Sunday, February 21, 2010

Again, for the first time

This will be my 3rd attempt in two days to post comments RE: MSU v OSU. Between this website and my computer I have twice lost complete posts. One. Last. Try.

Ohio State is what I thought they, uh, is -- to paraphrase one Denny Green. I expected them to challenge for the B10 title and here they are, right in the mix.

I don't need to say anything about Evan Turner. It's all been said. He probably is, based on stats, the national player of the year. I do not think he will have the best NBA career of any player currently in the B10, but he will contribute. I question if he is a good enough jump shooter to score 15+ consistently in the NBA. Hummel is an NBA step out 3 point guy. Jujuan Johnson is a legit big man to 12 feet. Buford, from OSU, might actually be a better NBA scorer.

If I were coaching today I would hope for the following: fewer than 1.25 shots per possession on average for OSU, make Turner a jump shooter (don't let him penetrate and dish or get to the line 15 times), don't lose Diebler or Lighty on the wings for 3's. Just play Turner straight up and give him 25 or 30. Stop everyone else and hit the defensive boards.

If I hear one more story about how good Keebler is on defense I'm going to puke. Just say what you are thinking. He's moves his feet pretty good...he defends pretty good...for a walk on white guy. If that wasn't what you were thinking then I have no idea why, in about 5 minutes of floor time, anyone would make him out to be some sort of defensive lock down guy. From what I can tell it is based, largely, on two possessions. Both were against Battle (PSU) and were in late game possessions.

Keebler, with help, got a stop that lead to a shot clock violation. With help. 35 feet from the basket. He was part of a stop. Great. Within a few possessions he "forced" Battle to take a bad shot. That is sort of like saying you forced crap to run downhill. I could "force" battle to take a bad shot. It would look a lot like this: Battle blows past me in the first two steps after the inbound. Then, in the open floor on a breakaway -- undefended and ahead of the pack -- Battle would pull up a 34' three pointer. I was responsible for defending him. As he pulled up I came back to within 4' of him. I forced a bad shot. He does ok, for a walkon, but I can think of a dozen better defenders in the last 10 years that never got any credit.

If MSU can keep Diebler, Buford, and Lighty from catching fire from 3, can keep OSU off the free throw line (Indiana was a joke, I mean, they scored something like 25 points from the line. Almost 50% of their points were from the line.) and run, run, run (OSU plays 6 guys.8) I don't see why a 10 point win couldn't happen.

MSU - 71
OSU - 60

Off to the game. GO GREEN!

*read - 6 guys period

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

bad to worse

Lucas likely won't see the floor for at least a few weeks.

I should have read the program. It was crappy players hit a bunch of junk shots night at the Kohl center. They seriously can't miss. I'm not sure injuries, bad calls, or missed assignments matter. This is like playing Illinois back in the day. Dee Brown, a 8 point per game scorer, drops 30. That kind of game.

I can barely watch Raymar the last few games. He is another stupid senior. Like Gray you have to wonder if he had 11 years of elibility if he would still pick up 3 stupid fouls per game. Reaches, swipes, and the most recent a foul on a guard driving to the basket with less than 6 seconds on the shot clock. Just dumb. You can't let them both run the clock and get to the line.

in game update

The thing about wisconsin is, well, they aren't a good team.

Wisc is shooting out of their mind. 7 3's in a half? Come on now.

Summers and Morgan can't get a call if they are within 6' of the basket. At least 4 no calls on obvious fouls.

Flopping needs to be a foul. Lucas put up his forearm on a drive. But I replayed the offensive foul call. Taylor was falling well before there was any contact. He needs to put on his big boy panties. He's in the BigTen.

Even Wisconsin's 3pt misses work in their favor; they are so bad that the rebounds come off in bad/strange places.

I really have a hard time watching boryan. He's an asshole. Its one thing to argue calls that are questionable. Its another thing to argue and flat out lie on blatantly obvious calls. It is amplified when you consider coaching that stresses flopping.

This team needs to finish. I really, really need to see Summers go up strong and throw one down on someone's head.

And any day now Brent Musburger, in his 473rd year broadcasting, can stop calling us Michigan. Michigan hasn't been relevant, Brent, in over a decade. You aren't even a B list commentator. C-, at best.

MSU v baajers

It is always tought to play at the JCPenney center. Err, Sears&Roebuck, or was it...Fashion Bug? I forget. Oh right, Kohl['s] Center.

However, this team is only 3 players deep. One is hurt. Hughes can play. Leuer can play, but is out. Taylor can play, and is getting better with each game. The rest are system players. Sure, one could go off for 18 on a hot night. But in any other system, on any other major DI team, they simply wouldn't play.

Wisconsin is tough to figure out. They don't really need to get lucky or hot to beat good teams, like Michigan, Northwestern, Iowa and other teams that rely on the 3 ball. They don't pound you inside, necessarily. They don't use backdoor Princeton schemes. The offense is atypical, but not so much that it is necessarily a gimmick. Truthfully, Wisconsin just doesn't beat Wisconsin.

Wisconsin hangs around, plays defense, keeps the turnovers down, and hits free throws. They don't commit bad fouls, they don't take very many bad or early shots. They make layups. They make the right pass. They just play fundamental and wait for you to screw up. It's boring. It's the reason, in my mind, the B10 is thought of as slow and painful to watch. Purdue can run, MSU runs, Michigan fires up 30+ 3's in most games. The B10 is not boring, except Wisconsin.

If MSU hits free throws, STAYS OUT OF FOUL TROUBLE, limits Wisconsin to very few 2nd chance points, and keeps the turnovers under 15 they win. Raymar needs to have a big bounce back and Lucas has to be clutch, again. Lucious has got to get himself under control. This is the sort of team that lures you in to making bad passes and turning the ball over with very little pressure.

MSU -- 66
Wizconsin -- 63