Up tempo by OSU?
Up tempo by OSU?
I know IU has been dumping the ball inside the past couple of games with success and OSU has been playing a lot of zone, but this article caught my eye. O'Brien plans to run a 3 gaurd offense tonight as G Fuss-Cheathum checked out OK after playing last game and in practice. If the Buckeyes are committed to push the ball and it doesn't work I see this one going over, OSU running out of gas late, and BIG cover for Hoosiers. Just a thought--here's the story
O'Brien sounds wake-up call as tired Buckeyes hit road
Tuesday, January 21, 2003
Bob Baptist
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
This is the point every year at which coach Jim O'Brien begins scaling back the length of practice so the players don't lose their legs for the stretch run of a long season.
He has had more reason to back off this season, considering the minutes some of the Buckeyes have logged after injuries left the team short-handed. On days after games, he was having his 40-minute men -- Brent Darby, Sean Connolly, Zach Williams and lately Shun Jenkins -- shoot free throws while their less-used teammates practiced.
On Sunday, though, 17 hours after Wisconsin handed the Buckeyes (8-7, 1-3) their second straight home loss and fourth in the last five games, O'Brien got mad and decided he wasn't going to take that tack anymore.
He hopes his players have it in them to feel likewise when they face 14th-ranked Indiana (13-3, 3-1) tonight in the first of three straight road games.
"It could backfire. Connolly and Brent might be even more tired,'' O'Brien said yesterday. "But I think that's where we have to challenge them and keep trying to get them to become mentally tougher and not give into the temptation to just accept that they're tired.
"No more worrying about our legs. No more worrying about who's tired. No more worrying about fouls. We've got to get past the mental fatigue as well as the physical fatigue.
"I'm sure they were (ticked) off at me. Too bad. We're all tired.''
The seed for change was planted in O'Brien's mind Saturday night by the Buckeyes' comeback against Wisconsin. Down by 11 points with 5:10 to go, they outscored the Badgers 13-1 to take a 52-51 lead with 37.7 seconds left, only to lose when Kirk Penney hit a driving bank shot with 7.4 seconds remaining.
In earlier losses to Louisville, Michigan State and Michigan, the Buckeyes had led or been tied at halftime only to fade as the second half wore on. They faded against Wisconsin, too, before summoning the rally.
That told O'Brien that they might have more left in their tank than he thought. It just needed to be tapped by whatever means necessary.
"The trend is that we've run out of gas,'' O'Brien said. "But you get to a certain point where you have to say to yourself, 'Well, even if that is part of it, so what?'
"You've got to be bigger than that. You've got to play through it.''
The Buckeyes will need all the toughness they can muster as they embark on a stretch that includes games at Indiana, Iowa and Purdue in the next nine days, and six road games among their next eight.
"We just have to go all-out,'' Darby said. "We really can't be concerned now about getting tired or anything like that. We can't afford to pace ourselves and try to win games at the end. We've got to try to go as hard as we can for 40 minutes.''
O'Brien has been trying to manufacture victories by patching together big and small lineups, and to reduce fatigue by playing mostly zone defense and running slow, clock- consuming offense.
While he might stick with some zone tonight, he seems ready now to return point guard Brandon Fuss-Cheatham to the mix and get back to running the offense he seldom has been able to since Fuss-Cheatham suffered torn knee cartilage in November. If nothing else, it should stimulate some energy.
Fuss-Cheatham came back three weeks after surgery but was hampered by swelling and inflammation in the knee. He practiced without a problem the last two days and said yesterday the knee is pain-free.
"We're going to play Fuss, and if he goes down again, that's the way it goes,'' O'Brien said.
