Miami Offense Looks to Top Ohio State Defense in ACC-Big Ten Challenge

Ohio State at Miami (Tuesday, Dec. 2, 7 PM)

There’s a lot to prove for Miami this year.  Last year’s campaign was a marked success, resulting in an NCAA Tournament berth and a near upset of Texas.

Frank Haith has got to show the world that his squad deserves to be mentioned perennially in the top echelon of the ACC.  The Hurricanes can’t just beat the BCs, Virginias, and Florida States of the conference every year and hope to reach that goal.

Jack McClinton, Miami’s gunslinger of a shooting guard (Can we call him McClinton Eastwood?  Is that too long of a nickname?  Probably), returns after a brief flirtation with the NBA draft.

In any other year, McClinton might be a favorite to win the ACC Player of the Year.  The guy puts up 43 percent for both two-pointers and three-pointers and takes more than a quarter of the team’s shots.  Mr. McClinton is an offensive force indeed. 

Lost in all the din about the offense is how well the Hurricanes played on D.  I’m not saying Miami is outstanding on the defensive end (they aren’t), but they play well enough to let their offense do the talking.

Haith employs an unorthodox defensive strategy by preventing teams from shooting a high percentage from two and allowing them to shoot a high percentage from three.  Thus, if your team can bang down the threes, you’re golden.  Otherwise, forget it.

Ohio State, meanwhile, was one of those teams last year that just wouldn’t get off the flippin’ bubble.  It was mid-March and, all I could think was, “We’re still talking about them?”

How did they manage to stick around that much?  I would argue that it’s a function of not fouling, of which Ohio State ranked first in the nation.  They were second the year before and second the year before that.

It’s sort of a peculiar statistic to quote, not fouling.  First, some might think it’s an indication that the defense isn’t being aggressive enough.  I don’t believe that, and you shouldn’t either, at least not for Thad Matta’s crew.  They were excellent in the area of eFG percentage defense and did not allow an inordinately high amount of PPP. 

Second, it’s very, very hard to play good defense and not foul.  A lot of defensive effort is expended through physical play.  In the post, the goal on defense is to move your man off of his spot. To accomplish this, you must push him out.  You will undoubtedly be called for a foul at some point for pushing and shoving.  Ohio State didn’t do this.

Finally, if you can pull it off, it’s a smart strategy to employ.  It’s simple: Fouling bails out the offense.  The less you bail out the offense, the better at defense you’ll be.

My point in telling you all this is that the Buckeyes are coached well and will be next year with a young team.  They’re not going to be great, but they will be good enough to make the NCAA discussion, again and again.

Also, it prevents me from saying anything in particular about the team, which is probably why you’re reading this.  Oh well.

UPDATE:  Two commenters below called me out on my poor job of previewing the Buckeyes.  Sometimes, you eat the bar, and well, sometimes he eats you. I'll fix that here.

The Buckeyes return a number of important players, but nobody that made a major impact last season.  None of those players possessed an offensive rating over 100. That's alright, though, I think we (ok, me) often forget that these are mostly teenagers and a significant improvement from year to year - if only from a maturation standpoint - can be expected. 

However, the Buckeyes did manage to snag uber-frosh BJ Mullens.  Mullens apparently scored 108 points, combined, in two high school games.  He'll make a huge difference in the pivot. 

My one quip, though, is that there aren't that many seasoned players on the roster to show him the ropes.  The Buckeye's season may well hinge on how quickly Mullens can pick up the college game.

The Pick: Miami.  Jack McClinton doesn’t shoot very many free throws.  He usually doesn’t have to.

The pick doesn't change.  I still think Miami is older and wiser than these Buckeyes.  OSU might (might!) be better come March, but not December.

ACC-Big Ten Preview: Virginia Tech-Wisconsin