What's with the hype for OSU now?

I mean, I know Greg Oden is finally playing (and playing well), but getting excited because they beat Cincinnati by 22. Cincy? That's nothing to get excited about. I know Cincy just came off a nice win over Xavier, but this is the same Cincy club who lost to Wofford at home, who lost to UAB at home, and was to finish 13th in the Big East by the coaches this year. Meanwhile, Wisconsin, as Ryan G. adeptly points out, crushes the preseason Big East #1 pick and Brian Butch shows up the preseason Big East player of the year Aaron Gray. Why is everybody getting in a fuss about Ohio State? Well, Wisconsin may be the better team, but there's no doubt Ohio State has more guys that will be playing the NBA. And the media is built for highlights and searching for the next big star as much as winning games, if not moreso.

Ryan also pointed out something really sad, but true. I mention this not to jump whole-heartedly on the Sampson bandwagon (let's wait a couple of years before really assessing his true value), but something that evidently has become evident to both me& Ryan, who were both Davis supporters longer than we should've been:

...the Mike Davis hire looks worse and worse with every game Sampson coaches...and I was a Davis supporter.

Amen, brother. Sheesh. I'd nearly forgotten what an in-game adjustment looked like. And did anyone else see Kelvin, immediately after a made FG, jumping up and down and hollering at his players to get in the correct defense? Actual coaching.

Kudos to Hoosierball's SIU pre-game breakdown using tempo-free stats. I'd love to see that catching on in the blogging community even moreso, and perhaps forcing actual change in the ESPMSM. I think I have to include that in my player rankings somehow, as Big Ten games involving Northwestern are going to have a lot less possessions than ones involving Ohio State, which creates a statistical bias in favor of Ohio State players (like they need it).
Also, I may have to tweak my formula to count each Assist as 3 points, because counting it for 2 does not take into account 3-pointers or 3-point plays, and certainly doesn't account for free-throws. I remember one game where Marshall Strickland was having a particularly good game at point guard, and had 3 or 4 assists for the game, but his passes caused at least an equal number of fouls from the opponents (so as not to give up the easy lay-up), which gave the team points but didn't show up in the box score.

Go Hoosiers, and to all of you who are traveling for the Holidays, best wishes for a safe journey!