• Follow us on Twitter @buckeyeplanet and @bp_recruiting, like us on Facebook! Enjoy a post or article, recommend it to others! BP is only as strong as its community, and we only promote by word of mouth, so share away!
  • Consider registering! Fewer and higher quality ads, no emails you don't want, access to all the forums, download game torrents, private messages, polls, Sportsbook, etc. Even if you just want to lurk, there are a lot of good reasons to register!

tOSU @ Nebraska, Mon 1/20 @ 7p ET, BTN

Jump to latest Follow Reply
Sort by date Sort by votes
This team NEEDS to be consistent from 3-point range in order for the lanes to open up. Coming into the season, I was cautiously optimistic on how good this team COULD be. I did not see a good offensive team due to lack of scoring consistency from the players returning. Way to many wild cards. Here is my reasoning (from an offense perspective):

Craft - His outside shot has gotten worse since his Freshman year. I do not know who is working with him but it has affected his free throws as well.
Scott - No improvement on his shooting from Day 1. Not even streaky.
Smith, Jr. - Streaky at best and has not improved much from his Freshman year.
Thompson - This kid should be a freak on the offensive end. He has shown potential but his stroke is off on his shot.
Ross - Color me confused. All the talent in the world leads me to believe two issues, 1) Forces his game instead of allowing the game to come to him, 2) Mental toughness is lacking. A guy with his skill set should dominate games.
Williams - 6' 11" with some skills but no fire. McDonalds AA and in his Jr. Year appears he does not get it. He is a stiff.
AVG - Needs to hit the weights but other than that he plays smart, hard and can shoot.
Loving - This kid wants it and with playing time will only get better. Balanced game and high IQ. He will be a very good player for the Buckeyes. Bank it!
Trey - Serviceable back-up and team-oriented but gets caught out of position on D too often.
Kam Williams - Red-shirt? Screw it, if he is 75%, it's time play him. He brings what this team lacks...PERIMETER scoring.

Line-up should be: Craft, Smith Jr., Thompson, Ross, Wiliams. With bench rotation being: Scott, Loving, AVG, Trey.

Next year: Scott, Russell (FR), Thompson, Loving, and Williams. Bench: AVG, Trey, Diop, Tate, and Kam
 
Upvote 0
Picture%20018.jpg
 
Upvote 0
This team will always have some issues scoring, however, that has nothing to do with the slide their in now. They are committing unforced to's, forcing shots, getting beat on D, not being smart on D as far as helping, not boxing out, not crashing the boards, etc... until they get those things in order I don't care how they shoot they'll struggle to beat really good teams.

I am hoping Matta shakes the team up with some starting lineup and PT changes.
 
Upvote 0
lord vegas said:
This team will always have some issues scoring, however, that has nothing to do with the slide their in now. They are committing unforced to's, forcing shots, getting beat on D, not being smart on D as far as helping, not boxing out, not crashing the boards, etc... until they get those things in order I don't care how they shoot they'll struggle to beat really good teams.

I am hoping Matta shakes the team up with some starting lineup and PT changes.
Click to expand...

Good analysis. In my opinion, many of these issues would be solved it Ohio State had a consistently good (i.e. doesn't even have to be dominate) "true center". Unfortunately Amir Williams hasn't been able to just "hold his own" against a decent big guy. Case in point: he made that average center for Minnesota (#55) look like a Naismith Award candidate.

Gophers%20buckeyes001-L.jpg


However, shaking up the lineup may be a problem; they only go 9 deep and I don't think McDonald and/or Della Valle are the answer. The only 2 left are Loving and Thompson.
 
Upvote 0
I'd like to see a starting 5 of Williams at center, Ross and Loving at forwards, and Craft and Thompson at guard. We'd have tremendous length, which should help rebounding. At least we shouldn't get killed on the glass like we are with the small ball squad Matta played against the Huskers.
 
Upvote 0
ScriptOhio said:
Unfortunately Amir Williams hasn't been able to just "hold his own" against a decent big guy. Case in point: he made that average center for Minnesota (#55) look like a Naismith Award candidate.

Gophers%20buckeyes001-L.jpg


However, shaking up the lineup may be a problem; they only go 9 deep and I don't think McDonald and/or Della Valle are the answer. The only 2 left are Loving and Thompson.
Click to expand...

This is sounding like a defensive football analogy. The Defense that made Conner Cook like Tom Brady
 
Upvote 0
BuckTilIDie6 said:
For the millionth time: I've see enough of Marc Loving to know I want to see more of Marc Loving, preferably playing with Ross on the floor at the same time.
Click to expand...

So why don't you just say you want more Loving?

Seriously, I agree that he should see some more time than what he got at Nebraska. I don't see the need for playing Ross 35 minutes when you can give Loving a few more and cut Ross down to a more manageable number of minutes.
 
Upvote 0
Count me in. Just announce before the next game that Loving will be starting here on out, until further notice.

As for the rest of it, I keep trying to figure out if Matta is "doing an Izzo" and trading losses in January for April success. Because if Ross doesn't come around soon, need to figure something out. Start Thompson, Craft, Ross, Loving and Amir. Lenzelle and Scott first in.

And yeah Craft shot sucks. Looks like Red Klotz. He needs to get his legs involved in his jump shot. He looks like he really, really, really doesn't want to shoot. Until he gets pi$$ed.

last point - Rebounding sucks. When Craft is your leading rebounder (last game) you're in trouble. The problem is our guys don't have the upper body strength. We've all heard that Craft is the strongest guy on the team. I don't think Amir and Ross can hold on to their lunch money. When your hands/arms are strong, they're also fast. Who is supposed to be pushing these guys in the weight room?
 
Upvote 0
Ross is doing fine, he already has come around. It's just he's the only guy that can score consistently in the halfcourt. Craft needs to stop thinking about shooting and just let it fly - I think maybe Smith has some of the same mental problems with shooting.
 
Upvote 0
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top