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PG Aaron Craft (B1G 6th MOY '11, Def POY '12, Acad AA, Dolomiti En. TR - Italy)

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JohnnyCockfight;1873981; said:
Craft has been more careless down the stretch in several games lately. He has had unforced turnovers at critical times (Northwestern, Wisconsin) and taken shots much too early in the shot clock when we have the lead towards the ends of games. His defense, while usually great, has shown lapses throughout the season - earlier in the season, it seemed like once a game he would look the other way and the man he was defending would drive in for an uncontested layup. Against Wisconsin, he had difficulty coming over the top of screens - part of this is due to Sullinger's man doing the screening, and Sullinger not coming over to help out - watching Sullinger intentionally choose not to help makes me think that this is part of our strategy to keep him out of foul trouble (I think he has been asked not to do so for fear of getting cheap foul calls by Matta - we can not afford to lose Sully due to lack of depth at his position).
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I don't think that you can blame every turnover that Craft commits to him. Sometimes guys mishandle his passes were might be looking the other way just as he is passing the ball to them. Just because it is a unforced turnover does not mean that it is his fault. Perhaps sometimes he goes a little faster than he probably should but much of that depends upon the tempo of the game.

With regard to his defense especially against Wisconsin even Matta said that they tried a number of different things during the game but sometimes the guys just weren't in sync. Often Craft would try to slip the screen while other times guys were supposed to hedge the screen which would have helped him considerably. Sully has to hedge on the screens and just be careful of not committing silly fouls. It doesn't take much to hedge on a screen to slow the guy with the ball down.
 
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Craft was defending Taylor phenomenally until Wisky started isolating him on the high screen. I doubt anyone expected Carrot Top to start popping threes, which would explain the lack of help. Aaron was left trying on an island against two players who seemingly couldn't miss. A tough lesson, to be sure (for AC and the coaches), but one that will pay dividends in the long run.
 
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generaladm;1874004; said:
Craft was defending Taylor phenomenally until Wisky started isolating him on the high screen. I doubt anyone expected Carrot Top to start popping threes, which would explain the lack of help. Aaron was left trying on an island against two players who seemingly couldn't miss. A tough lesson, to be sure (for AC and the coaches), but one that will pay dividends in the long run.
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Taylor agreed:

"Taylor also finished with seven assists and one turnover in 39 minutes after struggling in the first half against Ohio State freshman Aaron Craft, whom Taylor called "one of the best defenders, if not the best defender in the Big Ten."
 
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LitlBuck;1873990; said:
I don't think that you can blame every turnover that Craft commits to him. Sometimes guys mishandle his passes were might be looking the other way just as he is passing the ball to them. Just because it is a unforced turnover does not mean that it is his fault. Perhaps sometimes he goes a little faster than he probably should but much of that depends upon the tempo of the game.

With regard to his defense especially against Wisconsin even Matta said that they tried a number of different things during the game but sometimes the guys just weren't in sync. Often Craft would try to slip the screen while other times guys were supposed to hedge the screen which would have helped him considerably. Sully has to hedge on the screens and just be careful of not committing silly fouls. It doesn't take much to hedge on a screen to slow the guy with the ball down.
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Trust me, I don't blame Craft for every turnover committed, that was not my intent and I apologize if it came off that way. In the Wisconsin game in fact, I thought that he was less sloppy than he had been over the past month generally. However, his unforced turnover at the end of the game was a situation where he dribbled the ball all the way down the left side of the court, where there were no other Buckeyes, and just lost the ball near the corner. He obviously didn't mean to the lose the ball, it was purely an untimely mistake. But he put himself in a bad situation by going to a corner by himself. There has also been a recent trend with Craft where he is driving to the hole and jumping up in the air with no intent to shoot the ball, hoping a man becomes open for a spontaneous pass. He has mostly gotten away with it so far, but those are not good habits.

And for those who felt Craft played good defense on Jordan Taylor, I will respectfully disagree. Jordan Taylor is well known to make shots if you go under screens set for him - this had to have been addressed by the staff. In the first six minutes of the game, before Craft was in the game, we didn't go above the screen at all - probably why Craft played so many minutes. Craft did a decent job with his defense in the first half, but he regressed in the second half. On the four 3s that Taylor hit in a row in the second half, Craft was in no man's land on the first, went under a very soft screen on the second, Sullinger should have hedged over on a really good screen on the third, and Craft was right in his face on the fourth. So by the time the defense had been corrected, the game had swung. I do not think this takes away from Craft's ability to be a great defender, because he is. It just happens sometimes - it happened with Youboty in a game against Illinois and I didn't think any less of his skills either, just that he had a bad game.

My constructive criticism is because I think Craft is very good, but he could be great. He has as much fire in the belly as any Buckeye basketball player I can remember.
 
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And there we go, Craft played one hell of a game. His defense tonight was tenacious. Lucas played shot the ball really well, and Craft neutralized him anyway with his steals and hustle. Craft was 1 for 7 from the field and I thought it was one of his best overall games of the year.
 
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OSU_Buckguy;1874899; said:
craft could play a great game or could play a poor game. i'll be happy with him either way. he gives every ounce to the cause.
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If all I had seen of him this year was his hustle and effort on the obvious back court violation, to retrieve the ball and lay it in when most everyone else would simply be happy with the back court violation, I would then have a pretty good picture of the type of player the Bucks are fortunate to have.
 
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buckiprof;1874918; said:
If all I had seen of him this year was his hustle and effort on the obvious back court violation, to retrieve the ball and lay it in when most everyone else would simply be happy with the back court violation, I would then have a pretty good picture of the type of player the Bucks are fortunate to have.
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This kid is going to be a good one for the buckeyes. A fantastic high school QB playing our PG position. He knows how to lead a team and distribute the ball. And, I think he will be a 4 year player. If he improves a little bit each year he will be GREAT at OSU!!
 
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JohnnyCockfight;1874892; said:
And there we go, Craft played one hell of a game. His defense tonight was tenacious. Lucas played shot the ball really well, and Craft neutralized him anyway with his steals and hustle. Craft was 1 for 7 from the field and I thought it was one of his best overall games of the year.
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I don't feel Craft's best asset will be him shooting.

IMO, he has all the makings of leadership based on his basketball situational awareness. He is heady with the steals as well as drawing fouls on both the offense and defensive side of the court. Players worry about taking it in on Sully but they don't see Craft stepping in the lane and posting up for the charge. The kid has a nose for the ball and seems to be one step ahead of the play at all times. That is NOT something you teach.

I like this guy, if he stays all for years he could easily be one of OSU's best PG's, but he still has to show growth.
 
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Craft's hustle play to retrieve the ball at the other end of the court was the highlight of the year from Buckeyes hoops for me.

Anybody that wants to know how a team with as much talent and depth as Sparty can be 6-7 in the conference, that play is your answer.
 
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Wisconsin and Michigan State seems to play different styles of the game. One that i really like about the Buckeyes, is there ability to really change
and adapt to those styles. Michigan State is really coming on and we saw that last night for sure. But i agree with many of you. Aaron Craft is poised
to become a better and better player with this defensive style that Coach thad is using. I love Aarons quickness and hustle of the game. Has there been in any player of OHio State athletics that has played in both sports of football and basketball ? I really don't know but i would love to see Aaron
try to particpate in that effort but for injury and safety sake, we will probably never see that. But if he did, i really think he would more than excell in football also.
 
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