NIT: #1 Ohio State vs. #3 Dayton, Wed. 9 pm at the Schott ( ESPN2)

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Some photos from the game....

Dayton's Marcus Johnson (32) shoots over Ohio State's Kosta Koufos (31) in the first half of the quarterfinal round of the National Invitational Tournament basketball game Wednesday, March 26, 2008, at Value City Arena, in Columbus, Ohio. Ohio State's David Lighty, right, looks on.
(AP Photo/Terry Gilliam)

Ohio State head coach Thad Matta cheers on his team after a made basket in the first half of the quarterfinal round of the National Invitational Tournament basketball game against Dayton Wednesday, March 26, 2008, at Value City Arena, in Columbus, Ohio.
(AP Photo/Terry Gilliam)

Dayton's Marcus Johnson, left, is pressured by Ohio State's Jamar Butler (14) in the first half of the quarterfinal round of the National Invitational Tournament basketball game Wednesday, March 26, 2008, at Value City Arena, in Columbus, Ohio. Ohio State's David Lighty, right, looks on.
(AP Photo/Terry Gilliam)

Ohio State's Kosta Koufos, left, Evan Turner (21) David Lighty, and P.J. Hill (4) celebrate on the bench during the final seconds of the quarterfinal round of the National Invitational Tournament basketball game against Dayton Wednesday, March 26, 2008, at Value City Arena, in Columbus, Ohio. Ohio State won, 74-63.
(AP Photo/Terry Gilliam)

Ohio State's David Lighty (23) is pressured by Dayton's Marcus Johnson, right, in the first half of the quarterfinal round of the National Invitational Tournament basketball game Wednesday, March 26, 2008, at Value City Arena, in Columbus, Ohio. Ohio State's David Lighty, right, looks on.
(AP Photo/Terry Gilliam)

Dayton's Brian Roberts, right, dribbles away from Ohio State's Evan Turner (21) in the second half of the quarterfinal round of the National Invitational Tournament basketball game Wednesday, March 26, 2008, at Value City Arena, in Columbus, Ohio.
(AP Photo/Terry Gilliam)

Ohio State's Kosta Koufos, right, turns to go to the basket as Dayton's Kurt Huelsman, left, defends in the second half of the quarterfinal round of the National Invitational Tournament basketball game Wednesday, March 26, 2008, at Value City Arena, in Columbus, Ohio.
(AP Photo/Terry Gilliam)

 

[buckeyesin07]

OSU did in fact only win the game because the team played their best defensive half of the year coupled with the fact the Diebler scored above his average and Koufus hit every shot he took...which he usually does not.

Your posts are coming off as sour grapes. You want so badly to believe that Dayton is the better team that you're grasping at straws trying to come up with a list (that is getting pretty long, I might add) of things that if they wouldn't have happened, Dayton would have won.

Let me ask you one question: Who do you think has the better basketball team this year, OSU or Dayton? It certainly seemed from your pre-game posts that you thought it was UD, and you seem to be coming up with a lot of excuses as to why UD didn't win that makes me think you still are of the opinion that UD is better.

 

[crazybuckfan40]

Tell me which one of those things I said were incorrect......if they are all correct statements then 100% correct would be an accurate description of them.

When has Koufus shot so well from the floor this season?
When was the last game that Diebler played this well?
Was Ohio States defensive effort in the second half one of the best of the year?

Oh and I never said the refs cost the game...just Roberts usually shoots a lot of free throws in most games...he didn't last night....that is all I was saying.

Why did they both play so well...
Defense has been the strong suit all year...Look at the numbers...the place where we lacked was defensive rebounding, but Dayton is a small team, so that was not as much of a factor...

The refs let the kids play both ways so that is a non factor and in the first half Dayton was taking advantage of it, while tOSU played soft...

I also think that Matta needs a lot of credit for his ability to continue to motivate this team in the NIT and he has them playing their best basketball and he was dictating the game and matchups...

We are also seeing quite a bit of movement on offense later in the season than we saw earlier in the season...

 

[OH10]

Also, OSU has lost to teams that are worse than UD this year so to say that was not a forgone conclusion by any stretch of the imagination.

Ohio State lost to two worse teams, both on the road when they were slumping bad: Iowa and Michigan. There was no excuse for those losses. If that Ohio State team had shown up yesterday, it probably would have been a different result.

The Minnesota loss sucked, but I'd take the Gophers on a neutral floor against Dayton. All other losses were just to better teams than Ohio State.

The home-court advantage was evident in this game. Ohio State simply does not lose to equal or lesser opponents at home and have not done so in the Matta era. Dayton's best chance to beat the Bucks would have to be on a neutral floor away from the state of Ohio.

 

[gracelhink]

I didn't see it posted anywhere yet, but kudos to the Bucks for their free throw shooting last night are well deserved. 18-23 on the night, and 17-19 while it mattered.

Great observation! The 17-19 amazingly did not include any FT attempts by Butler!
I also didn't see these key stats posted:
shooting proficiency of 53%;
During the first 37 minutes of the game the offense only committed 7 turnovers,
Assist to turnover ratio was strong, 18- 9 for the game;
Outscored Dayton 20-8 off turnovers.
Major props to the ballhandlers that have been shaky and turnover prone this year. Lighty Turner, Diebs, and Koufos are exuding confidence in their handles, they seem to have a will to finish the season strong.

 

[buckeyesin07]

The Minnesota loss sucked, but I'd take the Gophers on a neutral floor against Dayton.

I would too.

 

[Tlangs]

Let me ask you one question: Who do you think has the better basketball team this year, OSU or Dayton? It certainly seemed from your pre-game posts that you thought it was UD, and you seem to be coming up with a lot of excuses as to why UD didn't win that makes me think you still are of the opinion that UD is better.

When both teams play to their potential, OSU is the better team. I have only seen OSU play up to its potential in about 50% of their games this year. My pre-game thoughts/hopes were that this would be one of the games that they did not.

Also, Whether or not Minnesota is better than UD is a matter of opinion I know....going by RPI, Dayton is 31 and Minnesota is 101.

For what its worth, I'd take UD at Home, Minnesota on the road, and UD on a neutral site.

 

[Fungo Squiggly]

Your posts are coming off as sour grapes. You want so badly to believe that Dayton is the better team that you're grasping at straws trying to come up with a list (that is getting pretty long, I might add) of things that if they wouldn't have happened, Dayton would have won.

I disagree on the sour grapes. I haven't seen anything unreaaonable in tlangs posts regarding the game. He pointed out a couple of things that OSU did well last night that were major factors in the victory.

KK DID have a very good night and hits some shots that he hasn't always made this season. Got a good bounce on a hook, knocked down his long baseline jumpers. 9-11 is unusually good for him. He's shooting less than 50% from the field for the season, but shot 80+% last night. If he goes 5 or 6 of 11 instead of 9-11.....

Diebs went 2-4 from three. Monday, he went 0-4. How does the game turnout if he misses all 4?

I don't see anything wrong with pointing out that a couple guys for OSU played better than usual last night and that contributed to the victory.

 

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Most of us knew that KK was going to pose a huge problem for the Flyers going into the game and we turned out to be right.....they had no answer for him inside or outside.....In order to win big games......players need to step-up and Diebler did that last night.....Turner scoring 11 in the second half and was a force on the boards.....great all-around team effort in this one.

 

[Tlangs]

I also think that Matta needs a lot of credit for his ability to continue to motivate this team in the NIT and he has them playing their best basketball and he was dictating the game and matchups...

We are also seeing quite a bit of movement on offense later in the season than we saw earlier in the season...

Matta deserves a ton of credit. I have been critical of him a lot this year when we we playing that soft zone.....it has morphed into more of a trapping agressive zone now, sprinkling in full court pressure. Hehas this team together for the first extended period of the season which is tough to do when you don't make the NCAA tourney. You look at the last 6 games and they are playing some great ball.

Offensively the ball movement has been great....I don't miss the days of Butler dribling for 29 seconds off of various picks and then being forced to shoot a bad shot as the clock expires.

 

[BuckSenator]

I think the only reason that they went with the smaller lineup was because Hunter had 4 fouls on him raid at the beginning of the second half.

I think it was only 3, (I can't find a box score keeping track of fouls) however, after koufous got to 3, he put it back in (guard lineup), especially after noticing it's effectiveness against UD b4 the end of the first stanza.

regardless, if we can dominate with bigs in, and bigs out....We are going to be wicked sick come next year....ooooo boy!

 

[mooktarr]

It's fabulous to watch the team playing as well as they are now. I can see a difference in the way they are playing now as individuals and as a team.
This team is a real joy to watch.

 

[Tlangs]

Most of us knew that KK was going to pose a huge problem for the Flyers going into the game and we turned out to be right.....they had no answer for him inside or outside.....In order to win big games......players need to step-up and Diebler did that last night.....Turner scoring 11 in the second half and was a force on the boards.....great all-around team effort in this one.

When Butler and Koufus are playing well, then you sprinkle in Turner and Diebler playing lights out, OSU is a tough team to beat. Kinda makes you think what might have been had this team come together in February instead of March.

We knew this team had potential with all those close losses to ranked teams. Diebler had 2 shots to put the Tennessee game into overtime, if he drops one or two more against North Carolina that game might not have gotten away from OSU. The future is bright for the Bucks.

 

[BuckSenator]

Link? Post number?

oooo snap, I get called out, and find out, I posted that in the CAL game thread...ooops

none the less, I was met with pessimism equivalent to me speaking pure hearsay ;D

anyway, I'm not trying to call anyone in particular out like that, so I'm not gonna post the link

haha

I'm not into pissing matches overall, I just was being silly pointing out the mere fact that I was in fact, correct about something for once.

 

[BB73]

Not to point this out or anything, but, I suggested this at the start of this thread, and I got told I was wrong, and that it wouldn't happen...

But I was right...
neener
neener

Not to point this out or anything, but your post was early in the thread for the Cal game ...

it certainly isn't an effect of RBGH...

anyway, this is the time of year I wish I had spent more time watching other team's play, so I knew something about them when it was important...

I haven't seen any write ups for the match up yet, maybe it's still to early.


I think it would be interesting to see an all guard set or something against these guys, especially if they are little..

Sure wish I knew more about their team =-...


Time to go research.

Edit - to your credit, you pointed that out yourself seconds before I did