OSU rolled in its last non-Gonzage/non-conference test today at GIA. Thankfully the snooze-y portion of the schedule is over (if you don’t count TCU) and we can start filling in the resume for early March. Here are five thoughts on the win over Tennessee Tech…
1. Amilian made a good point today about this team’s watchability — even last year when we were drumming teams, it wasn’t really that fun to watch. Plus last year’s squad would play down to its opponent. This year’s team is exciting for one reason — because of how intense they are on defense. I hope they don’t forget this when January rolls around.
2. Speaking of defense, here are the amounts OSU has held its last five opponents to below their season average in points (from most recent to lease recent):
26 | 18 | 15 | 16 | 18
Spectacular work from a coach and a team not expected to make waves on the defensive end.
3. I tweeted this in the second half but Kirby Gardner is probably better than any starting point guard OSU has had since Eaton and he’s the backup, a bit player, a role guy who could see time when Smart gets hurt or needs a blow.
I got a few tweets back about how the bar isn’t high etc. etc. I get that but Gardner is also legit. Think old Maynor to Smart’s Westbrook.
4. I got an anonymous text from a former player1 saying that he thinks Murph is better than Cobbins. I think I agree. I’m all in on Murphy as a legitimate Big 12 presence. Cobbins might be more athletic (and he definitely has his role) but Murphy is almost always in the right position in the court. It’s uncanny.
5. Good Nash/bad Nash scares me heading into the Big 12. It’s almost like if we dont’ revolve the offense around him, he just checks out. I don’t think he’s a bad team player or necessarily selfish but we need him to chip in even when he’s not getting easy buckets or having fun isolating former high school all-stars.
Smart is fantastic, one of the best players in the country, but for this team to be truly great Nash is going to have to figure out how to fit in even when it’s not flowing.
- This is not hard to figure out. ↩
-- 
Welcome to Pistols Firing
I’ve said it several times. Kirby Gardner is a solid PG. He handles the ball well, plays pretty dang good on ball defense, and with respect to a few ill-advised threes, he makes smart decisions on when to attack and when to slow it up a bit.
Do you think we can ever bet basketball in the black as a revenue sport? Will a fun to watch team make this happen. I miss the days of odd and even when as students we could not all get a ticket to each game. So we has odds and evens. Made a lot of money trading to guys who wanted to take their girls to games and I had to work.
I agree that watchability is way up due to the defense. We can go watch the best offensive team on the planet in the Thunder any time we want, but the desire for a team that plays great defense every time out with a ton of heart is what we have been craving as OSU fans. It’s in our blood.
I tweeted this on @osustats but OSU has been in the top 3 of defensive matchups for 9 out of 11 teams this year.
KenPom says we are 18th overall and playing the 3rd best defense in the country right now. 3rd!
Aaron- the odd/even system went away when they expanded GIA. Even with the packed houses of the early 2000s a student could get tickets to every game.
Gonzaga will be signature game for this team. They won’t be sleep walking on vacation (Tenn-NC State) and are used to big time games. Win or lose, we need to see the same team we’ve enjoyed while beating up the bums.
Is it me, or does this team suddenly feel deep? Starters are Nash/Murphy/Jurick/Brown/Smart. Bench is Forte/Gardner/Cobbins. If by the end of January Williams is able to come back and Soucek gets healthy, this could be the makings of a pretty nice run in the Big 12 in a down year.
Definitely not just you…I was thinking the same thing yesterday.
Am I the only one who sees a little of IMac in Kamari Murphy?
Among freshmen only, McFarlin is the 2nd most similar to Murphy in my similarity ratings. The only freshman season that is more similar to Murphy’s: Bryant Reeves.