Don't be surprised to see 20 points soon.
(D.Harker: The O-Zone)
 Ohio State
11-3, 1-2 Big Ten
Roster | Schedule
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January 13, 2009 7:00 PM ET - ESPN —— The Schott Columbus, OH |
 Indiana
5-10, 0-3 Big Ten
Roster | Schedule
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What a difference a year makes. Just a season ago, Indiana was on top of the Big Ten cruising towards a title and I took some heat for calling out Kelvin Sampson in the first preview.
Two weeks later Sampson was fired and Dan Dakich came in to oversee the season-ending-drug-induced-FAIL that lead to Tom Crean being hired to turn things around. Crean was a great choice and there is little doubt he will have the Hoosiers back in the next couple of years.
Indiana took both games from Ohio State last year and lead the all-time series 99-68, but OSU holds a 47-34 in Columbus. This will be the first time both teams come in unranked since the 2004-2005 season.
| # | Name | PTS | REB | ASST | POS | # | Name | PTS | REB | ASST |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | Jeremie Simmons | 7.0 | 2.0 | 2.6 | G | 2 | Matt Roth | 5.5 | 1.4 | 0.5 |
| 33 | Jon Diebler | 10.9 | 3.5 | 2.6 | G | 20 | Nick Williams | 9.0 | 4.9 | 0.8 |
| 21 | Evan Turner | 15.9 | 7.3 | 2.6 | F | 12 | Verdel Jones III | 8.3 | 2.5 | 2.6 |
| 44 | William Buford | 9.7 | 3.3 | 0.6 | F | 44 | Kyle Taber | 4.0 | 5.1 | 0.7 |
| 52 | Dallas Lauderdale | 6.6 | 4.6 | 0.4 | C | 25 | Tom Pritchard | 12.2 | 7.3 | 1.2 |
Opponent
Indiana comes in scoring 60.9 points a game on 42.8% shooting, both good for last in the B10. With all the defections from last year the Hoosiers start 4 freshmen and a senior and making matters worse, their leading scorer Devan Dumes may be out with an ankle injury. If you'll recall, Dumes was offered a scholarship by Thad, but decided to stay close to home, opening up the spot for Jeremie Simmons. I was looking forward to comparing the two tonight.
If Dumes doesn't play, the Hoosiers may go only 7 deep, 6 of which are freshmen. Malik Story, a 6'5" freshmen will lead Indiana off the bench, scoring 5.9 points and grabbing almost 3 boards a game.
They have lost 8 of their last 9, including 6 straight, but had Michigan on the ropes last week before blowing a 20 point lead. Other recent losses include Kentucky, Northeastern and Lipscomb.
Buckeye Breakdown:
Unfortunately, I didn't get to see the Houston Baptist game due to a combo of traveling and being a dumb-ass with the DVR, but it sound like the Huskies were so bad, it would be hard to determine anything good or bad from the tape.
A couple recent trends have been encouraging though. I think the Bucks have started to make a better effort of getting the ball toBJ Mullens, as he hit 13 of 21 shots in the last two games. Also, Will Buford has scored 36 in his last two, creeping his per game average to almost 10.
The negative trends continue to be the lack of three point defense and Diebler's streaky shooting. The Bucks have fallen to 9th in the conference in 3-point FG defense, allowing 43 over the last 4 games. Diebler's scoring the last eight games is: 14, 16, 3, 5, 27, 15, 7 and 5. He would be guaranteed double figures every game, if he would give a shot fake and drive on a threeball every now and then. It was good to see him lead the team with 8 assists against Houston Baptist.
Etc
- Evan Turner is fourth in scoring and fifth in boards amongst B10 players.
- OSU doesn't have a player ranked in the top 15 for assists in the conference.
