I agree with the body language statement, especially especially in regards to Buford.He was obviously OFF last night and he let that impact the rest of his game and his teammates.

Leadership was lacking, because somebody needed to tell Buford to keep playing and taking his shots.

In the other board, I pointed out how bad I thought Zisis Sarikopoulos was. Apparently, Matta agrees, as Sarikopoulos got zero minutes.Depth is a problem.

We have no legitimate big man. Lauderdale is only 6'8" but probably the best guy we can put down there who will bang and get physical. Only problem is he can't shoot FT's worth a shit. Hell our whole ballclub couldn't last night

Oh, ONE game and the season is OVER!! Seriously, basketball is a LONG season. Relax. This SAME OSU team won 22 games last year. They are significantly better and will be in the thick of things in the big ten. Mark it down. I dont' think depth is problem to be honest. Last nite, Matta was forced to stay with his main players because of the talent UNC has. That wont' be the case every game. Not too mention OSU had over a week off so guys were fresh and ready to play major minutes.
The world is NOT over, we just lost to at legit top 10 team.

Nobody is saying the season is over or that OSU doesn't have the talent to do good things year. But, like with most teams not named North Carolina, Kansas, or Kentucky depth is a problem. If frontcourt depth was good, the bigs would have gotten more play. It is that simple.

It is early in the season, so that depth can be developed. It isn't there right now.

why you say that?

you would expect sloppiness out of a young team in their first real test. unc has a ton of room to improve.

a veteran osu team laying an egg should be more troublesome.

Why? Carolina is very young and will get much better during the year so I would not worry too much about them.

Because OSU shot 26% from 3pt range, and Carolina only won by 4 points. That game should've been a 20-25 point win for Carolina. I don't worry about OSU much, because they are going to hit shots in the vast majority of their games. Carolina has struggled to finish other teams, and that has to be a problem. Their key players were on last years NC team, they should know what it takes to put a team away. The thing Carolina has going for them, is their length. They made it tough on Turner to get into the lane and pass to the shooters(not that the shooters were making anything). I'm not impressed by Carolina's bigs on offense though. They should've thoroughly dominated this game down low. I think Turner can be a serviceable PG, but his skills are better suited for a 3 man. Although I think having the experience at PG in college will help his draft status. I will say though, I think the officiating threw off the rhythm for both squads.

LTrain23 wrote:

killdeer wrote:

ironman02 wrote: They're quitters? To me, a quitter is someone who gives up when they're down. Carolina had the lead.

They definitely didn't finish well, but it wasn't because they "quit". They thought it was over and let OSU back into the game.

I'm concerned with some things, but I love how a young Carolina team wins a game over a top 15 team who is VERY experienced, and now the Heels don't have a chance in the ACC. Newsflash...this is the 4th game of the season. Carolina will lose ACC games this year, but they'll win plenty too. By March, no one is going to want to play this team.

I'll take the opposite tack...

By March, no one will want to play an experienced and solid veteran OSU team...
and the Heels youngsters will still be trying to learn how to finish.
(Because they sure did not show how to finish tonite.)

LOL, what?

This young and inexperienced team dominated a veteran led OSU team for 34 minutes.

The fact that OSU came back and made it a game does not make UNC "quitters".. What a joke of a post.

It's going to take some time for these young Heels to learn what it takes to finish 40 minutes of basketball, but trust me, as ALWAYS, they will know by March.

I'm concerned about OSU. This is a game MANY thought they had a chance to win. No doubt Turner is a great player, but where is the help? It doesn't matter how experienced you are if you play inconsistently. Point blank.

They did have a chance to win. They got within two points late in the game and it took two clutch free throws by a dude struggling big-time at the line to get it back to a two-possession game and essentially ice it.

What worries me is that if they're playing a team with height, if they can't hit from outside, they're screwed. Last night, if they even shot halfway decent, they would have been with Carolina the entire game, as they were missing makeable shots and then not getting rebounds. Maturity is also an issue. Buford was struggling, so he went into this mode where he kept gunning up shots to force his touch while looking like he was about ready to start crying when they continued to brick. That kind of thing can't happen. No matter how good you are, you're going to have a bad game here and there shooting the ball. Can't let that affect the rest of your game. That moment at the end of the first half where Buford gunned up a shot with 11 seconds to go and UNC responded by getting a three to turn it from 11 points to 14 was a killer.

se-alum wrote:

why you say that?

you would expect sloppiness out of a young team in their first real test. unc has a ton of room to improve.

a veteran osu team laying an egg should be more troublesome.

Why? Carolina is very young and will get much better during the year so I would not worry too much about them.

Because OSU shot 26% from 3pt range, and Carolina only won by 4 points. That game should've been a 20-25 point win for Carolina. I don't worry about OSU much, because they are going to hit shots in the vast majority of their games. Carolina has struggled to finish other teams, and that has to be a problem. Their key players were on last years NC team, they should know what it takes to put a team away. The thing Carolina has going for them, is their length. They made it tough on Turner to get into the lane and pass to the shooters(not that the shooters were making anything). I'm not impressed by Carolina's bigs on offense though. They should've thoroughly dominated this game down low. I think Turner can be a serviceable PG, but his skills are better suited for a 3 man. Although I think having the experience at PG in college will help his draft status. I will say though, I think the officiating threw off the rhythm for both squads.

I agree with much of this. Although, I think UNC having trouble finishing has A LOT to do with their youth learning to play a full 40 minutes. Once they figure that out, I think they will be very good. Not yet a title contender...but with the size and athletisizm they have...they are going to be good. But I agree, as poorly as OSU shot and played...UNC should have won by 20+ last nite. I think its a tribute to OSU that as poorly as they played, especially Buford and Turner...they had a chance at the end.

Heretic wrote:

LTrain23 wrote:

killdeer wrote:

ironman02 wrote:
What worries me is that if they're playing a team with height, if they can't hit from outside, they're screwed. Last night, if they even shot halfway decent, they would have been with Carolina the entire game, as they were missing makeable shots and then not getting rebounds. Maturity is also an issue. Buford was struggling, so he went into this mode where he kept gunning up shots to force his touch while looking like he was about ready to start crying when they continued to brick. That kind of thing can't happen. No matter how good you are, you're going to have a bad game here and there shooting the ball. Can't let that affect the rest of your game. That moment at the end of the first half where Buford gunned up a shot with 11 seconds to go and UNC responded by getting a three to turn it from 11 points to 14 was a killer.

OSU biggest strength, as it was last year, is SHOOTING. They shot over 50% on the season. That is their stength, and I feel last nite was a RARE nite when their 3 top were not shooting well. I don't think that will happen often.
As far as going up against height as a concern....how many teams in the country go 6'10, 6'10 and 7' across the front line? I am not sure if there is ANY other team. Big Ten doesn't have that size, maybe one guy who is 6'10" or bigger. But not the entire front line! Going against height doesn't concern me because there are few teams that have that kind of height.

I wouldnt worry about OSU going up against size...id worry about OSU getting little to no production out of Madsen, Z and Lauderdale. Between the 3 of them combined you might have 1 serviceable Big man IMO.

centralbucksfan wrote:

Heretic wrote:

LTrain23 wrote:

killdeer wrote:

ironman02 wrote:
how many teams in the country go 6'10, 6'10 and 7' across the front line? I am not sure if there is ANY other team. Big Ten doesn't have that size, maybe one guy who is 6'10" or bigger. But not the entire front line! Going against height doesn't concern me because there are few teams that have that kind of height.

+1

I think UNC is the lengthiest team in the NCAA ranks.

Hb31187 wrote: I wouldnt worry about OSU going up against size...id worry about OSU getting little to no production out of Madsen, Z and Lauderdale. Between the 3 of them combined you might have 1 serviceable Big man IMO.

OSU only needs rebounding and shot blocking from Lauderdale. Which BTW< he did just fine tonite against Cal, his first significant game since coming back from injury. OSU has enough other players offensively. Its pretty much common sense that OSU is not going to get much offense from the inside.

Does anyone else picture centralbucksfan screaming the emphasized words he always capitalizes in his posts?

I swear to God you cannot find a post of cbf's where he doesn't capitalize an entire word..so annoying..i hate you cbf.