Tenn-Martin +35.5 at tOSU (ov/un 140.5) Mon 8:30 ET, BTN

[Fremont Buckeye]

i see two weaknesses, which we have yet to see realized. the first is the thin frontcourt. minnesota, specifically, can throw waves of big men at sully. our team can compensate for sully's absence, but there will nonetheless be a struggle.

Fair point. That just means the other players would have to step up a little bit more in that scenario.

the second is an opponent whose post players can shoot from the perimeter. such teams will be looking to pull lauderdale away from the basket, which exposes sully to interior fouls.

They could just play a zone at that point.

 

[MondayAMGenius]

I'm not sure our frontcourt is as thin as all that. Thomas, Lauderdale, Sully and Lighty are all capable of playing big, and Buford and Lenzelle Smith are very capable rebounders. I understand your point, but I'm nowhere near so concerned as you are.
........

True, we are deeper with 6'6" and over this year. I was surprised to see that Weatherspoon is 6'7" with crazy ups. Did I miss something on Kecman? Is he hurt?

 

[Bill Lucas]

True, we are deeper with 6'6" and over this year. I was surprised to see that Weatherspoon is 6'7" with crazy ups. Did I miss something on Kecman? Is he hurt?

NOt sure if he's hurt but he's just not good enough to crack this rotation. There are some seriously talented players on the roster.

 

[Fungo Squiggly]

http://blog.dispatch.com/hoopsscoops/2010/11/tweet_beat_better_late_than_ne_2.shtml

Last word on Kecman (from 11/5) was that he wouldn't be cleared to return from the knee injury until December or January. I assume from his lack of appearances that he still is not cleared.

 

[buckeyeintn]

After last night's game Ken Pomeroy's rankings moved the Bucks to #1.
kenpom.com

 

[bkochmc]

After last night's game Ken Pomeroy's rankings moved the Bucks to #1.
kenpom.com

And he has the Big Ten as the only conference with all of its members ranked in the top 100. Penn State is the lowest ranked team at 79.

Ohio State is projected to win each game individually but because of probabilities they are projected to go 29-2. I'll take that as that would mean an outright Big Ten championship, Big Ten tourney #1 seed and most likely NCAA #1 seed.

 

[Kirk Herbstreit]

kenpom.com projects a 41-point victory.

Ken is a dolt.

 

[OSU_Buckguy]

They could just play a zone at that point.

they could, but a zone is very weak if it's not properly employed, and it doesn't limit fouls merely due to its use. also, we have yet to see the current team play a zone. matta knows the frontcourt is thin. if they have been practicing the zone, we likely would have seen it already.

 

[OSU_Buckguy]

I'm not sure our frontcourt is as thin as all that. Thomas, Lauderdale, Sully and Lighty are all capable of playing big, and Buford and Lenzelle Smith are very capable rebounders. I understand your point, but I'm nowhere near so concerned as you are.

where did i state that i'm "so concerned"? i listed a weakness. just because i think the team is very, very good doesn't meant that i think they have no weaknesses.

the soft underbelly of any good-to-great team is relative. many teams would love to have our frontcourt despite there being only two natural post players. nonetheless, having only two true bigs is our weakness.

 

[Bestbuck36]

Actually for the reasons that you state, only 2 true big guys, I find those as an advantage against alot of teams. Most teams will have to go zone against us because our 4 will be running in and out to the perimeter. Even then he'll be Lighty or Thomas when we are in our "small" lineup. How many 4's in the country can guard them on the perimeter? Not many.

It goes both ways I get it. When we go small we dont match up against 2 near 7 footers on the defensive end. When we play "big" we are in foul risk territory. Isnt every team though?

Also, how many teams in the country have those bigs you speak of with the guards that can handle ours at the same time?

 

[OSU_Buckguy]

Actually for the reasons that you state, only 2 true big guys, I find those as an advantage against alot of teams. Most teams will have to go zone against us because our 4 will be running in and out to the perimeter. Even then he'll be Lighty or Thomas when we are in our "small" lineup. How many 4's in the country can guard them on the perimeter? Not many.

It goes both ways I get it. When we go small we dont match up against 2 near 7 footers on the defensive end. When we play "big" we are in foul risk territory. Isnt every team though?

Also, how many teams in the country have those bigs you speak of with the guards that can handle ours at the same time?

your post is all well and good if our two post players are not in foul trouble. more specifically, the player who is primarily responsible for the team's jump from good to great is sullinger. if sullinger is out of the game against a team with more than one capable post player, our weakness can be exploited. you better believe that quality teams will focus on getting sullinger in foul trouble.

think about last year's game against tennessee. if this (or even last) year's sullinger had played, we would have won. we know what happened without the addition of a post player of his caliber.

 

[Fremont Buckeye]

they could, but a zone is very weak if it's not properly employed, and it doesn't limit fouls merely due to its use.

Perhaps, but if there were no advantages to playing a zone then no team would do it, which clear is not the case.

we have yet to see the current team play a zone. matta knows the frontcourt is thin. if they have been practicing the zone, we likely would have seen it already.

Are you sure. Anyway 4 of the 5 starters regularly played zone in past seasons and implementing one more starter (Sully), who has a high baskeball IQ as it is should not be that difficult. Plus its not like Diebler, Lighty, Bufford, and Dallas all forgot how to play zone this year.

 

[Steve19]

your post is all well and good if our two post players are not in foul trouble. more specifically, the player who is primarily responsible for the team's jump from good to great is sullinger. if sullinger is out of the game against a team with more than one capable post player, our weakness can be exploited. you better believe that quality teams will focus on getting sullinger in foul trouble.

think about last year's game against tennessee. if this (or even last) year's sullinger had played, we would have won. we know what happened without the addition of a post player of his caliber.

I think you make some really good points. One thing that Buckeye fans have to remember is that this team has played only two teams that have power ratings equivalent to the worst Big Ten team.

It sounds to me like the team has a good attitude and realize that their opponents have been weaker than anyone else in the top 15 but that doesn't mean they're going to be ready for the higher competition that they're about to face in the Big Ten.

Personally, I think that they may just go all the way. But, there's a whole lot of basketball left to play!

 

[brutus2002]

The major weakness I see with Minnesota is free throw shooting/3 point shooting. This will cost them multiple B10 games...probably a few they should have won.

I see Wisconsin and Minnesota as equals...different styles in some ways but equal in talent. I expect Minny to beat them at home.

Can both team beat OSU?...sure...are they as talented? Not IMO...

There are gonna be some great games this year. Normally I'm not this excited about basketball but its hard not to be watching PSU beat Indiana and Purdue beat Michigan as warm-up games...then throw in Minny/Wisconsin...the conference is awesome

 

[LitlBuck]

Perhaps, but if there were no advantages to playing a zone then no team would do it, which clear is not the case.

There really aren't that many college teams that do play a zone defense on a high-level and still have a good won/loss record from year to year except maybe for Syracuse.

Most college teams go to a zone defense out of necessity such as when they are in foul trouble or the other team is just a lot quicker than your team. There are quite a few more liabilities to playing a zone defense then a man to man and we have seen that in past years.

Are you sure. Anyway 4 of the 5 starters regularly played zone in past seasons and implementing one more starter (Sully), who has a high baskeball IQ as it is should not be that difficult. Plus its not like Diebler, Lighty, Bufford, and Dallas all forgot how to play zone this year

It is my belief that to play good zone defense you have to practice it and in order to play good man to man defense you have to practice it. You have to choose one or the other in order to be good at that one. Just because a player has a high basketball IQ does not mean that he can play in a zone defense. You have to play zone defense as a team and if you take one player out of the mix that will destroy your zone defense.