The Front Row

Shooters are made at the H.S.level. What you see from Craft and Scott is pretty much what we'll get out of them for the next 2.5 seasons. Shot selection improves at this level but the pure ability to stroke it can not be taught IMO. And that's keeping in mind that we supposedly have a world class shooting coach on the end of the bench. Ironic how one of the very worst shooting OSU teams of all time is under his watch. I think Craft's summertime injury is really affecting him but there is simply no excuse for his continued poor FT shooting even if you have only one leg! IT'S A FREE SHOT!!! Unreal that a team's TWO lead guards are just awful, awful shooters. Very bizarre recruiting strategy, Thad. DT is back to forcing the action on offense and really needs to scale it back some as I think he's a lot better in his own mind than reality reflects. Smith jr. went milk carton status today as he and Sam were a combined 6-23! Just horrific. And again these are your back court players that can't shoot a lick. Bizarre indeed. We need to go all in with Amir and let him start, play 30 mins and sub Ravs only when there's foul trouble or a true mismatch at the 5 as EV is slightly better laterally and on the perimeter than AW. Otherwise, Ravs is essentially just a really good intramural player that has found himself on one of the nation's top college basketball programs.

Losing away, neutral, AND at home to KU really stings and is a major reason why we haven't reached the next level of elite in college hoops. We have to start closing versus UK, Kansas, Puke, and others on a national stage!

Sorry, I disagree. If Amir had panned out he might not even be here right now. We can't have ONE big man only and beat the top programs. We've seen this for years, now.

We're always trying to overcome a size disadvantage when we play the top programs in the country. We to reverse this trend. MORE BIGS!

No offense, jacob, but I suggest that you posted without "a step back and thinking".

This team bears no resemblance to the two previous teams that went to the elite 8 and final 4.

Sully, Diebler, Lighty and Buford are gone.

That means, by comparison, this team has no inside scoring presence.
No outside shooting threat besides DT. And if he is cold or otherwise kept him check, this team cannot score.
While they play good defense at times, the highlight reel dunks on KU's in-bounds plays were an embarrassment. The KU players and media commentators were laughing their asses off at this OSU team last night in case you weren't paying attention. The Schott was nearly empty in the last 2 minutes.

There are two schools of thought about this OSU b-ball team right now if I can generalize:

1. This team will continue to improve as the year goes on; we should be encouraged by the fact that we played Duke and KU as closely as we did despite horrid shooting; we'll be better...just you wait; don't be a pussy and sell out.

2. This team is grossly over-rated and will be around 11-7 or 10-8 in the Big this year and lose in the 2nd round of the NCAA Tourney, especially if they get a bad draw. The evidence is overwhelming that they have no low post scoring presence and no consistent outside threat besides DT. Time to take off the S&G glasses and stop whining like a bitch because this team is not as good as we had hoped.

Maybe there is a middle ground between the 2 polar opposites I present above. If there is, I would welcome reading it.

First, I think that Matta is a great Coach. However, this Team cannot win big Games unless they shoot 3s, and play excellent Defense. They did not shoot 3s well at all yesterday and their Defense was poor except for a brief period of the first half.

In addition, Williams needs to start and to develop. This Guy has talent but they need to play him to develop that talent. Let's not forget that we have no big Man committed for the future so Williams and McDonnell are it barring a JC transfer.

Likewise, Ross and Scott need to play many many more minutes than they are playing them currently. And, when Scott is playing, Thomas, Ross and another scorer need to be on the court with him. When Scott goes to the hoop, everyone else needs to look for an assist. Williams can be effective inside, but it has to be catch and shoot, not dribble, move and shoot.
This is a very good Team, but they need to play flawlessly to beat great Teams, and Kansas has the talent and experience to be a great Team.