Wisconsin, Ohio State, Glen Davis, Russell Carter
A visit to my aunt and uncle's place in Rappahannock (Virginia) County has officially ended the holiday season for me, so I should be posting more regularly from here on in. I have a whole backlog of games from the weekend, but I wanted to start anew with tonight's action. I'll go back and look at this weekend's stuff when I have downtime.
1. It is time to include Wisconsin in the national title conversation. When I saw them in December in an 89-75 win over Pittsburgh, it was the Alando Tucker and Brian Butch Show; the two combined for 59 points and 21 rebounds. Other than 14 second-half points from point guard Kammron Taylor, they did it pretty much by themselves.
Tonight against Ohio State, however, they managed to lead most of the game and hold on for a win despite getting zero points out of Butch. Tucker did his usual damage with 17 points, and Taylor picked up Butch's slack with a season- and game-high 25. But tonight, two role players -- Marcus Landry and Michael Flowers -- stepped up their games and ultimately made the difference. They combined for 20 points, seven rebounds -- including four big ones on the offensive glass -- and six steals, not to mention at least a few blocked shots (blocks are a hard stat to come by immediately following a college game).
Flowers and Landry are role players, but role players are key to winning championships. The Badgers have a legitimate All-America in Tucker, two very good secondary options in Taylor and Butch, and a solid group of bangers -- including Landry -- inside. I'm officially a believer.
2. I'm becoming a little concerned about the way Ohio State is using -- or not using -- Greg Oden. I hate to keep beating a dead horse, and I know that the big fella doesn't move all that well without the ball, but I don't understand why Oden got just one shot in the first half while the middling Matt Terwilliger got three. The Buckeyes ignored Oden for most of the half, and Oden sat with Othello Hunter on the bench with two fouls each with about seven minutes remaining. Terwilliger entered and almost immediately received a touch in the post. The thought to go inside was a good one, but come on, guys. You couldn't decide to pass to the post when the best big man prospect in years was on the floor?
Also, on consecutive possessions under four minutes remaining in the game (but before the Buckeyes made their late run to pull within two), Ron Lewis twice passed up a wide open Oden under the basket in favor of his own shot. On the first occasion, I know Lewis saw Oden -- he looked right at him, the drove the lane and hit a layup while being fouled. On the second occasion, he missed a three-pointer. Thad Matta can't allow that kind of individual-oriented play to continue.
3. Look, I recognize that Glen Davis is remarkably effective on the perimeter for a man of his (considerable) size. He moves extremely well, he can actually put it on the deck and finish with either hand, and he has enough range that the defender has to worry about him a little bit even outside the three-point arc.
No, I'm not questioning his effectiveness, particularly not on a night where he scored 24 points and gathered 17 rebounds.
I have to wonder, though. Might a 6'9", 290-pound man be even more effective in the post? Is he really better facing up his man than he is backing him down? Would you rather see him taking 15-foot turnarounds or five-foot jump hooks? Why have him spin-dribble in the lane when he can use the drop step and hammer home a dunk?
I was ready to attribute his lingering on the outside as protecting the ribs he bruised in an auto accident over the weekend. But then I remembered that the accident came after the Connecticut game. I didn't see him against the Huskies -- I was with my family and I think my Tivo programming guide listed it as a college football game (either that or I misread it. Whatever, I didn't record it.) -- but a friend did, and he reported that Davis had spent most of the game on the perimeter.
(And1) Russell Carter had a pretty nice game tonight, but I find myself criticizing his shot selection once again (you may recall my earlier post where I suggested that Notre Dame had beaten Maryland only because Carter picked up his fourth foul and had to go to the bench, where he couldn't shoot the Irish out of the game).
Twice in the game's final minutes, with his team nursing an eight- or ten-point lead, Carter took difficult jumpers in the middle of the shot clock. Neither drew iron. They were bad shots in any circumstance, and horrible shots under the given conditions.
1. It is time to include Wisconsin in the national title conversation. When I saw them in December in an 89-75 win over Pittsburgh, it was the Alando Tucker and Brian Butch Show; the two combined for 59 points and 21 rebounds. Other than 14 second-half points from point guard Kammron Taylor, they did it pretty much by themselves.
Tonight against Ohio State, however, they managed to lead most of the game and hold on for a win despite getting zero points out of Butch. Tucker did his usual damage with 17 points, and Taylor picked up Butch's slack with a season- and game-high 25. But tonight, two role players -- Marcus Landry and Michael Flowers -- stepped up their games and ultimately made the difference. They combined for 20 points, seven rebounds -- including four big ones on the offensive glass -- and six steals, not to mention at least a few blocked shots (blocks are a hard stat to come by immediately following a college game).
Flowers and Landry are role players, but role players are key to winning championships. The Badgers have a legitimate All-America in Tucker, two very good secondary options in Taylor and Butch, and a solid group of bangers -- including Landry -- inside. I'm officially a believer.
2. I'm becoming a little concerned about the way Ohio State is using -- or not using -- Greg Oden. I hate to keep beating a dead horse, and I know that the big fella doesn't move all that well without the ball, but I don't understand why Oden got just one shot in the first half while the middling Matt Terwilliger got three. The Buckeyes ignored Oden for most of the half, and Oden sat with Othello Hunter on the bench with two fouls each with about seven minutes remaining. Terwilliger entered and almost immediately received a touch in the post. The thought to go inside was a good one, but come on, guys. You couldn't decide to pass to the post when the best big man prospect in years was on the floor?
Also, on consecutive possessions under four minutes remaining in the game (but before the Buckeyes made their late run to pull within two), Ron Lewis twice passed up a wide open Oden under the basket in favor of his own shot. On the first occasion, I know Lewis saw Oden -- he looked right at him, the drove the lane and hit a layup while being fouled. On the second occasion, he missed a three-pointer. Thad Matta can't allow that kind of individual-oriented play to continue.
3. Look, I recognize that Glen Davis is remarkably effective on the perimeter for a man of his (considerable) size. He moves extremely well, he can actually put it on the deck and finish with either hand, and he has enough range that the defender has to worry about him a little bit even outside the three-point arc.
No, I'm not questioning his effectiveness, particularly not on a night where he scored 24 points and gathered 17 rebounds.
I have to wonder, though. Might a 6'9", 290-pound man be even more effective in the post? Is he really better facing up his man than he is backing him down? Would you rather see him taking 15-foot turnarounds or five-foot jump hooks? Why have him spin-dribble in the lane when he can use the drop step and hammer home a dunk?
I was ready to attribute his lingering on the outside as protecting the ribs he bruised in an auto accident over the weekend. But then I remembered that the accident came after the Connecticut game. I didn't see him against the Huskies -- I was with my family and I think my Tivo programming guide listed it as a college football game (either that or I misread it. Whatever, I didn't record it.) -- but a friend did, and he reported that Davis had spent most of the game on the perimeter.
(And1) Russell Carter had a pretty nice game tonight, but I find myself criticizing his shot selection once again (you may recall my earlier post where I suggested that Notre Dame had beaten Maryland only because Carter picked up his fourth foul and had to go to the bench, where he couldn't shoot the Irish out of the game).
Twice in the game's final minutes, with his team nursing an eight- or ten-point lead, Carter took difficult jumpers in the middle of the shot clock. Neither drew iron. They were bad shots in any circumstance, and horrible shots under the given conditions.
posted by H.S. Slam, Ph.D at 1:03 AM
1 Comments:
I don't know if this is the reason, but it seems to me that letting Big Baby work away from the basket is an effective way to keep him away from double teams. You mentioned earlier this year that the Tigers don't have the secondary low-post scorer they've had recently that could benefit when Davis is doubled, and they aren't a great perimeter shooting team. If he has the skills to play this fashion, it seems reasonable that it's a strategic move from Coach Brady and Big Baby to insure that their best player isn't neutralized by teams doubling him every time he catches the ball.
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