Ohio State 75, Florida 84 (final - NC Game)

[HilliardG8r]

Well I mean you have to consider something, FSU, Miami and Florida are all major programs in the same state. Where I am at we have USC and UCLA and there's all these "I am fans of local sports teams" fans, ie: bandwagon fans. So as Florida has success, they get the same morons who were following Miami around, and FSU before that.

No self respecting Florida fan would be caught dead rooting for Miami or F$U. When people choose a school to pull for in Florida its more like committing to a religion.

 

[Buckeyeskickbuttocks]

No self respecting Florida fan would be caught dead rooting for Miami or F$U. When people choose a school to pull for in Florida its more like committing to a religion.

That explains more than you'll ever know.

 

[Flocka]

No self respecting Florida fan would be caught dead rooting for Miami or F$U. When people choose a school to pull for in Florida its more like committing to a religion.

Until the past couple years I would agree with this statement. But, I have seen first hand a ridiculous amount of bandwagon fans jumping on with the Gators. Probably because of the poor performance by the aforementioned teams.

 

[jwinslow]

Here are a few more shots from Kiichiro Sato, AP photographer:

They let us in around 2 pm, and the team showed up at about 2:45. They drove the bus right into the arena, and received a spirited welcome from the fans. Lewis thanked everyone for the support as well as Matta, who added how proud he was of the team among other comments. Afterwards they came up to the stands and worked the crowd (autographs and handshakes, I opted for the latter).

Fans warmly teased Conley, making sure he was coming back... and he said he would be.

edit: Apparently oden did work the line, I just missed him. I did take off after about 15 min of the 'crowd working', so maybe he was in the bathroom.

I didn't have my good equipment with me, but I got a few basic shots of the scene:

 

[billmac91]

In re-watching the game, one of the turning points for me, was in the first half when Conley got his second foul.....Ron Lewis was already on the bench, and instead of inserting him into the line-up to stabilize our team we ran with a team of: Butler at the point, Cook at the 2, Lighty at the 3, Hunter at the 4, Oden at the 5

Our offense sucked for about 4 minutes, while UF made a run....we turned it over, got no good shots, and were abused on the defensive end

I really think we could have maintained momentum, or at least stayed competitive had Lewis been on trhe court to penetrate and force the d to play honest

A lineup with our backcourt being Butler, Cook, Lighty has no slashing ability and it allowed Florida to just guard the perimeter and make us take terrible shots

 

[jwinslow]

2006 OSU BBall Gallery (captions/photographer found below enlarged image)

(click the thumbnails)

... ... ... ...

 

[jwinslow]

A lineup with our backcourt being Butler, Cook, Lighty has no slashing ability and it allowed Florida to just guard the perimeter and make us take terrible shots

Did Lewis slash in the first half? I remember Cook & Lighty doing both and scoring... and both certainly have that ability.

I remember wishing Lighty would play more b/c of his aggressive play, in stark contrast to the frequent longballs that weren't going in.

 

[billmac91]

No, I don't believe Lewis slashed enough in the first half.....but he still looked very comfortable with the ball and forces defenders to play honest...I agree Lighty had a nice game, but his offensive game is limited at the moment.....I just believe having Lewis on the floor, a go-to-guy on the perimter would have helped us get better shots and stablized our team during that stretch.....I just don't think it was smart to have a line-up w/o Lewis or Conley when those are our two most aggressive back-court players

Butler can't penetrate, Cook doesn't penetrate, and Lighty can finish but doesn't beat many guys off the dribble.....when they were all in together, up by 3 when Conley took a seat, it was a turning point

Again, look at the tape....we had nothing going for us on the offesnive end....horrible ball movement, nobody breaking anyone down, backwars passes well beyond the 3 point arc, and minimal touches for Oden b/c the defense keyed in on him

Maybe Lewis doesn't make a difefrence at all, I just believe he would have been a floor leader, and at least taken the ball to the hoop out of necessity of Conley riding the pine......I believe the next time Conley eneterd we were down 4 or 5.......and Lewis sat the bench for a good 5-6 minutes, 4 of which were w/o Conley in the game

 

[jwinslow]

I think theoretically you are right that Lewis would be the creator with Conley gone. Conley sat, UF hit 3 FTs, Butler missed a 3, Hodge got a phantom 3pt play... then Lighty attacked the basket for a layup. I had thought Cook was during that stretch too, but it turns out his driving score was 2 min before Conley's 2nd foul.

The entire team settled for way too many threes, especially Harris. After awhile, you have to realize where you are succeeding/failing and use your strength. OSU had pretty good success when they attacked the hoop, and not just with oden. Heck even Harris took Noah off of the dribble.

 

[billmac91]

I was shocked we didn't hedge the offesnive player on screens most of the night...against Tennessee we got burned the entire first half as they launched 3 after 3 basically uncontested......I undersdtand the need to keep Oden out of foul trouble, but in the college game, with how athletic the best teams are, you can't give guys an inch....we got killed all night by UF players taking it to the hoop off of the screen, or pulling up

In all, I still feel we played pretty well, and UF just got every single break....there were just some things I thought we could have adjusted for during the game, and I believe we mis-managed the game in several situations

 

[JohnnyCockfight]

Did Lewis slash in the first half?

I believe Lewis slashed at least once--he went right at the left side of the rim and scored an easy layup that Noah did not contest for some reason.

He successfully drove a few times on Brewer in the second half.

Part of the problem in last night's game, IMO, was that Brewer got in Conley's head after he made a couple steals. I don't know if anyone noticed, but it seemed like Conley was very hesitant to pass the ball to Lewis when Brewer was in the vicinity. Brewer was getting to balls on defense unlike anything we had seen this season.

 

[JohnnyCockfight]

I was shocked we didn't hedge the offesnive player on screens most of the night...against Tennessee we got burned the entire first half as they launched 3 after 3 basically uncontested......I undersdtand the need to keep Oden out of foul trouble, but in the college game, with how athletic the best teams are, you can't give guys an inch....we got killed all night by UF players taking it to the hoop off of the screen, or pulling up

Totally agree, and I think the same problem occured in the Xavier game when their forwards were just unconscious from 3-point range.

 

[jwinslow]

I believe Lewis slashed at least once--he went right at the left side of the rim and scored an easy layup that Noah did not contest for some reason.

He successfully drove a few times on Brewer in the second half.

Thanks for the reply, I knew he attacked better in the second half, but couldn't remember enough in the first.

Part of the problem in last night's game, IMO, was that Brewer got in Conley's head after he made a couple steals. I don't know if anyone noticed, but it seemed like Conley was very hesitant to pass the ball to Lewis when Brewer was in the vicinity. Brewer was getting to balls on defense unlike anything we had seen this season.

Brewer was extremely disruptive... he is a tremendous player.

I guess Noah gets the media attention for his high energy play & loud mouth... but every time I've watched UF, Brewer & Horford have been drastically better players.

 

[Flocka]

Brewer was extremely disruptive... he is a tremendous player.

Prior to this game I thought Horford was their best player, but I now believe Brewer is not only a better player, but will be more successful in the NBA as well.

 

[go_gators]

Thanks for all the congratulations, everyone. It's nice to see that you all aren't complaining and making excuses. OSU fans have really struck me as classy people. After the BCS Game, I heard almost no excuses, whining, stupid insults, etc from Ohio State fans. Only props. This game was the same way. With the exception of the stupid middle school (probably bandwagon) Ohio State fans going on our message boards saying "GAYTORZ SUK OMFG LOL" (and I know, we have our fair share of "fans" like that) all I have read and heard from your fans was respectful and classy. Hope to see you all in the next football and basketball championships!