[Belfry0304]

After doing a little more research and listening to some guys that cover OSU basketball, I say Kentucky needs to put Liggins on Aaron Craft. Craft doesn't start the game, but comes off the bench and really makes the Buckeyes go. He is a tough, high IQ point guard and a sticky defender. Liggins needs to be guarding him when both him and Craft come off the bench and into the ball game. As we saw this season, Liggins nearly always has success against the point guards that he has defended (Peyton Siva, Joe Mazzulla, Chris Warren, etc.). I originally said that I wanted to see Liggins on David Lighty and since I've changed my mind, I would like to see Knight, Lamb, or Miller on him. There's a number of different things that Coach Cal can do here, but I definitely want to see Liggins on Craft when he comes into the game.

When Craft comes in and Lauderdale goes out, I think this opens up a great opportunity for Terrence Jones as the Buckeyes will probably stick Lighty or Buford on him. Jones has the height and size on Lighty and Buford to do some great things in this ball game, which I think is going to be a key factor for the Cats to win this one. If Jones can get a couple of quick baskets after the shot-blocker (Lauderdale) goes out, then it could be enough to pick up his confidence, which would help him to start going up strong with his shots (something he hasn't been doing), and get him out of this offensive slump he has been going through.

Craft isn't a real scoring threat, but he can really pile on the assists and play solid defense as well as be the energy source. Lauderdale, once again, does not play a whole lot. Thad Matta likes playing a 4-guard style offense. Every player Ohio State has is solid defensively (excluding Diebler) Most teams do not 4 players who can legitimately score 25 on any given night so who to put your best defender on is hard to figure out.