Winthrop +29.5 at tOSU (ov/un 129.5) Tues 7 BTN

[brodybuck21]

Just my opinion, but I think our best five at the moment are Scott, Craft, LSJ, DT and Rav. That leaves Thompson, Ross, and Williams to come off the bench. Amir had a good run towards the end of the game, hopefully that boosts his confidence. Scott and Craft on the court together is fun to watch. They are lockdown and Scott is as quick on the break as I've seen in a while. Almost Felton or Lawson like at UNC speed wise.

i love our backcourt defense with craft and scott on the floor together. suffocating

 

[LitlBuck]

Maybe, but had Winthrop hit another shot when they were only down 9, those last two missed FTs would have hurt big time.

I stand by what I said though, practice tomorrow won't be fun. This team isn't so overly-talented that it can take days off.

I would disagree with the free-throw shooting but put that aside and I totally agree with you. A very sloppy game and long rebounds is all about effort. I do not think that practice will be a cake walk today in the least. I hope those guys were looking ahead (and there is no excuse for that) because if they weren't Kansas will run them out of their own gym.

 

[LitlBuck]

Just my opinion, but I think our best five at the moment are Scott, Craft, LSJ, DT and Rav. That leaves Thompson, Ross, and Williams to come off the bench. Amir had a good run towards the end of the game, hopefully that boosts his confidence. Scott and Craft on the court together is fun to watch. They are lockdown and Scott is as quick on the break as I've seen in a while. Almost Felton or Lawson like at UNC speed wise.

I was thinking about this after the game last night and I sort of disagree with your 5. I would like to see a rotation of Smith, Thompson, and Ross at the 2 and 3 with Craft getting the majority of the playing time at PG. I would give Craft an occasional rest with Scott. I think the only thing that Scott really brings to the table is that he pushes the ball up the court at a much faster pace than Craft which I like. Craft is by far the better defender and right now offensively he is not playing very well at the SG position. I agree with ER and Williams and Thomas should only get a occasional rest if at all.

 

[OhioState001]

Ohio State's narrow victory over Winthrop on Tuesday night ? a game in which the Buckeyes were favored by 28 points ? probably raised a lot of questions. What the heck happened to Ohio State? How can they be the seventh-best team in the country if they barely beat Winthrop? As a former Ohio State benchwarmer, perhaps I can shed some light on why they played so poorly.
You see, the thing that sets Ohio State's basketball program apart from every other program in the country is that we strive for greatness in the classroom. Academics have always and will always be a top priority for Thad Matta, which is why we never practiced for more than 30 minutes on any given day during finals week.
"I want you guys going home and hitting the books hard," Coach would always say. "I don't want you thinking about our next game. I want you thinking about how you're going to ace your finals. In fact, I don't even want you to know who we're playing until the game tips off."

http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id...no-1-grantland-ncaa-basketball-power-rankings

Titus explains the poor game.

 

[Wingate1217]

http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id...no-1-grantland-ncaa-basketball-power-rankings

Titus explains the poor game.

And he goes on to say....

Oh, and by the way, everything in this section is complete bullshit. It's just my way of trying to explain how Ohio State could look like complete ass four days before the biggest game of the season thus far (against Kansas on Saturday). Is it too late to postpone the game? I heard it might get humid in Columbus this weekend, and I'd hate for there to be condensation on the court. Safety first.

 

[DZ83CK]

I was thinking about this after the game last night and I sort of disagree with your 5. I would like to see a rotation of Smith, Thompson, and Ross at the 2 and 3 with Craft getting the majority of the playing time at PG. I would give Craft an occasional rest with Scott. I think the only thing that Scott really brings to the table is that he pushes the ball up the court at a much faster pace than Craft which I like. Craft is by far the better defender and right now offensively he is not playing very well at the SG position. I agree with ER and Williams and Thomas should only get a occasional rest if at all.

Scott brings a lot to the table. He is averaging about the same number of assists and more steals than Craft in 2/3 of the minutes - obviously he is doing something right. He just has to come around shooting the ball against the better teams. Scott has a lot of talent, I think he could be the best NBA prospect on this team. I also love that he goes out there wearing knee pads, you know he does that because he's going to dive on the floor after loose balls and go all-out, and that's something that is missing from some of the other guys on the team. There was Brian Cardinal, the Custodian, and now Shannon Scott.

 

[Best Buckeye]

Tell you this, The Bucks better be done with playing as poor as they did tues. or they will start losing games beginning this sat.

 

[Fungo Squiggly]

Apart from struggling in half-court sets, where they really need DT playing well in order to be successful, which isn't a particularly new development this year, I didn't think they played all that terribly. Winthrop played a really solid first-half. They didn't commit many turnovers and did a nice job pressuring the Buckeye rebounders, both of which really limited OSU's transition game. They also shot an unusually high percentage from 3, being 9-18 at one point, when they came into the game at under 30%. A couple were good looks, but they hit some really tough three's, too.

Down the stretch, OSU committed some dumb fouls and took some early shots, but the biggest problem was just not having the ability to score when Thomas was off and the opponent wasn't allowing any transition buckets.

 

[LitlBuck]

Scott brings a lot to the table. He is averaging about the same number of assists and more steals than Craft in 2/3 of the minutes - obviously he is doing something right. He just has to come around shooting the ball against the better teams. Scott has a lot of talent, I think he could be the best NBA prospect on this team. I also love that he goes out there wearing knee pads, you know he does that because he's going to dive on the floor after loose balls and go all-out, and that's something that is missing from some of the other guys on the team. There was Brian Cardinal, the Custodian, and now Shannon Scott.

I am not going to renew the Craft/Scott discussion but to say that no other Ohio State player would not dive on the floor for a loose ball is not saying much for our players. Also, it is obvious that you never saw Chris Jent play at Ohio State because Cardinal was no Chris Jent when it came to hustle. Scott > Thomas in the NBA

 

[DZ83CK]

I am not going to renew the Craft/Scott discussion but to say that no other Ohio State player would not dive on the floor for a loose ball is not saying much for our players. Also, it is obvious that you never saw Chris Jent play at Ohio State because Cardinal was no Chris Jent when it came to hustle. Scott > Thomas in the NBA

You were the one criticizing Scott saying he doesn't bring much. I was saying he does bring a lot more than you seem to think and the stats bear it out. You're attacking me like that for pointing out the errors in your analysis, by showing that Scott DOES produce in very tangible ways? C'mon now. Comparing him to Craft is a way of lending support to the fact that Scott is good, not a critique of Craft. To suggest that Scott should be the 8th man (which was your opinion) was way off - I expect he should be #5 in terms of minutes on this team because he is probably going to play more than either of the centers will individually. Scott is better in terms of making positive contributions on both ends of the court without making mistakes compared to Ross and Williams.

I was saying SOME others on the OSU team don't play with the same hustle and energy as Scott, which is true - go ahead and read what I said again. You don't see many other players on this team jumping into the stands after running for a loose ball out of bounds or diving to the floor as often as Scott. Scott is giving great effort out there, he is trying his best and it is something you ought to appreciate if you paid attention.

I brought up Brian Cardinal because he wore knee pads, and was known as the Custodian (or the Janitor) for cleaning the floors. Jent didn't wear knee pads to my recollection, a sleeve around one of his knees is all I remember - at any rate, I wasn't comparing Scott to other players in the past at OSU, just the other guys on the team now. Cardinal is the only college player I remember doing what Scott has done and making the conscious choice to wear knee pads because he goes into the game planning on diving on the floor. Obviously the Custodian reference went over your head.

And yes I think Scott could be the best pro prospect on this team. He is the fastest, and has elite quickness as well as very good instincts when passing the ball. He has OK (not great but good enough) size for his position in the NBA. I think all he needs to do to become an NBA guy is improve his scoring significantly. Thomas is a great scorer but he doesn't have the usual athletic ability of an NBA SF or great size to play that position and struggles guarding guys around the perimeter as a result - a defensive weakness in college due to athleticism will be magnified in the NBA. I'm not saying Thomas will never be on an NBA roster, but at this point I think Scott has a better chance of sticking in the NBA.