the talent to go final 4 if they can get some breaks.

Off topic, Josh Duncan (has made like 17 of his last 17 shots and 8/8 on three's in the last 2 games) of Xavier is one of the nicest people you could ever meet.
 
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Dispatch

OSU men's basketball: 5 questions before stretch run

Friday, February 22, 2008 3:23 AM
By Bob Baptist


THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
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Renee Sauer Dispatch
OSU coach Thad Matta




Accidents bring out the rubber-neckers. So it is this week that fans are slowing down and staring at the Ohio State men's basketball team, which has crashed three times in its past five games and sits in fifth place in the Big Ten with five games to play.



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Dispatch

College basketball | Bracketology
Buckeyes can still make their case

Saturday, February 23, 2008 3:03 AM
By Bill Rabinowitz


THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
In 22 days, the NCAA men's basketball tournament selection committee will emerge from its cocoon and fulfill the dreams of some teams and kill the hopes of others.
There will be whining and protesting. Billy Packer will no doubt bemoan that one of his beloved power-conference schools got the shaft.
But those left out have little reason for sympathy. The selection committee's toughest task when it goes behind closed doors might be finding enough worthy teams to complete the 65-team bracket. Unlike most years, more than a few of the included teams will be chaff, and we're not just talking about the champions from low-major conferences.
Take Ohio State. Despite a season remarkably lacking in marquee wins, the Buckeyes remain in solid position to be the fifth Big Ten team in the tournament.
Or Florida, the Buckeyes' conqueror in last year's championship game. The rebuilding Gators are 1-5 against opponents ranked in the top 50 of the Ratings Percentage Index and yet are considered on the bubble. This year, it seems, the Gators might not need to do much chomping.

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crazybuckfan40;1099518; said:
A win tomorrow would be freakin' huge...

Lots of bubble teams losing games lately it seems...Hopefully both Oregon and Oklahoma go down today to UCLA and Oklahoma...
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so is oklahoma supposed to lose to oklahoma or is oregon gonna lose to oklahoma then oklahoma plays and loses a double header to ucla? im so confused :wink:
 
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CPD

BIG TEN INSIDER



Minnesota hot on OSU's heels



Monday, February 25, 2008

The race for fifth is on in the Big Ten. As Ohio State's NCAA Tournament hopes continue to flicker, Minnesota has snuck up on the Buckeyes.
Since Ohio State's 76-60 win in Columbus on Jan. 26, the Golden Gophers are 5-3, while Ohio State is 3-4. As a result, Minnesota (17-9, 7-7) is just one game behind Ohio State (17-10, 8-6) in the conference standings with a game looming in Minneapolis on Saturday, when a bye in the Big Ten Tournament could be on the line.
The No. 5 seed in the tournament will meet the No. 4 seed on Friday, March 14, while the No. 6 team must play an extra round, meeting the No. 11 seed, sure to be winless Northwestern, on Thursday, March 14.
@StoryAd
"If you can avoid that Thursday game, that's very important," OSU coach Thad Matta said after Sunday's loss to Wisconsin.
That could be especially true if Ohio State needs to win the Big Ten Tournament to reach the NCAA Tournament, which could be the case.




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Canton

Butler not in Buckeyes' starting lineup
[FONT=Verdana,Times New Roman,arial,helvetica,sans-serif]Ohio State notebook[/FONT]
Monday, February 25, 2008
BY Mike Popovich
REPOSITORY SPORTS WRITER

COLUMBUS

There was an unusual and somewhat stunning sight when Ohio State's game against Wisconsin tipped off Sunday.

Jamar Butler, the Buckeyes' leading scorer, was not in the starting lineup.

Butler eventually entered the game after the first media timeout and went on to score a team-high 14 points in 36 minutes. But why was the senior guard not in the starting lineup?

"It was a team issue," senior forward Matt Terwilliger said during the postgame news conference not attended by Butler. "If you guys want to ask Coach (Thad) Matta, he'll talk about that."

Cont...
 
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