Eleven Warriors

I agree with playing ross more. Having said that our defense is tough n will win us a lot of games maybe not against the number 2 team in the country with the top center ( sorry zeller) but I think this teAm will be good once rotation is set with ross more. I remain optimistic abt this season just stinks we r prob top ten in country but 3 or 4 in r league. In thad I trust

Thompson has trouble drawing iron.

The offense is going to be a struggle for most of the year I think. We just don't have enough guys that can shoot well consistently. I don't know what it is with this team, we always seem to grab momentum and then give it right back (this happened in the tournament last year quite a bit even in the games that we won)

It isn't great to lose to Duke, but it will help this young team grow and get ready for the Big Ten season. Plus, I like what Coach Matta did in the first half with Craft and Thomas out with foul trouble, he used the bench and got our bench players valuable playing time. Once Ross get more confident in his shot and defense. Watch out for Ohio State in the Big Ten and Tournament seasons.

Williams was fantastic!!!!

Feel bad for Craft - he has never come up short before in a big game  --- and he was puny tonight

The Scott experiment was a bust ... let him transfer if he is not content with 4 minutes at the end of the 1st half to rest Craft.  He has a low basketball IQ; his shots are from bad angles, he forces passes on the perimeter that have no reward for the risk, and when he finds guys down low, it's always to a guy underneath the basket or at a terrible anle, or moving away from the basket.

We are already playing 3 guys who cannot score: Thompson is athletic at least, but his experiment is close to being a bust also; Williams became a man tonight, and is instrumental for this team's future success; and Ravenal is a high IQ guy who plays big and plays smart to make up for his lack of offense.

That leaves Scott and maybe Thompson as the fall guys.

I'm sure Thad will be on to read this later tonight...

Best options offensively outside of Tank or Q and Amadeo.  The point of the game is still to put the ball in the basket.  32%?? Pathetic.

Note to Thad:

Those drills we talked about last week . . . don't forget to run them at practice today. 

Also, make sure that Q doesn't forget to get his fluids again.

P.s., remember to drop off four tickets to the Kansas game for me at will call.

This team will be fine, guys.  You realize Duke has a 97-game winning streak against non-conference opponents?  Remember they just defeated Kentucky and Louisville?  They've already been in a tight game against a good opponent and came out on top.  For this Ohio State team, this game was their first experience together in an environment like that, yet they shot 32% from the field and lost by only 6 points!

I don't like the loss, but everything else about this game screams to me that this Ohio State team will be very, very relevant in March/April.  Craft had probably the worst game of his career.  Thomas was in foul trouble and rarely had any time or space with the ball.  Some bad shots were taken and bad fouls committed.  Those will all be rectified, and this team will get A LOT better.  Thompson, Scott, Ross, and Williams have not played many extended minutes against good opponents.  For their first taste, in probably the toughest road environment imaginable, I was impressed overall.

You get nothing for winning all your November/December games.  It's not like this team won't make it to the Big Dance.  Get there and put yourself in position to make something happen.  This team can do that.

Why don't you guys just start a 'Fire Thad Matta' thread? 

You guys act like you know these players better than their freakin' coach who sees them in practice every day. 

For the lack of experience the young guys had against big time opponents last year.  I'm not too down on this loss.  Look at how all of the rest of the B1G teams did this past weekend against inferior opponents.

Matta's philosophy first and foremost is that you must be able to defend. Thomas, while not known for his defense, is servicable enough and has a large enough offensive upside to keep on the court. As much as I would like to see Ross, he needs to be more active with rebounding and play within the offense (which we didn't do too well of overall). Unfortunately, having both Ross and Thomas on the floor at the same time creates too many opprotunities for Kelly (who had a good enough game as it was) and Suilamon, or you free up one of Curry/Cook, both of which are strong offensive players. Matta relied on defense in the second half. If he were a better (read: serviceable) defender, I think you would have seen Ross more in the second half.

Overall, I came away impressed. If either Scott, Zelle, or Craft shot a marginally better game, we would have won, in Cameron. That in and of itself is impressive. This game told Matta exactly what he has with this team. They need to work on shooting and confidence, and he has time to do that before Kansas comes in on Dec. 22nd. It was disappointing to lose in the fashion we did, but I'm overall encouraged.

On the outcoached note, I would have to disagree to an extent. While Matta and his staff didn't adjust during the second half, he did put his players in a place to succeed. It was the lack of execution that killed this game more so than game planning. If we made our open shots, we would have won, and I promsie you that there would be much less of this "outcoached" talk. While we are more athletic, Duke is a fundamentally sound, veteran team, on their home court.

(Side note: I was surprised by how even the fouls were. We didn't get hosed like I thought we would. There was one totally BS foul, but the rest were okay in my opinion. I was expecting a reduex of last year in Bloomington with regard to the officials. They called a good game, even if it was an ACC style of play.)

_{Plus what's up with Dukes obsession with food names? Lets Cook some Curry. Oh, the puns.}