by V.R. Bryant

Attention span in the blogosphere is pretty scant, I’m told, so I’ll keep this brief. Also, I have a turkey to brine.

The good
Ohio State recovered from the thumping they took at the hands of the Tar Heels (yes, they made a game of it, but even pulling out a win wouldn’t have erased what transpired in the first 35 minutes) by handling Cal and quelling their own little uprising toward the end of the game, and Evan Turner has looked fabulous in the team’s four victories. The Cal win kept the team at roughly the same spot in the rankings, and most of the supporting cast - particularly Jon Diebler and David Lighty - has played well. The pessimist in me says that all ET’s triple-doubles are going to get us is a bunch of unnecessary attention and assurance that he won’t be back as a senior. Regardless, this still looks like a team capable of at least competing for the Big Ten title and entering the tournament with a nice three-to-five seeding.

The bad
This team still commits too many turnovers and fouls too much for my liking. The missteps haven’t been rampant, necessarily, but considering the brand of basketball that’s played in the Big Ten, if we’re having to sit guys because of foul trouble against UNC and Cal, it’s not going to be any better against Michigan State or Purdue. The other not-so-great thing going on right now is the recent play of Will Buford. Scoring wasn’t the thing he was supposed to be working on, but as of this writing he’s 8 of his last 34 and has looked visibly discouraged. I dare say that his inability to find his shot early versus UNC was one of the primary reasons why Ohio State fell so far behind. This isn’t about bagging Will–I still think he’s capable of being the best pure scorer on the team. To this point, though, he hasn’t shown positive progress from last season.

The ugly
Another year, another seemingly disgruntled recruit says ‘farewell’ to the Buckeyes. Sophomore guard Walter Offutt (who had eight points and three boards in the season opener against Alcorn State) has decided to transfer to an as-yet-undetermined destination. People may shrug this off, but losing depth is never, ever a good thing. Offutt’s role on the team may not have been as prominent as he would have liked, Matta would be lying if he told you he wasn’t important to have around in practice, or that he was never going to see the floor in important situations. And Matta wouldn’t say those things, because Matta never lies. He also never breaks wind inappropriately. The man is a wonder of modern times.

Next game is this Saturday versus St. Francis (PA)–keep an eye out for a full article in next week’s UWeekly and in the main sports section here on UWeekly.com.