Ohio State 68, Iowa 65 (Final)

[MaxBuck]

The jump from being able to have your way against the high school/AAU crowd is a big transition for a big man. Oden was special because he came in and hit the ground running. Hibbert, Thabeet, Patrick O'Bryant, etc all had a learning curve like BJ before they got going.

Maybe the single most insightful commentary on the entire thread. Thanks, Dayton!

 

[Mike80]

Slight disagreement with you, Mike. The very reason Iowa was so deadly from 3 is the same reason they are lousy down low. They play essentially nothing but guards -- and not especially long ones.

You are unlikely to have a bunch of 6-9 physical specimens who can hoist the 3, unless of course you reside in Chapel Hill.

Hence my point though - Ohio State needs to adjust in those situation. Dallas and BJ were obviously the match to whatever forward they had on the floor.

If Iowa is going to spread the ball around and exploit the zone for the open jumper, at some point there has to be an adjustment.

The real problem is this isn't the first game this has happened, but they did happen to win this one. Think back to scUM and Minnesota games from last year.

 

[LitlBuck]

Hence my point though - Ohio State needs to adjust in those situation. Dallas and BJ were obviously the match to whatever forward they had on the floor.

If Iowa is going to spread the ball around and exploit the zone for the open jumper, at some point there has to be an adjustment.

The real problem is this isn't the first game this has happened, but they did happen to win this one. Think back to scUM and Minnesota games from last year.

I totally agree with your statement that some type of adjustment should be made but that comes the question what type of adjustment. Do we get out of the zone (heaven forbid) or go with even a smaller lineup. It is extremely difficult for one of our big guys to get from underneath the basket out to the corner to put some pressure on an open shooter.

Mullens from high school and AAU days is still learning to get position to do the little things of post play. The jump in effort and energy you have to put into getting position in college versus before is incredible. The jump from being able to have your way against the high school/AAU crowd is a big transition for a big man. Oden was special because he came in and hit the ground running. Hibbert, Thabeet, Patrick O'Bryant, etc all had a learning curve like BJ before they got going.

I also agree with some of the statements that we had a definite size on these guys and we did not exploit it at all. I will agree that it is more difficult, as Dayton mentioned, that getting position in college is much more difficult for a big man that I was in AAU basketball but Iowa really didn't have anyone of significant size. I have no idea what is going to happen when we come up against teams that do have some size underneath. In addition, sometimes the big man do have pretty good position and the wing players just look at them and pass the ball back out to the perimeter. Sooner or later the big guys get tired of fighting for that position if they are not going to get the ball.

Heard Lou Holtz make a point today talking about teams not knowing who the goto guy or star is...I think the lose of Lighty hurts more now due to the fact that no one knows their role as they had been established and now trying to be reestablished, and I think they will, but Turner seems to be trying to shoulder too much of the load and forcing too many things...

I also am amazed that one player can make such a difference in a team's offense and defense. I know that Lighty was the veteran of the team but for him to make that much of a difference in our entire game is almost shocking to me. We need to adjust to his absence pretty quickly or we will be in for a long month this January.