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Buckeye Blogger Network
The wounds are certainly still fresh so there is no better time to sober up and take a look at this Ohio State team to decide if we are in freak-out mode yet.
Honestly, it is tough to judge where my head is at because of the uncertainty this team has brought all season. During our roundtable discussion about a month ago, there were a lot of great viewpoints on certain players, as well as things that seemed to need attention. The one that’s continued to stand out the most in my eyes is still Thad Matta’s decision on rotations. Undoubtedly, the rotations have gotten a bit tighter as we near the tournament but has it hurt this team and/or specific players to this point? Has it disrupted team chemistry? Does it hurt a rhythmic shooter like William Buford?
Buford has had an impressive college basketball career leading up to this season. Has he benefited from having explosive players like David Lighty and Jon Diebler to rely on? Absolutely. The same can be said about several stars, but individually they are only as good as the sum of the entire team and that is exactly what this team is facing now. When Buford announced that he was staying for his senior year, Buckeye Nation breathed a collective sigh of relief because we knew that the team would be young and likely be missing a true a shooter without him. It seemed that he would be a monumental piece if this team was going to make a deep run this season.
So what has happened? While points were certainly hard to come by in the loss to Michigan State, Buford had 4 points in 36 minutes, shooting 2-12 from the field. In the loss to Michigan on Saturday he had 6 points in 40 minutes, shooting 3-12 from the field. Yes, these are just a couple of select and alarming stats but it does help put into perspective what this team faces when he struggles. Personally, the only thing that I can see from a fan standpoint is that he rushes shots all too often, but the same can be said about the entire Ohio State offense. He tends to have a bad shot selection and, coupled with that, he oftentimes shoots very early into the shot clock instead of letting plays develop and come to him. We can be spoiled because, when he hits those shots and gets hot, all is forgiven as it is a thing of beauty to watch and see develop. Unfortunately, those games seem to be far a few between for one reason or another this season as he’s averaging less than 9 points per game against the top four B1G teams.
This team is incredibly young and in a very real developmental phase. A lot of that seems to be overshadowed by the raw talent that this team has, but it is a truly a big piece that can be overlooked. The expectations for this team to come back and make another deep run got even higher when we found out that Jared Sullinger and Buford were coming back. It seems as though Buford is bearing the load not only of those title hopes, but also of being the only seasoned veteran on the team that everyone looks to for answers or a bailout. Imagine for a minute what that scenario must feel like and then magnify it by our crazed Buckeye fanbase. On top of that, add into the mix losing crutches like Diebler and Lighty to take pressure off when some of those “off-nights” happen.
Yes, Buford is, or was, an NBA prospect and these are very realistic things he would have to deal with at the next level, but that is not what this is centered around. It is based around a Buckeye team that is reeling and in desperate need of an identity. I do not have the answers of what is going wrong nor do I know who to place the blame to, but I’m not ready to shuffle that blame onto a single player or coach. There are teams like this; teams that have a lot of individual talent but do not always play well together as a whole. Has Thad limited that ability by the rotations? That remains to be seen.
After watching this team all season long I have yet to see anything that I can point to and believe it is the reason this team can win it all. It is definitely not all doom and gloom – this team has a ton of very young talent – I just do not see this team going deep in the tournament unless they get some favorable matchups. I may be in the minority on this, but to place blame directly on Buford or Thad just is not fair in my eyes. Do not get me wrong, I still lose my mind watching some games and have plenty of rampant coaching suggestions much like Joe has admitted to, but it comes down to a matter of expectations.
Including tonight, this team has 4 more regular season games to figure out who they are and how they will adjust on the fly. After that, they will be stepping into a ring full of teams seething to exploit and stomp on all of those weaknesses. And while William Buford can be the guy to turn this all around, he cannot be the fall guy should things collapse.
February 21st, 2012 at 9:12 am
Interesting stuff here, Dave; a timely post, I think. While I’m finishing up my morning coffee, here’s how I see it.
This is a very good collection of parts, but because they are, for the most part sophomores, they just haven’t meshed as a team yet. By ‘team’, I mean solidly in their complementary roles and really having court presence.
Now, regarding your comments on Buford and Sully. I was alos relieved when both of them came back this year, and to be honest I’m disappointed in their play. Yes, Buf averages 15 points per game, but you look at his per/game performance and he’s all over the place. On balance, Sullinger is having a good yer, but probably not the year that folks expected. Personally, the ‘good’ surprise has been the play of Deshaun Thomas.
In terms of Thad’s substitution patterns; yes, it annoys and baffles the hell out of me some times. But then, he’s the one with a 70% career win rate and I’m commenting from our kitchen table. Since I don’t attend every practice, I uess that I don’t have much to go on.
I think that a major issue is the fact that “expectations are the enemy of acceptance”. We (I know I did) expected so much more of this team when we saw the talent that was coming back, but in our fandom-fantasy, didn’t account for the talent that was leaving the team.
Of course, it could be that there is a hex this month on Ohio State’s basketball programs, since both the men’s and women’s teams are struggling.
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February 21st, 2012 at 10:58 am
Sports Illustrated just had an article about the BT. Maybe the reason OSU is struggling, is because they, on a weekly basis, are playing some of the best teams in the country. if you look at Ky. & Syracuse, look at who they play, those conferences, top to bottom, not as strong as the BT. So even though OSU might not even win the BT tournament, they may go farther in the NCAA. But I also agree that a hot shooting Bufford will have to show up for every game.
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Eric
February 21st, 2012 at 12:11 pm
This is a great point Tom, and something that needs to be stressed. The Big Ten is a super tough conference this year, and so it’s not surprising to have 4 losses in conference at this point. It’s especially unsurprising to have been defeated twice in 8 days with how back-loaded our schedule was.
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February 21st, 2012 at 12:06 pm
I’ve never seen an OSU basketball player get worse the more he plays like Buford. When does football start?
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February 21st, 2012 at 2:18 pm
What’s sad is that they are getting worse. They were off to a great start and being hailed as a top seeded team, and it looks like this basketball team has done the same thing as our football program has done since 2003. Our football team, being heralded buckeyes were returning national champions, and seemed to stop working as hard as everyone else, and it hurts. I think this is evident by all of the interviews with guys like Simon who are saying he is being worked harder than he ever has. In the truth, they should have been working that hard the whole time. The basketball team received too much praise early in the year. On the court the plays haven’t adapted much throughout the season. They looked lazy on defense for a few weeks, now it looks like they are having trouble concentrating, missing completely open shot after shot. Frankly, these losses may hurt now, but they only serve to show Thad our struggles now, which is a ton better than later. All of our losses are against top tiered opponents, and if we could beat Michigan St in a few weeks, it will show that we can beat anyone with the right mind set. Just hope for a win out and a 2 seed to get us some favorable matchups in the tourney, and we could be looking at elite 8, final 4 material. The B1G is by far the best conference in the country, and I wouldn’t be surprised if we end up with 4-5 teams in the elite 8. Kentucky, who has dominated this year, has only one loss, and that is to a team that is right now 4 in the B1G, and the impressive thing is that wasn’t even a game where Kentucky played poorly.
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February 21st, 2012 at 4:03 pm
I don’t see Thad using a “team leader” to bring this team together. He needs to look his starters in the eye & tell them “this is your season to make or break”. Give them the ownership to bring out a team leader. You’re right, all the parts are there. The team needs a player to assume a leadership role & it can’t be Thad for this to happen. A player has to step up. May too much rotation has confused the issue. For them to come together as a team, THE PLAYERS have to start thinking & playing like a team. When that happens, look out.
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