Ohio State

I have had the opportunity to watch Ohio State since they have ascended to Number One in the polls and I am impressed.  Their strengths are many while their weaknesses are few.  However, let me state now that Kansas deserves to be Number One at this point, and if this weekend goes the way I believe it will, Kansas will take the top spot.

The Buckeyes are an exceptional shooting team.  Overall, they are shooting 50% from the field and 40% from behind the arc.  Their top 3 scorers, Sullinger, Buford, and Lighty (who seems like he's been around for 10 years), take about half of their shots.  Sullinger, who makes his living in the paint, shoots 58% from the field, while Buford hits 46% of his shots (including 41% of his treys).  Lighty hits 48% of his shots and 46% of his threes.  They have a 3 point specialist in John Diebler who takes far more 3's than anyone else on this team and hits 47% of them.  I saw him hit 3 in a row last week...all were contested and none hit the rim.  They put up 79 points per game (72 in Big Ten games).  In a nutshell,  they are typical of Thad Matta's teams...balanced and smart in terms of shot selection.  They also distribute the basketball, averaging over 17 assists per game as a team while their leader in assists averages less than 5 per game.  Their players are unselfish, making the extra pass to get better shots.

Defensively, they are more than solid.  They have given up over 70 points one time this year to a Florida team like likes to push the ball.  Ohio State beat them by 18, and the Buckeyes were on cruise control during the latter part of that game.  Overall, their opponents shoot 41% from the field and 32% from beyond the arc.  They only give up 56 points per game, and in Big Ten play so far they have allowed a little under 63 points per game.  Basically, you have to work hard to score against them.  Making things more difficult, the Buckeyes cause 18 turnovers per game.

The only two weakness as far as I can see is that they are not very deep and they don't dominate the backboards.  Their rotation consists of 8 players, and all of their starters average over 30 minutes per game. Their 2 main bench players average over 17 minutes and the third averages 10.  They may succumb to fatigue in March because by then they will have gone through a physical Big Ten schedule and Tournament.  The fact that they have only had 4 players foul out all year (each just 1 time) is a double-edged sword.  Their best players don't have to take a seat because of foul trouble, but they are not extending their bench and giving their best players rest. In Big Ten games they are even with their opponents in rebounds.  While ideally you want a clear rebounding advantage, this hasn't been an exploitable weakness yet because Ohio State shoots so well and causes 7 more turnovers per game than they commit. 

I like the way this team competes and their balance.  You can shut down Sullinger or Buford and still get torched by Lighty or Diebler.  On the other end, you have to take care of the basketball and work to get good shots.  However, they still have the tough part of their schedule left to play: Illinois twice, Wisconsin twice, Purdue, and Michigan State.  After running that gauntlet, I could see them being a little tired in the NCAA tournament against a physical team from, say, the Big East and getting bumped off in the Round of Sixteen if they're not careful.