Ohio State vs. Michigan

[Ttown]

Turner makes the whole offense run, mainly by driving to the hoop and making shots or kicking the ball out to open teammates whose defenders have left their man to play helpside defense after turner has beaten his defender. Turner's just one of those guys who you cannot easily replace, and OSU has been struggling to find a groove without him on the offensive end.

Winning any Big Ten game on the road without Turner is going to be tough. UM and UW were just fortunate enough to catch us without Turner and with the games at their home courts. Fortunately for us, with Turner, I think we're one of the top 3 teams in the Big Ten, behind only MSU and Purdue.

The bad news is that no one besides Turner can make the offense run from what I saw. Hopefully with experience one of the others can learn.

 

[fourteenandoh]

you ever get that feeling on a certain drive (in football) or a certain trip down the court that if we don't get points, the game is lost? sometimes it can even be in the first half. i got that feeling when we were down 1 with about 6 minutes left. even though we were playing well, it felt as if we were hanging on by a finger nail. we got no points and within a blink of an eye we were down 10.

this team's propensity toward 4 and 5 minute scoreless streaks is incredibly frustrating. we were on 55pts from 6:40 until 2:49. not going to win many games like that. i think i just have to realize that with no one to create off the drible, it is hard to score points.

jimmy jackson said OSU without turner is a 6 win team in the B10. that is quite a statement.

 

[OhioState001]

I dont understand how we can be at the bottom of the Big Ten because we lost one player. These guys should be plenty good enough to win these games.

 

[fourteenandoh]

I dont understand how we can be at the bottom of the Big Ten because we lost one player. These guys should be plenty good enough to win these games.

logically, one would think so. however, we only had one guy who was responsible for everyone else's production. you take him away, and we are where we are. i think buford has the skill to take over, but he doesn't have the maturity yet.

 

[Thaddeus]

I really don't know where to start so I will start at the beginning of the game. As soon as Michigan jumped out to an early lead I almost knew that we were going to lose that game. It always happens let a bad team, and Michigan is a bad team, stick around for a while and it will always come back to bite you at the end.

I do not think that we played very well defensively and almost wished that they had played more zone. Sometimes there were two guys going out to block a shot and that just leaves things wide open. Dallas has got to learn that he cannot block anything especially shots taken from 10 feet away from the basket and he is at the midway point. He needs to stay down closer to the basket and now wander too far from it. I also don't think we played with much intensity at the defensive end and our best defender, Lighty, seem to get stuck with someone underneath the basket who had a height advantage and he was taken a few times. We just don't seem to play team defense very well. Sometimes it looks like a Chinese fire drill.

Offensively, I know that we do not have Turner but I have no idea what type of offense we were playing. Many times the guys just seem to stand while Lighty was dribbling around the half-court line with about 10 seconds left on the shot clock. I know as mentioned above that Dallas had eight points and eight boards but he really is not a true post presence where you can pass the ball into him and he can create something for himself or for one of the other players. Yesterday, we also seem not to have a PG and I do not think that having David handling the ball so much outside helps us. He needs to be closer to the basket and help rebound. Shoot, WB had double-figure rebounds.

I'm afraid this team is really going to struggle until we get Turner back and then maybe you can just drop the "really". I am certainly not looking forward to playing at Minnesota and, especially Purdue. Hopefully we can handle we can handle Indiana this Wednesday at home.

I know nobody on the team likes to lose and are much more frustrated than any of us but I have to vent every now or then so there was and I feel a little bit better.

I agree with everything you said. Although I do think Dallas brings a little bit of a post presence. They just need to dump it down to him. Right now when they do he is in that mindset where he feels he cannot pass because how many touches the rest of the game will he get. With Turner out, Dallas should be seen as a much more viable option. I think you have to dump him the ball every now and then. Hill doesnt even look down low as an option. I guess when it was hard for 5 star one and dones to get touches, I never should have expected Dlaud to get them. One thing I liked yesterday was Dlauds baseline spin and seal move. Now, he totally blew the reverse layup and it wound up looking hideous, but that was a bonifide post move. It must work sometimes because he tried it. If he does that move and explodes at the finish with a dunk, or takes his time to flick it up there thats 2 easy points. Either way, I like to see that he is trying to progress his game.

In college basketball one great player is so meaningful. You still need role players around him, but there are so many teams in the history of basketball that had just one great player. Turner is a great player. He was improving at point guard when he went out and I really think he is the type of player who just goes off come tournament time. I think they will have games where they will struggle, mainly because of the inconsistencies in the supporting casts games, but when they are all clicking they will be a very dangerous team.

Also, what is with the teams "keep away" from the hot hand philosophy? When Buford scored 3 in a row, the next few possessions he didnt touch the ball. Same with Diebler at one point in the first half. All of the guards need to be more disciplined. I thought outside of Diebler, every guard on the team had moments where other coaches would have put them on the bench and make them think about what theyre doing for a couple minutes. I guess the old "make a mistake and sit" Matta is gone. Even when they had Offutt, I remember one of ET's triple double nights. He started out the game just dredful. At one point Simmons was coming in and ET literally started walking off the court assuming that he was so off that Matta was going to make him sit. Instead Buford went out. ET finished the game with a triple double, but I thought that was telling that the Matta now seems to be of the mindset that starters should play through their struggles, where as when he first got to OSU it was a lot different. I know theres little depth and when Turner's out there, theres a huge disparity from the talent posessed by the top 5 guys and everyone else, but college kids are all head cases and sometimes they need a moment to sit and think...even if they are physically able to play.

Everyone on OSU looked a bit slower and weaker than usual. Lighty was even getting beat on D. That never happens. Not sure why that was. It almost felt like they all knew Turner was coming back soon and were just going to wait for him.

 

[MaxBuck]

Ouch. High degree of suckitude from the Turnerless Bucks. Hope we can win at least one game while he's out.

 

[UpNorthBuckeye]

I was at the game yesterday and we looked pretty weak.
Other than Lauderdale, no size.

Buford needs to get in the weight room.

Deibler, looked pretty much okay but if the spot up 3 is not there, drive to the hoop and get fouled. Although, when you missed two free throws, that hurt.

Hill and Simmons both are okay but not Big-Ten elite type player.

I like Lighty. Pretty tough.

I also noticed that we had few fans there, no cheerleaders and no band. Maybe not a big deal but it could have helped.

If you watched the game and didn't know anything about the team in red, you could not tell who was the captain... or the senior... or who was in charge.

They need a Scoonie Penn. Not tall, but tough, and IN CHARGE.

I have seen them in person two or three times with Turner and they were a different team.

I was glad to read that Turner may be back in about a month.

:)

 

[Thaddeus]

If you watched the game and didn't know anything about the team in red, you could not tell who was the captain... or the senior... or who was in charge.

That pretty much is the perfect comment/explanation and sums up everything right there.