Buckeye Blogger NetworkThursday’s cup of Mulligatawny, carefully crafted for the best damn fans in the land… since you know how to ask. Fingers crossed for good weather on Saturday!
Mr. Romance, That's Me.
Buckeye 411
Things that go "Swoosh!"
Tonight is the last LiveBlog of the season as the Kentucky Wildcats and Kansas Jayhawks do battle for the College Basketball National Championship.
As with each round, we’ve got to give a huge “Thank You!” to our BBN Bracket Challenge sponsors- the semis and finals are brought to you by The Buckeye Room. They’re having a sweet deal right now where you can get 20% off your gear by using “MADNESS2012” as the checkout code- even for the cool Nike shirt you see on the right there.
While you’re waiting for the game to start, go check out our partners in the BBN! the Buckeye Blog, OSU Silver Bullet, Buckeye House Call, Our Honor Defend, and Men of the Scarlet and Gray. Fox Sports Ohio also joins us as usual.
All of these blogs deserve a lot of thanks for making these chats a success. Thanks Guys!
Things that go "Swoosh!"
We’re continuing the Madness here with the BBN! Kentucky and Louisville get going at 6:09 PM EST, with the Buckeyes and Jayhawks tipping shortly after, currently approximately 8:49 PM EST. The liveblog will start at 6:00 PM EST to get you ready for the first of the excellent double-header.
As with each round, we’ve got to give a huge “Thank You!” to our BBN Bracket Challenge sponsors- the semis and finals are brought to you by The Buckeye Room. They’re having a sweet deal right now where you can get 20% off your gear by using “MADNESS2012” as the checkout code- even for the cool Nike shirt you see on the right there.
If you find time during the games, you should check out our friends in the Buckeye Bloggers Network! the Buckeye Blog, OSU Silver Bullet, Buckeye House Call, Our Honor Defend, and Men of the Scarlet and Gray. Fox Sports Ohio also joins us as usual.
Go Bucks!
Just three more games before someone gets to hoist the prize.
We’re one day away from finding out the answer to that question. The last weekend of College Basketball stands before us, and the Buckeyes are one of the last four teams remaining. They’ve got a tough road ahead, but they’ve certainly got the talent and coaching to make a go of it.
You may recall another Buckeye Basketball Breakdown I wrote about a month ago. In it, I looked at the various traits of College Basketball champions and looked at OSU’s stats to see how the Buckeyes measured up. The answer was mostly satisfactory, but not completely. Also, considering we hadn’t finished the regular season, the data was incomplete.
I want to go back and reanalyze the Buckeyes now that we’re two (very difficult) games away from the Championship. Have the Buckeyes improved statistically, or met any other conditions we couldn’t check yet, to make them look more like a championship contender? That’s what we want to find out.
Allow me to reiterate a thought I had in that previous article. No one champion has ever possessed all of the following traits, but every single champion has owned a majority of them. These are simply traits common to the champions in the last 30 years or so.
As one last gift, I thought that we could include the data for Kentucky, Louisville, and Kansas as well. It should serve as an overall great preview of the weekend!
|
Gotta be in the Big Easy to support THE Ohio State University? Our partners at TiqIQ have teamed up with Primesport, the official TicketExchange of the NCAA tournament, to bring you great deals on not only premium tickets, but also Paperless Tickets, for this marquee event. Select a Paperless ticket and you can gain entry to The Superdome using just your credit card at an exclusive entrance between gates G & H on gameday. Tickets for semi-final action are still available for less than $275/ticket (paperless) - Check out deals for the entire weekend here: http://tiqiq.us/9Yn |
Hard Work Breeds Champions
We’re continuing the Madness here with the BBN! The Buckeyes are in the Final Four, and it’s time to find out who their opponent will be on Saturday. First up, Baylor and Kentucky square off at 2:20 PM EST, closely followed by our scouting game of North Carolina and Kansas. Both games will air on CBS.
Elite Eight action is brought to you courtesy of Time and Change Clothiers- perfect gear to watch March Madness unfold and teams Shock The World. Let’s hope that the Buckeyes’ focus on practice against the zone will help them grind one out and earn them a spot n New Orleans.
If you find time during the games, you should check out our friends in the Buckeye Bloggers Network! the Buckeye Blog, OSU Silver Bullet, Buckeye House Call, Our Honor Defend, and Men of the Scarlet and Gray. Fox Sports Ohio also joins us as usual.
Go Bucks!
Lots of holiday options for this week’s soundtrack, but I’m that guy that thinks Christmas music should be banned until at least December. So, given all of the rumors of this past week and the results from yesterday’s Ohio State game, the R&B genius of Sam And Dave make a return as we give thanks and look to the future.
Ah, Thanksgiving weekend. When thoughts turn to leftover turkey and pie and… football. While the NFL takes front stage on Thursday, and even with the “exciting news” that the NBA is “back, baby!!!”, this weekend was all about the college game. It’s the weekend that puts the best of both worlds together- family and friends gathering together to break bread and then scream at each other because someone had to go to that school just to be different.
And we got three days of amazing games, starting with the end of an era. Because of future schedule issues between the SEC bound aTm and the Big Integer anchor Texas Longhorns, the Turkey Day Tradition saw its last episode end in a classic fashion. This was supposed to be THE year for the Aggies, but failure after failure on their farewell tour led to a mentality where the UT game was a must win to maintain dignity before heading to the 4-8 seasons that SEC play was sure to bring.
Texas’ struggles are also well known (and well documented), and there was a contingent of Longhorn faithful who were as tired of their staff’s decisions regarding offensive and defensive play as some Ohio State faithful have been as of late. For this to end the way that it did highlights the beauty of the rivalry and the reason that college football is the heart of the lives of so many:
We'll miss you Gentlemen. Good Luck
Last night had to be one of the single worst displays of college basketball I have seen by an Ohio State team in years. That is, of course, an exaggeration, but I’m sure many of you would agree with me on that point.
What is probably not well agreed with is that there are a large number of things the Buckeyes did right in that game. It’s extraordinarally difficult to keep up with a talented team like Kentucky while shooting an atrocious 32.8%. That drops to just under 31% if you don’t count three pointers, emphasizing the difficulty OSU had shooting the ball. It’s pretty rare that excluding your three point shooting drops your shooting percentage.
Let me stress a point. While Kentucky’s defense was very good (11 blocks is ridiculously good) it was not Kentucky’s defense that beat us. If you take William Buford’s 2-16 shooting away, OSU shot 40.5% overall and 41.3% inside the three point arc. As much as I hate to seem like I’m laying blame (I’m not, there’s no blame to lay), it could not be any more obvious why the Bucks struggled in this game.
Wildcat fans, of course, will argue that William Buford’s shooting was so low because of their spectacular defense. In this case, that is not true. The vast majority of Buford’s misses were fairly open looks, with only a few coming with a hand in his face – including that last second desperation shot that just missed. I’m sure that shot is tearing Buford up inside. It shouldn’t be. Tough shots like that sometimes fall and sometimes don’t. It may not be the outcome we wanted, but it doesn’t change the fact that we played tough to end the season.
