I'd call it a must win tommorow

[bigbak32]

It feels a little cliche and dramatic to be spouting the proverbial "must win game" speech prior to the 2nd game of the big ten season, but I sit hear debating how one could think of it in any other way. We went undefeated over the non-conference schedule and were able to pull out wins against mediocre teams (other than Lousiville) in a myriad of different ways with an endless number of different player rotations along the way. Seems to me to be a perfectly understandable process to go through during the non-conference season but is it just me or did we start conference play on Wednesday? I came out of that game with more questions than I have had this entire season after a game. Why are we still playing 12..13 guys? Why was Colton Iverson being run in and out of the game and more importantly why was he not getting the ball on the block? And lastly, why were the guys dog tired 5 minutes into the second half? I kept asking myself as I left The Barn on Wednesday how Tubby found this to be the game plan to cripple the team to beat in the big ten conference. We had 12 non-conference games to figure out who should be in the rotation, we've been playing tough D all year long so why are the guys tired now, and Iverson has proven himself as a formidable talent in the low post yet he took a whopping 3 shots (as many as Jonathan Williams) over the 15 minutes Tubby actually let him on the court. Someone please explain to me how we get outrebounded 41-22, yet our top rebounder plays only 15 mins when he had only 1 foul? Alright, enough ranting about Wednesday, lets get to Ohio St. and why it is a must win. If we start 0-2 and lose two home games, the confidence of this young team will be shot. Tubby needs to look at our weaknesses from Wednesday and understand that we can't win games entirely on the perimeter. We can't win games playing our entire bench. And we can't win games when our players are dead tired early in the second half and unable to rebound or play D. This team may be young, but I think it is talented enough to contend in this conference. But tommorow's game willl be the barometer for what my expectations will be for the remainder of the season.

 

[thebarnsback]

Good post. The only thing I find interesting is how you say we need to shorten up the rotation, which is probably true. But than you say we easily got tired, which is also true. You cannot not have a 12 man rotation if everyone is getting tired easily.

 

[SelectionSunday]

Not to mention, as of this morning. ...

the nonconference SOS (as expected) is starting to free-fall. Nonconference SOS is now #262 of 343, the bottom 24% in all of college basketball. Need to start picking up some quality wins in addition to Louisville.

 

[Art Vandelay]

the nonconference SOS (as expected) is starting to free-fall. Nonconference SOS is now #262 of 343, the bottom 24% in all of college basketball. Need to start picking up some quality wins in addition to Louisville.

Louisville better figure it out soon or that win will mean nothing in March.