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{mosimage}Jon Diebler averaged over 40 points his senior season in high school, became the all-time career points leader in HS, earned a scholarship at Ohio State and he sucks.

Don’t kill the messengers people, it’s you saying it. According to the google search bar on my computer right now, approximatey 12:14 am (1/26/08) when you type in the name "Jon Diebler" a suggestion appears below that says "Jon Diebler sucks". Google does not lie people. Google’s not saying he sucks, they are the messenger too and they are telling us a bunch of people are searching "Jon Diebler sucks."

It’s the only suggestion provided. 

This fact alone should make any fan take interest because people seem to think Diebler sucks. Could he really suck? He’s been playing pretty sucky. Or as I like to say it, he’s been playing like shit. Or, pretty shitty. Sometimes pretty but pretty shitty.

So let’s investigate. Thad Matta is quoted as saying (according to Adam Jardy of bsb) that Diebler recently shot around 87 of 100 in practice, at one point hitting 29 in a row. So it’s just a confidence thing, right? It may not be that easy and shooting well in practice is overrated.

Diebler only shot 35% fro 3 point land in high school, a good but not great mark. Considering how many shots he took and from how deep he would launch them, it’s nothing to be embarrassed about. Right now at Ohio State he is averaging 27% from 3 pt. range.  8 percent is a big dip but not unbelievable considering his level of competition raised.

It gets to a point where fans just want to see improvement. Before his 1 for 1 from 3 performance against Illinois, Diebler was 0-18 in a 4 game stretch. Questions are lingering about Jon Diebler but I think he’ll turn it around eventually. Maybe it won’t happen until next year but the light will stay on at some point. 

Diebler is deceptively quick with a big first step and can drive to the hoop, finishing all sorts of ways. From everything I’ve seen, that’s how he played in high school–scoring from everywhere. Added strength will help down the line but something needs to trigger his confidence.

Not helping matters is the fact that the Buckeyes need him to score, so he can’t exactly ease into a situation. Luckily, freshman Evan Turner is picking up some of Dieblers slack as of late. Turner is a silky smooth take it to the hole type but is also hitting 38% from 3 point range. 

With Jamar Butler at point, this trio of guards, along with David Lighty at times should be putting up big points. It could be said everyone is doing their part except Diebler, who according to Googleheads sucks. 

There’s still the rest of the Big Ten season and a possible March Madness run to prove the doubters wrong. I’m thinking if Ohio State has any chance of surprising people, they’ll need to find ways to score points quickly and Jon Diebler will need play like he practices, so Matta can stop pumping his shoot-around numbers.