I have wondered for a while now -- would I hate Wisconsin basketball if they sucked? Unfortunately they have not been cooperative and my question had, until recently, gone unaddressed. I mean, they suck as people and as individual athletes but somehow have managed to be a pretty good (regular season) team. This year the bahdgerrs have managed to complete the trifecta: sucky people, sucky individual players, AND a sucky team. I still hate them. Question answered.
To be fair I like Landry. He is a solid player despite his rec specs, and for the record, I would take Landry over two Olando Tuckers. I really thought Tucker was overrated and got way more calls than he should have, pumping up his stats from the free throw line and affording him an unstoppable move: the travel.
Following the last loss I shared my feelings, through the medium of Haiku, with a friend in N.C. If he is reading right now I would just like to say ... go ahead and take a drink of that coffee ... baby seal. Back on topic. The (not very Haiku-like) Haiku's, written in response to an unanswerable phone call during the game, are reproduced below.
Couldn't speak at game
Aneurysm averted
Coble you bastard
Chris Allen stat haiku:
One for eleven
Seven turnovers two fouls
New love for Chris Hill
or Coble's:
Someone remind him
His jersey says Northwestern
Did THAT just go in?!
As a final comment on NW what is up with Rowley? I mean that head. Come on. Am I the only one that immediately thought of this?
Against OSU Chris Allen continued to be, well, terrible. I mean if you are a guard that: can't defend, can't handle the ball, and (at least recently) can't shoot...what exactly are you in the game for? He has to find his shot soon or is in danger or sliding way, way down the bench.
Suton deserves quite a bit of credit. If not for his rebounding against OSU, especially early in the game, things would have been completely out of hand before half time. Raymar has a mystery disease but his defense continues to improve. Summers had a hell of a game. I actually was impressed with Gray. He rebounded, played defense, and went aggressively to the basket when needed. Lucas was the real difference maker exploding in the second half for all of his 20 points.
In the second half OSU extended their defense to guard more tightly on the perimeter. See: to guard Summers (since everyone else sucked). Bad move. That allowed Lucas more space to penetrate and kick, get to the basket, and create. Had OSU just allowed Summers to score 35 points, but kept the interior defense intact and controlled penetration, the buckeyes likely would have won. That is why Chris Allen shooting well and a big man passing well from the free throw line are so important against a zone. Neither of those two factors were present against NW. We lost. Against OSU Summers shot well enough to consider guarding the 3 point line and Suton became a long jumper threat.
If I were Thad Matta I would thave kepth my dethfense...sorry, thommething about thaying Thad Matta makesth my mowth think therre iths peanut butter sthuck...ok better now. If I were the OSU coach I would have stopped dribble penetration, let Summers score his points, and dared MSU to come up with another perimeter threat. Hell, let Allen shoot all day. Instead OSU came out in the second half with an extended defense that opened up the middle and got the big men involved. It also gave MSU an even greater offensive rebounding opportunity. The final stats showed as much, with MSU out rebounding OSU 35-19 (Offensively 16-3), outscoring OSU 20-10 in the paint, and the Spartans scoring 19 second chance points to the buckeyes 4.
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