Buckeyes Not Worth Praises

NCAA Basketball

By: Justin Verrier

Posted: 1/22/07

It seems as if the Ohio State Buckeyes can do no wrong this year.

It's now about halfway through the season and the No. 7 Buckeyes (16-3, 4-1 Big Ten) have been downed three times. Yet, no matter how bad, or how many times they lose, ESPN analysts and sports writers nationwide, for some reason or another, find anything they can to applaud their performance.

When they lost to then-No. 6 North Carolina, the media empathized with a team that played without their freshman phenom, Greg Oden. After being trounced by reigning national champion Florida, they excused the loss because Oden hadn't had enough time to return to form. Then, after being handed their most recent loss to Big Ten foe Wisconsin, all you heard from the ESPN Gameday crew was how good the Buckeyes will be in the tournament.

But the one thing that everyone is not saying seems the most obvious: Ohio State is overrated.

That's not to say this team isn't good. In fact, with the likes of Oden, Mike Conley Jr., and Daequan Cook, head coach Thad Matta has assembled some of the game's most talented young players. But the Buckeyes are far from the great team most predicted they would be during the pre-season-they're not even one of the Top 10 teams.

With the Big Ten being on such a downswing this year after teams like Illinois and Michigan State saw their star players move on to the pros, the Buckeyes play a very soft conference schedule; they're ranked No. 45 in strength of schedule and the only tough game left is a re-match with the Badgers at home on Feb. 25.

As expected, Ohio State has picked up easy wins in conference play, feasting on lesser teams such as Northwestern and most recently Iowa. But they have struggled in all of the games they've played against Top 25 teams this year.

One of the few ways to really gauge a team's worth is to see how they fare against tough competition on the road. So far, the Buckeyes have not proved themselves worthy of the elite status others seem to give them; they lost on the road to North Carolina, Florida and Wisconsin. Senior Ron Lewis gave them their only win against a ranked opponent this year after hitting a 3-pointer with 11 seconds left in the game to eek out a victory over a less than stellar Tennessee team.

In their match-up with the Tar Heels, the Oden-less Buckeyes did put forth a valiant effort in a game that was much closer than the score would lead you to believe.

But even with the big freshman, the Buckeyes were man-handled by the Gators, eventually losing by an eye-popping 20 points. Those who like to argue that Oden, who was only in his fifth game since coming back from surgery in June to repair a torn ligament in his wrist, wasn't back to full health. But so was Florida's big man, Al Horford. Nursing an ankle injury that sat him out of practice and games for nearly two weeks, Horford went for 11 points and 11 rebounds, and he and Joakim Noah dominated inside all game.

People always gush over the Buckeyes and say how much of a force they can be, but they forget that this team is full of youth and inexperience.

Most are too busy drooling over Oden's potential to real ize that although he may look older than your father, he just turned 19 today. And even though his game resembles one of a proven vet in the NBA, he still makes silly freshman mistakes.

In both the Wisconsin and Florida games, the big man was in foul trouble which limited his minutes. Ohio State has proven to be a solid team without their start center, but the 7-footer needs to learn that he is only an asset on the court and needs to watch the amount of hacking he does in a game.

Oden's lack of experience has also shown against veteran teams. When Matta's crew made the trip to Gainesville in December, the Gators showed that you can take the big man out of the game if - and that's a big if - you have the talent in the post. Florida's star-studded frontcourt proved to be too much for the Buckeyes to handle. With the likes of Horford, Noah and forward Chris Richard - 6-11, 6-10 and 6-9, respectively - patrolling the paint, head coach Billy Donovan had his Gators go right at Oden. They kept him running all night, forcing him out of the paint and then immediately feeding it into to one of their other post players in order to limit Oden's opportunities to make a play.

And when the big 7-footer struggles, the rest of the team shows its youth. Of their top five scorers, three, including Oden, are freshmen. A team that relies on so much youth is bound to have its struggles, and it has.

Without their go-to center, Ohio State struggles to find an identity on the court. When Oden was sitting on the bench during the Florida game, no one really emerged to take the reigns and lead the team to victory. Even during the game at home against the Volunteers, a game in which Oden had his best game this season - scoring 24 and pulling down 15 boards - Conley was the only other Buckeye to reach double figures.

You hear how good this team will eventually be almost every day. Well, it's now near the end of January and we're still waiting.

To say that this team isn't good would be ridiculous. However, we need to stop hyping them up to be something that they're not because so far, they have failed in almost every opportunity that they've had to prove themselves.

So those in Columbus expecting to see Oden and crew dawning their necks with nylon come March should prepare themselves for disappointment. An emotion they've begun to grow accustomed to this year.