Bucknutin' But Net

Was a good start until MSU woke up. back to back turnovers. Awesome. Sullinger is playing bad people. Very bad.

look out here comes 100 downvotes for your opinion

No one should get mad over a Matta coached team.
It's the same ball play every year.
No toughness. Lax play at times. Under achievers. But not new.
Matta is no Williams, Coach K, or Calipari who gets the most out of freshmen each year.
But, Matta will be here for a long time. He wins 20 games a year and that's enough.
Enjoy the 2008 NIT banner.
Matta is the Coach Cooper and tressel of BB.

Thank goodness college football is around 12 months a year now.
Especially, with off season recruiting with Yrban Meyer.

Tressel won a NC and more BCS games than any coach ever!
Yur dumb

Boy Coach K looksd pretty good last night...A beatdown by 20 at home, No coach is perfect....Matta has Been Head Coach at Butler,Xavier and TOSU and has won 14 Rings in 16 yrs. as Regular Season Champs or Conference Tourny Champs...He's far from Coop...All he does is win

Wouldn`t it be more like;
This team is worn out?
What is "horrile"? Do you mean horrible?

EXACTLY.

The only time the substitution pattern should come into criticism is if there is foul trouble, and the guy who comes into the game shows he is not capable of holding down the fort. We saw an example yesterday with Ravenel, and he did a tremendous job.

College basketball athletes should not be getting tired. There are FOUR media timeouts throughout each half, along with the other chances to rest (timeouts, fouls, obligatory monitor check each game by the referees).

These guys have grown up playing AAU ball where you play 5, 6, 7 games, or more, in a weekend. Add on the fact that they have top-notch S&C coaches and workouts throughout the offseason. They are in peak condition.

The best five should be on the court. If you don't have a "top 5" and have a bunch of equally talented players, then spread out the minutes. I believe we have seen this season that is not the case with Ohio State. There is a top 6-7, and several others who get a chance to contribute when the situation calls for it. MOST top college teams do it the same way...

I don't think David Lighty or John Diebler would agree. Lots of one and dones not exactly Matta fault. How many championships has Calipari won with all the talent he recruits. Matta does nothing but win at a football school. He has this team in contention year end and year out and that has never ever happened before.. MSU looked like the tired team to me at the end!

I understand and respect your point, but I think you need to cite when/how things have actually happened during the course of a game for it to be a "fatigue" issue.

When Buford, Thomas, Craft, etc. have been off, they've been off the entire game. It's not as if they shoot well in the first half, but can't make a shot in the second. Far from it. It has been a game-long issue, and normally rears its head early in the game, rather than late. And on the contrary, we have seen Buford get hot in the second halves of games after unspectacular starts (Purdue, Michigan State, Wisconsin games).

The inconsistency, to me, has more to do with a "mental" issue - selfishness, not valuing the ball properly (bad shots, turnovers), getting lackadaisical on certain defensive possessions, being overly concerned with the refereeing - than fatigue.

I'm sure we will agree to disagree, and that's fine. At least we have enough people interested in and supporting this team that we can argue over these things!

Keep in mind that Ravenel probably wouldn't even have gotten the 8 minutes had Sullinger not been in foul trouble. I do think Ravenel, being an older and more experienced player, can play shorter stints and contribute. But it's much harder to expect a freshman to be thrown in for a few minutes here or there and play roles per say. These guys needed minutes to gain experience, work through mistakes, learn that the coach has confidence in them, and to be reactive as opposed to over-thinking. Playing a guy in garbage minutes doesn't count. I really believe you need to give a guy stretches of quality minutes in close games to see what he can do.

We have been debating Matta's lack of using the bench all season. He's not going to change his ways at this point. He will ride the horses that got him there, for better or worse. I still believe he is trying to get Scott more minutes to allow Craft to play the 2-guard and add a much needed outside shotting threat because Buford and Thomas are too streaky. Matta trusts Scott to take care of the ball and play defense, which in turn, can allow Craft to conserve some energy. He knows we are one cold night by Buford and Thomas away from getting bounced in the tournament and he needs Craft to be able to hit some shots and contribute.

Have you seen any of these conference championship games? They are just flat out great to watch! It would be a shame if the NCAA did away with the automatic qualifier.

Ok back on topic. I'll agree with you that there is no replacement for PT experience from a game, especially in closer games when things are tight and actually matter. But if the player isn't excelling in the game-like situations in practice, they definitely aren't going to do well in games when it's tougher, faster and added pressure. If a player subs in and just get's man-handled, it's going to kill his confidence. A little philosophical/theoretical, but I think it's a great conversation/debate. ha

I like bringing Scott in also and I think Scott is to the point in his development that he can have a positive impact on the outcome of the game. Like you said, when guys like Buford/Thomas/Smith are streaky, it's good to have another option in Craft (although he can be as streaky as anybody :).

Go Bucks!

Scott has been in foul trouble and has appeared tenative at the point over the last couple games. He really doesn't need to score, but I agree we cannot have him in there if he turns the ball over. Number one, we need him to take care of the ball and make good passes. He needs to play tough defense, get in passing lanes and use his hands to disrupt offensive flow of the opponents.

Again, the point of using Scott is to allow Craft to move to the 2-guard spot and to conserve some energy for the offensive end.

Thompson also appears tenative on offense. He would be well served to focus on defense and rebounding, but we need him to at least be able to hit a short jump shot or get an offensive put back. Even a couple buckets would really help.