And of course he’s doing it against a “garbage” team in Maryland, and playing defense against a “garbage” player in Huerter. Hmmm. 
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His defense on heurter has been quite amazing. Not sure what has gotten into him tonight, but he looks great.
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And once again, If you swap the two and ask Jaaron Simmons to do exactly what Andrew Dakich does the difference would be negligible.
They’re not being asked to have roles on the same planet as each other. Good for Dakich for having a nice shooting game. It changes nothing. He would still be sitting on our bench behind Eli Brooks making no impact.
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God bless Dakisch and I’m happy he had his Spike Albrecht moment tonight. Unfortunately for young Andrew, Kate Upton is off the market. I will happily take my chances with Brooks going forward, plus the long term benefits of experience Brooks is getting now.
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I hope you don’t think I’m anti Eli Brooks or that my comment had anything to do with Eli in any way. I’m a big fan of Eli. My comment is only directed at those who disparaged Andrew in their attempt to refute my point that he could have made “meaningful and positive” contributions to our team if he had stayed. I agree, God less Andrew Dakich. He was given an opportunity at Ohio State and contrary to what some on here believe he is making the MOST of it. There are some on here who are haters, and that is where my comment is aimed.
The reason I brought up Eli was because Andrew Dakich would be on the bench behind him, not making an impact.
What? Who said he isn’t making the most of it? He definitely is.
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I did not think you were disparaging Brooks.
So, how good is OSU? And how much does it even matter, considering their schedule? They have to play a road game eventually, right?
They have a top 3 Big Ten finish pretty much locked up as long as they win the games they should, I guess that’s something. I really don’t think we’ll know until the tourney.
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While I see the modest point that AD could offer coaching and a solid role as a minimally used third point guard, I have to disagree wholeheartedly that he would be an upgrade over ANYONE on the current roster.
And arguably it comes down to this: would AD be more valuable to this team than Simmons (as this is the scholarship in question)? To me, the answer is an emphatic no. I see why some may think AD’s cerebral experience and knowledge of Coach B’s tactics and strategy is valuable. But it’s my hunch that the having Simmons on the scout team helps push both Z and Eli more than anything—physical or mental—AD could provide. Simmons is quicker than AD, shiftier, stronger, and plays better defense. So even though AD might be able to get in Z and Eli’s ear, I’d much rather leave the coaching to the staff and have Simmons make them better ballers by competing with them at a higher level every day in practice.
Just my two cents.
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Never even thought of that, great point. Not only to push them, but the fact that he’s obviously an infinitely better guy in terms of simulating other teams’ offenses. His knowledge of the system would be valuable if he was playing, but he wouldn’t be.
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It may be time to give this a rest. I don’t think anyone disparaged Dakich–he was a favorite of absolutely everyone. He didn’t have an obvious path to PT and HE opted to go somewhere where he thought he could see his way clear.
To spin that into resentment at anyone, least of all Beilein, is a little perplexing. Apologies if I missed the post where anyone “hated” Dakich (?) Personally, I am delighted for him at OSU, was delighted that he could have a hand in MSU’s defenestration the other night and suspect that he’d still be trying to fight his way off the bench were he in A2. Don’t you?
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Why is this naritive being pushed Dakich is a nice guy was a good teammate but nothing more than a walk-on. These are the same people who would be calling JB out for not looking for a grad transfer. Enough said. And let’s be real there is nothing Dakich can do better than any scholarship guard on the team besides play harder and even that would not be enough.
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Better question might be how good is Holtmann? KBD + a bunch of ‘just guys’ have no business doing what they’re doing, home-court advantage aside. I could see KBD’s breakout keeping them out of the B1G cellar, where they were projected, but this actually pretty amazing.
I wonder/hope the rematch on 2/18 is (essentially) for 3rd place.
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Yeah, Holtmann clearly is ahead of the other two new Big Ten coaches at this point, although those teams are basically OSU’s random guys minus KBD.
Don’t think I would call jesean Tate just a “guy.” Plus Wesson and Jackson are solid players. Certainly holtmann deserves a lot of credit for how they are playing but they have plenty of talent at the top. Particularly considering they have by far and away the front runner for btpoy. Their big issue is they have no depth.
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Im probably understating the impact of having KBD, B1G POY front runner; and I love Tate’s game and hate playing against him. But still, am I alone in remembering that OSU was largely presumed to be a bottom 1/4 B1G team? They still have a way to go, to have earned anything, but wins against Michigan and MSU (wrecking MSU)–and they dominated in their two road wins (albeit against bad teams)–is so impressive.
A top 4 finish, and Holtmann MUST win B1G coach of the year.
The fact that KBD is seriously considered a Big Ten POY front-runner is a huge credit to Holtmann to me. He was always a good player. Never thought he would be a pro. Id love to see a more analytical breakdown of how he’s being used differently this year than in the past, if that is even happening or if it’s simply just “he’s healthy”
I would be very interested to see Thad with a healthy team [edit: specifically this healthy team]. I think his firing was shaky but I think it’ll turn out for the best.
Don’t disagree with that. Holtmann should be coach of the year if osu continues to play this way.
I would say that although they were projected to finish lower half or quarter or wherever, don’t think anyone projected the big ten to be as bad as it has been. From what I remember most thought the big ten had a couple very good to great teams (msu, Purdue) and then a bunch of potential tournament teams all the way down towards the bottom. Unfortunately it’s turned out that the big ten has a handful of decent to great teams and a bunch of nit to bad teams.