The remnants of dissatisfaction from a stale Big Ten basketball weekend are nearly gone. Despite solid wins by the upper and lower tiers of the Conference, the losses by Purdue, Illinois and Wisconsin left me questioning the decision to forego raking and let my yard pile up with wet leaves on Saturday. Eleven days remain before the Conference’s next weekend of big games and it’s time most Big Ten teams should spend addressing some fundamental weaknesses.
Ohio State Wins!
Trailing Fang Mitchell’s Coppin State Bulldogs 34-33 with 6 minutes left, a team that lost its previous three games by an average of 22 points, Ohio State mustered just enough effort to eek out a 47-39 win in Columbus last night. Unfortunately, the win can be deemed nothing but yet another uninspired effort by Ohio State, who coincidently were outrebounded 32-22.
Ohio State freshman John Diebler was replaced in the starting lineup with fellow frosh Evan Turner (Chicago-St. Joe’s), who promptly committed five first half turnovers and was then replaced at the start of the second half by P.J. Hill. On Thad Matta’s decision, Kosta Koufas sat the final 13 minutes of the game. Clearly, Matta is searching for some chemistry.
Turnovers notwithstanding, with his ability to attack the rack and showing a decent outside touch, Turner’s offensive game was the lone ray of light in the passive Buckeyes’ second straight game of being held to under 50 points and third overall. Diebler will most likely come off the bench for the foreseeable future.
At this point, the expectations placed on Ohio State as an upper tier Big Ten team are well off the mark. While Jamar Butler has replaced Mike Conley at point guard, and while he was quickly named pre-season All-Conference by the media, Butler has not replaced Conley’s ability to make his teammates better. Among other things, (such as an offense that takes over half of its shots from the three point line) the Buckeyes suffer from an unwillingness to penetrate and an inability score in transition, two qualities that were hallmarks of Conley’s brief stint in Columbus.
Elsewhere, one of Thad Matta’s prized recruits from Indiana, Walter Offutt (Warren Central) unfortunately blew out his knee. It’s been speculated Offutt, a guard, will redshirt his freshman year in Columbus.
Frustrating Illini
Quite possibly the Achilles Heal for a team strong enough to make the NCAA Tourney, no one on the Illini seems calable of making a free throw, particularly when the game is on the line. Having post players such as Brian Randle and Shaun Pruitt who are the team’s primary offensive options (Calvin Brock is quickly stepping into this circle) but who can’t make a free throw will lose Bruce Weber plenty of close games. It’s already accounted for the loses to Maryland and Arizona.
Hoopraker has always marveled at Brian Randle’s combination of skill and genuine good guy likability. Obviously blessed with great athleticism, Randle’s one of the best defenders in college hoops, e.g. his dominance of Arizona’s Chase Budinger on Saturday. Still, while Illini fans must admire his aggressiveness in taking the ball to the rack, Illinois needs him to finish more and charge less. As the season evolves, Illinois needs a steady guard to take charge in the endgame, when they need it the most; perhaps that player will be freshman Demetri McCamey.
Silver Lining for Northwestern
Northwestern checks in at 4-4 including one win against a DII foe. Seeking to remain positive, throw out the blowout to Virginia, and one can argue they played Stanford much closer than the final score (71-60) indicated; and they lost to DePaul by one point (54-53). Like Illinois, Northwestern is not a good free throw shooting team and forsaken points at the line were substantially responsible for the loses to Stanford and DePaul. Northwestern’s margin for error is so slight that missed free throws often translate to lost games. The solution is obvious, but implementing it is apparently not a simple task: make some free throws, win some games.
In Northwestern’s win against Western Michigan, they showed some toughness, fighting back back from a 15 point deficit, hitting half its shots (23 of 46) in the second half despite being out-rebounded 35-12. While the shooting is getting better, as it was last year, rebounding remains a major problem. The offense and rebounding may receive a substantial lift upon the expected return of Hoopraker favorite Kevin Coble in January.
Modicum of Progress at Michigan
It’s not easy finding progress in a 95-67 loss to Duke, but one thing was generally apparent in Michigan’s struggle to contain Duke: the Wolverines are starting to find open shots in Beilein’s offensive scheme. They’re just not making them yet. As a rough season rolls on in Ann Arbor, sophomore DeShawn Sims sees the big picture and finds progress that will hopefully serve Michigan well in coming games, and seasons.
How Tough the Gophers
In Minnesota (6-1), Tubby Smith has utilized a weak non-conference schedule as a opportunity to play a deep rotation. While it’s necessarily difficult to gauge how much the Golden Gophers are improved under Tubby in light of their cream-puff schedule, it’s clear they are playing with an intensity not seen in Minneapolis since, perhaps, the days of Trent Tucker. In freshmen Al Nolen and Blake Hoffarber, Minnesota has two more decent guards, one an effective point guard and one a pure shooter, to complement Tollackson & Co. in the post.
As they prepare to entering Big Ten play, we’ll have a better idea if Minnesota could be a post-season team after they play UNLV. If they translate the modest early season success to Conference games, there’s little reason to think Minnesota can’t make it’s way into the middle of the pack and pray to play in March.
The Big Ten’s Best
Tom Izzo likes what he saw in last week’s Spartan victories over Bradley and BYU, both quality wins away from the Breslin Center. So does most of Spartan Nation. What Big Ten fan didn’t enjoy watching Izzo emphatically pump his fist on the sideline as Drew Neitzel nailed a three pointer rolling off a screen out of second-half timeout in Salt Lake City?
It’s worth noting that when Michigan State’s post players are aggressive, as Goran Suton and Drew Naymick were against BYU, the Spartans are well-rounded and tough to beat. Suton in particular, while often frustrating, possesses the well-rounded post game that, when on, forces teams to defend the post, consequently leading to better shots for the perimeter players.
Understandably, expectations are high for this team as they possess the talent and the toughness necessary to make a deep run in March. Until they play #4 Texas on December 22 at The Palace in Auburn Hills, Spartan fans have the opportunity to say hello to Hooiser alum Dane Fife (Clarkson, MI) who brings his IPFW team and several good shooters to East Lansing this week for some Big Ten love.
