Hoopraker

Over the course of one basketball game, Ohio State coach Thad Matta will march one mile along the sidelines, slap the scorer’s table countless times, and generally act as a surrogate cheerleader for forty minutes. In 34 games, and particularly since the Florida debacle on December 27, his enthusiasm has served the Buckeyes extremely well, effectively cloaking the team with an aura of self-confidence that’s difficult for most teams to penetrate. But if there’s one coach who knows what Thad Matta mutters as he gyrates up and down the sideline and how to penetrate it, it’s his former Associate Head Coach and chalkboard brain at Xaiver, Sean Miller (Pitt ‘92).

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With the same certitude that over nine pound babies become large adults (just ask momma Landry) the Big Ten team playing tonight in Columbus, like its brethren in the brackets, will guard for forty, unrelenting minutes. In the often bleak House of Weber this season it is knee bending, hand in grill, cooperative defense that has provided the one unfailing source of heat, light, and hope. It has been six months of drama in which the team’s medical staff, a white guy in an Indian costume, and the Champaign-Urbana district attorney’s office have all played starring roles. Many a coach would’ve surrendered to the mire and gone happily to the asylum of the NIT. (more…)

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The hallmark of Purdue basketball as ordained by Gene Keady and now promulgated by his protégé, Matt Painter, is defense. Hard nosed, blue collar, Land Grant basketball. From Steve Sheffler, Jim Rowinski and Todd Mitchell to Doug Lee, Brad Miller and Brian Cardinal, the Boilermakers are intimately familiar with floor burns, knee pads and the occasional push in the back. As any Hoosier fan knows, Purdue will not roll over. In tonight’s match up with the fleet feet of Arizona and former Iowa Hawkeye coach Lute Olsen, Purdue will lean heavily on its traditional, in your mug, physical defense.  (more…)

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When Michigan State hits the hardwood tonight in Winston-Salem, North Carolina against Marquette, it will mark the Spartan’s 10th straight NCAA Tournament appearance. What many people believed at the inception of the year was simply one of Spartan rebuilding, Tom Izzo’s achievement is all the more impressive. Through wins and losses, injuries and inexperience, Izzo has cajoled and nurtured the Spartans into a cohesive team that executes, rebounds and defends with tenacity. Among the top defensive teams in the Country, Michigan State’s reliance on core basketball values give them a chance to win every night out, tonight is no exception. (more…)

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On Sunday the Buckeyes humbled what had appeared over the course of the conference slate and the previous three days to be a worthy if not equal foil. The Badgers of January, belying the deceptively close final score, soundly beat the Buckeyes at the Kohl Center. Two weeks ago, it took a front end miss by Kammron Taylor and a suspect no-call in Columbus to keep them from the season sweep. The Badgers of Friday sent a rapidly maturing, tournament ready Michigan State team to the showers with a double digit loss. And Saturday saw them exploiting every inch of the Illini team’s inadequacies en route to another thorough whipping. (more…)

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Sequestered in the United Center, winter has parted in earnest and a March spring has emerged in the Midwest. After nine games in three days, four salted pretzels, three bags of Twizzlers, and two tired performances of Quick Change, one big game remains. We’ve come to know our concession stand workers by first name (thanks for the refill JoAnn) and most of the people in Section 122 have become more familiar than mere faces in a crowd. On Day Four, we’ll bear witness to a game where two top 5 teams will battle for a Big Ten Trophy and NCAA Seeding.  At the conclusion of the Ohio State Wisconsin game, it’s possible we’ll have seen two Number 1 seeds and a National Champion in waiting. (more…)

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The ridiculous talent level of the Buckeyes often forgives their casual, almost bored approach to the game as it did Friday, but it may not be quite so profitable beginning today against Purdue or next week in the big brackets. If Penn State, as Matta asserted a few weeks ago is one the best bad teams in the country, then his Buckeyes are among the worst good teams. (more…)

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Today’s menu at the house Jordan built and Jerry Reinsdorf cost-cutted into architectural banality is a feast for every fan. For the fan who likes his teams ranked number one in the country and wearing corporate logoed spandex tops and pantaloons, there are the Ohio State Buckeyes. For the fan who enjoys watching a former golden boy player turned coach fret and sweat over his job security, there is Amaker and his Wolverine product line. For the fan who appreciates a coach who has transformed a team that had a single digit win total to a squad one win away from this year’s NCAA tournament, there is Purdue. For those appreciative of Big Ten seniors reaping the benefits of four years of development, take Adam Haluska and his Hawkeyes. And those are just the appetizers. (more…)

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