Tiger2003;1119659 wrote:That is wrong. Did it in 44,45,46 and 60,61,62.

Kentucky and Ohio State are the only 2 schools to make the Sweet Sixteen each of the past three years.

LJ;1120009 wrote:I think Thomas showed his detractors that he isnt just a product of Sullinger. 10 points in 4 min without Sully on the floor.

Thomas is lucky he is scoring at the rate he is because his defense is so f'ing bad. He may get 20, but is probably giving up about 16! lol He has gotten better, but is still bad.

centralbucksfan;1120172 wrote:Thomas is lucky he is scoring at the rate he is because his defense is so f'ing bad. He may get 20, but is probably giving up about 16! lol He has gotten better, but is still bad.

He wasn't recruited as "the state of Indiana's all time leading defender"

Plus his d has gotten better. Just because Dan dakich hates him for going away from Indiana doesn't mean he's always right. He doesn't play great d. But he's not horrible like some say. And he rebounds like crazy.

Ravennel is still horrible. Poor rebounder and defender for his size.

Hopefully Thad goes to more of the underclassmen if and when Sully needs to sit out. Ravennel looked completely lost out there yesterday.

Other than that, OSU is playing good right now, not great. They peaked at the Duke game and hopefully they can peak again.

centralbucksfan;1120172 wrote:Thomas is lucky he is scoring at the rate he is because his defense is so f'ing bad. He may get 20, but is probably giving up about 16! lol He has gotten better, but is still bad.

Between him and Sully, OSU has by far the worst interior defense of the remaining teams.

That was a good win by OSU. But it would have been a horrible loss if OSU blew it. OSU was so much better athletically. Over the last few weeks I just hoped OSU would make it out of the first weekend, which they did.

Midstate01;1120245 wrote:Plus his d has gotten better. Just because Dan dakich hates him for going away from Indiana doesn't mean he's always right. He doesn't play great d. But he's not horrible like some say. And he rebounds like crazy.

Sullinger is the worst defender on the team. Thomas gets a bad rap, although he obviously has room for improvement.

thedynasty1998;1120253 wrote:Sullinger is the worst defender on the team. Thomas gets a bad rap, although he obviously has room for improvement.

Thomas is fine other he gets caught with his head turned some. We really miss Dallas down low cleaning up

thedynasty1998;1120253 wrote:Sullinger is the worst defender on the team. Thomas gets a bad rap, although he obviously has room for improvement.

I feel this way too. People always talk about Thomas, but I think Sullinger is now worse. Thomas one on one has actually seemed pretty good, but it's his awareness that is now the problem on occasion.

Sullinger plays like a bitch defensively.

Terry_Tate;1120324 wrote:I feel this way too. People always talk about Thomas, but I think Sullinger is now worse. Thomas one on one has actually seemed pretty good, but it's his awareness that is now the problem on occasion.

Sully is at least willing to put his body in front of someone to take a charge. There was a play yesterday where someone got beat on perimeter wing, Thomas was supposed to be help side. Was lost. Player drove, Thomas stood and watched with NO attempt. Sullinger isn't great, but no where near as bad as Thomas. Gonzaga knew this and went right at him to start the game. I think he gave up 6 straight to start game with players driving right at him. Sullinger issue is playing worried about fouls or like yesterday, he gets a quick one or two then players soft so not to foul.

I think big men in general, aren't very good defensively. I think officiating has soemthing to do with it. Its never consistant. They call ticky tack fouls, then let them bang the hell out of eachother the next possession. They never give them a feel for the game.

thedynasty1998;1120253 wrote:Sullinger is the worst defender on the team. Thomas gets a bad rap, although he obviously has room for improvement.

Bad rap? Matta quote the other day when someone asked him about DeShaun. "I call him Shaun. He doesn't play enough defense to deserve to be called DeShaun".

He has a bad rap for a reason, he is bad, MUCH worse than Sullinger.

centralbucksfan;1120364 wrote:Bad rap? Matta quote the other day when someone asked him about DeShaun. "I call him Shaun. He doesn't play enough defense to deserve to be called DeShaun".

He has a bad rap for a reason, he is bad, MUCH worse than Sullinger.

Matta said that?

What a dick lol

Worst defender is definitely Sullinger. However, factoring in their body and athleticism, Thomas has the potential to be a great defender at his position, Sullinger does not. If you're comparing them head to head, Thomas is by far the better defender. However, in-terms of underachieving up to their capabilities, it's Thomas.

Sullinger vs Yancy Gates or Bernard James, awful for OSU.
Sullinger vs Kris Joseph, awful for OSU.

We will get to see in their next 2 games what OSU does with those match-ups.

centralbucksfan;1120364 wrote:Bad rap? Matta quote the other day when someone asked him about DeShaun. "I call him Shaun. He doesn't play enough defense to deserve to be called DeShaun".

He has a bad rap for a reason, he is bad, MUCH worse than Sullinger.

He said he used to call him Shaun, not anymore, and that now he takes a lot of pride in his defense. This isn't near the same Deshaun as he was even 2 months ago.

I actually think Thomas' defense is worse now than it was early in the year. But the caliber of opponent probably has a lot to do with that. He's been exposed quite a bit over the last 8-10 games.

I think those of you who think Thomas is better than Sully defensively are ridiculous. It is hard to compare as one usually plays a post player, the other a wing. Thus, Thomas gets exposed MUCH more than Sullinger does as there aren't many really good post players compared to whats out there wing wise.
As far as offense, Thomas has been on fire this past month. He is also been rebounding on top of it. If he continues this, I can live with this defense.
All that being said, OSU is actually a pretty good defensive team overall. At times, very very good. They rank top 10 in many statistical categories.

In college, how great do you have to be on defense in the post? How many teams actually run offense through a big man? In the non-conference especially, how many times would Sullinger actually be facing the opponents best player?

Any team that forces Sullinger to play a big man with skills or who has someone with his size who can match talent, he's a defensive liability. Big time. The Wisconsin game at VCA was a great example.