January 16, 2008
Diebler redux
The talk is starting again.
I got an e-mail tonight from a reader. I?ve had questions from several other people. How long is Thad Matta going to stick with Jon Diebler?
My question: What?s Matta?s alternative?
I?ve been told that Diebler, for all the points he scored in high school, was a streaky shooter then. Guess what? He?s still a streaky shooter.
He made seven of 45 three-point attempts in the Buckeyes? first eight games, and five of those came in one game, against North Carolina.
In his next six games, he made 19 of 35 threes.
Now he's ice again, having missed his last 15 in a row.
Why keep playing him? Why not?
Look beyond the shooting.
Diebler?s length on the wing is valuable in the zone defense. He?s held his own at that end, and his four rebounds against Michigan State were better than his average.
On offense, he plays in the system and doesn?t force shots or plays. He?s a shooter, not a driver, and plays to his strengths. He has three turnovers in five Big Ten games, fewest among the top seven in the rotation. He?s been solid if unspectacular, save for the scoring drought. But he?s not the only one not scoring.
Now, as to who would get his minutes.
P.J. Hill? He may start getting a little more time if he continues to play as solidly as he did at Michigan State, but he?s a situational substitution. He isn?t a three-point threat and, while a pest in the press, he costs the zone half a foot on the wing when he?s playing in tandem with Jamar Butler.
Eric Wallace? He?s athletic and has produced late in blowouts of Presbyterian and Iowa. But if he was the answer, we?d have seen more of him already. Wallace himself admitted during a recent conversation that his skills need to be developed. He doesn?t question why he?s not playing more.
What fans need to have with Diebler _ and Kosta Koufos and Evan Turner and even sophomore David Lighty, for that matter _ is patience. You truly didn?t think these freshmen were the second coming of Oden, Conley and Cook, did you? They?re typical freshmen, better than most, not as good as some. They?re not the phenoms last year?s were.
If you?re still ready to write off Diebler as a bust, consider one final comparison. He?s shooting 27.7 percent from outside the arc. Butler, as a freshman, shot 23 percent.
