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Frustrated introspection isn't unusual for Ohio State basketball:
Doug Lesmerises analysis
Published: Wednesday, January 11, 2012, 9:20 PM
By Doug Lesmerises, The Plain Dealer

COLUMBUS -- "One problem we have is that we just sit back and wait for somebody else to do something," said the Ohio State point guard.

"Me and coach talked and we don't know what we can do to get guys ready to go night in and night out. I mean, we had some guys ready to go and some guys weren't," said the Ohio State point guard.

"You never know what team is going to show up," said the Ohio State point guard. "Some games we play hard and some games we don't. And every time we don't the other team makes us pay for it."

Is this one Buckeye repeating himself? No, it's proof that the midseason bump Ohio State hit Tuesday night with a 79-74 loss at Illinois isn't new. History proves that the Buckeyes could go either way from here. In one previous year, one of those comments preceded a run to the Final Four. In another year, one of the comments preceded a collapse that left the Buckeyes out of the NCAA Tournament.

The first quote was from Mike Conley Jr. in February of 2007, the second was from Jamar Butler in February of 2008 and the third was from Aaron Craft on Tuesday night. All three times, the Buckeyes were talented and frustrated, the first time days after a near-loss at Penn State, the second immediately after a loss at Iowa and the third after a loss at Illinois.

Both Craft and Jared Sullinger, the only two Buckeyes brought out to speak with reporters after blowing an 11-point second half lead to the Illini, questioned the effort and togetherness of the team. The words could have been directed at scorers William Buford and Deshaun Thomas, at any of the five freshmen the Buckeyes are waiting to get consistent contributions from, or at themselves.

"We need more guys to put their foot down and say enough is enough. We have to come together as a basketball team," Sullinger said. "We've got to like each other on the basketball court."

Coach Thad Matta had been saying similar things, though less pointedly, for a few weeks, expressing the need for the Buckeyes to practice and play with the requisite intensity. This postgame session left little doubt that the prohibitive Big Ten favorites and national title contenders, at 15-3 and 3-2 in the Big Ten, don't like where they are 18 games into the regular season, with 13 regular-season games remaining before tournament time.

"[Opponents] exploit our weaknesses, especially when we don't want to play hard and play together," Craft said. "One of the big things we need to do is find a way to play together. It's a blessing and a privilege to come out and play basketball, and if we're taking it for granted and just expecting things to happen, it's going to be a long season."

It's easy to attempt to read between the lines of the comments, but also potentially unfair. However, it's obvious that the Buckeyes are missing the seniors from a year ago -- David Lighty, Jon Diebler and Dallas Lauderdale -- and have felt the effects of an awkward roster makeup.

The only senior, Buford, isn't a natural leader and the only junior, Evan Ravenel, is a transfer and a reserve. The rest of the roster is six sophomores -- four of whom start -- and five freshmen -- several of whom are going to be needed as bench depth.

A year ago, Sullinger and Craft were revelations are freshmen, dedicated and skilled and savvy and ready to jump into college ball without hesitation. But with Lighty and others around, they didn't need to lead. Now with 12 of the 13 scholarship players on the roster in their first or second seasons, someone needs to take charge, and the others must be ready to follow.

"We have to come together," Sullinger said. "We've got too many things going on, I think, inside everybody's head. If we just listen to one voice ..."

Sullinger thinks his voice needs to be louder, and Matta has talked with him about that.

"I have to take my leadership and my effort to a whole 'nother level, and I guess this is the starting point," he said.

So what will this be? A speed bump or a roadblock?

In 2007, Conley and his fellow freshmen were figuring out their roles, but the Buckeyes found a way to pull together. Plus, Conley and Greg Oden were good enough to be top five picks in the ensuing NBA draft, and senior Ron Lewis made big shots when needed. That was a bump, Conley's comment coming 10 games into what turned out to be a 22-game winning streak that ended only in the national title game with the Buckeyes at 35-4.

In 2008, Butler was a senior and the older Buckeyes didn't mesh with the freshmen class led by Kosta Koufos, and the Buckeyes played under their talent level until it was too late. That was a block, Butler's comment coming when the Buckeyes where 15-7 and 6-3 in the Big Ten. They went 4-5 the rest of the conference season, lost in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament and wound up winning the NIT, coming together only when it was too late.

This, for now, seems more like the former than the latter.

This doesn't smell like a schism, more like confusion. Remember, the Buckeyes do have wins over Duke and Florida and are still ranked No. 5, though they may drop out of the top 10 now. There's time to fix this, to go harder in practice and play smarter in games. If they do that, the past shows what good can come of this.

If they don't, the past also shows how it can go wrong.

http://www.cleveland.com/osu/index.ssf/2012/01/frustrated_introspection_isnt.html

Thanks Gessig, unfortunately those quotes confirm what Dan Dakitch said the other night about excessive clowning and grab-azzing.

As much as I love Craft and Sully, they are the issue here. Before I die a death of a 1,000 downvotes let me explain.

Craft and Sully are humble guys with fun personalities. They aren't too serious. They like to grab-azz and sing "party in the USA" duets, but are mature enough to not let it get out of hand. Last year that was great b/c they were allowed to naturally shine while Lighty and the other seniors fulfilled the leadership role. And to their credit, Sully and Craft were great productive players while still remaining loose and fun, but that style does not work for the vast number of championship level players.

I think with this team we have a portion of guys (the freshmen) who want to emulate the loose clowning personality of Sully and Craft, but they lack the overall maturity to pull it off. So we're left with this erratic play on the court. Then we have the guys who resent and reject a goof-off attitude from their leader, and we see detached soul-less play. And then we have one guy at least who doesn't see them as leaders at all so he goes it alone.

At least this is coming out now when there is time to tweek the team's mentality.

I don't necessarily agree that this means we have a history of taking it easy in games or that we stand around and wait for someone to get hot or for someone else to do something.

What I do think is that we hear the same excuses with nearly every loss that is endured. Not only with our Buckeyes but with every other top ten program that loses. When you look at Kentucky or Duke or North Carolina, they all gave pretty much the same excuse as to why they lost. "We didn't show up tonight", "We need to get it done", "We need to stop relying on others and make something happen ourselves". These are statements that are common responses given when some reporter sticks a mic in you face after you just lost a big game. These statments are plausible and satisfy the coaches for taking responsibility.

Now I do agree with you that this team, this year, doesn't seem to be full throttle down the stretch, especially in the games we lost. We do to take on a better sense of urgency and finish well...especially in our away games....

Leadership is the key element here and this team just not have it nor given their age should it be expected. Once they slipped to 5th they were realistic probably more near their level. Now should they slip out of the top 10 they will be underachieving and the warning sign goes on. Only time will tell if they regroup but in my opinion it will be difficult because they lack Leadership and they are not playing nearly the caliber of defense we did last year or that they are capable of playing. Comments on Thomas are right on. He is not ready for the NBA and is inconsistent and one of the main contributors to our defense struggling. Bufford's inconsistency prohibits being able to count on him night in and night out. Of course we are not privileged to our tournament draw at this time but unless we get a highly favorable one or somehow right the ship I see us going out in the round of 32.

Thank you, Jared, Aaron, and Thad for drawing a line in the sand. This is the start of the run. The end goal will only come with relentless defensive intensity and offensive physicality. It will require a mindset that says, "we are taking the ball into the paint no matter how many passes we have to make, and when we get it there, we are all going strong to the rack."

This is why Thompson was on the floor. He gets it, defensively. He sits down on defense and goes to work. The next step will be for him to assert himself of the cut and dribble. He's ready, he just too unselfish right now. Sibert and Thomas don't get the "relentless" part yet. Buford better get strong, quickly. Go to the rack, William.

As I said before the season, the 3 is not the answer. It is relentless D and slashing to the rack with strength (and thus, to the free throw line).

Take charge, Thad. Take charge, Sully and Aaron. Call them out.

Go Bucks!

Nice article but I have to ask the normal question that I never see answered. What has happened with L. Ross? Before season started he was called out by Matta as the best looking Frosh and was known for his 3 point shooting. What happened, I know he was with team until late Dec but I did expect to see some movement by now with his playing time. We need a 3 point shooter AND he is 6'8!!

You may be a bit harsh with this critique, jackson...then again, when a member of the team "calls out" his teammates for lack of consistent effort, it does raise some eyebrows about the team's character and viewpoint of its coach. In fairness, I am admittedly, jumping to a conclusion here.

Hey, we scorched Luke Fickell this past football season when his team did not show up to play in many of the 1st quarters of his games, so I guess Matta is going to face some criticism. Fair is fair....when you are competing at an elite level.

What older guys are you referring to? We have 1. Buford, And he is not a vocal leader.

People are overreacting to the loss at Illinois. This game sure reminded me a lot of the losses at Wiscy and Purdue last season in which each teams best player played the game of their lives. If Paul doesn't have a Michael Jordan-type game....we win hands down. Much like with the games Taylor had for Wiscy and Johnson had for Purdue. Both played out of their minds.

Are there some problems with this team? Of course. Buford is great one minute and not good the next. He also needs to realize the offense goes through Sully first and NOT him. Craft too, his outside shot is horrendous. He does a lot of things extremely well, but he also does some things not so good too.

They will beat Indiana by 20 on Sunday. Mark that down.

+100. Fellas, dude from Illinois eclipses his career high by 15-20 points and they shoot 60 something percent from floor and we lose BY FIVE on the road? I'm shocked it wasn't worse. Two sophomores are your best players and team leaders? Unless they're Lucas and Havlicek, that's usually a recipe for a few losses, especially on the road. Relax, they'll be fine.

I've played alot of top level BB in my time. I know the game has changed, but how you win big games HAS NOT! You just can't get leadership from the bench. The coaching staff can get the players only so far, then it is up to them. When the opposing team ratchets it up a couple of notches, you need to respond in kind and shift your own game into a higher gear. Normally the players will naturally look to the upperclassmen for the leadership in these situations. David Lighty was perfect for these situations. Think of all the times that as a game got tight, Lighty's name kept getting mentioned more and more -- that's because he elevated his game to another level. That's what is needed with these Bucks.

Its a funny thing. You might automatically say that Sully and Cheese (Craft) would be looked to because they are the ones mainly controlling the Bucks possessions, but that is not normally the case. They are sophomores and the tendency is for sophomores, even special ones, to still look to the seniors for leadership when things get tight. The problem, of course, on this team is that the senior, Buford, does not naturally assume any leadership. Ideally, Matta could put a fire under Buford's butt and Buford becomes a senior possessed as we need him to be. But that is like pushing on a string, so we fall back to plan B -- Sully and Craft have to step up and become the vocal leaders, chewing guys' butts out if they don't crank up their games when needed. And Matta has to support them... and I am sure he will. If Buford ... and Thomas...get pissed off in the process, so be it. But I don't think they will. I think they will think about it and respond with some consistent intensity that we need ---- first test -- Sunday against IU. If the Bucks blow them out, we have learned something that will carry us the rest of the season. If it is a tight game wherer we can't put IU away, we probably have a continuing problem that Thad is going to have to make some very tough decisions about. Weatherspoon and Thompson are working hard for more PT and Ross, if given a chance to to be our new 3bler, could be just what we need to put daggers in opponents comeback ambitions.

Moment of TRUTH coming up Sunday!

Sullinger needs to get mentally tougher. He gets a foul called on him or doesn't get one called and his whole demeanor changes. He starts acting like "woe is me, if I do anything, the refs will get me." It is a complete copout.

Buford came back with a big head. He needs to accept his role as the #2 option on offense and start playing defense. His defense is awful. He is also very streaky. When he has a cold start, he plays bad all game.

Thomas is still a weak spot on defense, but I have seen more effort from him trying to get better than anyone else. I think his basketball IQ is low, but I don't think he loafs.

Craft is pressing. He wants to win so bad and is trying to make up for the faults of others.

There is no true leader on the team other than Craft, but he isn't the dynamic scorer that can take over a game. I really like Smith Jr and Thompson on defense. I like Spoon in bursts, but if he doesn't bring the energy, he doesn't need to be out there long. Sibert has been disappointing, not evolving much as an all-aroung guard. I really like Scott and think if he receives more playing time the ball control would be better than with Buford. I also think Buford needs some breaks to gather himself. He gets out of control way too easily.

Overall, the team is really good. They need to gel and to me, the only one who can lead this transformation is Sullinger. But he needs to toughen up and lead by example.