litlbuck said:
I know Matta is forced to play zone because KK is probably a liability if we would go man-to-man. A team like Butler, and quite a few Big 10 teams, are pretty good from the outside and if we are still playing zone come January I think we are going to feel so more pain. I do not think the reason that we are playing zone is because man-to-man is more difficult to learn. I think learning to play a good zone defense is more difficult to learn.
Teams like Butler were going to get looks against zone or man?It is just the old saying to shoot a team out of a zone, and while that can be true, it is not just stand and shoot, it is working the gaps, just like Butler did with their big guy?I don?t think our zone is the problem in any way, I think we are rotating very well, just need to work on rebounding?
Some guys would like to see Turner take over for Diebler in the starting lineup but if we are worried about his confidence now what would that do. I have no idea who Wallace could start for. Are you going to sit down Lighty for Wallace? Maybe it would help I don't know. If you start Dallas that means Hunter or KK would have to take a seat and I really don't think Lauderdale is that much better on the defensive end then Hunter and he certainly is more of a liability on offense. DL will need this year to learn. I just do not think he is ready for prime time yet and the same with Wallace.
Don?t think anyone is asking for the latter two to start, just to see some more time to bring energy to the floor and see if they can?t do any worse than what we are seeing, especially in the next 3 games against cupcakes?
As for Turner over Deibler I honestly don?t see the reasoning behind this?
I know it is early in the season but this team does not seem to be progressing like Matta's teams have in the past couple seasons and I have no idea why. Maybe things will get better but right now I don't know. We have three cupcakes coming up but I have no idea where that is going to show us. Maybe I should sign this as "frustrated Buckeye basketball fan".
I understand what you are saying, but all teams are different and all teams progress in different ways, for whatever rhyme or reason, and yes we are frustrated, but we all saw the potential against ?Cuse, and there is only one place to go and that is up.
graveyard.rose said:
Here are the problems that I see with this team:
-They don't have any guys outside of Jamar Butler and Kosta Koufos that you can rely on to score on a consistent basis. When Kosta goes out, all hell breaks loose. It becomes the Jamar Butler Show, where he passes to the other players, they don't do anything but dribble around and then pass back to him and he eventually ends up taking a shot with the clock running down or trying to create for himself in isolation or, occasionally, David Lighty will take a shot and miss it or one of the other players will launch a three pointer. It's clear, man. This team is absolutely limited in its offensive attack. I remember listening to the carolina game on the radio and I was just thinking that it was only a matter of time that Carolina blew the game open because Ohio State's attack was so predictable and limited. It was either Diebler shooting a three pointer, Butler shooting a three pointer or someone trying for some lucky shot. Someone has to step up and be a consistent third guy or this team might not even make the tournament. Matta needs to make sure that Hunter is part of the attack. How about setting up some fuckin' plays for him? Get him the ball in the post consistently. Get it in his mind that he is expected to score. That when he is in the game he should look for ways to score. Lighty, where the fuck are you? You need to start being more decisive. Drive the ball, shoot pull ups, man. Quit with this fuckin' shit. Come on.
Can?t say I disagree with this, but we are really struggling offensively to shoot the ball well, it is partly because we are struggling to find an identity, I mean one night we are knockin? down the three, and the next we aren?t, one night we are able to get to hole the next we aren?t, the next we are finding KK inside along with Hunter?At this point we have weapons, we present mismatches, we have guys that can shoot, can pass, can take guys off the dribble etc, but we just aren?t doing it with any type of consistency. For whatever reason us, being young, us feeling our way out, and just flat out bad luck at times on some of these shots and we gotta give credit to the teams we have been playing?
-The front line is vanilla. When Kosta goes out, like when Greg went out last year, teams have their way with Ohio State in the interior. It's a damn shame, because I don't see this changing in the near future. Next year, after Kosta is one and done, Mullens will be by himself, and we will continue seeing this crap. Mullens going out and teams pushing around the interior. Hopefully Lauderdalle can be more of a presence than Terwilliger has been. But then again, that is just one guy. Who is it going to be? Lauderdalle and whom? Diebler being the next tallest guy at 6'7 or is it going to be Madsen replacing Twig as the cream puff interior guy whom teams will just bully through? I know I might get a warning for bashing for this comment, but it's not bashing; it's just the honest truth: Matt Terwilliger is close to useless in post defense and while Othello Hunter can come up with some blocks he is not a powerful enough post presence to deter opponents and he can get pushed around and out rebounded. Right now, Twig and Hunter are about the only post guys that they have in the rotation other than Kosta. I think Matta may need to consider playing Lauderdalle and Madsen more just so the team can have more post presence.
Gonna disagree here that we are soft?I think it about positioning?KK and Hunter can rebound when in position, and same with Twig, they just are getting sucked in too far under the hoop?Lauderalde is a freak and he can rebound just doesn?t present a threat on the offensive end?He will be much improved next year and will be able to play along side Mullens and that will be a strong front line especially if KK returns?
-The recruits are under performing. Aside from Kosta Koufos, I've been really dissapointed with this recruiting class. Jon Diebler looks weak. He turned the ball over a bunch of times yesterday, got stripped a few times and just looked absolutely soft and undecisive in his movements. One thing that I said that I loved about his game in high school was that he had a mid range game. this year it seems like he's forgotten that you can do something else other than launch three pointers and drive to the basket. Lauderdalle doesn't play much and neither does Wallace. Turner is probably playing the second best, behind Kosta, of all the freshmen, but he is not to the point where he is contributing significantly on the floor. So, this leaves a class that is really not contributing very much.
Seems like a lot are still spoiled from last year?I mean remember these guys are frosh?KK is a one and done type talent?Yeah it is taking him a little while to get adjusted, but he will be fine?
Deibler is going to be a special player, a while he is struggling to find his shot and is turning the ball over more than I would like to see he is only 8 games into his career, give the kid some more time?Same goes for Turner we saw him show his potential against ?Cuse, but with young kids like this they will be up and down?Remember we didn?t see Oden?s best game until his very last game?Last year we had 3 guys like KK in the class, and also had Lewis and Harris to provide offense along with Butler and then the frosh?This year it is really just Butler, Lighty, and Hunter to try and help the frosh, and they are not the scorers that the guys we had last year, so more pressure is being put on the frosh to try and score?No reason to be down on the frosh, for the reason that they are frosh?The mistakes will start to happen less and less as the season goes on?
graveyard.roses said:
I'm so pissed off. There is not reason they should have lost that game last night, and I was pissed watching the gay Butler fans jumping up and down when their team came back because their team looked so weak and it was embarassing.
Butler played bad, partly IMO due to them coming back from Alaska, the pressure on them due to actually having a big crowd, and our zone defense?No reason to be ashamed of losing to Butler they are a very very solid team?top 10 material IMO?Better than some of the Gonzaga teams that have made the tourney in past years?
graveyard.roses said:
I'm a big college basketball fan, but right now, I'm close to giving up on the sport. It's gotten obvious what this one and done shit is going to mean. Teams can't build ever. The only way I see it being that a team with perennial one and done recruits getting to the title game is if there are a bunch of those recruits on the team. With the way this team is now, Koufos will be gone next year and so with Hunter and Butler.
Butler will be a big loss for the team because he's about the only thing besides Kosta that they have going for them. Next year Mullens will go through some of the same problems that Ohio State had in the interior when Oden and Koufos went out. It will just be another cycle.
I'm looking towards '10 as the next time this program will have a shot at playing for a title.
Come on now?Thad is recruiting a balance of kids that will stay and help the program and guys that will be one and done, but that doesn?t mean teams can?t build?It is better for the game of college bball that there is a one and done rule, as some kids that would of never went to college and not even seen the court in the NBA because they weren?t ready might end up staying in college for two years, we would never of saw guys like Durant and Oden in college ball?You can?t tell me college bball last year would have been as good as it was without them last year and other guys that came that wouldn?t of?But Florida showed that you can build a program, and it also allows there to be a broader range of teams that can compete as it becomes the old vertran vs. youngsters clich??
And to say we can?t compete till 10? is a little off base IMO?I know at this point some will tell me I am crazy but while it might be a long stetch don?t count out this years team and especially not next years team especially if KK stays?Remember MSU a couple years ago when they had a tough non-confrence schedule and made the final four after losing quite a few games early in the season?
If our team last year would have had the level of difficulty we have this year in non conference I sure they would of struggled as well?Last year we struggled more defensively this year it is offensively?
