tOSU Thoughts

[IlliniNYC]

I was very impressed with OSU tonight. We did not have our typical defensive intensity on the perimeter and OSU really took advantage by hitting the shots (Harris couldn't miss, hitting 4 of 5 from three).

Sometimes the threes aren't going to fall and I was very impressed how well we adjusted and put the ball in to Auggie. With the way that we were getting the ball inside at will, I think that if Powell didn't get in early foul trouble we would have run away with it in the first half. Think about it, Powell only played (IIRC) about 7 minutes in the first half. Auggie scored 14 without the benefit of the defense having to keep Powell in check. One thing that Smith (who played his best game of the season by far) and Ingram did for Auggie, though, was extend the defense out by hitting a couple of 17 footers. I cannot say enough about Auggie today. He was a monster. He demanded the ball and the guards were more than happy to give it to him. Luther and Deron forced a couple of long jumpers early, but once Auggie started hitting, they just kept trying to get it to him. Those kind of adjustments will take us a very long way in tight games.

Deron had one of his best games of the season. He was agressive in getting the shots that he can hit when he has rhythym off the dribble and he passed very well. 14 points, 8 assits and 1 TO will help us win a lot of games.

All in all, I was a little disappointed by the lack of defensive intensity. In games that we dominate early, the defensive intensity is what the team builds on and it typically leads to a lot of transition baskets and better offensive execution. It seems like we didn' t begin to dominate until OSU wore down a bit, but then it was very easy to pull away.

Big Ten games will almost never be easy and this was about the most difficult 19 point win we will ever have...hard to complain.


edit: I must also plug the Hoyas...what a great showing against Pitt. Not going to make the NCAAs, but enough games like that along the way and everyone is going to be feeling pretty good about the next couple of years. And how Kansas can possibly considered the #2 team in the nation is beyond me. Kentucky will easily win by double digits on Sunday when Kansas FINALLY leaves the comfort of Allen.

Also, isn't it great to see conference play begin. Look at the scoreboard tonight...Vandy crushes 'Bama. BC goes to Connecticut and wins. Georgetown beats Pitt. Nova crushes the unjustly ranked Mountaineers. Houston beats Louisville. Kansas barely escapes at home (not that they play anywhere but home). And most importantly, Alford shows his true colors and brings an underprepared Iowa team to the first game of the Big Ten season. So much for going undefeated like Hawkeye fans had convinced themselves...

[The Sprouting Divot]

I totally agree about Augie. He came correct, especially with Roger out most of the game. I couldn't for the life of me figure out what "earned" him his second foul. I was completely baffled. I freely admit that I would make a terrible referee, but I couldn't make heads or tails of the way they were calling the game. Some egregious looking stuff skated by unchecked, and there were other almost Tourette-like calls blurted out at other times. Nineteen points is nineteen points though, so by no means am I complaining...

With tOSU's red hot shooting in the first half (someone on the call in show compared the first half to the IU game last year or two years ago, when our defense was sketchy and IU shot the lights out) I think the only thing that kept us afloat defensively for a while there at the beginning was the terrible passing by the Buckeyes. I don't know how many shoddy passes there were, but it seemed like there was a stretch whenever tOSU was on offense where they either drained a 3 or passed it directly to us. I think that our defense was better than it seemed--tOSU was just hitting very difficult shots for the most part.

I think that tOSU is going to be back in the swing of things pretty quickly. Matta seems like a pretty sharp cookie, and if his past performance is any indication, it won't be long before they're a top-tier B10 team again.

[HouseofPaign]

Agree on Auggie, MAN was he on last night, is he can keep this up, then things are going to get ugle for the rest of the conference. Especailly watching him hustle when you could clearly see he was in pain for the end of the first half. He knew his eam was going to need him last night

Defense was kinda ugle, but they were hitting on an incredible rate from deep. Reminds me of our early exit from the NCAAs a couple years back when Self wouldn't adjust to Notre Dame bombing on us. I think Weber made some nice adjustments at half. The problem is Nick and Jack are little too slow on D. Jack played very well last night, but the problem is, when they has to swithc to cover a guard they were too slow to get to them at the top of the key, and if they DID get there in time, a quicker guard could break them off of the dribble. This could be good place to start working on this problem before Iowa, they are the only other Big Ten team IMO who can hit from deep like that, maybe Wisky, but in their case their bigs are better perimeter shooters for the most part.

Conference play has been much awesome so far. Gillespie ALMOST took it to his mentor. Iowa going down was good and bad IMO, I kinda want them to stay as highly ranked as possible when we play them in a couple of weeks, but I want them out of the championship picture.

it was a hot night of college hoops accross the board! I saw that Bilas said that we have the only chance to go for an undefeated season, he doesn't think it WILL happen, but thinks we have the best shot.

[IlliniNYC]

It is a rare opportunity that I ever take a second look at the game on Tivo, so I usually have to gleam some of the small things that I missed during the game from the articles.

Tate today mentioned that Deron switched to Harris on defense in the second half. Helps to explain how Harris, who had 14 at half, only had 14 at the end of the game. Deron really is an amazing player on both ends of the floor. Harris is probably 4 inches taller and viewed as significantly more athletic.