Parody Gives Basketball Bucks Some Hope

College Athletics is an unpredictable beast.  For some reason, perhaps it’s that whole “student” part of student athlete providing distractions.  College athletes do not always perform consistently from game to game.  This past fall it looked like Oregon would battle Kansas State for the BCS Championship Game. The two teams didn’t perform down the stretch and left the door open for Alabama and Notre Dame.

College basketball is no different in that aspect.  Teams ranked in the top five have been defeated on nineteen occasions by unranked opponents this season.  Yes, 19.  A few weeks ago, Indiana lost on the road at Illinois as the top-ranked team in the country.  Surely, this should have resulted in a fall from the top spot.  Nope, not this season.  Virtually every other top team behind the Hoosiers lost that week.  So much for "earning" the top spot. 

This brings us to the enigma that is the Ohio State men’s basketball team this year.  They’ve put together impressive home wins against Michigan, Michigan State, and Wisconsin.  They have also been hammered in Madison and at Illinois.  You’ve probably heard Ohio State is awful against ranked teams.  They are 2-7 against top-25 opponents (the Badgers were unranked at the time of their home victory). 

That doesn’t really matter though.  Ohio State proved it could hang with Duke at Cameron Indoor. A Duke team with a healthy Ryan Kelly.  The Bucks were a few missed shots away from knocking off Kansas.  They took Michigan to overtime in Ann Arbor and were a botched last-second play away from doing the same to Sparty at the Breslin Center.  

Here’s why their record against quality opponents isn’t a huge cause for concern right now: College basketball is down this year.  Way down.  Anthony Davis and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist aren’t leading a Kentucky squad.  Jared Sullinger and Thomas Robinson have moved on.  There isn’t a Steph Curry or Kemba Walker carrying a team (that we know of yet). 

Here is what happened.  Last year’s sophomore class was exceptionally strong, in part because of Barnes, Sullinger and others coming back because the prior year the NBA lockout loomed.  A strong sophomore class was combined with a solid freshmen class, headlined by Anthony Davis.  The quality of teams was simply better last season.  I'm not even sure who Dick Vitale’s “diaper dandies” would be this year other than Mclemore of Kansas, Nerlens Noel (who's hurt), and Stauskas for Michigan (who has tailed off).  Perhaps this is a reflection of a “down” freshmen class or I just haven’t had as much time to watch college basketball (dang it employment!).

This Ohio State team is essentially the same as last year’s group, minus the 1^st round NBA draft pick Sullinger and one of the all time career points leaders in Ohio State history in William Buford.  Those guys were replaced with Amadeo Della Valle, who for the record has the potential to be my all-time favorite Buckeye because of his hair, hustle, sweet stroke, and swag (see Twitter).  No offense to Amadeo, but he’s mostly played during garbage time so Thad is trying the whole addition-by-subtraction approach I guess.

For as bad as Ohio State has been at times this year, they currently hold a top-15 national ranking, have an almost-guaranteed win left on the schedule (Illinois at home), and a chance to make a statement at Indiana.  They should be a 4 or 5 seed come tournament time, but we’ve already seen that every top team has flaws and is beatable.  The first game in the NCAA tournament and possibly even the second won’t be a “high quality” opponent that OSU has struggled with all season.  As long as the Buckeyes don’t go into a tailspin and bring it every night, they’ll be in every game they play because of their stifling defense.

There are question marks, don’t me get wrong.  There are about two “known” quantities on this team.  Deshaun Thomas will put up 18-25 a night and Aaron Craft will play relentless defense and provide great energy…and some rosy red cheeks.  Other than that, I don’t know who is going to show up.  Free throws have been all over the place.  Same goes for 3 pointers.  The defense has even disappeared at times.  Like every college basketball team this year, they are flawed.

The obituary was being written for this team following back-to-back losses (the first such occurrence in 121 games) which led to losses in 3 of 4 that culminated in the beat down by the Badgers.  That was followed up by a no-show near home loss to Northwestern who has SEVEN scholarship players on their roster.  Ohio State can play with anyone in the country…when they’re on.  Fortunately for them, there is not a dominant team in college basketball this year.  This gives them a shooters chance come tournament time.  However, every team is probably thinking the same thing.  Just a few short weeks until we find out which teams are going to weave their way through the mess that is college basketball all the way to the Final Four.

Enjoy the ride.