tOSU -10.5 at TSUN (ov/un 127.5) Wed 6:30 ET, BTN

[MaxBuck]

My thoughts that perhaps the Buckeyes could finish conference play undefeated are pretty much gone now. But it's great to beat the Weasels, especially on the night they introduced their new football coach.

 

[DZ83CK]

My thoughts that perhaps the Buckeyes could finish conference play undefeated are pretty much gone now. But it's great to beat the Weasels, especially on the night they introduced their new football coach.

Funny how everybody thinks they have no shot of going undefeated and/or the chances of going undefeated are going down ... when they keep winning!

Great, great win for OSU. The best part about it that nobody's talking about: UM was foiled in their attempt for payback from the buzzer-beating loss that ended their season. They had to have that bitter loss in the back of their minds all offseason, and they weren't able to atone for it at home, in front of their new coach, in front of all their fans who are dying for a winner & saw firsthand that they don't have one this year.

 

[billmac91]

Let's be serious, this Michigan team looks like a high-school squad compared to mtop opponents. If it weren't for the fact that Michigan took Kansas to OT and have played some very good game sthis year, I'd be beyond disappointed.

Michigan looks like your high-school squad which makes them look beyond awful. But they play up to their opponent which drives fans like us crazy. It was sad watching MYSELF take Ohio State to the wire tonight

But it happens

 

[Wells4Heisman]

Michigan looks crappy but competes with the best of them...

That's what happens when you live and die by the 3.

 

[WolverineMike]

spirited effort from UM. I don't see anyone knocking off osu in the big 10. congrats.

 

[bkochmc]

spirited effort from UM. I don't see anyone knocking off osu in the big 10. congrats.

If you look at each game individually I think they can win each one but as a whole I just don't see it. I see them losing 2 or 3 games (all on the road), especially if they can't find a way to close out games better than they have so far in conference play. Hopefully they can reverse that trend against a scrappy State Penn team this weekend.

 

[WolverineMike]

If you look at each game individually I think they can win each one but as a whole I just don't see it. I see them losing 2 or 3 games (all on the road), especially if they can't find a way to close out games better than they have so far in conference play. Hopefully they can reverse that trend against a scrappy State Penn team this weekend.

two vs Purdue and two vs Wisconsin will be the toughest games left IMO. Minnesota could sneak in there with an upset. Tubby seems to play osu well.

 

[Fungo Squiggly]

Typically in a game like this where one team plays absolutely lights out, and the other team plays pretty average but leads by 1, the game opens up in the second half.

Michigan was really hot beyond the arc and little Stu Jackson was even making plays. I'm just not sure they can sustain this for another half.

Nick Novak? Stu Jackson? You really brought your A-game last night. :p

Fuck Michigan!

 

[bkochmc]

two vs Purdue and two vs Wisconsin will be the toughest games left IMO. Minnesota could sneak in there with an upset. Tubby seems to play osu well.

I would rank the remaining away games this way:

@Purdue
@Illinois
@Minnesota
@Wisconsin
@Northwestern (only meeting)
@Penn State

The Bucks only have Michigan State once this year and that is at home.

 

[BuckeyeNation27]

you know those POS's would have.

I don't see any problem with them rushing the court. OSU is undefeated and #2 (soon to be #1)....their team is crap and they all know it. New coach is hired who supposedly understands The Game, or at least the fact that it's important. They haven't beat OSU in anything (relevant) in god knows how long.

I can see it.

 

[MaxBuck]

... live and die by the 3.

 

[BuckeyeTillIDie]

Minnesota could sneak in there with an upset. Tubby seems to play osu well.

Allow me to cite the 30 point ass-blasting that OSU gave Minney in the B1G tourney championship game last year

 

[LitlBuck]

Good to see Matta going with our best team on the court vs. forcing Lauderdale on the court.

A lot of coaches would be uncomfortable sitting a starting senior, but in this game he just doesn't fit as Michigan continues to bomb threes and play behind the arc.

Not exactly to your point but with regards to how Matta thinks about who should be on the floor in different situations.

After Al Nolen made the free throw, why not substitute Deshaun Thomas for Dallas Lauderdale? Offense for defense?


Then, the worst free throw shooter on the floor that Minnesota could have fouled would have been Aaron Craft (.679), who five days before had buried both ends of a one-and-one with 16 seconds left to give the Buckeyes a five-point lead at Iowa.

Ohio State, with possession, could have inserted Thomas for Lauerdale after Nolen made the free throw. By my count, it had two timeouts remaining.

I'll give Matta the benefit of the doubt here that he knew what he was doing. He's coached a few wins in his life. I think he did what he did not erroneously -- he had his entire staff scheming with him -- but because he trusted Lauderdale, a senior, to be on the court at that point, regardless of the situation, more than he did Thomas, a freshman who has some marvelous instincts but whose head for the game is a work in progress. But Matta is not going to say that to someone wanting to put his thoughts on the record.

I also agree with the commenter who pointed out that Lauderdale hedged that screen for Hoffarber and disrupted Minnesota's final shot about as well as you can do it. Would Thomas or another freshman, Sullinger, have been able to do it as well?

http://blog.dispatch.com/hoopsscoops/2011/01/one_last_take_on_lauderdale_1.shtml#more