Block O Table, Shooty Hoops Edition
I know I said I’d do this at the beginning of the month, but now seems more appropriate. It’s the end of the regular season; the Big Ten Tournament and NCAA Tournament are rapidly forthcoming. Rather than expand on these topics myself, for lack of time, I thought I’d pose more questions for the audience as I did the last time. I encourage my regular commenters readers reader anyone who happens across this post to leave their comments to all these questions below1. if you’re a blogger and have expressed some interest in contributing to this — MotSaG, The Silver Bullet and Fear the Elf have done so via e-mail — feel free, by all means, to make a post out of this as is normally done for Big Ten Bloggers posts.
Questions are open-ended, so feel free to ramble on if you feel you want to. It’ll just be like how I approach my posts.
01. Evan Turner was not named the Big Ten Player of the Year. This is A) highway robbery or B) petty theft or C) good call/no big deal (I didn’t need my wallet, car keys and shoes anyways, sir)? Really though, do you feel Turner was jobbed? Why?
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?
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?
04. The person2 on the mens’ team that has been most disappointing this season is _______________________. Explain.
05. This country finally had an election that had some kind of purpose and value. I’m talking, of course, about the Whitest Man Election held at Club Trillion. Shenanigans followed and there was no clear winner. Nevertheless, who did you vote for in this most important election and why?
Extra Credit
EC. Call your shot here: how far do the Buckeyes get in the Big Ten Tournament?
- My sense of self-deprecating humor aside, I was really happy with the turnout the last time. Blast fax kudos all around. [↩]
- I say “person” instead of “player” in order to throw Matta into the discussion here. Nothing instinctively against Matta, but I don’t think it’d be fair to focus a question like this only the efforts of the players. [↩]
1. I say B. I’m not too upset about it. Maybe increases his chances of returning. And I think a good case can be made for Lucas. I think a better one can be made for Turner, but it’s not a huge rip-off.
2. Couldn’t care less
3. Get a better mix of stud recruits and vets (with the exception of Oden, the seven-footers are not worth it b/c they’re NBA-bound before they get good. the short guys, like Buford, have to stick around until they’re legit)
4. Matta or Mullens. My first instinct was Lauderdale, but then I realized that my expectations weren’t high for him until he started great. Neither Mullens nor Matta is hugely disappointing, but I hate the zone sometimes (mix it up, Thad!) and just feel like OSU’s outcoached pretty regularly. Mullens has been alright, but his head is pretty big in comparison to the level of his contributions.
5. Neither in the original vote. In the follow-up, I voted for E.T.
E.C.: I’m afraid they lose to Wisconsin. Bad draw…
1. petty theft – Lucas deserved it
2. I’ll probably watch the OSU women’s game(s). I’d like to see them get past the 2nd round.
3. Have players stay longer than one year. In college basketball it pays to have some experience against the Big Ten and in the tournament. (at least a couple guys – see ‘06-’07 – perfect compliment of experience and talented frosh)
4. BJ Mullens – like Diebler I expected this kid to be amazing, but it seems as though the only way he can score is by dunking (and sometimes can’t even do that – see last game). If he stays though expect some serious growth. Diebler has played much better this year and I could see the same thing happening to Mullens. Stick around big fella.
5. Kyle Madsen – Dublin. Enough said.
EC: It’s going to be another close game vs. Wisconsin. I think we can win that. And they say it’s hardest to beat a team 3 times in one season. So…maybe?
But #5 seeds have the second worst all-time record in the tournament — only better than #11 seeds.
Also, #1 or #2 has won each of the last 7 tournaments so look for Michigan St. or Illinois.
Vico,
My father is answering the questions, and they will be up on our blog tomorrow. Keep up the good work!
1. Not too surprised. ET had a good year, but needed more consistency game in/game out to merit POY. Still, he carried this team when needed.
2. I want to care, but I just can’t do it. Never been a big women’s b-ball fan. I wish them the best tho.
3. To go very far in the tourney, need a total team effort. The latter part of the season it seemed like only a few stepped up, and never at the same time.
4. Dallas. I didn’t expect him to light the world on fire offensively, but I really expected more on the offensive boards and at least some garbage points here and there.
5. Madsen. Just looks like the whitest man alive.
EC: Slip past Wisconsin, lose in round two. Unless the team steps it up (see #3)
1. No big deal
2. Absolutely.
3. Players need to stay more than one year. Maybe a few more competent, but less than stellar recruits that can play good team ball.
4. Lauderdale; seemed to start out playing well, based on my expectations, then faded out.
5. Neither one, since neither mentioned Bach nor Beethoven regarding music; can’t be that white. I’d probably vote for Madsen based on his fondness for golf.
EC – Squeeze by WI, then get bounced inn 2nd round.
MotSaG’s response is up:
http://menofthescarletandgray.com/2009/03/11/block-o-table-shooty-hoops-edition/
1) Originally, I was going to go with petty theft. But then I looked at how surprisingly meh Lucas’ stats were. Does not dominate any stat. I expect more from my player of the year. Plus, Evan Turner is MVP for sure. Bucks can’t win 10 games without him.
2) As a high school basketball referee, I do alot of girls basketball games. I had the pleasure of doing one of Jantel Lavender’s games. I walways follow her. I hope that they get over the hump in the tourney and make a run to at least the sweet sixteen.
3) Two things, no more one and dones. And find a frickin point guard who can at least make a layup!!!!!!!!!
4) Dallas my boy, those missed shots? You are allowed to grab them.
5) Matt Sylvester retired that award years ago.
Bonus) I’ll call my shot. Bucks lose to Purdue in the championship after beating Wisconsin and Northwestern (yep, you read that right)
wsas (friend of the program, via delicious.com) chips in:
1. Turner definitely did not get jobbed, although I think there’s a good chance he would have won it if we’d won 2 more games, putting us at 12-6 in league play, and not allowing MSU to win it by a country mile. While he’s a great talent, I think the writers saw what we did, and that’s his affinity for turnovers. There’s a good chance we win at least one more game if he doesn’t have 8 TOs.
2. I think you’re the only one that cares about the lady hoopsters. It’s not that I dislike them, but I find the entire women’s game boring. I’m proud of them, and hope they win everytime they play, but have no idea when they’re even playing.
3. Point Guard. I don’t know if I can say that enough. People are playing out of position now, and we don’t have a reliable person to handle the ball when pressure happens, or make good decisions when the game is on the line. With a top tiered PG (please come back Mike Conley) Turner would be correctly slotted at the SF, where he is either too fast or too strong for them. He would likely not lose as many balls in traffic or off his feet. And we’d finaly be able to get the ball in the post, there’s tall people in there.
4. Dallas Lauterdale. I knew he wasn’t going to turn into Terrence Dials, but there’s absolutely no reason he can’t average nearly 10 rebounds a game. He seems to gamble too much, lose focus, and not have any kind of touch around the basket. His FT shot has gotten almost no better, I’m not even sure how that’s possible. Begs the question – what the hell was he doing all summer?
I was about to go with Matta, because this team has really lacked organization and often times good gameplanning all year. And that’s on him. Also, I hate hate hate the zone.
5. I’ve been away and missed it. I’ve shamed myself, and my entire family.
It is now up on The Silver Bullet:
http://www.osusilverbullet.com/4/post/2009/03/block-o-table-shooty-hoop-edition.html
I’m on less solid ground here than I am w/ football (which is not to say that I stand on Ayers Rock or anything where that sport’s concerned), but I’ll have a go:
1. I haven’t actually seen Lucas play, so I don’t know the answer here. I can, however, agree with wsas that Evan’s handle (or lack of such) is a gaping hole in his game. And I mean GAPING. Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love The Villain, but I can’t get all that upset about this. So C.
2. I’m happy that the Lady Buckeyes are kicking ass under Foster (another reason to make graven images of Andy Geiger), but I don’t really CARE that much other than how it affects the prestige of Ohio State athletics. I already help support them with my patronization of the football, men’s basketball, and track and field programs, so I don’t feel bad at all that I never watch them on TV or go to a game. The reason I don’t is simple: Women’s sports are boring. Every single one of them is essentially an inferior product (and that’s not sexism talking, it’s an empirical result of sexual dimorphism). John Wooden can have his love of the ladies’ fundamentals if he wants; call me when they start playing above the rim.
If you couldn’t tell already, this is a bugaboo of mine. But seriously, here’s a thought experiment: Put together the greatest women’s team you can (WNBA Champs, WNBA All-Stars, All-time WNBA, Olympic Gold Medalists, All-Olympics in a given year, All-time All-Olympics, whatever you want). Then take the best basketball player from each team in either the National or American Leagues (I’m talking about MLB here in case it’s not clear; I limit it to either the NL or AL to come up with a basketball-team-sized group) in any given year – not even the 12-15 BEST PLAYERS, just one from each team. Give them a decent coach, a week or two to practice, and then put them up against the women for a best of 3, 5, 7, whatever. What do you think’s going to happen?
(/outrage off) Sorry. Back to the Qs.
3. I think probably a true PG. I’m sympathetic to the “no more one-and-dones” argument, but we live in the world we live in – what’s Matta supposed to do, NOT take players like Mullens or Oden because chances are he only gets one year from them? That would just be crazy, and I think it’s safe to say that a lot of the same people railing about this (present company excepted, of course) probably used to bitch about how O’Brien couldn’t get any top talent. In today’s world, it’s probably one or the other most of the time.
4. I wish I could say Noopy Crater, but the way Vico asked the question seems to disqualify him. I guess I’ll go with Dallas for the reasons mentioned by others.
5. I voted for Titus for the purely homerish reason that it’s his blog. For my money, it wasn’t an entirely legit contest, because it failed to take into account the different flavors of whiteness – I mean, there’s Whiskey Tango, there’s WASP, there’s Stuff White People Like-style/Guilty Liberal White, etc. So I went w/ the Shark just to pay him back for the yucks Club Trillion has given me (”fake a pass to make a pass” = hilarious).
E.C. 1st-round loss.
01. B. I will attribute this to general myopia. I think Buckeye fans are the only Big Ten folks who understood just what Turner meant to the team. VALUE. That’s the key.
02. Haven’t paid attention since Katie Smith and before that Tara VanDeVeer, but that’s largely the result of me not liking women’s sports at all. Other than Foxy Boxing.
03. Stay the course. Let’s not forget the ‘06-’07 team could absolutely have won a national championship if they hadn’t drawn an absolute anomaly in the title game (a defending champion with its entire lineup back). Of course, continuing to load up on 5-star one and dones is also a recipe for frustration like this season.
04. “Explain” reminds me of “show your work”. I hated that, I just knew what the answer was. Or how to find it. Ahem. Anyway: B.J. Mullens. I thought he was good for 15-17 PPG and 8 RPG. He’s managed barely over half that.
05. I’m a convicted felon, not allowed to vote
EC: I’ll give the Bucks a win over Wisconsin out of bubble-anxiety intensity, but I just don’t see beating Michigan State.
team secret falcon has weighed in.
Oh I’ll play your game, you rogue…
1) Highway robbery, def. If DJ White was the Big Ten Player of the Year last year, then Evan Turner is the Big Ten Player of the Year this year.
2) NO (unless I’m drunk). The quicker you internalize that, the better. I remember you even making me write a post about them in the tournament last year. That was just cruel, though by the looks of it, you ghostwrote more than half of it.
3) I’ll join the choir here: routinely starting a team full of freshmen and sophomores isn’t conducive to winning a lot of games. So long as Ohio State is Where One and Done Happens, the Buckeyes will struggle with the absence of veteran leadership on the team.
4) Dallas Lauderdale, I guess. He just got worse as the season went on.
5) Titus, def.
EC: I think we’ll beat Wisky, but that’ll be it. I think we’re still safe, though.
1.) Petty Theft-while Evan Turner lead OSU in almost every category and was probably responsible for half of our wins, the name of the game is the best player on the best team.
2.) I’ll watch the Lady Bucks when they make it to the second weekend.
3.) One word: Rebound.
4.) BJ Mullins-he was supposed to come in and be the next Oden and Koufos and instead isn’t producing. This guy has been commited to tOSU since he was in 8th Grade. I guess I just expect someone who is 7 feet tall to REBOUND and dominate more inside.
5.) I voted for Madsen-I think he personified more white stereotypes than Titus did. Even based on the eyeball test, Madsen carries himself as whiter than Titus.
1) Turner was jobbed. Not because he should have won, but because Kalin Lucas should not have won. I’m tired of this best man on the best team should win crap. Kobe shouldn’t have won the MVP last year in the NBA (many people thought the Lakers were they best team at that time) last year, Kalin Lucas shouldn’t have won it this year. I can’t say hands down who should have won, but Kalin Lucas would not have been on my list. It should have been down to Evan Turner, Manny Harris of Michigan, and Talor Battle of PSU. They were FAR more valuable than Lucas was. Take Lucas of that team and they still possibly win the Big 10……take Turner, Harris, and Battle of their respective teams and none of them sniff the Big Dance (and it looks like they are all going as of right now).
2) We have a women’s basketball team? Just kidding, I will follow them up until they get upset in the 2nd round as they always do.
3) Change their academic schedule from quarters to semesters like the rest of the world so they can’t be hit with infractions that cause them to lose scholarships (i.e. Oden, Koufos).
*They did get a 1 time exemption for Oden……but still, come on, this is a simple fix that the majority of the NCAA teams have already figured out.
4) This is a no-brainer……..Noopie Crater. We didn’t recruit a PG the year before him, then he comes in and is no better than mediocre, then cries like a baby and leaves the team, then gets denied by Miami (FL) , then gets busted smoking the ganja and booted from South Florida.
5) Mark Titus because his profile mentions both wrestling and “stache.” …..you can’t get much whiter than that.
Extra Credit: All the other teams forfeit while quivering beneath Mullens’ dirtstache!
Called it. Did we just get a little Dallas sighting? I think he must’ve read the blog.