No Really, Time for a Run?
Taking this villain thing to 11Three weeks ago, I wondered if the Buckeyes, with the return of Turner, had a potential run for the Big Ten title in them. At the time, I thought Thad’s crew could optimistically go 10-2 to finish at 13-5, but with the Spartans unbeaten at 5-0 and looking near invincible in conference play a share of the title was likely out of the question.
But then Kalin Lucas went down and Michigan State dropped two straight on the road while the Buckeyes moved their conference winning streak to seven games, getting hot at the same time teams like Illinois, Wisconsin and Purdue began to turn things on. There are now five teams, tightly grouped within a game and a half from the top and all with a shot to win the Big Ten — something that was inconceivable just a few weeks ago.
Lucas may or may not be back to play the Boilermakers Tuesday, but the longer he’s out, the more likely it appears that another team might sneak in and capture the crown.
| W | L | GB | PCT | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Michigan State | 9 | 2 | - | .818 |
| Wisconsin | 8 | 3 | 1 | .727 |
| Ohio State | 8 | 3 | 1 | .727 |
| Illinois | 8 | 3 | 1 | .727 |
| Purdue | 7 | 3 | 1½ | .700 |
And why not Turner and the Buckeyes?
Since returning from injury, Turner has stepped up his game to the point that he now ranks first in the conference in points and rebounding, second in assists, third in steals and fourth in field goal percentage. As Chris so eloquently put it last week, John Wall, my ass.
It’s not just all Turner. Buford has emerged into the player we all thought he had the potential to be and Lauderdale is even coming along with steady contributions from Lighty and Diebler.
Next up is a very winnable game against the Hoosiers in Bloomington on Wednesday (okay, I’m being kind — very winnable should read “virtual lock”) before the team travels to Champaign Sunday in what’s sure to be a battle. After that, it’s three home games, a trip to Penn State (lulz) and the pivotal matchup with Sparty on Saturday the 20th.
Breslin is a tough place to get a win and Lucas will surely be back by then, but you have to like the fact that Ohio State controls their own destiny. If they win out (not an impossible scenario), they’re Big Ten champs by virtue of only meeting Michigan State once and taking the head-to-head while finishing with identical records in conference play.
It’s always sweet when you can sweep the two revenue sports. The last time the Buckeyes pulled it off was the magical, yet ultimately frustrating season of 2006-07 when the football and basketball teams went an astonishing 23-1 in conference play.
Latwan to Michigan?
The last time, we checked up on Glenville defensive back Latwan Anderson on Facebook, he was busy pissing all over Ohio State fans. Not content with calling us the worst, he’s now taken to the social net to throw out the possibility that he might end up at Michigan.
Tressel made it clear at the signing day presser that there was no room for another defensive back in the class (make no mistake, the questioner and Tressel had the same player in mind during the exchange) and though many Buckeye fans were hoping he’d be added after the team missed out late on Jordan Hicks, Matt James and Seantrel Henderson, Anderson will definitely be suiting up for someone else next season. We’d hate to see the kid end up in Ann Arbor, but if he wants to become another Prescott Burgess, that’s cool.
Oversigning, It’s a Tad Sketch
This has been a pet cause of MGoBlog’s Brian Cook for a while, so he’ll likely be thrilled to see an entire domain/website dedicated to the problem that is oversigning.
A lot of schools oversign, but none do it as often as the SEC. Eight of the top nine oversigners since 2002 hail from the conference and at some point, something is going to have to be done about the fact that these schools routinely sign four or five additional players per year than their peers from across the country.
Let this sink in for a second. In the last eight years, the average Buckeye class is 20 players while the average Crimson Tide class is a bit over 26.
So let’s see. Rampant oversigning and a refusal to play non-conference games outside of Dixie. That’s a pretty simple formula for earning the title of America’s toughest FBS conference, really.
I have seen too many games in Bloomington against bad/mediocre Hoosier teams to think that ANY game in Assembly Hall is a ‘virtual lock.’
Please, please consider last year’s even stronger ‘virtual lock’ in Assembly Hall:
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/boxscore?gameId=290310084
After beating them by 24 at home, Indiana came out with the hot shooting hand and led at halftime before a 56 point second-half by the Bucks allowed us to escape with a 93-81 win. Remember Matt Roth, anyone? He hit 9 out of 11 3-pointers in that game.
Two things happen every time we play Indiana in Assembly Hall:
1. They shoot well.
2. They get all the calls.
Let’s also remember that even though Indiana has lost 4 straight, two of those losses were home against Purdue in a squeaker (78-75) and another close one at Illinois (72-70). They are playing contenders tough.. and they are shooting well at home. I certainly hope the Bucks aren’t entering this game with anything like ‘virtual lock’ on their minds.
Same could be said for every time we play at Wisconsin.
one of my treasured byron mullens game memories…
I think Wisconsin wins the regular season title. They have the easiest remaining schedule of any of the contenders. Hope I’m wrong.
After sitting at 1-3 in the B10, I have to admit that I’m very happy where the Bucks are at right now…any time you have a shot this late in the season, you have to be pleased.
However, I think Matta is making a big misstep by shortening his bench so much. 6 players? 4 starters with 40 minutes? That will not fly in the B10 tourney. Simmons and Hill are probably pretty close to mentally shutting down at this point. If they can’t get time vs. Iowa up 15, then it doesn’t look good for any more the rest of the season.
While I’m at it, why does Diebler get a free pass? He is an inconsistent shooter at best, can’t make his own shot, gets clowned on defense, and doesn’t rebound well enough to make him valuable on the floor. If you want missed shots, at least Hill and Simmons can D up!
Great point Keith. We’ll need more from our bench down the stretch and into tourney time if OSU is to make any noise. It just isn’t physically possible for ET, Lighty, Buford and Diebler to be playing almost 40 per into March.
I agree. It’s ridiculous that Matta thinks Simmons and Hill were good enough to get minutes against Purdue and Wisconsin, but not good enough to get minutes against PSU and Iowa.
You could put either of those guys in for Diebler and not see a significant dropoff. At least give them 8 minutes per game. It would help in the long run.
I agree that the lack of bench minutes is going to hurt the Buckeyes if they can get to the B10 title game, other than that, I think they have at least 3 days off in between each game, so to me, it’s not a huge factor. The key is for them to finish in one of the top 3 spots, so they don’t have to face the #4 or 5 seed in the opening round. If they get a lower seeded team, Thad can steal a few minutes in the opening round game.
As for Simmons and Hill, it doesn’t bother me they aren’t seeing any minutes. These 2 weren’t D-I players to begin with, just scholly fillers after the parade of one and dones went through town. As I told Chris, Thad will play them only when he is forced too, if this turns out to be too little too late, I think he’ll take his chances that none of the guards will get in foul trouble. Hill is a liability on offense and Simmons is still bothered by his eye injury.
Diebler…see above, there simply isn’t any talent on the bench to replace his scoring “threat” If Offut, Crater and Wallace stay, we aren’t having this conversation.
I still think that, while Diebler is probably better overall than Simmons and Hill, there’s not an incredible dropoff. Certainly not enough to justify Diebler playing 40 minutes and the other two playing 0.
i agree. not saying hill and simmons deserve 10min/game but at least a few stints. pj’s D can be a gamechanger when used effectively [i.e. for 3-5 mins once or twice a half...especially in some kind of press, 1/3/1, or trap] also… simmons can hit the 3 on occasion so it’d wouldn’t be a huge dropoff from deibler. i know deebs is better but what more do we gain in RBs, and assists w him that we wouldn’t w/ them? idk if this kids built for 40/game for the rest of the season…if wears down and his shot suffers than he’s nothing more than ryan hamby used to be: a ghost.
I can’t believe they made ET share the POW honors. That is was unkind, sir, and he’ll take the title for that.
I agree. Who has the better stat lines here?
McCamey:
Game 1: 15 points, 7 assists, 7 rebounds
Game 2: 22 points, 11 assists, 2 rebounds
Turner:
Game 1: 27 points, 10 rebounds, 6 assists
Game 2: 32 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists
It’s not all stats. Competition played a big factor.
I agree. But OSU loses at least one of those two games without Turner. That should be taken into account also.
also tried getting a look around the schott looked pretty filled except for those seats left of the basket in the tv shot! those damn things are never filled
As much as I like this team, I just can’t see them doing any better than 4 and 3 down the stretch and that isn’t going to win the Big Ten this year.
Note to Evan Turner: You said all you want is a Big Ten championship before you leave. Well Evan, stick around for next year and you’ll have one with this super class coming in.
That’s crazy talk!
As much as I want him to, he would have to be honestly stupid to not leave this year. His draft stock isn’t going to go any higher, so all he’s doing is risking injury and losing millions and millions of dollars in order to maybe have a better chance at a college title? He’s got his future and family to think of. That’d just be irresponsible to stay.
I agree with you Mike, I’m just a fan more than a realist. Aren’t most us on this site?
Being a high draft pick only helps OSU recruit more players. So him going isn’t going to hurt the program at all. We’ll be good with the incoming players !
its nice to have high draft picks to lure talent to columbus, but the thought that losing ET for next year wont hurt us is, well, wrong.
i hope he goes – you cant stay when you have the kind of money waiting for you that ET does.
I didn’t say it would not hurt. It will hurt early on. But the guys coming in are amazing and will be better than the team this year.
was flipping thru the tv the 2007 osu xavier game is on. what ever happened to lewis nba or d league?
isn’t he in europe now? I remember hearing something about him recently, but i don’t remember what
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ron_Lewis_(basketball)