Archives for March 2009

We missed yesterday’s (okay, and most of today’s) action, but our Buckeye’s weren’t playing, so WHO CARES? We’ve got a reason to watch and cheer this evening. It’s all been leading up to this moment.

Buckeyes tip off at 9:40.

A couple links for your enjoyment and perusal. First, we recently received a spam comment from Dr. Big Toe. At first I thought this was joke, but maybe the joke was on me?

The talk of whether or not Mullens sticks around another year isn’t dying down. Is this a reason for concern?

OSU 72 Siena 74 (Final, 2 OT)

Once again, if OSU’s big men assert themselves, this should be an easy game. Siena can’t match up.

Cleveland State (my upset special) is up on Wake, by the by.

Are they not allowed to dunk in the MAAC? The number of missed dunks by Siena is embarassing. (OSU 41 Siena 34)

So it comes down to this — 8 seconds, game tied at 56.

And now it’s overtime. (Oh, and Cleveland State is still beating Wake Forest)

Yeah, after that second overtime, I went to bed. No need to dwell on the game last night. We’ll post a wrap up later. Feel free to continue to comment on the weekend of fun, though. At least the Cavs play a couple times this weekend.

I just realized I didn’t start an open thread for the biggest game of the season thus far. Unlike football, I don’t plan my schedule around basketball games, so while I have been watching the game, posting an open thread slipped my mind.

So far, Buckeyes are doing what they did yesterday against Michigan State — hitting their threes and playing tough defense. They take a five-point lead in to the locker room at half time.

Ohio State: 61 Purdue: 65 (Final)

Well, that didn’t turn out how we’d hoped.

Ohio State was given an 8th seed in the Midwest Bracket, drawing Siena, a team I don’t know a lick about. I know they are our of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference taking teams such as Marist and Canisius.

Size-wise, it looks like we’ll have a physical advantage with our bigs, but up to this point that really hasn’t been much of an advantage. I’m sure we’ll be reading more about this team as we get closer to game time, but for now, let’s plan on a first round win and second round match-up with Louisville. That should be interesting.

We’ve been invited to sit with the adults at the Block O Table. Finally, we don’t have to eat turkey with the five year olds. This week we’re looking at OSU hoopage. Questions come from Vico over at Our Honor Defend.

01. Evan Turner was not named the Big Ten Player of the Year. This is A) highway robbery B) petty theft or C) no big deal (I didn’t need my wallet, car keys and shoes anyways, sir)? Really though, do you feel Turner was jobbed? Why?

This is a tough one. I’m saying “no big deal.” In other sports (baseball most prominently), the MVP (aka PotY) is often expected to be on a “contender.” Whether that’s fair or not is up for debate, but if we hold the players in the running to this standard, the argument could be made the Lucas “deserved” it more than Turner because Michigan State won the regular season Big Ten Title.

That being said, there were a couple games when Turner took too much on his shoulders, tried to do too much and perhaps cost his team chances to get back into the game. He was obviously the Buckeye’s most valuable player, but was just a couple games short of Big Ten’s.

02. You might have noticed, but the women’s basketball team has been on quite a roll recently. They won their 5th straight Big Ten title and won their second Big Ten tournament. They’re destined to play their first two games in Columbus and will, by all logic, be on ESPN/ESPN2 for it. Do you plan to follow them as well or am I really the only one who cares about this team?

No and most likely. I’ll watch an occasional womens tournament game, but it’s an extremely rare occurrence. I’ll stop if they’re playing Michigan, but that’s just out of respect. If there’s absolutely nothing else on, maybe. That includes repeats of Damon Zex.

03. The single biggest thing Ohio State’s men’s team needs to do/change/get in order to turn this team back into a national title contender is ______________. Why?

Get kids to stick around for more than one year. You’re 2008-9 starting five could have been Conley Jr., Cook, Turner, Koufos and Oden. Could you even imagine it?

It’s hard to blame these kids for leaving early, but it’s obvious some of them (Conley Jr. and Koufos) could have used a season or two of growth.

04. The person on the mens’ team that has been most disappointing this season is _______________________. Explain.

Tough call here. I initially was going to say Mullens, but it’s hard to pile on a kid that has dominated at every level of play up to this point and has struggled adjusting his game. I’ll give him a pass, but he’s on the board for next year. I’m going with Dallas Lauderdale, who at this point has become a liability. He may have erased a mulititude of sins with his block against Northwestern, but the guy should have been a rebound machine all year long but wasn’t. His offensive game is non-existent and the pleasure he takes in fouling the opposition has become tired.

Plus his free throw motion bothers me.

(I don’t have a dog in the fight from #5)

How would you answer those?

Because I’ll be suffering through Biggest Loser with the missus (just kidding, sweetie, I love it!) so I won’t catch up to the game until half-time, but here’s an open thread for the game. I won’t be checking comments until I’ve got up live.

For previews, you can check 11 Warriors or Storminspank’s.

Go Bucks!

Ohio State 60 – Iowa 58 (Final)

I’m finally queuing up the DVR to get this show on the road. And, I’m immediately saddened to see Hightower is reffing this game. Great.

Good Lord, Iowa basketball is boring. I may just fast-forward every Iowa possession until there’s 10 seconds left on their shot clock. Sheesh. Add to the fact that one of the Hawkeyes name is Bullwinkle. Hilarity is ensuing.

There are some bad whistles already, and none of them from Hightwoer’s whistle

Dang, all of a sudden Iowa can’t miss and we can’t hit. This could get ugly. (OSU 19 Iowa 27)

And BAM, just like that two threes in a row and OSU is back in it. (OSU 25 Iowa 27)

And double-BAM, Turner goes down in a heap. NO NO NO.

Dang, that Iowa 3 and half-time hurt. (OSU 30 Iowa 32)

We can’t let this turn into another Northwestern incident. Hands need to be in faces of those three-point attempts. (OSU 35 Iowa 40)

A sign of maturity for Evan Turner: 7 assists (at the 13 minute mark of the 2nd half). He’s been required to do so much recently that it seemed like he was putting too much pressure on himself. It seems like he’s learning to trust his team.

Hey, it’s a Dallas Lauderdale sighting! (OSU 48 Iowa 47)

There’s another Dallas Lauderdale sighting, committing an egregious foul. (OSU 50 Iowa 50)

I take back what I said earlier about Iowa’s offense, they’ve put up some points. (OSU 60 Iowa 58)

HOLY CRAP DALLAS LAUDERDALE I LOVE YOUR MAN HANDS.

Phew. THAT was a close one. OSU wins.