Post by victor2111 on Mar 6, 2015 1:06:08 GMT -5
A lot of people are picking Ohio State as the lower seed that could make a run in MARCH!
Good article here on it:
Ohio State will be dangerous in NCAA tournament
Selection Sunday is still more than a week away, but there is one team on my radar that can be a bracket buster: Ohio State.
The Buckeyes are rated 12th in ESPN’s latest Basketball Power Index and 16th in the Pomeroy College Basketball Ratings behind a 21-8 record. They rank 12th in the nation in effective field goal percentage, 20th in points scored per 100 possessions adjusted for competition and 34th in adjusted points points allowed. In other words, a very well-rounded team.
Freshman guard D’Angelo Russell is turning in a tremendous season, one that has him in elite company. He is averaging 19.0 points, 5.8 rebounds and 5.3 assists per game with a 117.3 offensive rating while using nearly 30 percent of Ohio State’s possessions. Per Bleacher Report’s C.J. Moore, in the last 10 years, there have been two freshman perimeter players with an offensive rating that high who have used at least 28 percent of their team’s possessions: Stephen Curry and James Harden.
Plus, the Buckeyes continue to improve on defense, especially against the pick and roll:
After the Buckeyes surrendered seven three-pointers to opposing guards in the following week’s upset loss in Ann Arbor, Matta clearly felt it was time for a change. As the Buckeyes took the floor at home against Nebraska this past Thursday, a new tactic was in place.
Instead of giving perimeter players like wing Terran Petteway the space to operate, the Buckeyes ‘blitzed’ the Huskers on the perimeter, effectively double-teaming the ball handlers with both defenders involved on the play. Meanwhile, the remaining three OSU defenders slide slightly off their men and effectively play what would be the back-half of a 2-3 zone, with one man in the paint and two on the wings.
The adjustment has them riding a two-game winning streak, but the RPI, one of the tools used by the NCAA Selection Committee to evaluate teams, has them 32nd. That puts them as a No.7 or No. 8 seed in the bracket if it were held today.
Yet according to thousands of computer simulations of the college basketball season, including the NCAA tournament itself, the Buckeyes have a 13 percent chance at making a Final Four appearance. Very similar odds to higher rated teams like Utah, North Carolina and Kansas.
Good article here on it:
Ohio State will be dangerous in NCAA tournament
Selection Sunday is still more than a week away, but there is one team on my radar that can be a bracket buster: Ohio State.
The Buckeyes are rated 12th in ESPN’s latest Basketball Power Index and 16th in the Pomeroy College Basketball Ratings behind a 21-8 record. They rank 12th in the nation in effective field goal percentage, 20th in points scored per 100 possessions adjusted for competition and 34th in adjusted points points allowed. In other words, a very well-rounded team.
Freshman guard D’Angelo Russell is turning in a tremendous season, one that has him in elite company. He is averaging 19.0 points, 5.8 rebounds and 5.3 assists per game with a 117.3 offensive rating while using nearly 30 percent of Ohio State’s possessions. Per Bleacher Report’s C.J. Moore, in the last 10 years, there have been two freshman perimeter players with an offensive rating that high who have used at least 28 percent of their team’s possessions: Stephen Curry and James Harden.
Plus, the Buckeyes continue to improve on defense, especially against the pick and roll:
After the Buckeyes surrendered seven three-pointers to opposing guards in the following week’s upset loss in Ann Arbor, Matta clearly felt it was time for a change. As the Buckeyes took the floor at home against Nebraska this past Thursday, a new tactic was in place.
Instead of giving perimeter players like wing Terran Petteway the space to operate, the Buckeyes ‘blitzed’ the Huskers on the perimeter, effectively double-teaming the ball handlers with both defenders involved on the play. Meanwhile, the remaining three OSU defenders slide slightly off their men and effectively play what would be the back-half of a 2-3 zone, with one man in the paint and two on the wings.
The adjustment has them riding a two-game winning streak, but the RPI, one of the tools used by the NCAA Selection Committee to evaluate teams, has them 32nd. That puts them as a No.7 or No. 8 seed in the bracket if it were held today.
Yet according to thousands of computer simulations of the college basketball season, including the NCAA tournament itself, the Buckeyes have a 13 percent chance at making a Final Four appearance. Very similar odds to higher rated teams like Utah, North Carolina and Kansas.
