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Observations from the Minnesota game.

Oh8ch

Cognoscente of Omphaloskepsis
Staff member
For those who weren't able to see the game let me try to give you a feel for it.

First half:

If you are on your computer there is probably a pencil nearby. Sharpen the pencil and poke it in your left eye. Do this repeatedly for about 14 minutes. Now stick it in your right eye (this was about the point where we down 6 or 8 and Fuss missed two free throws and Dials a dunk). Twist the pencil so the point breaks off. Work it around for another six minutes. That was pretty much the first half.

Lack of defensive intensity. Spurts of individula effort, but llittle team effort. Several shots that looked to be in the bottom of the hoop, but came out. Several forced shots. Forced and ill advised passes. It looked like they expected a lower tier performance from Minnie and weren't ready to react when they got something different.

18 freakin points. In the first 11 minutes there were three points scored by someone other than Dials. 0 for 8 on threes.

Half Time - this was actually much better than the first half itslef. We got to see the fencing team introduced. I was really surprised there were so many people on a fencing team - and they had their backs to me - but it was still better than watching the first half.

Second Half - Re-sharpen your pencil. This time you will only need to jab for 10 minutes.

What was it about Tony Stockman that folks get so excited about? How can a team that has so many players shooting over 40% on threes go 2 for 21 with so many open looks? Why does TD need to put the ball on the floor so many times. 12 steals by Minnie? Geesh.

As it turns out with around 10 minutes left OSU did decide to play some ball. The crowd got into it and we made a nice run. Even had the lead by (I believe) 6 at one point. But then didn't act like we wanted to finish.

In fact, it wasn't really the team that stepped up. It was Matt Sylvester. He went on one of the finest stretches of individual offensive effort I have seen in some time. And a good bit of it was outside of the offensive approach of standing and hoping a Minnie player would fall down so he could shoot a three. He was going to the hoop and making it happen. He was awesome. But when he slacked off nobody filled the gap - although I shouldn't sell Dials short - he had his moments throught the evening.

Many folks will say that this was another game where OSU had chances to pull off the win. I would argue they were lucky to keep it close. It was Minnie that lost their starting center in the first half. It was Minnie that had to play on the road and watched the refs be influenced by the crowd during the brief stretches when it got really loud (missed defensive foul on one end followed by a missed charge at the other in one brief exchange). The team that wanted it more won it - pure and simple.

I wanted to see how this team would react after losing three tough games to in a stretch of four. I was confident Matta would have them up for it. They were flat. I am very concerned as to how they will react from here.

And I can't put it all on the players. The Minnie D was shutting them down throughout the first 30 minutes. I didn't see adjustments that brought them out of it. (It was more Syl's individual effort than anything else that kept them in the game.) I also saw a team that looked totally lost against the press (although the phrase 'I saw a team' may be a bit of an exageration). Once again I had to hear the refrain I heard far to many times last season - "This is their first victory in Value City Arena". Somewhere in there you have to talk about coaching. I will give Matta credit in that his first statement in the post game was an apology to the crowd.

I also want to mention one fascinating matchup. Vince Grier and JJ. Grier plays an athletic style that is remarkably similar to JJ. It was tough to take him seriously at first - what with a hair do that made him look something like Chris Webber wearing Mickey Mouse Ears. In the first half he was out of control a lot and I almost wrote him off. But he started hitting and down the stretch he carried Minnie - ultimately getting JJ in foul trouble that took him out of the game. But for the majority of the game it was fun watching those two go at it. Maybe even more exciting than learning that the OSU fencing team won the National Championship.
 
For anyone who remembers the Fraggles, Grier looked just like Red.

The part I didn't understand about this game was our offensive strategy given their defense. They were constantly doubling down on Terence. Sylvester was the only one who seemed to figure out that he could beat his man one on one and not have to worry about help down low cutting him off. I think he had three layups during his personal run where he just drove the baseline uncontested.
 
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no offense to fuss or stockman, but they play crunch time like it is the beginning of practice.....extremely lazy....

those two need to play every minute like it is the last minute they will ever play.....they are so lackluster in their play that it is frustrating...
 
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I agree Alan....I was going to post something along those lines. I thought our guards (stockman in general) did not play smart and did not adjust. The bottom line was to many turnovers and the fact they couldn't throw the ball in the ocean and get it wet.

Very frustrating to watch last night, the effort was there by Dials. They played hard but their passing was terrible, especially by our guards.
 
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my thoughts:

Fuss-Cheatam is a senior who cannot handle the press. He gets in a half-court set and drive hard to the lane, then doesnt know what to do so he has to back it out. 44% free throws? from a senior pg? give me a break.

Stockman: bi-polar basketball at its finest. and he cannot get himself open shots. he also is terrible at ball-handling.

Ivan Harris is a boarderline pussy. Dials is down low banding round trying to get rebounds nad Harris spends most of the time cherry-picking at the 3pt line looking to chuck a jumper. Dials needs to box out better.

Butler has looked like a deer in headlights the last 4 games.

i think the first 14 games were a bit of fools gold. Matta is quickly seeing this team was 13-15 last year. there were at least 3 times where i saw matta with a look on his face like he was trying to understand an astrophysics lecture be presented in Arameic when fuss-cheatam and stockman turned the ball over. He seriously looked like he had no idea what in the hell they were doing out there. Bobby Knight would have called a timeout, ran out on the court and drop kicked fuss-cheatam, then turn and straight jab stockman in the testicles for the impressive display of stupidity they exerted.

IMO this team had a chip on its shoulder when the self-imposed ban took effect. Now the luster and appeal of playing for something unobtainable has worn off, and they are absolutely flat.
 
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I have spent most of the last couple years watching OSU games with a buddy of mine. Honestly, we usually spent most of the time questioning how Matt Sylvester could ever have been such a great player in high school, considering every time he got into a game that wasn't into garbage time, he looked like he had never dribbled and ran at the same time before. I have to admit that I am pleasantly surprised to see him begin to take more of an agressive stance offensively. Last night for Sylvester was awesome. He had a similar spurt against Wisconsin that had us all looking at the TV in disbelief. He has gone from playing less than 10 minutes a game at the beginning of the season and rarely scoring, to playing 15-25 minutes per game and 10-15 point per game. It is really great to see...
 
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IMO this team had a chip on its shoulder when the self-imposed ban took effect. Now the luster and appeal of playing for something unobtainable has worn off, and they are absolutely flat.
While I will agree that they started the game flat, I thought they picked it up but give credit to Minnesota, they played hard on defense and kept us out of synch all night long. I thought we just didnt play smart and the open looks we got last night were not falling like they were during the previous games.

The team didnt adjust well at all, we need to drive to the basket more and get more opportunities at the free throw line.

Fuss-Cheatam is a senior who cannot handle the press. He gets in a half-court set and drive hard to the lane, then doesnt know what to do so he has to back it out. 44% free throws? from a senior pg? give me a break.
When I heard that during the game...I was thinking how does a starting point guard shoot 44% from the line? Actually he is 9-22 which lowers it to around 40%????

Ivan Harris is a boarderline pussy. Dials is down low banding round trying to get rebounds nad Harris spends most of the time cherry-picking at the 3pt line looking to chuck a jumper. Dials needs to box out better.
Ivan Harris is 6-8 and around 220 pounds and he spends most of his time out by the three point line which is a product of Matta's system, but Sullinger had over 10 rebounds last night and he is a guard.

Butler has looked like a deer in headlights the last 4 games.
I second that opinion.

Stockman: bi-polar basketball at its finest. and he cannot get himself open shots. he also is terrible at ball-handling.
How can that kid be so good one game and just not even show up the next?

The biggest weakness for OSU is their focus, when they come out focused they are tough to handle.


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Ivan Harris is 6-8 and around 220 pounds and he spends most of his time out by the three point line which is a product of Matta's system, but Sullinger had over 10 rebounds last night and he is a guard.
Sullinger is aggressive on the offensive end, that's why he gets rebounds. harris is passive and would prefer to let others work down low in hopes of getting a kickout 3 pointer. Harris had a stretch where he started to mix it up down low, but it faded quickly.

osu needs someone else that is willing to mix it up down low to help Dials. they have been getting killed on the boards since they got into conference play.
 
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Ivan Harris is a boarderline pussy.

Harris did attack the basket once last night -ala the fashion of Sullinger - and it got him his only hoop. He never went back to it.

I wont argue that Harris is a warrior, but he has had some very nice games and his inconsistency is not unlike that of many Sophs.
 
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