Ohio State 69 Northwestern 72 (Final)

[Fungo Squiggly]

The Bucks are now 0-2 since I escaped from my cage. Time to head down to the cellar, untie Bucky and get back to my daily confines where I can safely assume the fetal position.

Ugh. The defensive intensity just wasn't there last night. Rather than playing a man, defenders stand halfway (not in the passing lane, mind you) between the defenders so they can BOTH get open looks. Too many turnovers, as is becoming the norm. Lazy passes, lack of hustle on loose balls, loss of focus on both ends.

How many plays can you think of last night where you said to yourself "All right, Bucks. What a great effort!"? I'm coming up with very few.

I can think of a handful for NW. Coble knocking a pass loose and leaping to bounce the ball off of Hill. Thompson knocking the loose ball from Mullens and saving it. The play right before the 3 was a loose ball that ended up out off of OSU. The team just doesn't seem to make those plays that steal possessions from the opponent. In B10 play, OSU has attempted more field goals than their opponents once in thirteen games. I know that OSU shooting a high FG percentage hurts that stat, but the turnover and rebounding discrepancies are just brutal. The loose balls that end up in the opponent's hands are a huge component in the discrepancy, IMO.

Opp..Opp FGA..OSU FGA
NW......58.........44
UW..... 55.........38
Minn....54.........52
PU.......55.........53
IU........57........46
UM.......49........44
MSU.....57........42
ILL.......57........46
UM.......56........44
IU........57........53
MSU.....51........55
Minn.....59........52
Iowa.....44........44

*sigh* Back to the hole. Maybe OSU can play Wisky in the B10 tourney and I can escape again in a couple weeks.

 

[RB07OSU]

This team lacks toughness, and just overall basketball knowledge...

Then on to the big guys and all the damn turnovers...I just don't get it...BJ does on the defensive end what he should do on the offensive end. Hold the damn ball with his elbows out, what happened to his drop step, and spin move we have seen from him. Recognize where the defense is and spin away from it...Or how about just being bigger than the defender, so actually ripping the ball thru and shooting over the defender, instead of the half turn jumper that he never makes...I will give him credit for his first career double double, but there were still so many balls that should of been his...One play sticks out in my mind and kinda summarizes his play...It was the one when there was a longer rebound and one of NW's little guards was going for it along with BJ, and as a guard wing player, ususally you try to tip it away from the big man and track it down where you are going...Well that is what BJ tryed to do, instead of using his big body, putting it in front of the guard he tried to dribble it and control it and the smaller quicker guard took it from him after he dribbled it...

Just so much wasted motion still in his game, he could of pinned that little guy 400 times tonight but I think he did it once and still wasn't strong enough to hold the guy off to get the dunk, but did get fouled...

maybe guys are wearing down physically and mentally due to all the minutes being logged, but this was not a game where we should of lost shooting the ball the way we did...

You hit the nail on the head my friend. We are young and our depth is killing us right now. Lauderdale hasn't been the factor he was in the beginning of the season and can't handle a pass to save his life. Mullens never uses his body to his advantage and constantly turns the ball over, because of the wasted motion you mentioned. Not to mention he is a terrible passer at this point. If he even THINKS about the NBA this year, he is absolutely out of his mind. We could be SOOO much better with an effective post game and the potential is there, we just can't tap into it with all the mistakes. Diebler is the only player I see that never, EVER takes a play off. He is usually out there just as long as Turner and he has his head in the game, the whole game. There are flashes of this from Turner and Bufford, but nobody consistently works like Diebler imo. Sure we did a lot wrong and probably shouldn't have lost, but let's face it, NU was on fire tonight...they just couldn't miss, contested or not. I just hope we finish strong and get in the tourney because I know we can do some damage in it.

 

[buckeyes_rock]

I have no problem with our offense last night and I am tired of hearing these excuses that this team is young or that they have played so many minutes they are worn down. To those people I would ask for them to look around the Big 10 and other rosters to see how old:! other teams are. I have not read this entire thread but for some reason that game last night stood out as one of the more disappointing Ohio State basketball games that I have watched. Very disappointing and I sure hope that PSU/Illinois did not shoot there what ever last night because we are not a great team and all of our remaining games will be very significant.

I agree that it was a disappointing loss too. I think because this was a game where we could've exploited their weaknesses better. This team was small and missing a big man. NW's zone pushed out so far that we should've torn them apart down low. Now granted, Diebs was on fire so we don't pass up an open look from him. But with the zone NW was playing and then add to that a red hot shooter in Diebler...I just felt like that was a real missed opportunity for this team to have blown those guys out!

Now not to sound like a negative nancy here, because I love what ET brings to the table...but 8 turnovers...wow.

On the positive...9-11 shooting for Diebler...that's amazing...he was really feeling it last night.