Ohio State
16-7, 7-3 Big Ten
Roster | Schedule
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February 10, 2008 1:00 PM ET - CBS —— The Schott Columbus, OH |
#13 Indiana
18-3, 8-1 Big Ten
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OPPONENT: Indiana might be a tired team after their double overtime thriller against a "hostile" Illinois team Thursday night. The Hoosiers have lost only three games, but their body of work is not that impressive. Yes, they have lost to UConn, @Wisconsin and Xavier, but their best win is against Illinois State? They play 6 of their next 7 games against the top half of the Big Ten, so their true colors will shine through in the next couple of weeks.
Indiana is the top scoring team in the Big Ten at almost 71 points per game and are virtually tied with OSU for third in overall shooting with 45.6 percent. Indiana shoots 35.1 percent from deep and 74 percent from the line, while averaging 14 assists and 12 turnovers.
I have seen Indiana a few times and notice they do a lot of one on one. They have the top two scorers in the conference, but only play about 6 or 7 guys. There is no doubt they have 2-4 players that could have big games, but I think Ohio State's 3/4 court pressure and swarming zone defense will limit the Hoosiers offense, especially with their lack of preparation time.
KEY PLAYERS: Eric Gordon is the top scorer within the conference at 21.6 points a game. The 6'4" freshman is one of the best players Ohio State will face all season, but he showed Thursday night that a little physical play may throw him off. Gordon's best attribute is getting to the line. He has made 37 more free throws (141) than any other conference player and hits them at an 85 percent clip.
D.J. White is the second leading scorer in the conference at 17.5 points per game. The 6'9" senior leads the conference in rebounding and FG percentage at 10.6 and 62.7 respectively. White is a veteran of conference play, but is not the best of jumpers, so if Hunter can get position on him he should be able to change a few shots.
Armon Bassett and Jordan Crawford are the other two Hoosiers who average double figures. Bassett is a 6'1" sophomore who will launch the three and leads the conference in 3point shooting (48%). He is coming off a 16 point, 7 rebound effort against Illinois.
Crawford will look to shot more from within 2 point range. He is scoring 10.6 per game, but only 51 of his 167 shots have come from outside. He averages 2 assists and 2 turnovers per game, so any type of pressure will cause some youthful turnovers.
Jamarcus Ellis and Lance Stemler will fill in the other playing roles. Ellis is playing over 32 minutes a game, but only scores 7.5 points and grabs 7.7 boards. The 6'5" junior is not a very good shooter at 41 percent. Stemler is the token white boy, scoring five points a game, while also shooting 41 percent.
NOTES: Indiana leads the all time series 97-68... Indiana has lost their last four games in Columbus when they are ranked... Kelvin Sampson is dirty... Indiana has played two ranked teams, Southern Illinois and Wisconsin... Check out the Hoosier Report for a closer look at thy enemy.
BUCKEYE BREAKDOWN: OSU will look to knock off the second ranked opponent this season, going 1-5 thus far with their only win coming against Syracuse in November. Ohio State looked like a true team in the second half against Michigan and will need another complete team effort in order to take down Indiana.
Ohio State stills leads the conference in defensive FG and 3point FG percentage, at 37.4 and 30.1 respectively. They will need to keep the zone flowing and force Indiana into bad shots from the perimeter. The inside has been a weak spot at times this year and D.J. White will be ready to expose it if allowed.
It is no secret Ohio State has trouble making post entry passes, but it will be critical for them to at least try. I believe it was at least 8 minutes into the Michigan game before we saw an attempt inside and OSU needs to go right at D.J. White to get him in foul trouble. Kosta showed some emotion last game and needs an early opportunity to build upon it.
Ohio State put five players in double digits Tuesday night for the fourth time this year and first within conference play. This needs to continue Sunday with a energetic start against a possible road weary Hoosiers team. Catching early momentum is going to be a key element.
KEY PLAYERS: Jamar will have a great chance against a young Hoosier back court, to prove he is a legit POY candidate. He had harsh words for his teammates after the Iowa loss and will need to get this team jump started from the opening tip.
Othello Hunter is also going to be key for the Buckeyes, but again his teammates have to give him the opportunity. Hunter is shooting almost 62 percent within conference play and ranks second within the conference for the season at 57 percent. He is coming off a 15 point, 12 rebound effort and should have a decisive jumping ability against D.J. White, giving him the chance for another all-conference performance.
After leading the Buckeye freshmen for a few games, Evan Turner has fallen off the last couple of games. He didn't see the floor for the last 18:30 minutes against Michigan and in his last three games he has hit 3 of 15 shots, to go along with 12 rebounds, 7 assists and 9 turnovers.
As mentioned, Kosta Koufos showed some emotion last game and will have another height advantage in the lane tomorrow. Koufos has scored in double digits for six consecutive games, but hasn't had 10 or more rebounds in the last nine. He has only 3 free throw attempts in the last three games (all last game).
Ohio State's season is going to come down to the scoring of David Lighty and Jon Diebler. IMO, these two are the prettiest shooters on the team and have the capabilities of scoring double digits any night, but have yet to show it on a regular basis. We can only hope these two peak over the next month or so.
NOTES: Thad Matta is going for his 200th career victory, 98th at Ohio State, going 199-60 in his 8 seasons... Ohio State is fifth nationally in defensive FG percentage (36.8) and fouls per game (14)... Ohio State will play in front of their 6th "sell-out" crowd of the season... Ohio State has had 20 or more points off the bench only three time this season...
Comments
[...] Game preview Preview: #13 Indiana vs. OSU OPPONENT: Indiana might be a tired team after their double overtime thriller against a ?hostile? Illinois team Thursday night. The Hoosiers have lost only three games, but their body of work is not that impressive. Yes, they have lost to UConn, @Wisconsin and Xavier, but their best win is against Illinois State? They play 6 of their next 7 games against the top half of the Big Ten, so their true colors will shine through in the next couple of weeks. Indiana is the top scoring team in the Big Ten at almost 71 points per game and are virtually tied with OSU for third in overall shooting with 45.6 percent. Indiana shoots 35.1 percent from deep and 74 percent from the line, while averaging 14 assists and 12 turnovers. Z BUCKEYE BREAKDOWN: OSU will look to knock off the second ranked opponent this season, going 1-5 thus far with their only win coming against Syracuse in November. Ohio State looked like a true team in the second half against Michigan and will need another complete team effort in order to take down Indiana. Ohio State stills leads the conference in defensive FG and 3point FG percentage, at 37.4 and 30.1 respectively. They will need to keep the zone flowing and force Indiana into bad shots from the perimeter. The inside has been a weak spot at times this year and D.J. White will be ready to expose it if allowed. It is no secret Ohio State has trouble making post entry passes, but it will be critical for them to at least try. I believe it was at least 8 minutes into the Michigan game before we saw an attempt inside and OSU needs to go right at D.J. White to get him in foul trouble. Kosta showed some emotion last game and needs an early opportunity to build upon it. __________________ TORRENTS [...]
I would say we need this one to make a statement to the tournament committee.
watching the The Longest Yard (2005 version) tonight I noticed something pretty funny
Warden Hazen: "...well I thought an old pro like yourself might have some training camp tricks, drills, inside stuff to offer up to give us a competitive edge."
Paul Crewe: "Allright...you need a 'tune-up game'."
Hazen: "Tune up game?"
Crewe: "Yeahhh, in college we'd start every season against Appalachian State or some slack Division II team...kick the living crap out of them. Get their confidence up."
Michigan didn't get the memo
I'm getting nervous. A tournament team wins this game.
It's funny you mention Sampson as being "dirty" in the IU game notes. What exactly was Jim O'Brien, a friggin' saint? Bottom line is that a few extra phone calls doesn't even compare to giving a "loan" (i.e. oh here's 9 grand mr. serbian prospect) to a player.
B-Side...no doubt O'Brien was a cheat - we've said as much before...Not sure what that has to do with Sampson's violations at two different schools but I hope you feel better getting it off your chest.
january 10th huh?
Imagine that........David Lighty gets the first time-out ass chewin'. Why does he even play.
Chris, your blogger was taking a cheap shot at Sampson in the game notes. Being a Hoosier, I'm gonna take offense and fire back. Ergo, the point was to make those aware that in recent history, OSU has not proven to run a clean program either. In fact, one can hardly claim that making a few 3-way phone calls is really that "dirty." We're not paying players a la Chris Webber, Reggie Bush or dare I say Aleksandar Radojevic. Make sense?
By the way, happy to see your team show up today. Thanks for the W.
Wow, DJ White was very impressive.
D.J. White is not the best of jumpers?
Really?
It wasn't a cheap shot, it was fact, regardless of anything a representative of OSU has done in the past. The O'Brien saga was far worse, no doubt, but it's interesting you conveniently forgot about the extra 577 calls Sampson made at Oklahoma when referencing the "few 3 way calls" Sampson made while at IU. Face it, Sampson is no choir boy no matter what any other coach/program has done. It was comment meant to poke at Sampson a little. Glad to see the IU fanbase also took it to heart - I like the fighting spirit.
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/...
As for on the court, no doubt IU is better this season. DJ White is a freaking beast and OSU blew far too many chances to deserve to win. IU's points off turnovers and in the paint correctly identify which team controlled the game.
Great insite Corey,
Clearly you are a very credible source for evaluating college basketball teams. Might want to stick to only commenting on OSU. Haven't seen any of your other gems regarding other teams, but I'm sure they are just as entertaining and I think I will wait to look those up when I need another laugh.
And to the informed OSU fans, you'll make the tourney, don't worry about that. Just take care of Purdue at home. Look forward to Corey commenting on all the "token white" boys Purdue has.
Go impale yourselves you mouthy Hoosier fans. Congrats, you beat us at a sport that's far and away the 2nd most popular sport in college... with the best team you've had in 20 years.
Mellencamp is calling for you.
Boeckman, yes NCAA football is more popular in terms of ratings and what not. That tends to happen when fewer games are played as well as infinitely larger stadiums. Football is American's favorite sport right now, but the reverse argument could be made in the 80's and early 90's. These things go in cycles and right now college basketball is severely hurt by the NBA drafting on potential. But you'll be hard pressed to find an objective fan who prefers the BCS format to March Madness when deciding a National Champion. Where are those Bulldog fans when you need them?
Calling this year's Hoosier squad the best in 20 years is an absolute travesty to Calbert Cheaney, Alan Henderson and Co. back in the early 90's as well as the 2002 runner-ups with Jeffries and Coverdale. This year's team is more talented than the latter, but we've yet to see the consistency, cohesiveness and leadership it takes to make a Final Four run. I apologize for being "mouthy" as long as you admit to being ignorant.
Hurts so good.
Aren't IU fans wonderful. They haven't been relevant in 20 years, they are having an above average year (for them anyway) and they can't wait to open their big mouths when they beat an average team. I hope they are willing to talk it up when they are on probation and Sampson is coaching somewhere else.
TLB, I opened my mouth before the game started in defense of my school's coach. Regardless of what happens with Sampson, I will continue to bleed cream and crimson.
Please define "relevant" because although we haven't put up a banner since '87, it's a bit more recent than 1960. Both schools have been to championship games and Final Fours over the past 20 years, so I'm struggling to see the "relevancy" of your statement.
4 Big 10 Championships in 20 years, only 1 in 15 years........1989, 1991 (tie w/tOSU), 1993 and 2002 (4 way tie) while tOSU has 6, 4 since 2000 including outright back to back the past 2 years. IU hasn't done that since 1980-81. Your program is living on the past laurels of the great Bobby Knight.
Nowhere in the blog does it say tOSU is an upper level team. In fact, it points out a lot of the deficiencies of the team....lack of scoring, lack of rebounding and lack of consistancy. I personally don't feel that they have earned a trip to the tournament yet. They will need a big win and at least 2 in the Big11Ten tourney.
Ok, so in your opinion relevancy is based on Big Ten championships -- but having 2 more titles than IU is hardly worth labeling our program as irrelevant vs. crediting OSU as being more relevant. By the way, thanks for telling your fellow readers about IU's co-championship 2002 when OSU did the same in 2000. If you're gonna spin the facts, I can turn them right back. I mean, geeze, I didn't even bring up Randy Ayers. And since we're talking about the last 20 years, that's a pretty relevant topic don't you think?
Point is, both programs have had some dark times....Davis and Sampson vs Ayers and O'Brien. Pick your poison. But trying to call out IU as being irrelevant is as ignorant as the previous poster who said this is IU's best team in 20 years.
Oh and where did I mention OSU being an upper level team? Not sure the point of your last paragraph. Thought we were debating relevancy and dirty coaches...
There is no debate. Facts are facts, you are the one with the spin, my friend. Some of us can look at their program and understand it's position in the college basketball world and others can look at their program and pretend they are better than they really are. But that is ok. Keep looking at the world thru those crimson colored glasses. Perhaps one of these days you will become a true obective fan.
Drew, I have never claimed to be a credible source for college hoops, I just present some stats and possible humor before the game for Buckeye fans, since most of them do not have BTN and therefore have not been able to watch conference hoops all year. My attempt at humor is geared towards fans of Ohio State and possibly to incite sensitivity issues of opposing fans, it looks like I created a winner in this case.
Big A, I still don't think D.J. White is the best of jumpers, but he could possibly be the best at positioning his body and using his length to snatch so many rebounds. I have liked him since his freshman year and yesterday proved as much. He is the best Big Ten player this year and his rebounding display was very impressive yesterday.
B-Side, again any attempt at humor is not to appease Hoosier fan, but if one Buckeye fan laughed at the Sampson line, then it was a success.
This Hoosier team is good and apparently it has awoken the Hoosier fans from their sports hibernation. Good to see the competitive juices flowing from Bloomington again, I will keep this in mind when OSU comes to Assembly Hall in a couple of weeks.
TLB, not even worth replying to you anymore.
Corey, solid banter. I appreciate it as well.
Buckeye fans, come crash insidethehall.com before or after the rematch in Bloomington. Your presence will be symbolic of the home-court advantage.
Best of luck the rest of the season.
[...] Sunday during the Ohio State-Indiana basketball game, some Hoosier fans stopped by and took umbrage with the fact that Corey had called Kelvin Sampson “dirty” in his game [...]
[...] a year makes. Just a season ago, Indiana was on top of the Big Ten cruising towards a title and I took some heat for calling out Kelvin Sampson in the first [...]