M-Borg vs. THE Flavortown U Thread, Orig. by Buckeye Paul, absconded w/by talent.

[iam416]

5 seconds is plenty of time to get to the rim. It's not enough to kick for another option.

Karma clearly exists. After the unjust persecution of the Noble by the self-righteous muck, the Noble have emerged even stronger and more dominant. Thank you, Karma.

[hack]

You're coached to start that drive to the basket with 10 seconds left. In part to leave you options, and time for a putback attempt. But I think by 5 seconds left, and absent any attempt to penetrate, as a rule you should know what's happening there. I think yesterday it was really obvious what Craft was going to do. I agree with your point that you don't foul him. But you've got to get up real tight because with that amount of time left a kid like Craft is not going to get to the bucket. A kid like Burke maybe, but even so that is going to start to happen at 10 second left or 7 seconds or so.

[iam416]

My problem with the play isn't how the big guy guarded him. He couldn't get in his grill because Craft would have blown right by him. And ISU was spread out guarding shooters (and not particularly great at help).

The play breaks down on the vag switch. There was no hard hedge, there was no getting over the pick or going under (which you could easily do on Craft). It was like, well, there's a pick, guess I switch. It's pussy defense and it can (and did) lead to a mismatch.

Now -- it's ok to swtich if you know which guys you can swith with (Scott and Craft will seemlessly switch when they play together). But you can't have Craft switching with Amir Williams.

[Hannibal]

OSU lucked out on a shitty, overly conservative play for overtime. Reminds me of our end of half "plays" that involved Burke dribbling out the clock and then taking a shitty three attempt. I guess it works sometimes, but I think that your chances are better if you just run your offense.

[Optimus Prime]

I shut that fucker off when OSU was up by ten! They were lucky as fuck IS's best defensive player and 3 point shooter missed the second half.

How does Arizona matchup Talent?

[hack]

He couldn't get in his grill because Craft would have blown right by him.

My opinion is that at five seconds left Craft isn't going to be doing that. He hardly blows by anybody. He's got a competent dribble drive at a medium pace in which he uses his lateral quickness to get closer to the bucket for either a jumper or a layup, but at five second left, your best odds are to get up in his face. And that's without watching the play and just getting the feeling that that's what he was going to do. I'm not the only one that saw that precise shot attempt coming a mile away.

[hack]

OSU lucked out on a shitty, overly conservative play for overtime. Reminds me of our end of half "plays" that involved Burke dribbling out the clock and then taking a shitty three attempt. I guess it works sometimes, but I think that your chances are better if you just run your offense.

When's the last time Burke did that? I don't recall. Trey Burke is a goddamn man out there. He has systematically addressed his weaknesses over the course of this year to the point where he is as complete as a college PG gets on offense. Watch the first OSU game and then his latter Big Ten games. It's amazing how much he improved in terms of his level of comfort and ability to pick his spots and attack intelligently.

[Hannibal]

IIRC the end of the OSU game.

[hack]

2/5/12, if you mean the @home game. That's a month and a half ago. It went from ``not this again'' to not happening anymore. That's what I mean. Burke started out as far and away the best player on the team, and he improved more than anyone else on the team from December to now.

[iam416]

Couple things:

(1) It wasn't a shitty play. In that situation, I don't mind it. Were they down at the time, I would have.

(2) It was lower percentage, no doubt (<40%)

(3) It was supposed to go to Thomas how was coming off a high pick trailing Scott off the same cut. But ISU nicked that action. The switch occurred at 10 seconds or so, off a Ross pick, so Craft knew he had a jump shot option if DT wasn't open.

(4) I thought Burke was total shit against SDS, not because of the way he shot, but be because there were stretches where it seemed like he forced shots in a some sort of individual competition with the SDS kid.

(5) Burke still dominates the ball way to much for my liking. Of course, that's why OSU is such a tough matchup for M, so maybe it's too my liking.

(6) M plays so much better faster. It has been a season-long query for me as to why they play at such a modest pace.

(7) Play time is over. KU and Florida are no joke.

[hack]

Burke still dominates the ball way to much for my liking. Of course, that's why OSU is such a tough matchup for M, so maybe it's too my liking.

My thought is that he's out there with Hardaway, a non-offensive center, Stauskas just sitting there, and GR3 whose balls shrank by the game. Burke was a crutch they never learned to let go of. Whose fault? Dunno. I know for sure that the offense they put out there simply can't be the offense Beilein wanted. Burke's fault? Dunno. He continued to look for assist opportunities. I thought he did a decent job not overusing himself given that on 80% of possessions he was the best option for scoring no matter the degree of difficulty.

Re the speed of play, I think it's a good question. Just a theory, but with Beilein, the approaach to the game starts with his believing ``it's a game of possessions''. So he stresses turnovers. He thinks you win by taking more shots than the other team. That is logically defensible. Assuming you can force 5 turnovers a game, in a roughly 50-possessions-each game that's a big difference. In a roughly 60-possessions each game that's less of a gulf. Maybe that's why? I don't know. I'm just trying to extrapolate based on his stated basis assumption.

[iam416]

Eh, that doesn't make much sense to me. On the season, they are roughly +4 TOs per 100 possessions. They make roughly 7 FGs more per 100 attempts (using effective FG% to account for 3Ps).

Frankly, both of those numbers suggest they ought to get as many possessions as possible. In 100 possessions, M would get a shot 86 times and make 54% while their opponents would get 82 attempts and make 47%.

I guess Beilien probably doesn't think he has the ball-handlers to play faster. And that's probably reflected in Burke's ball dominance.

As a side note, Ohio State's last 3 games:

A grinding B10 war against Wisky, 50-43.

A track meet against Iona, 95-70.

A 3-point shooting contest/uptempo against ISU, 78-75.

Nice to OSU getting wins playing a bunch of different styles. 10 straight against some really good teams (MSU twice, IU, Illinois, Wisky, Minnesota and ISU). If Ross can keep giving them offense and if Craft can keep getting some points at the rim....

[Hannibal]

Does pace matter?

If you get more posessions, so does the other team.

[Optimus Prime]

You bet pace matters, my Grandfather had a pacemaker installed, he's since returned to having "relations".

[iam416]

If you're a better ball-handling team and better shooting team, the more possessions, the more likely you enforce your percentage advantage. Michigan has a roughly 4% TO advantage and 7% FG advantage over opponents. The more possessions, the more likely you reach those numbers. 20-17 is a close game. 80-68 is a controlled margin.