Men's Basketball
Hoops Week in Review
By Tony Gerdeman

This edition of the Hoops Week in Review is dedicated to people who aren't telling me about their brackets. Thank you for not bothering me with your nonsense.

Recapping the Buckeyes' Week

The Buckeyes only played once last week and came away with an 84-66 win over UNC-Asheville in the first round of the NIT. Even though it was the opening round of the invitation-only tournament, there were other notable aspects of the game as well. The first one being 7'forever" Kenny George, who proved effective when in the game--blocking shots and nearly getting full tiptoe while dunking. The second was the pace at which the Buckeyes were able to play. It's a fun game to watch when there's no clutching and grabbing. And thirdly, the crowd was great for being such a small contingent. It was a consistently vocal crowd, which is something that hasn't come across on television all year long.

Buckeye of the Week

Point guard Jamar Butler. Butler finished the UNC-Asheville game with 25 points and 10 assists. It was his fourth double-digit assist game of the season. Butler finished 8-15 from the field and 5-10 from behind the three-point line.

Additional Buckeye Thoughts

The funniest thing about the UNC-Asheville game is that when Kenny George was in, all of the Buckeyes looked the same size--small. With George in the game, I couldn't see a noticeable difference between Kosta Koufos and Jon Diebler. Granted, an HD television would probably remedy that, but the difference between George and everybody else was just so dramatic that everybody else looked similarly small. It wasn't until George would be on the bench, that the Buckeyes regained their normal appearances.

I'm of the opinion that an assist or an extra pass that leads to a basket is just as good as a made field goal. You know who disagrees with me? Reserve guard and former walk-on Dan Peters. In one minute of play last week, Peters attempted three field goals, making one. Now if we were to prorate that out over the course of forty minutes--which is the standard number of minutes an Ohio State point guard plays--Peters would have finished the game 40-120 from the field. Now I will grant you that scoring between 80-100 points for one player would be impressive, but the 120 shots for one player is just too hoggish. This isn't Indiana and you aren't Eric Gordon! Pass the ball once in a while!

Jon Diebler was 3-5 from the field against UNC-Asheville, marking the first time he was 50% or better from the field since February 5th against Michigan, where he went 3-6. The last time he was over 50% from the field was January 22, when he went 1-1. In fact, the only other time Diebler has been over 50% and taken more than one field goal attempt was December 18, when he went 6-7 against Cleveland State. Obviously, I'm not giving an Independent Study at the University of Michigan here, but this has to improve.

Last week's game marked the third time in the last four games that Jamar Butler has scored 20 points or better. In those four games, he is 14-29 from behind the three-point line. Are these the numbers of a tired player?

Big Ten Week In Review

Wisconsin 2-0 last week: wins over Cal State Fullerton (71-56) and Kansas State (72-55); 31-4 (16-2) on the season.

Purdue 1-1 last week: a win over Baylor (90-79) and a loss to Xavier (85-78); 25-9 (15-3) on the season.

Indiana 0-1 last week: a loss to Arkansas (86-72); 25-8 (14-4) on the season.

Michigan State 2-0 last week: wins over Temple (72-61) and Pitt (65-54); 27-8 (12-6) on the season.

Ohio State 1-0 last week: a win over North Carolina-Asheville (84-66); 20-13 (10-8) on the season.

Minnesota 0-1 last week: a loss to Maryland (68-58); 20-14 (8-10) on the season.

Penn State 0-0 last week: first undefeated week for Penn State in a while; 15-16 (7-11) on the season.

Iowa 0-0 last week: did not play, was not asked, was not wanted; 13-19 (6-12) on the season.

Illinois 0-0 last week: spring breaking; 16-19 (5-13) on the season.

Michigan 0-0 last week: too busy working on independent studies to play in any tourneys; 10-22 (5-13) on the season.

Northwestern 0-0 last week: already had plans; 8-22 (1-17) on the season.

Big Ten Notes

Eric Gordon's Hoosier career is likely over; and boy did he go out with a pillowy-soft bang. Gordon went 3-15 from the field and was 0-6 from three in an 86-72 loss to Arkansas. My only concern is that Gordon has been so horrible over the last month that his draft stock has dropped to the point where he'll be coming back to Indiana for his sophomore season. But then I remember that the NBA is filled with idiots and it only takes one, and all is well again. As I've said before, I don't think Gordon is going to be a successful NBA player, but that doesn't mean I want him back in the Big Ten.

I've come to the dreaded conclusion that Michigan State's freshman guard Kalin Lucas is basically Michael Conley Jr., but two years behind. This past year, he was Conley as a senior in high school. Next year, Lucas will be Conley as a freshman in college. The year after that, Kalin Lucas will be something that we never got to see, and hopefully will never have to see. The NBA is a great place to develop your game, Kalin. Think about it.

Now that Purdue's season has come to a close, do you know who will be coming back for the Boilermakers next year? Everybody but Tarrance Crump. Isn't it disgusting? And not only are they not really losing much (Crump was ninth on the team in minutes and scoring), but they're adding players too. Purdue will bring in a couple of solid guards next year and E'Twaun Moore will continue to be the best player on the team and Robbie Hummel will continue to get all of the accolades. And Matt Painter will continue to be one of the top three coaches in the conference. Nothing good is going to come from this.

Game of the Week

Western Kentucky 101 - Drake 99 (OT). Everybody saw the ending to this game, with Ty Rogers hitting nearly a 30-footer as the clock expired for the two-point win. What you may not have seen was the 74-59 lead that Western Kentucky had with 7:42 remaining in regulation. Drake went on a 29-14 run over the next seven minutes to get the game to overtime. Once in overtime, the game went back and forth. Drake was trailing 98-97 when the Bulldogs' Jonathan Cox was fouled with six seconds remaining. He made both clutch free throws to give Drake the lead 99-98. Drake then took a timeout to set up their defense and they focused on stopping the drive--which they did very well. Drake's defensive effort, however, ended up allowing the signature moment in this year's tournament so far with Rogers’ game-winner from the wing.

Team of the Week

Davidson. This was an easy pick. Davidson went 2-0 last week and is now in the Sweet Sixteen as a 10-seed. They beat 7-seed Gonzaga 82-76 in the opening round and then came back from 17 points down in the second half to beat 2-seed Georgetown 74-70 in the second round. Davidson has now won 24 consecutive games with their last loss coming on December 21 to North Carolina State. This Davidson team scheduled tough early on in order to prepare for the Tournament, and it has paid off. Among their early season games: a 72-68 loss to North Carolina; a 79-73 loss to Duke; and a 75-63 loss at UCLA. While Davidson may be Cinderella right now, this isn't their first ball.

Player of the Week

Davidson guard Stephen Curry. In Davidson's two games last week, Curry averaged 27.5 points per second half and 35 points per game overall. Against Gonzaga, Curry scored 30 of his 40 points in the second half. Against Georgetown, he scored 25 of his 30 points in the second half. He was at his best when his team needed him most and he scored nearly every single time his team had to have a basket. He drove, he ran around screens, he shot with hands in his face. It just didn't matter. He did struggle early on with his shot against Georgetown, but got warm when his team needed it. For the week, he finished 22-43 from the field and 13-25 from three. Next up for Curry: Wisconsin and defensive star Michael Flowers.

Some Things Without A Category

So Western Kentucky is now in the Sweet Sixteen. And what a tremendously tough road they have gone through. Their first opponent was a 5-seed in Drake—a team who hasn’t been in the NCAA Tournament since 1971. After calmly dispatching with Drake, they then ran up against a 13-seed San Diego team! What a grueling slate. If all you have to do to get into the Sweet Sixteen is beat Drake and San Diego, I don’t think adding more teams to the field is necessarily a good thing.

If you haven’t noticed, North Carolina is scoring at a pace we haven’t seen since Loyola-Marymount’s heyday. In two games so far, the Tar Heels are averaging 110.5 points per game—and have been calling off the dogs at about the 12-minute mark in the second half. The difference between UNC and LMU, however, is that the Tar Heels are doing all of this under control. They push the ball, but they still look for good shots. Loyola-Marymount would push the ball and look for the first shot--not necessarily the best shot. It’s impressive to watch, until CBS switches away from the game sometime in the first half, that is.

LOL at Duke.

And lastly, I think it’s pretty obvious that Memphis’ season ends this week, either by Michigan State’s hands or the winner of Stanford/Texas. Memphis is just too streaky with their shooting to not have it burn them at some point. It nearly got them against Mississippi State and I refuse to believe that that was their lone hiccup. If I’m wrong, I probably won’t bring it up again.

In Summation...Yes, I know your bracket is doing better than mine—I don’t care…Kenny George is a carp in a crick full of bluegill…Yes, I said “crick”…You don’t know me!...Dan Peters is a ball hog…If Jamar Butler is tired right now, we should all be so worn down…Penn State spent last week trying not get jumped by the football team…Illinois spent last week at Panama City Beach…Michigan spent last week in an independent study course learning the proper way to chew on a pen and not have it leak in their mouth…Eric Gordon’s career at Indiana is most likely over…Now he can go to the NBA and be as successful as other former Hoosiers such as Jay Edwards, Calbert Cheaney and Bracey Wright…Can we get Mike Conley Sr. to give Kalin Lucas a call?...Western Kentucky has provided us with our shiningest One Shining Moment so far…and LOL at Duke…LOL a lot.

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