Northwestern Wildcats 71 Ohio State Buckeyes 70

LICKING COUNTY FAN

LICKING COUNTY FAN

Well-known member
The first-place Wildcats (6-1,3-0 Big) came from seven down late to overcome the Buckeyes (7-2,1-2) by a single point. The refs allowed football like contact on the rebound attempt by the Buckeyes E.J.Liddell (Belleville, IL ). Liddell had 15points, 8 boards, 2 assists, and a block. Mille Hopp (Houston, Tx) led the Wildcats with 23 points as he easily looked like the best player on the floor.
 
 
LICKING COUNTY FAN said:
The first-place Wildcats (6-1,3-0 Big) came from seven down late to overcome the Buckeyes (7-2,1-2) by a single point. The refs allowed football like contact on the rebound attempt by the Buckeyes E.J.Liddell (Belleville, IL ). Liddell had 15points, 8 boards, 2 assists, and a block. Mille Hopp (Houston, Tx) led the Wildcats with 23 points as he easily looked like the best player on the floor.
Click to expand...
no excuses..just win.
 
Northwestern's a good basketball team.

Encouraged to see Towns play over 15 minutes and score in double figures efficiently. Ohio State is going to be very dangerous when Towns is fully into game shape and Meechie Johnson starts spelling CJ Walker off the bench.
 
nwwarrior09 said:
Northwestern's a good basketball team.

Encouraged to see Towns play over 15 minutes and score in double figures efficiently. Ohio State is going to be very dangerous when Towns is fully into game shape and Meechie Johnson starts spelling CJ Walker off the bench.
Click to expand...
OSU needs a quality pt. guard.
 
brian1227 said:
Chris holtman is a bad coach.
Click to expand...
Pure idiocy, as expected. Holtmann has been a winner everywhere and is a really good coach. Every year he has been at OSU the Bucks perform above their talent level. you know zip about basketball, just like to whine and moan whenever one of your teams lose.
 
Last edited:
Stirred not Shaken said:
Not a bad coach but he has to recruit better.
Click to expand...
So, last year's freshman class included the 2-time Illinois player of the year (Liddell) and the Iowa player of the year (Carton). Love the look of Zed Key and Eugene Brown this year, and Meechie Johnson is on his way also next semester. 2021 class has the #1 and #3 guys in Ohio. 2022 has the #1 from New York and #2 from Georgia.

It may not be possible to compete with Duke, UK, Kansas and UNC for the top level recruits. But his recruiting is very competitive with everyone in the next tier. Point guard is primary issue.
 
Eight first half TOs led to 16 Wildcat points. NW owned the last four minutes of each half. Still...looking forward to this season and the team's depth.
 
I don't know that recruiting has really been any different than when Matta was at OSU outside of the big recruits he got from 2006-2010. In that time frame he managed to pull Oden, Conley and Thomas out of Indiana where he had major connections. The big difference is that in that time frame there were some major in-state studs that there haven't been the last few years in Ohio such as Cook, Buford, Sullinger, Mullins and Koufos. When Matta started to get more recruits (not better) outside of Ohio and the surrounding Midwestern states the program started to nosedive.

In the last 4-5 years the only in-state players that compared as prospects to those guys are Darius Bazley who went pro out of high school and Jaxson Hayes who many whiffed on as he bloomed very late in the recruiting process. Otherwise, the state of Ohio hasn't been anywhere near as talent rich the last handful of years as it was from 2006-2010. Holtmann has done a very good job so far of mixing and matching the best available in-state guys with plucking quality recruits from across the Midwest.
 
wolves82 said:
Pure idiocy, as expected. Holtmann has been a winner everywhere and is a really good coach. Every year he has been at OSU the Bucks perform above their talent level. you know zip about basketball, just like to whine and moan whenever one of your teams lose.
Click to expand...

I think Holtmann is an excellent coach. The issue is that the Big Ten is as good as it's ever been from top to bottom. Virtually everyone has committed resources and effort to quality basketball in recent years, including former perennial doormat Penn State and newer members and former perennial doormats Rutgers and Nebraska. There are no nights off in conference play, and unfortunately for Holtmann, the in-state recruiting well has been a little dry since he's been at Ohio State.
 
wolves82 said:
So, last year's freshman class included the 2-time Illinois player of the year (Liddell) and the Iowa player of the year (Carton). Love the look of Zed Key and Eugene Brown this year, and Meechie Johnson is on his way also next semester. 2021 class has the #1 and #3 guys in Ohio. 2022 has the #1 from New York and #2 from Georgia.

It may not be possible to compete with Duke, UK, Kansas and UNC for the top level recruits. But his recruiting is very competitive with everyone in the next tier. Point guard is primary issue.
Click to expand...
Other than Liddell, OSU ( maybe Towns ) have no go to players, tired of role players and combo guards who try to play pt. guard. Thad Matta won numerous BIG titles also had several FF appearances yet that was not enough. This is Holtmann's 4th year it is time to start winning something, and you are not going to win in the BIG with players like Zed Key and Eugene Brown. Get a center who is over 6' 8 ", Rutgers and Purdue have several, and a true pt. guard. I am not a fan of mediocracy which is where OSU in bball right now. If you are telling me OSU has a lot of talent than player development is not very good.
 
Love Thad but talent development and the overall product stunk his last couple years and it was clear that with his declining health things weren't going to get better. The recruits Holtmann has had so far are probably on par with what Matta had his last few years once the Sullinger and Craft class cleared out, and he's gotten more out of that caliber in a better Big Ten than what Thad was getting.

Thad's demise beside his declining physical health was going out of state and region too much for players who either bombed or transfered out. Ohio State basketball isn't going to be consistently good without an in-state and regional recruiting strategy, which at the moment means building a system and maturing four year players. The bottom line as far as size are there haven't been any B.J. Mullins or Kosta Koufos types to pluck in the backyard in several years. This program needs to be like the John Beilein Michigan program that had few top-flight stud recruits but developed and matured talent into a high-level product.
 
"Time to win something" well last year's team was peaking in March and was a real B10 tourney contender/darkhorse Final 4 team. Of course COVID stole that. Lose both Wessons and Carton doesn't come back, they were bound to take a step back. Even so, this team looks like they COULD (not will, but could) get to the Sweet 16 with a couple of top classes about to come in.

Holtmann is fine. Far better at development and in game coaching than Matta was.
 
Still think these guys will be alright this year. Give it a few more weeks and Towns will be a difference maker and by the end possibly the best player on the team.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top