No team in the Big Ten needed a win more than Ohio State (17-10, 8-6). Not Northwestern to redeem a portion of a season’s embarrassment; not Indiana to exorcise the bile of Kelvin Sampson’s opiate addiction to his mobile phone. Ohio State, one week removed from a loss at Michigan, was entering the most challenging and critical stretch of its season. Regrettably for Thad Matta and Ohio State, the team at the far end of Value City Arena was coached by Bo Ryan.
No Easy Arbiter
Wisconsin (23-4, 13-2) gave no quarter and beat the Buckeyes 58-53 with proprietary Badger blend of patience, balance, discipline and execution. The customary basketball export of Dane County finds UW-Madison among the most formidable teams in the Country and, once again, atop the Big Ten pile.
Through a sustained defensive effort and a subtle second-half mental adjustment that virtually eliminated turnovers, the Badgers wore Ohio State down psychologically and took advantage of their tendencies. A typical Matta team, taking quick shots, making poor decisions, and lacking patience to stick with what works (dribble penetration, passing out of the post), the Buckeyes played right into the crease of Bo Ryan’s playbook. End of story.
After the Wisconsin game and with a trip to Indiana looming, what’s left of Ohio State’s self-confidence is in doubt. The players are sniping with one another, David Lighty has some form of game-induced narcolepsy and Matta has finally heard enough chirping from Jamar Butler, disciplining the dubious veteran presence to the bench after 97 consecutive starts. For a team many pundits presumed could make a run deep into March simply by reloading their talented-gene pool, Ohio State now looks more like a bad chemistry lesson.
A Lesson Learned
The emphasis of Tom Izzo’s practices since the 80-61 loss to Indiana, a game in which they played fast and loose with the ball, was disclosed in redemption wins in the Breslin Center over Penn State (86-49) and Iowa (66-52). The Spartans, in back to back games, treated the ball as if it were the last cup at a kegger, turning it over 7 and 5 times respectively. By playing stronger with the ball, the Spartans enter the final turn to the conference season hoping to have found a lasting remedy to their Achilles Heel.
More Morgan
Against Indiana, the Spartans received a combined total of three points from Morgan, Goran Suton and Marquise Gray. Izzo also apparently spent the week bending the ear of his good-natured sophomore from Akron-Canton McKinley High School as Morgan, in a total of 40 minutes, made 13 of 14 shots in the two wins. A confident Morgan takes Michigan State to another level. After a solid week, the Spartans are off to Madison where they’ll seek to reclaim their identity as conference heavies.
Spartan Nation, too, suspects Iowa and Penn State was what the doctored ordered as they’re looking for Sparty win out, straight through Indiana in the Breslin Center on March 2 and into Conseco where they’ll hoist the Tournament Trophy. The next step, however, is the first, and that’s in Wisconsin.
Money All Spent
In the retrospect afforded by a turn of the page, the first week in February marked the last stand this season for Illinois basketball. After playing to the bottom of its emotional well in an overtime loss to Eric Gordon and Indiana, Losing to IU in overtime, blowing out Minnesota in Williams Arena and then losing to Penn State 51-50, the Fighting Illini (11-17, 3-12) have seemingly exhausted all reserves remaining in Champaign. The toll of 12 conference losses for a team that lost 12 in the previous three years has become heavy indeed.
Be Michigan
This weekend, Illinois lost 49-43 to an evolving Michigan team (9-18-5-10) secured their fourth win in five games in Crisler Arena. While Bruce Weber has assuredly pulled all rabbits from his hat in an effort to maintain some ballast on his Good Ship Illini, perhaps his players can look to those in Ann Arbor for inspiration. While their seasons are lost in terms of a winning records and whatever preseason dreams they possessed, both teams are playing for the future.
It seems cruel to expect but the Illini must dig a little deeper during a week off. While they possess more close losses to good teams then most teams should, the Illini are playing now for their individual self-respect. As Michigan establishes with each baby step it takes, Illinois needs to remain aggressive; their cuts need to be quicker; their passes sharper; and they defensive effort constant. With games at Iowa and home against Michigan State and Minnesota, Illinois has a chance, in small part, to reclaim a lost season and a puncher’s chance to somehow making it click in February.
Clouds Over Richmond
In the week he saw Brian Randle play his last game for Illinois and opening the door for the transfer of Brian Carlwell, Bruce Weber also learned the jewel of his 2010 recruiting class, stratospherically regarded high school sophomore Jereme Richmond was kicked off his high school team. Unfortunately, it was Richmond’s second official bout with trouble (he punched a teammate in November 2007) and certainly one to give serious pause to Weber.
As Hoopraker examined earlier this season, the perils of coaches offering scholarships to sophomores are serious on several levels. The trend, led by Ohio State’s Thad Matta, of dipping deep into the pool for high school freshmen and sophomore (and in Matta’s case, an eighth grader) is replete with risk and ripe for abuse. Jereme Richmond’s recent travails are far from conclusive as to his character and ultimate development as a person first and a player second. Still, whether Richmond has the maturity to flaunt a scholarship from Illinois and remain teachable is questionable.
In the wake the Eric Gordon’s ill-fated recruitment for which Illinois is suffering mightily, extending the reach of major college coaches into a well of children, albeit athletically gifted ones, is fraught with risks, for the University and the student-athlete.
