Towing the company line, the spin proffered through the Columbus media had surface appeal: Georgetown was just too good, too athletic and too big. In the end, there was simply nothing Ohio State could’ve done to stop the Hoya juggernaut. Here’s a novel theory: Ohio State was outcoached by John Thompson III.
Against Georgetown, and throughout the entire season, when confronted with a tough, disciplined defense, Ohio State struggled mightily to find a decent shot. For the culprit of this recurrent difficulty, look no further than Thad Matta’s poorly designed half-court offense and its inane reliance on quick 22 foot shots. Despite possessing its own 6′9″ beomouth in Big Ten Player of the Year Terrence Dials, Ohio State typically refused to look inside for offense. Rather, the Buckeyes with incessent encouragement from the sidelines continued to jack three pointers, most of which missed their mark.
With the season now over for the Buckeyes, it’s evident that the reliance on sloppy three pointers made them too predictable and too one dimensional and too easy to manipulate. As the jumpers turned to bricks, well-coached teams, even Northwestern, exposed Ohio State as an outfit confused in the half-court. Out of time outs, they opted for impatient long distance shots, which more often than not missed their mark. When confronted with solid defense, inept and empty possessions became the norm.
Despite the rationalizing undertaken by the friends of Ohio State posing as the Columbus media, don’t be persuaded by the sugarcoating. Ohio State didn’t lose to so badly to Georgetown because they were outclassed by a more talented team. Ohio State lost to Georgetown because they were outmanuevered by a better coach.
As to Ohio State’s future, it isn’t as glaringly bright as everyone presumes even with the heralded recruiting class coming in next season. As long as Matta coaches offensive impatience, Ohio State will have a difficult time becoming a consistent contender year in year out. While they certainly can win their share of games in the regular season, as the NCAA Tourney routinely demonstrates, if a team can’t execute an offense, if a team can’t get a good look when it needs a bucket, when it really needs a bucket, they’ll be pressed to win the big game.
Hi,
Several teams in the Big Ten need better in the paint production. OSU and Wisconsin were two. Tucker cant do it all by himself when double and triple teamed in the paint. Coach Ryan needs to get a second in the paint player with much better defense down low as well. That was absent with 6-11 Butch typically playing out near the 3 point line and just coming in on some plays for rebounds. The same WI team will be back so they will have some experience. But the Big Ten needs some better defense/offense including the paint to make it to the sweet sixteen. It was also interesting to see the NCAA winners play some stingy defense-less coast to coast playing-kind of like Bennets scheme but now its “respectable”.
Left by John Scharer on April 7th, 2006