My thoughts on OSU Basketball...

[Pokevette]

I went to my first game of the season Saturday night. Here's what I saw.

* James Anderson is a stud like I've never seen play at OSU as a Freshman. JA is frankly about the only player I saw that showed himself worthy of competing against the best the Big-12 has to offer. He's young and inexperienced, but a heck of a scorer. He needs to learn to play defense better, but that can be coached. I'd much rather have a scorer who can learn defense then a defensive player who I had to teach to score.

* We're obviously going to be very guard dependent this year. That is probably ok because that is where the strength of this squad lies. However, we appear to have some very "lazy" guards in that they would rather stand out at the perimeter and chunk up treys then drive in and create shots. When we play teams that defend the perimiter well, we'll be hard pressed to score consistently. I did not see much of an ability to pass the ball inside or frankly to look to make the assist. Ball handling skills is average at best. A serious full court press defense would be hard on us.

* We have absolutely no inside game. Nobody that even wants to play in the paint or try to score with their backs to the bucket. I don't recall seeing an OSU squad in the last 15 years this deficient in the paint. A forward like say Brian Montenati or Ivan McFarlin would look like a superstar on this team. We had only two dunks the entire night. Ouch...

* Without Anderson, this is an OSU team that would finish in the bottom three of the Big-12. With Anderson, we might finish in the #6-#8 range. If he gets hurt, we're toast. We'll be lucky as heck to finish .500 in league this year.

Guard wise, we have some guys that can play at times. But none of those are consistent enough to be able to rely on. I didn't even see players who I think have the hope of maturing into inside players. We desperately need an inside presence, and the only answer I see to that is to hit the recruiting trail. That obviously does nothing for us this year.

This is going to be a tough year for our fans, Sean Sutton and the tradition of OSU basketball. This team has maybe a 50-50 chance of making the NCAA Tourney at best.

[Gman]

As much as it pains me to say it, I agree with nearly everything in that post. It is absolutely frightening to imagine just how bad we would be without Anderson. When you live and die by the three like we do, you have the potential to lose to anyone (but also have can beat nearly anyone). Defense and point guard play will dictate how far we go this season.

[Pokevette]

Oh, I forgot to mention...

* Marcus Dove is a 6-9 Senior on a team in dire need of an inside presence. Why does he think he is a guard? Why did he shoot 3 3-pointers? Why is he not down low trying to score inside? Why are our Coaches allowing him to float outside along the perimeter? Seems to me like he should be playing inside.

[andyokstate]

That seems like a fair assessment to me. We're just not attacking the basket. We really are living (and dying) by the three. I took a quick look at our stats (http://sports-ak.espn.go.com/ncb/teamstats?teamId=197) and only one player has not attempted a three - Martavius Adams. As a team we're shooting about 36% (69/191) 3pt and about 44% for all FG. I would love to see us develop an inside presence...but you can't coach 'big'.

[wickerbill]

What's crazy is it's obvious to any fan that has watched us play this year that we're lazy on offense and are content to jack up threes instead of pounding the ball inside or attacking the rim. Why is it still happening? What are they doing in practice to keep playing this way in games?

[Gman]

What's crazy is it's obvious to any fan that has watched us play this year that we're lazy on offense and are content to jack up threes instead of pounding the ball inside or attacking the rim. Why is it still happening? What are they doing in practice to keep playing this way in games?

I've wondered the same thing and can only come to the conclusion that Sean thinks that those threes are not "bad shots". Otherwise, there's no way that he would continue to allow that free-wheeling style of offense.

[NCSuttonFan]

The lack of inside play is why Sean and the coaches were so taken aback when Kenny Cooper left... he was their only hope at inside bulk. One player who has a semblance of an inside game is Brown, but he's way undersized -- like Andy says, you can't coach size -- and he's still learning the big-college ropes. Thomas and Dove share the same issue playing inside, which is lack of bulk. That's why Dove isn't a true inside player, he's just so skinny. He has the height, but not the build. At least Thomas has the potential to bulk up over the next few years, and I really like his skills. When I've seen Adams play, he's looked really tentative, but hopefully he'll figure some things out.

To me, Obi and Terrel have GOT to be the other guys to attack the basket. I'm not sure if trying the point messed with Obi's mind, but he hasn't looked like the same player so far... way too passive. Maybe he's afraid of getting hurt again, not sure. But somebody needs to point him toward the rim, and send him there!

The one saving grace in all this is that the defense has -- at times -- been really outstanding. Defensive rebounding is a problem, and that's partly the lack of bulk and partly just being fundamentally sound and blocking out. Hopefully the latter can be taught. But the ball pressure and forcing turnovers has been solid. For my money, they can fall short on offense if the defense is there.

[NCSuttonFan]

I've wondered the same thing and can only come to the conclusion that Sean thinks that those threes are not "bad shots". Otherwise, there's no way that he would continue to allow that free-wheeling style of offense.For this team, open threes are a good shot.

Shooting 36% from three is the same as 54% on twos, effectively. Given that we're currently shooting 49% on twos (including layups/dunks), I'm cool with open threes. Now, that's not just dribbling down and shooting a three... as long as they are in the flow of the offense, and it's an open three, there are guys who can make 'em. Anderson and Harris especially, and Sidorakis seems to have a good outside shot. Again, I'd rather see Obi driving more, as I think he can be more effective that way.

[wickerbill]

Look at the teams we're playing. It's not good to get into the habit of settling for threes before conference play starts and we start seeing much better defensive teams.

[backPhil]

Why not "force" Obi to play with his back to the basket? Seems to me other guards would not be able to stop him. If they double team him, then he has the passing ability to get the ball to the open man.