It's hard to have strong takes in November for the bball program. And I am not trying to just be a sunshine pumper. I acknowledge that we have some issues that could be long term problems: Meechie's turnovers, Micah's shot selection, Sean's offensive production (or lack there of), Bradshaw's status on the team, etc. And even positives like Juni's blistering start could be majorly humbled by the grind of Big 10 play.

That being said, I do think we have a couple of positives that have continued from last season that have been a bit overshadowed by the new negative aspects of the team and even some of the new positives (namely Juni and to a lesser degree Colin White).

1. Bruce Thornton's Playmaking and Ball Security- Bruce has played 15 games under Diebler and has 6 games with 7 or more assists. He only had 2 such games in 60 career games under Holtmann. He is currently taking care of the ball at a ridiculous level: 9 to 1 assist/TO ratio (4th in the country). Now that is nowhere near sustainable. But in the 10 games he played under Diebler last year, he still had an excellent 4.2 to 1 ratio (63 assists, 15 turnovers). Diebler has mentioned multiple times that he wants Bruce to be even more aggressive. That could mean a little higher turnover rate but hopefully more assists as well. If Bruce can be a 5-7 assists a game type player and still take care of the ball at a pretty high level, I think that would be a huge positive factor for the Bucks.

2. Another positive has been the defensive efficiency. If you eliminate pre-season projections and just base it on season performance, OSU is #5 in the country in defensive efficiency (based on Bart Torvik's analytical site). I get they played 3 games against mid/low majors. But it is opponent adjusted and every major college team in the country has had at least a couple of similar match ups. Also, if you look at last year's team, Jake took over a team that was 96th in defensive efficiency. In the final 8 games of the season (NIT not included) the Bucks were 13th in the country in defensive efficiency. Is it cherry picking to leave out the NIT? Yeah. But when you factor in a rotation player (Middleton) left the team, staff members were looking for new jobs and/or had 1.75 feet out the door (Jack Owens), the motivation (or lack there of) factor, etc, I just think it is pretty flawed data. Anyways, this team seems to be connected and is playing similarly aggressive like last year. Much like the turnovers with our faster tempo on offense , fouling is going to be a potential issue with that aggression. And that absolutely killed us against Texas A&M. But still, if Jake can keep this team as a Top 25ish defense all season, that is no small factor. It may be tough to pull off if we lose Bradshaw, but still some really versatile defensive pieces in place with Mahaffey, Stewart, Meechie, and Micah.

Again, not saying we are Big 10 contenders or even a lock NCAA Tourney team if these trends continue. College basketball is too crazy these days IMHO to predict especially in an 18 team league. But I do think these two trends are a big deal. Whether or not we can keep both going is the big question. Let's hope that we can. Go Bucks!