Thursday, December 04, 2008

Harangody Out for Ohio State

Per ESPN, Coach Brey will not rush Gody back to action and will most likely hold him out on Saturday.

While obviously a 50% Harangody would help the team tremendously, there is a lot to lose by rushing him back too soon. A loss Saturday without Harangody will not hurt too much come seeding time (especially after showing how good we can be with him), but struggling through the Big East schedule could be fatal to hopes of a deep run in March.

In the article, there is no direct quote but a reference that "the coach is planning to keep him out Saturday." Therefore, I wouldn't be shocked to see Harangody dress and be a game-time decision. Still, one must expect the worst and look for Luke Zeller in the lineup against Ohio State. We have done well enough against cupcakes without Gody, so all is not lost.

Though Ohio State has two seven footers on the roster, their starting lineup looks a lot like ours in terms of size. We'll need some more strong shooting by Mac and Ayers to offset the loss of scoring in the paint. With a little help from Tory Jackson and a combination of Hillesland, Zeller, and Nash (even Scott in important minutes), we should be fine on offense. If Hillesland, Zeller, and Nash can also help out on the boards, most of Harangody's stats can be picked up.

Preview tomorrow and we'll see how things turn out Saturday. Obviously playing without an All-American against a good team away from home will be difficult but this team should be able to rally and pick up the production.

EDIT: As I wrote this, a USC player was just ejected for punching Blake Griffin in a tender area. Ouch. Fight on you punks.

1 comment:

MJenks said...

Eh, that shot below the belt was nothing compared to the Chris Paul/Julius Hodge incident a few years ago.

If you're going to do it, CP says to do it right.