By: Doug Lesmerises (Cleveland Plain Dealer) —
Dayton- Ronald Moore believes the Big Ten let Ohio State on line pharmacies get away with its point guard problems this season. But Siena’s three-quarter-court pressure, spearheaded by the speedy Moore, created the comeback that led to the Saints’ 74-72 double-overtime win that knocked the Buckeyes out of the NCAA Tournament on Friday and proved Ohio State may need to find a new answer at the point.

“A lot of teams in their conference didn’t pressure them a lot,” said Moore, who hit the game-winning 3-pointer against OSU. “It was kind of let them run your sets and we run our sets. And that’s not how we play. We like to get up and pressure, and I think we did a good job of getting them sideways in the second half.

“You could tell they were getting rattled and making some unforced turnovers and dribbling into the trap box where we wanted them to go. It was good to us.”
As far as solving the problem for next year, don’t count out a lot more Evan Turner at the point.

With David Lighty coming back healthy, the Buckeyes’ best lineup probably would be Dallas Lauderdale at center, Lighty at power forward, Jon Diebler and William Buford at the wings and Turner running the offense.

Current point guards P.J. Hill and Jeremie Simmons would provide backup, but since the Buckeyes went to Turner as their ball-handler late in games this season, they may as well take the next step.

Don’t count on an answer from the outside. With no seniors on the roster, the Buckeyes don’t have a recruiting class. There are 11 of 13 scholarships spoken for, with another expected to be lost to failings in Ohio State’s Academic Performance Rating, which includes the early departure of Kosta Koufos last season.

That means if freshman center B.J. Mullens returns for a sophomore year, Ohio State is full. If he leaves for the NBA, there would be one scholarship available, but another junior college point guard, like Hill and Simmons were, might be asking for more trouble.

Although the trouble couldn’t get much worse than Friday night. Up, 41-30, with 14:30 to play, Ohio State turned it over eight times in the next six minutes as Siena rallied, the Buckeyes several times unable to advance the ball past half court.

“It bothered us a lot,” Hill said of the pressure. “That’s how they want their game to go – chaos and anarchy all over the court. They thrive in that kind of situation.”

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