Ohio State vs. UCLA, @ United Center in Chicago, Saturday, Dec. 22 @ 3PM, CBS

[Jagdaddy]

Young might not be very fluid out there but boy can jump.

And I was gonna say maybe you guys shouldn't spend so much time criticizing CJ but it seems like most times when y'all are really laying into him, he then has a stretch where he's great. So I guess keep criticizing, because Saturday's second-half CJ could lead this team to a lot of wins!

Re: CJ, I think that how good CJ is is likely to be the biggest determinant in what this team's ceiling is. When he's good, he can be very good, and I have little doubt that he'll win the team a couple of games that they shouldn't win by getting hot. But he's been bad, as in either offensively invisible or committing awful unforced turnovers, quite a bit this season. He had about 3 throwaway turnovers into UCLA's zone that were simply inexplicable to me and he can't seem to finish anything at the rim. I will say that he's been consistently solid on the boards, but otherwise he's been very hot and cold (and the cold seems to be largely a function of being unfocused to my admittedly not especially keen eye). I am one of the guys who has been hard on him, but it's out of high expectations for him as a senior leader and, at times, a really good player, and concern that he's just seemed a bit out of sorts for large stretches of games. I wouldn't be at all surprised if down the road we learn that he's had something going on with family or his personal life that's stressing him out more than usual and impairing his on the court focus.

 

[LitlBuck]

Re: CJ, I think that how good CJ is is likely to be the biggest determinant in what this team's ceiling is. When he's good, he can be very good, and I have little doubt that he'll win the team a couple of games that they shouldn't win by getting hot. But he's been bad, as in either offensively invisible or committing awful unforced turnovers, quite a bit this season. He had about 3 throwaway turnovers into UCLA's zone that were simply inexplicable to me and he can't seem to finish anything at the rim. I will say that he's been consistently solid on the boards, but otherwise he's been very hot and cold (and the cold seems to be largely a function of being unfocused to my admittedly not especially keen eye). I am one of the guys who has been hard on him, but it's out of high expectations for him as a senior leader and, at times, a really good player, and concern that he's just seemed a bit out of sorts for large stretches of games. I wouldn't be at all surprised if down the road we learn that he's had something going on with family or his personal life that's stressing him out more than usual and impairing his on the court focus.

I was really agreeing with your post until your last sentence. I think if that were the case he would be unfocused or whatever the entire game and not just certain stretches. He is mind-boggling at times.