B1G/NCAA basketball

[The Oracle]

Nice!

[WM Wolverine]

Correction, very nice!

[Mike]

That goddamn Wisconsin game...

[The Oracle]

Man 2 best games I've seen OSU play by FAAAAARRRR is at Michigan and at OSU. Odd team.

[hack]

This is so damn good. Forget the NBA.

[The Oracle]

+1000000000000000.............

[hack]

Hard to believe about OSU, but not hard. Still -- that team just competes. Simple system, and they aren't going to win or lose based on it, but based on how well they disrupt on D. It's not exactly a talent level on par with IU or Michigan, that's for sure.

[The Oracle]

It's amazing how much better they're shooting as a team. Sam Thompson couldn't hit the broad side of a barn for most the season. Now he doesn't miss. Craft too. He's been unreal. And yes, they play their asses off.

[hack]

Craft out of his mind today. Normally about half of his end-of-shot clock takes are embarassing. Tonight he's nailing them over Oladipo. It's his night. Thompson is coming along as a player too, yeah.

IU maybe wants to ride Yogi a little more. He's developing nicely as well.

[The Oracle]

Well, we better take care of business tomorrow. Gonna be a tough game.

[Dr. Strangelove]

Matta's the man. After getting destroyed at Wisconsin he's rallied them to wins against Minnesota (a beatdown), Sparty, and Hoosiers on their home floor.

We're lucky as hell to have him. F the detractors.

[hack]

Matta's a great coach.

[Dan V]

Matta was GREAT at Xavier, and is GREAT at OSU

[iam416]

IU played, IMO, their best game of the year in Columbus. Last night, the shots dropped the other way. Ohio State is still the same team. They play grinding defense that keeps them in almost every game. They are astonishingly inconsistent on offense, which means they could get blown out by a hot-shooting team. And they almost always have a giant turd at the 5. Though I really liked OSU's "small lineup" last night. Zeller was going to house Amir anyway, so why not put someone on the court with the potential for value added.

Great win, though. 12 B10 wins for this team is awesome. 4-4 against IU, M, MSU and Wisky -- awesome. They've now played 8 games against top 10 (IMO) teams: M, IU, Duke, MSU, KU -- and are 3-5. Indiana was the only game they really weren't in, though the final 5 minutes of the KU game were borderline.

For the NCAAs, they could easily lose in the "second" round. I tend to think their defense is good enough to grind through that game no matter how poor they are offensively. In the 4/5 game, that's a toss-up. But, hell, if they draw Gonzaga as their #1, they could win that game.

Now it's up to M. Well, and OSU still has to beat Illinois, which is anything but certain.

[iam416]

Side note. The first time OSU played IU, the Hoosiers were coming off their disastrous blown game at Illinois. I knew OSU was in real trouble. This game, IU was planning a celebration. Ohio State came in with everything to play for, including showing better than they did in Columbus. It was a war, and I'm not sure IU had quite the right mindset for the game.

Unfortunately for M, they'll be geared up for Sunday.