Men's Basketball
OSU's depth to be tested in Indy
By Ryan Cost, CNATI.com Posted March 10, 2010 5:23 PM ET
COLUMBUS -- Great team, lacking depth. That's Ohio State in a buckeye nutshell. All year long the pundits have questioned whether the Buckeyes' thin ranks would be able to survive the grind of postseason play. Now, we get to find out.
No. 5 Ohio State opens up play as the top seed in the Big Ten Tournament on Friday at noon in Indianapolis against either Michigan or Iowa. The Buckeyes haven't played a game since clinching a share of the Big Ten title against Illinois last Tuesday. But that doesn't mean they've been resting.
"We've kept practices relatively short," OSU head coach Thad Matta said. "But they've been very up-and-down and intensified...I think we'll find out how it went on Friday."
The stat sheet shows reason for concern. Ohio State has four players that averaged more than 35 minutes-per-game during conference play. By contrast, Big Ten co-champion Michigan State claims just one player to average more than 30 mpg during conference play (Kalin Lucas, 32 mpg).
If Matta is concerned, he isn't saying so. And the players shrugged off the possibility of playing three games in three days on the heels of a long season.
"It's back to the AAU days," guard David Lighty said. "We used to play four games in one day. Three games in three days will be fine."
Star guard Evan Turner said he doubts any team would trade winning games at the conference tournament in exchange for a few extra days of rest before the big dance.
"You could get to the tournament and just lose the first game," Turner said. "Anytime you can keep playing basketball, you're fortunate, especially in a tournament atmosphere."
As for conference tournaments in general, the Big Ten Coach Of The Year is not a fan. Matta said he sees too many teams being judged on their "last game" rather than their overall body of work.
"I think it's great for fans. I think it's great for television," Matta said. "I've just always been more into the ten-week grind of a conference stretch."
Matta even wondered aloud during his press conference whether any recent national champions had won their conference tournaments. The answer is yes. Three of the last four national title winners also won their conference tournaments (Kansas in 2008, and Florida in 2006 and 2007).
If the Buckeyes get past Michigan or Iowa as expected, they will play either Wisconsin or Illinois on Saturday afternoon at 1:40. The opening round of the tournament starts Thursday afternoon at Conseco Fieldhouse.
Categories: College, Men's Basketball, Ohio State
Tags: Big Ten Tournament, Evan Turner, Ohio State, Thad Matta
Comments (1)
The depth doesn't bother me so much other than what happens if there is an injury. Their starting five in general seems to be getting better. Everyone knows about Turner, but Bufford has really stepped up lately.
Now, where depth will play in is against a team like Kansas, but if they make it far enough to play them, it's going to be the final four.
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