Stories

Rapp Around: Alphabet Soup

Jeff Rapp — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 18:10:00 GMT

It’s the dead of winter and heading into the week the Ohio State men’s basketball team seemed to be developing flu-like symptoms.

The Buckeyes were suffering through shooting ague, and arenas turned particularly chilly – at the Crisler Center in a 56-51 loss to Michigan on Saturday, and the previous weekend at the Schottenstein Center, which served as the setting for a 64-49 home loss to Michigan State.

In those two damaging February defeats, OSU made 33 of 102 shots, failed to find production from its bench, left fans wondering if there were leadership and chemistry issues, and lost grip of what could have been a stranglehold on the Big Ten race.

Then, like a big, frothy bowl of nourishment, the suddenly sad-sack Illinois Fighting Illini came to town Tuesday and the Buckeyes got well, putting together an encouraging 83-67 victory before a crowd of 18,481.

The eighth-ranked Buckeyes, who led by as many as 26 points in the must-needed victory, improved to 23-5 overall and 11-4 in league play. But, more important, OSU gave rise to the hope that its could yet find a way to wrest a piece of the league crown and turn around its outlook for the dramatic March that awaits.

Therefore, my observations today come in the form of alphabet soup:

A is for assists-to-turnovers ratio. Head coach Thad Matta said it’s one of the first things that draws his eye when he peruses the box score and, clearly, it’s one of the statistics he harps on the most. Past elite OSU teams of the Matta era have been very good in this department – like best-in-the-Big-Ten good and among the top teams in the country.

With Aaron Craft taking over at point guard and freshman Shannon Scott now in the fold, there was real hope that the trend would continue. However, it’s been a glaring problem in recent performances. In the loss to the Spartans, OSU’s assists-to-turnovers mark was a dismal 6-to-15. At Michigan it was 9-to-13.

Of course, shooting the ball poorly can mar the figure but so does simply playing bad offense, being careless with the ball and, ahem, charging. Against Illinois, the Buckeyes were well on their way to turning their ratio back to the positive then a slew of turnovers in the final couple minutes – Illinois coach Bruce Weber inexplicably pressed when Matta emptied his bench and didn’t have a natural ball handler on the floor – left the final numbers 16-to-17.

While there was progress Tuesday, it’s safe to say Matta is going to keep demanding improvement on this statistic going forward.

B is for Buford, William. OSU’s lone senior entered the Illinois game with scoring outputs, in chronological order, of a career-high 29 points (win over Purdue), 4 (loss to MSU), 24 (win at Minnesota), and 6 (loss at UM). He finally got off the teeter-totter Tuesday and put together an unforced and efficient performance with 17 points in 26 minutes. Buford was 7 of 9 from the floor including 2 of 3 from distance.

Next up is Wisconsin. Buford was just 4 of 15 in Madison earlier this month but contributed greatly to a 58-52 win with a huge three-pointer down the stretch – his only triple in seven attempts – and six rebounds. The rematch on Sunday (4 p.m. Eastern, CBS) will be staged at The Schott and serve as Buford’s last home game. How he performs under that bright spotlight will be intriguing and likely critical to OSU’s chances at winning a third straight Big Ten title.

C is for crashing the boards. The Buckeyes have outrebounded every foe this month except Michigan State and even managed to record a 34-25 advantage on the backboards at Michigan, which helped keep them in a game in which they couldn’t put together a single appreciable offensive surge.

Against the Illini they had just five offensive rebounds, but there is a simple explanation for that: They were shooting close to 70 percent the majority of the game and finished 32 of 49 (65.3 percent). Plus, the Buckeyes made sure to clean up the defensive boards with 28 on that end, matching UI’s overall total for the game.

OSU has been passed by the mighty Spartans in offensive and defensive rebounding and rebounding margin but is a close second in all of those categories. Continuing to swipe the glass is going to be necessary.

D is for defensive prowess. Yes, shots fell early and often for the Buckeyes, which enabled them to put together a fluid offensive outing. But while building up a 42-26 halftime lead, OSU’s defense also was forceful enough to cause its visitors to hit just 8 of 27 shots (29.6 percent). Defense has been Matta’s crutch all season – and it still could take Ohio State a long way.

E is for even-steven. Illinois is the Big Ten team that has given Ohio State the most difficulty throughout the years. In fact, Tuesday night’s win actually improved OSU’s all-time record to 65-100 against the Illini. However, in games played in Columbus in the series, the Buckeyes are now 40-40.

F is for fun. Recent wins have been business-like and the losses have left the Buckeyes sour and even questioning themselves. Against Illinois, Ohio State went back to being youthful, playful and crowd-pleasing. The Buckeyes went to timeouts jumping up and down and hip-bumping each other. Jeff Boals, OSU’s most enthusiastic assistant coach, went back to pumping his fists and joining in the celebrations. The Schott was vibrant once again.

The Buckeyes get one more chance to turn on their home crowd and see if they can carry the good feelings over into the last week of the regular season, which includes tough road games at Northwestern Feb. 29 and Michigan State (March 4).

G is for gravity. Sam Thompson seems to defy it. It is utterly amazing how springy this kids legs are on a basketball court. He shot off the ground on both of his blocks, drawing oohs from the nearly soldout crowd, but it was his one-handed alley-oop throwdown that really jazzed up the arena.

Just a freshman and still raw in terms of his outside shooting and recognition, the 6-7 Thompson still has a ways to go to become a well-rounded basketball play. But he’s already ahead of the curve simply with his marvelous athletic ability. His alley-oop dunk at Indiana was perhaps the best of its kind I had seen by a Buckeye. His dunk against Illinois also was beyond description, especially since the pass from Scott was thrown behind him.

Yes, Thompson eventually alights on the ground. But he sure does spend a lot of time above it.

H is for Hop, as in Dennis Hopson. The former Buckeye wingman has come back into consciousness this season, possibly because Buford continues to climb the all-time school scoring list. Hopson, who played for three years under Eldon Miller in the mid-1980s then flourished as a senior for Gary Williams in 1986-87, is the current record-holder with 2,096 points as a Buckeye. Behind him are Herb Williams (2,011), Jerry Lucas (1,990), Kelvin Ransey (1,934), Michael Redd (1,879) and Buford (1,846).

A group of fans have put together a petition asking the university to add Hopson’s jersey to the ones in the rafters and some fans at the Illinois game sported “Retire 32” T-shirts to aid the cause.

I is for the ill-fated Illini. Ay yay yay. What has happened to this team? Illinois lost the services of longtime starters Demetri McCamey, Mike Davis and Mike Tisdale after last season but still has enough talent to make a 68-team NCAA Tournament field. Since dumping Ohio State on Jan. 10, UI has gone 1-9. Ironically, the exception was a win over league leader Michigan State – although it was an ugly 42-41 decision and MSU’s top player, Draymond Green, was hurt.

As Ohio State was hammering Illinois and pulling away, I posted the following tweet: “The last time I saw a talented Big Ten team plummet like this ... Jay Burson was wearing a newly fitted neckbrace.”

J is for Jared, Sullinger that is. The last time we had seen him on his home floor he was clearly frustrated, both with his teammates and the officials. He finished 17 points and 16 rebounds vs. MSU but was just 5 of 15 from the floor and committed a career-high 10 turnovers.

Against the Illini, Sullinger refused to get beat downcourt like he did in the loss at Michigan and was an effective cog in the offense, even though he rarely caught the ball in the post after rooting around inside. With the Buckeyes on target from the outside he was content to set high picks, keep the ball moving and set up others. He also did a good job of outletting the ball and helping defensively.

About seven minutes into the second half and with the outcome virtually decided, Sullinger was just 1 of 3 from the floor and had only three points. After he airballed a three he then decided to get back into the low post and do some damage, hitting three straight shots. He finished with nine points and six boards and appeared a bit refreshed from the lightened workload.

K is for Kentcuky. After OSU’s win, the top-ranked Wildcats rallied from behind to defeat Mississippi State much the way they did at Vanderbilt, another tough venue. The Buckeyes may be clawing their way back toward a No. 1 seed or at least elite status, but by all appearances Kentucky is going to head into the March Madness as the clear-cut team to beat.

L is for Leonard, Meyers. Illinois’ 7-1, 245-pound center has moves around the basket, can block shots and runs the floor well for his size. In other words, he’s going to make a lot of money playing this game professionally. He also put together a noteworthy performance against Ohio State with 21 points, five rebounds, two assists, a blocked shot and two steals. And his size and activity were a problem for the Buckeyes and had a lot to do with Sullinger fouling out.

However, the sophomore also tends to drive Weber crazy with soft play and inconsistency. It will be very interesting to see how long Leonard stays in college, who will coach him in the future, and if he develops into something more than a solid yet headache-inducing player.

M is for Michigan, which also garnered a big win Tuesday night to stay in the league title hunt. The Wolverines survived their second straight overtime battle with Northwestern and now sit at 21-7 overall and 11-4 in the Big Ten. Michigan State (22-5, 11-3) faces Minnesota at Williams Arena on Wednesday night, looking to stay a game ahead of the Buckeyes and Wolverines.

N is for Northwestern. The previously mentioned defeat was very damaging to the Wildcats’ chances of making their first-ever appearance in the NCAA Tournament. In reality, there is one more chance to catch the eyes of the tournament committee – knocking off Ohio State at the end of the month. The Buckeyes, once again, are going to get somebody’s best shot.

O is for overtime. The Buckeyes have not ventured into one in a regular-season game since getting by Purdue at home 80-72 in OT on Feb. 3, 2009. Since then, however, Ohio State has had three postseason games go into extra time – the 74-72 double-overtime NCAA Tournament loss to Siena on March 20, 2009; an 88-81 double-OT win over Illinois in the semifinals of the Big Ten Tournament on March 13, 2010; and last year’s 67-61 overtime win over Northwestern in the quarterfinals of the BTT on March 11.

Maybe O also is for “overdue.”

P is for Paul, Brandon. Welcome back to planet Earth, good sir. In Illinois’ 79-74 upset of the Buckeyes, Paul was somewhere in the ether hitting well-contested shot after well-contested shot. He finished with a ridiculous 43 points after making 11 of 15 field goals, 8 of 10 threes, and a 13 of 15 free throws. He also ripped down eight rebounds and swatted four OSU shot attempts.

On Tuesday, the highly skilled UI guard couldn’t hit a single three (0 of 3), was 2 of 9 from the field and finished with nine points, three rebounds and zero blocks. At one point he was escorted to the locker room because of an arm contusion. But Paul’s evening – and the ineptitude of his team – was summed up in one embarrassing moment as he missed a dunk after driving through a wide-open lane to the basket.

Q is for LaQuinton Ross. The rarely seen OSU frosh again made a few plays in garbage time, logging five points, a rebound and an assist in just five minutes. On one possession he dribbled the ball toward the corner, zipped past a lunging defender, crossed over another, drew a foul and scored. He added the free throw for a very eye-opening three-point play.

Ross has good length (6-8) and skill for a wing forward and could have a bright future in the program if he commits himself and spends much of the offseason getting in better shape. He’s not an answer now but could be an exclamation point down the road.

R is for reinforcements. Speaking of the OSU bench, Thompson, Evan Ravenel, Amir Williams, Ross, Jordan Sibert, J.D. Weatherspoon and Trey McDonald were a combined 8 for 11 from floor and continued the laudable offensive play. Scott was 0 for 5 and needs work softening up his outside shot but he may have been as instrumental as any reserve in the victory.

A 6-1 frosh and the son of former North Carolina and NBA point guard Charlie Scott, Shannon earned 22 minutes of court time – the most since logging 23 against Jackson State was back in mid-November. In that time, he dished out four assists, grabbed three rebounds and aided Craft both in handling the ball and defending out high. Matta complimented his effort and hinted at the possibility of using Scott with regularity down the stretch, which could provide Buford with a bit more rest and help the Buckeyes play more up-tempo.

This is a developing situation, but eventually Scott is going to have to be able to make an occasional shot if he wants to see pressure-cooker minutes.

S is for Smith, Lenzelle. OSU’s starting off-guard is, of course, no Jon Diebler and doesn’t even try to impersonate him. However, after he burned Indiana for 28 points when the Hoosiers stubbornly refused to guard him some developed unrealistic expectations for his value.

Smith is a garbage man, and I mean that with affection. He cleans up possessions and creates plays with sheer hustle, and he’s a fantastic rebounder for a 6-4 guard. He showed in spurts against Illinois as he has all year that he sometimes is in a higher gear than anyone else on the court not named Craft. He can take off with a rebound and create a three-on-two situation and usually makes the correct pass when he does so.

However, there is nothing in Smith’s shooting technique right now to suggest he’ll even be an effective bomber from the outside. After draining 4 of 5 threes vs. Indiana, Smith proceeded to connect of just two of his next 17 attempts from behind the arc. He is going to have to shoot it occasionally to threaten defenses but should never fall in love with launching threes.

Against Illinois, Smith seemed to have a perfect handle on his role. He was 1 of 2 from deep, made a couple layups and finished with seven points, three rebounds, three assists, one steal and just one turnover in 20 minutes of action.

If OSU is having a tough time knocking down shots he is likely to contribute a couple more offensive boards. If the game gets fast, he could log another assist or two. But basically he needs to defend, keep the ball moved, play within himself and use his high energy. Check marks in all those categories.

T is for television. The Buckeyes live on it. Tuesday’s tussle with Illinois was OSU’s sixth straight appearance on ESPN, which covers the month of February. That string will be broken when CBS airs the Wisconsin game on Sunday. What will Dan Dakich do with himself?

Counting Big Ten Network and ESPN2, every Ohio State game has been on national television this season except for one – the Dec. 3 matchup with Texas-Pan American.

U is for ubiquitous, which is as good a word as any to describe Craft. In the first minute of the game he ripped the ball cleanly away from Leonard and ended up with three steals, marking the 12th time this season he’s had at least that many in a game. His 65 thefts lead the Big Ten and even that stat doesn’t measure just what a pest he is on the hardwood.

Michigan State coach Tom Izzo recently called him the best on-ball defender he’s ever seen and Weber couldn’t stop raving about him after the loss to the Buckeyes.

A 6-2, 190-pound sophomore, Craft told reporters last week that he’s always had an ability to play bothersome defense and puts a lot of pride into that part of his game. He helped shut down Paul and everyone else who came into his territory on Tuesday, committing just one foul in the process (more on that below).

He finished with 11 points, five rebounds and five assists and looked as sharp as he’s been in a while.

V is for vote. Craft is a candidate for the Cousy Award, Buford is a finalist for the Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award and Matta is a ballot option in the Infiniti Coaches’ Charity Challenge. Fans can cast votes fir all three competitions and the easiest way is to go to the following URL: go.osu.edu.

You can find online ballots by typing in a backslash (/) and any of the following three choices: Vote4 Buford, Vote4Thad or Vote4CraftCousy.

W is for Wisconsin, the next team on the ledger. The Badgers (20-7, 9-5) have been up and down this season but guard Jordan Taylor is returning to All-American form and forward Mike Bruesewitz seems to be effective against the Buckeyes.

Coach Bo Ryan had to “Deal With It” after the Buckeyes clobbered UW to the tune of 93-65 in last year’s regular-season finale at The Schott but the Badgers have the ability to make this a plodding game much like Michigan State. Before the return engagement, Wisconsin has to do battle with Iowa in Iowa City on Thursday.

X is for X-factor, the self-proclaimed title of Deshaun Thomas. The 6-7 lefty sometimes get caught in a tough matchup at power forward but he’s creating more problems for opponents at the moment, playing some of the best basketball of his career.

Thomas did all he could to carry the Buckeyes at Michigan with 25 points and a career-high 13 rebounds. He stayed hot against UI, canning 6 of 8 shots, scoring a team-high 19 points and adding five rebounds. He also didn’t commit a turnover in 32 minutes. Thomas has scored in double figures in all but four games this season and is shooting a respectable 52.6 percent from the field. Not bad for someone who has been branded as flighty.

And DT is right: He is the X-factor. If he can ride a strong wave all the way through the end of March, this team just might be able to manage dangerous postseason waters.

Y is for youth. The Buckeyes have it in spades. It’s as if the experts and analysts forgot when they tagged OSU as a national title contender that the roster is littered with five freshmen, six sophomores, a junior who transferred into the program (Ravenel) and one senior.

Sure enough, Ohio State has shown a lack of savvy at times and Matta is still trying to figure out just what buttons to push.

The good news is that every other ranked team in the country has flaws of its own and the Buckeyes still have a little time to iron out some of the creases. If they can mature just a bit in the next couple weeks, the outlook could become brighter.

If the Buckeyes regress, ignore game plans, bicker and get too caught up in officials’ calls, well, dust off the tape of the Michigan State game to see how far that will get them.

Z is for zebras. Our little friends in the striped shirts. Game officials. Off-line tweeters, if you will.

This group hasn’t seemed particularly kind to Ohio State, which, coming into this season, had a well-earned reputation for playing effective defense without fouling in the Matta era. Suddenly, the Buckeyes seem victim to make-up calls, the little shoves that often go unpunished and plays that require interpretation, namely the old block/charge call.

After the Buckeyes were whistled for five charges at Michigan, Matta said, “It may be an NCAA record.” Even though he was joking you could see the concern in his face. If the referees are going to penalize the Buckeyes every other time they drive the basketball, Matta’s offensive options fizzle. And if Sullinger continues to deal with foul trouble down the stretch of the league season and after, his sophomore season – and possibly career – will wind up sooner rather than later.

Sullinger fouled out in just 27 minutes against Illinois. One looked like an incidental contact play tussling with for a rebound with Leonard. In fact, the officials took a good, long look at it on replay and saddled Sullinger with a flagrant foul. His fourth foul, and offensive push-off, came when he dropped his left arm down for a millisecond and caught a perfect lob pass arced over Leonard. Moments later, he bumped a turning Leonard in the post and was gone.

Sullinger hasn’t always been careful to avoid such infractions and could be smarter at times. But it sure appears that he simply doesn’t get away with a lot of plays that, quite frankly, the Greens of the world do.

Whether that’s true or not, the Buckeyes are either going to have to adjust or weather these next few league games before heading into the NCAA minefield.

Enough Clay To Mold?

Jeff Rapp — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 21:33:29 GMT

Ohio State fans have had plenty of time to digest the following fact: Stefon Diggs and Davonte Neal are not part of the 2012 recruiting class and therefore won’t be impacting the Buckeyes’ thin wide receiving corps.

That is the bad news.

And with the departure of DeVier Posey after a suspension-filled senior season, the Buckeyes won’t be able to dial up a wideout named Posey or Dane Sanzenbacher for the first time in five years.

More bad news.

Limited to just three games because of punishments for rules violations, Posey had just 12 catches this past season. Of course, that left him just two of the team lead. Plus, Posey was reliable when on the field throughout his career and figures to be a spotlight draft pick of some NFL team. When he lands in that league he’ll rejoin Sanzenbacher, who had a noteworthy rookie season for the Chicago Bears.

OSU’s next productive tandem is yet to be identified.

The good news, however, is that the unit will have a fresh and somewhat promising outlook with a new position coach and several young players who could elevate in stature.

Chief among them are Devin Smith (6-3, 190) and Evan Spencer (6-1, 190), last year’s hotshot freshmen. The position also now features newly signed talents Frank Epitropoulos (6-3, 197) of nearby Upper Arlington, Ricquan Southward (6-2, 190) of Lakeland (Fla.) HS, and Michael Thomas (6-4, 205) of Fork Union (Va.) Military Academy.

Meanwhile, the returnees carry a bevy of question marks but also possess some skill in their own right.

That group includes junior-to-be Philly Brown (5-11, 182), who tied Smith and tight end Jake Stoneburner atop the 2011 receptions list with 14; sophomore-to-be Verlon Reed (6-0, 195), who tore up his knee last season; and junior-to-be Chris Fields (6-0, 180), who again didn’t meet expectations but did see lots of playing time last season.

The status of lengthy freshman T.Y. Williams (6-5, 228) is up in the air. He did not accompany the team on the trip to the Gator Bowl because of an unspecified violation of NCAA rules but could earn his way back into favor with a new coaching staff in place.

One of the new coaches, of course, is Zach Smith, who inherits the messy situation at receiver. The youngest member of the full-time staff, Smith is a central Ohio native and the grandson of Hall of Famer and former OSU head coach Earle Bruce, which means he is well aware of his surroundings and the immediate expectations to get results.

Still, the 27-year-old said he is in a pinch-me situation.

“I’ll tell you tomorrow when I wake up and I’m not (here) and I’m like, ‘What just happened? It was a sweet dream for a month.’ It’s surreal,” he told SportsRappUp.com. “When you get your dream job or get to the place that you’ve always dreamt of working (at) or playing or coaching or whatever, it’s just a great feeling. But it’s also a feeling of great responsibility.”

Smith is not sure if he’ll coach from the sideline or the press box on game day and said he will be very open to the input of his boss, Urban Meyer, and other staff members. But he knows he’s got a challenge ahead of him and won’t be afraid to show the fire and passion of his grandfather.

When asked if he can be a little “Earle-like,” Smith laughed and said, “Yeah, I think I can get intense every now and then.”

But despite his youth and passion for the game, Smith knows he can’t just shame the receivers into producing. In fact, his first meeting with his position players was very positive and informal.

“I just know them from meeting them and talking to them and the few workouts that we’ve had, but I’m really excited about them,” he said back in January soon after being hired. “They’re a young, talented group that we’re going to get to watch develop over the next eight months and we’ll see what we’ve got. But I’m fired up about it. They’re talented kids, and the best thing that they’ve got going right now is they’re young and they have experience.

“Usually, you’re walking into a situation with a freshman and a sophomore that have watched other guys play and they’re sitting there like, ‘Man, I wonder what that’s like.’ Now, we’re walking into a situation where the kid already knows, and he’s played in 12 games or 10 games or however many. So when he walks into Ohio Stadium with 110,000 people, it’s not his first rodeo.”

With Posey serving a pair of five-game suspensions, Brown, Fields and Smith either started or rotated into the offense with regularity. Also, Reed caught nine balls in seven games before his injury and hinted at playmaking ability. In fact, his yards-per-catch average of 14.7 ranked third on the team behind those of Spencer (26.0) and Smith (21.0).

So Smith’s point is well-taken. Even with limited roles in a pedestrian offense, the returning wide receivers were involved in lots of snaps last year and did everything from drop passes to haul in crowd-bursting touchdowns.

“I know there’s been a lot of criticism on the group from this past season, but they had a lot of freshmen and sophomores, and you don’t see that a lot of places,” Smith said. “And when you do, you expect production or else they shouldn’t be on the field. So that’s what we’re going to go forward with. They’re a talented group and they’re great kids who will work hard, so I think we’ve got a shot.”

Smith arrived to OSU from Temple, where he served as wide receivers coach and special teams coordinator for coach Steve Addazio. In 2010, he held the same role for Marshall and helped develop All-Conference USA receiver Aaron Dobson.

Smith played high school ball on Columbus’ northwest side for Dublin Coffman and decided to walk on to the football team at Bowling Green to learn from Meyer, who was the head coach at the time. In 2005, he rejoined his mentor as a graduate assistant and quality control coach and stayed for four years. In that time, Smith finished up his degree at UF and helped instruct talents such as Percy Harvin, Louis Murphy and Aaron Hernandez.

Meyer shifted last year’s receivers coach, Stan Drayton, to similar duties with the running backs and hired Smith the week of Christmas. He extended the formal offer to Smith in front of his family, including Earle Bruce, at the wake for Jean Bruce – his grandmother and Earle’s wife of 56 years.

As one might imagine, it was a bittersweet moment, in part because Jean followed Smith’s career so closely.

Meyer was clear to point out that the hiring of Smith was for professional reasons.

“I know what a quality coach Zach is,” Meyer said. “He knows my system inside and out and he teaches the system the way I want it to be taught.”

Still, the nearly lifelong connection Smith has to Meyer can’t be underplayed. When Meyer was a graduate assistant at Ohio State, Smith was 3 years old and his mother, Lynn, used to bring young Zach by practice from time to time to keep her dad cheerful.

Over the years, Smith has gotten to know the Meyer who is just beginning to acquaint himself with the modern-day Buckeye Nation.

“He loves the game so much and he’s so passionate about it, you’re going to see an aggressive, intense guy on the sidelines – a guy that when you win a game he’s really excited because he puts everything he has into it,” Smith said. “So the payout is just that much greater for him. What stands out is his intensity. It’s not like some guys that love the game but they just kind of stand there. You’re going to see it.”

And Smith plans to tap into that aura, the honeymoon period surrounding the new staff and the time-tested tradition of Ohio State football when he hits the recruiting trail.

“There’s not a state like it in the country where kids grow up loving a university more than in this state,” he said. “These kids, from the time they’re born that’s all they know. So when Ohio State comes and wants to recruit them and offers a scholarship, it holds a greater weight because their whole life that’s been the dream.”

Some of those wide-eyed hopefuls are now Buckeyes and the property of Smith – or at least a ball of clay for him to help mold.

But he wants to take the communal approach in shaping the outlook at wide receiver.

“My assessment right now is we are an aligned staff,” he said. “We’re nine guys with no egos involved who are just working for one thing, and that’s to put success on the field and have successful kids off the field.

“I’ve got an idea of what could be better or maybe needs changed, but I really won’t until we sit down and put seven guys’ eyes or nine guys’ eyes on it and really study it and talk about it. And that’s what we’ll do, we’ll discuss it as a staff.”

Rapp Around: Answers Needed

Jeff Rapp — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 17:54:00 GMT

Thad Matta is a positive guy, and he understands the law of averages better than he lets on.

So when Paul Keels, the play-by-play voice of the Ohio State Basketball Radio Network, tracked him down for a pregame segment and asked him what he was looking for in the Buckeyes’ game at Minnesota Tuesday, Matta had a ready answer.

“I said, ‘Off the heels of Saturday’s game, hopefully we make shots,’ ” he said.

Matta, of course, was referring to the 58-48 loss to Michigan State last weekend in which the Buckeyes were a dismal 26.4 percent from the floor and watched their 39-game home winning streak disintegrate.

After going 7 for 21 from the field in the first half against the Spartans, 7 for 32 in the second and making just 2 of 15 three-point attempts, even OSU’s head coach had to consider such a fruitless performance as somewhat of an aberration.

Sure enough, the Buckeyes showed at least a hint of marksmanship in Williams Arena, shooting 44.6 percent – 20 points higher – and dropping home six three-balls, four of them by William Buford.

But in the follow-up to the follow-up Saturday at Michigan, the ineptitude returned. The Buckeyes were just 19 of 49 (38.8 percent) on the new, shiny Crisler Center floor, including a 3-of-16 showing from long range. They also tallied a season-low 20 points in the first half.

As someone who didn’t watch the game could surmise, that wasn’t good enough for No. 6 OSU (22-5) to keep pace atop the Big Ten standings. In fact, the 56-51 loss put No. 17 Michigan (20-7) back in play and tied with Ohio State at 10-4 in conference play. Michigan State (21-5, 10-3) was a half game ahead of those two heading into Sunday’s challenge at Purdue.

Conventional wisdom says that MSU is in the driver’s seat, especially since it hosts Ohio State in the regular-season finale on March 4. But the truth is a lot can happen between now and then, mostly because the Buckeyes have yet to fully define themselves.

The deficiencies certainly are coming to the forefront. After the home loss to the Spartans, Jared Sullinger said the Buckeyes behaved like “spoiled brats.” Sullinger tends to overstate after defeats but his point couldn’t be overlooked. Along with shooting poorly, the Buckeyes pouted, bickered with each other, strayed from structure and even questioned referees’ calls.

Much of that went away against the Golden Gophers a few days later and Ohio State showed the requisite focus for a team looking to pull off a road win in the Big Ten.

But even after that win, Matta admitted that he still views this team as young and somewhat immature, especially when compared to last season’s squad that featured heady seniors Dave Lighty, Jon Diebler and Dallas Lauderdale.

“When you’ve got a veteran team, they know what you’re trying to get through each stage of the season,” he said, intimating that this team is still trying to figure it all out.

To the Buckeyes’ credit, they did attempt to run the proper sets and provide help on defense in the battle with Michigan.

There was just one problem – one glaring problem.

“We just couldn’t make a shot,” an obviously flustered Sullinger said repeatedly after the game. “There were open shots and we just missed shots. As soon as we start making shots this basketball team can be a pretty good basketball team.”

Sullinger could have ended his sentence with the word “again.” On the other hand, the dynamic Buckeyes that looked as formidable as any team in the country and destroyed Duke back in December are in the rear-view mirror now, wandering aimlessly and possibly strayed too far from home.

The latest version is searching for answers, and that simply is not like a Matta-coached team. In his previous seven years at Ohio State – and three at Xavier and one at Butler, for that matter – Matta has always managed to place his teams on an upward slant at this time of year and his record reflects that commitment to improvement.

In the seasons of 2005-06, ’06-07, ’09-10 and ’10-11, Ohio State posted a combined mark of 25-4 in February. What do those campaigns have in common? They all ended with the Buckeyes hoisting the Big Ten championship trophy.

Saturday’s loss dropped OSU’s mark for the month to 3-2 and the Buckeyes still have home games with Illinois (Feb. 21) and Wisconsin (Feb. 26) and a dangerous trip to Northwestern (Feb. 29) before the huge game in East Lansing.

Somewhere in that stretch the Buckeyes need to do the proper soul searching. Somewhere in that stretch the coaching staff has to find some answers.

Matta seemed stumped in the postgame interview room at the Crisler Center. He’s always a bit spent and disheveled after games, but the wear was showing on his face and the exasperation was in his scraggly coaching voice.

“You need to make some shots to open some other things up,” he said. “You’ve got to have a little bit of a balance, and we just didn’t have that. At some point we need to knock a couple down.”

Matta didn’t even need to look down at a printed box score that showed Aaron Craft was 1 of 6 from the field, Lenzelle Smith Jr. was 1 of 3 and Buford was 3 of 12. Four OSU reserves managed just one shot attempt in 21 combined minutes – a point-blank miss inside by 6-11 freshman Amir Williams.

On one key possession, the Buckeyes missed three wide-open shots. Ironically the last one was a 16-footer by Deshaun Thomas, who turned out to be Ohio State’s only effective player on the perimeter and other spots on the floor. He was 8 of 13 from the field, scored a game-high 25 points and ripped down a career-high 13 rebounds.

Sullinger had 14 points and eight boards but struggled at times against a variety of UM double-teams and by flopping defenders on the baseline (more on that in a moment).

Thomas was 3 of 6 from behind the arc and the rest of the team was 0 for 10. And with the icy-cold shooting effort, OSU’s assists-to-turnovers ratio plummeted again – 9 to 13.

What makes all this better is hard to say. Jordan Sibert has disappeared from the rotation and backcourt subs Shannon Scott and Sam Thompson are reluctant shooters. Evan Ravenel has played more sparingly lately and simply is a body to give Sullinger or Thomas a couple minutes of rest. Williams and J.D. Weatherspoon often don’t even see the court. LaQuinton Ross and Trey McDonald aren’t going to receive any meaningful minutes at this point in the season.

That leaves OSU with two role players at the starting guard spots and forces both Buford and Thomas to need to come through with quality outings in support of Sullinger if the Buckeyes are to beat a ranked team.

And, for whatever reason, the reliability simply isn’t there for the 6-6 Buford – even while he winds up a four-year career that will land him in the top five of the program’s all-time scoring list.

Matta is losing patience and is just about out of hair. He’s not really sure how to make it all right until some of the balance he is seeking is restored.

After the game, he reiterated that the coaching staff has worked on shooting with this team more than any he’s coached.

And while the defensive effort kept the Buckeyes in the game Saturday and has been consistent throughout, OSU couldn’t get stops down the stretch with the shot clock running down and also was guilty of whacking three-point shooters on two key possessions in the second half.

“I guess we got out too far on them,” Matta said with a tired shrug.

Speaking of fouls, the Buckeyes were whistled for five charging fouls, just adding to the perplexity of the situation.

“It may be an NCAA record,” said Matta, who also pointed out that the officiating managed to reward Sullinger with just two foul shots all night.

“We were talking about it during timeouts and we’re saying, ‘Hey, we’ve got to attempt to avoid the contact down there.’ ”

Sullinger actually drew one blocking foul on a flopping Evan Smotrycz but otherwise was victimized repeatedly by Michigan’s propensity for landing flat on the ground and garnering a timely tweet from the officials.

“Sometimes I thought it was a good play; sometimes I thought it was a block,” Sullinger said. “But if the ref calls it a charge, it’s a charge.”

“I think in our prep we said to try to take three-plus, but five is always good,” said Michigan center Jordan Morgan, who benefited repeatedly from the call.

With Morgan receiving that consideration early on, he stayed aggressive and put together one of his best games as a Wolverine. The burly redshirt sophomore got ahead of Sullinger twice for fastbreak dunks and finished with 11 points and 11 rebounds for the first double-double of his career.

On the flip side, the Buckeyes often opted not to drive the ball seeing how the whistles went on plays of contact.

“I thought we tried that and we had a couple charge calls,” Sullinger said of trying to get the ball to the basket. “Then after that we got really nervous and we kind of got timid and we started falling in love with the three.”

The exception was Sullinger, who played with even more force. That led to good results when he began to take over inside midway through the second half, but also led to one of the most frustrating plays of the evening when he stepped in front of a Wolverine, appeared to get his feet set and was dinged for a blocking call.

Michigan point guard Trey Burke, a former high school teammate of Sullinger’s, could see that his buddy was getting perturbed.

“We said some words back and forth, but when he gets frustrated sometimes that may go the wrong way,” Burke said. “That may not be good news. But Jordan Morgan did a good job of containing him the whole game and we did a good job of sending doubles on the back side.”

The 5-11 Burke was highly effective with 17 points and five assists, doing much of his damage off the dribble and using a multitude of screens. Tim Hardaway Jr. added 13 points while seniors Stu Douglass and Zack Novak each contributed a very important bucket down the stretch.

But holding Michigan to 56 points wasn’t any part of the problem. Making just 9 of 23 field-goal attempts in the second half with the game still within reach was.

“I’m worried,” Thomas admitted. “As a team, we can’t afford to lose right now, at this stage. But all we’ve got to do is learn from it, go on to the next game.

“As a team, we want to win. We want to make history. That’s what we’re trying to do.”

I then asked Thomas what was still within reach for the Buckeyes.

“I think we can still get a Big Ten championship, our third in a row, and the national championship. That’s history,” he said. “The last time they won the national championship was 1960. That’s our focus, on the big picture. If we keep our faith and believe in our team, we can make a run.”

Of course, Thomas is on a different plane than fans who now wonder if this team can beat another elite opponent or even enjoy the potential fruits of March. The realists see a team that is clearly struggling and unable to hit enough timely shots when the temperature is turned up.

So how do the Buckeyes punch their way out of this rubber room?

“It’s all mental,” Thomas said. “Coach always says, ‘Mind right, game right.’ You’ve got to prepare and when you shoot in practice treat it like it’s a game. Jon Diebler last year, he always took a shot like it was his last shot. So it’s a mental thing. You’ve got to step up and knock them down.”

Sunshine State Debut

Jeff Rapp — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 05:02:22 GMT

(Editor’s Note: Contributor Corey Barnes wrote this piece from his unique perspective as a SportsRappUp.com intern and OSU student/sports aficionado. Barnes is a senior from Strongsville, Ohio, majoring in business.)

The skies above Columbus may be gray, but Ohio State’s baseball team has spring on its mind.

Coming off a 25-25 campaign, including a 13-11 mark in Big Ten play, the Buckeyes open up the 2012 season this weekend with the Big Ten/Big East Challenge in St. Petersburg, Florida. The Bucks are slated to play USF, Seton Hall, and Connecticut.

The 2012 campaign will be the second in head coach Greg Beals’ tenure. Despite adding nine freshmen, he feels the team is jelling and will play well together.

“The older guys have done a great job of reeling the new guys into the program,” he said.

He is optimistic about the program in Year 2.

“We’re getting closer,” Beals said. “This has been a fun group to coach. The guys all have a greater understanding of the expectations of the program, and they have really taken to that.”

The team returns 15 lettermen from the 2011 season, which is a drastic improvement on the three that Beals inherited a year ago. Shortstop Kirby Pellant has been identified as a player to watch this year. Pellant is a junior college transfer out of Chandler, Ariz., who will bat leadoff for OSU.

As a freshman at Marshall, Pellant batted .293 with seven doubles and 20 runs scored. Beals calls him “a dynamic offensive threat” who is expected to produce both on the basepaths and with a bat in his hand. He should make an immediate impact at shortstop.

Other positions on the infield will not be as easily determined. Junior Greg Solomon is a solid catcher but has also emerged as the team’s best defensive third baseman. Solomon will platoon at the hot corner along with Brad Hallberg. Freshman Aaron Gretz will catch on days that Solomon plays the field. It will be interesting to see how Beals juggles these players and how they are utilized versus righties and lefties.

The outfield will look familiar for Buckeye fans. Senior David Corna will play in right field, which, according to coach Beals, is a natural fit for him because he has the strongest arm on the team.

Meanwhile, Mike Carroll will play in left field. He was forced to sit out last year due to transfer rules and is champing at the bit to get going. Carroll is expected to hit fifth in the lineup. Sophomore Tim Wetzel saw plenty of action in center field last year, and he likely will be playing there again this season.

The starting rotation will feature Brett McKinney, Brian King, and Greg Greve. Jerrod Long and John Kuchno are both pitching well and will have a chance to compete for a starting spot. Beals called McKinney “a great competitor” and he feels comfortable with the effort he can expect from his ace on Friday.

McKinney and Greve are both returning starters and will be joined by King who most recently played for Paradise Valley Community College.

One of the biggest changes with the program this season is the improvement to the facilities. During the offseason, OSU alum and current New York Yankee Nick Swisher made a donation to the school, which funded the purchase of a new turf playing surface that has been dubbed “Nick Swisher Field.” The resilient surface promises to better endure the inconsistent Ohio springs, which allowed Ohio State to schedule 26 home games.

Beals made a point to schedule plenty of tough out-of-conference opponents. For example, playing Austin Peay may not mean much to the casual fan but the program is a regular participant in the NCAA tournament and could help build Ohio State’s tournament resume. Beals quipped, “Hopefully Austin Peay comes up here, we take care of business, they go back home and win a bunch of baseball games.”

One player to watch this year is sophomore Josh Dezse. The big sophomore made a splash as a first baseman and pitcher last season and even more is expected of him in 2012. College Baseball Insider recently named him an honorable mention preseason All-American, an honor that came just after he was named a third-team A-A by CollegeSportsMadness.com and the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association.

The Powell, Ohio, native started all 53 games last season and led the Buckeyes with a .332 batting average and 42 RBI. He tied for the team lead with four home runs and also went 4-2 with a team-high six saves and 32 strikeouts in 27.2 innings pitched,

This season, Dezse is expected to assume the closer role. He has been working in the offseason to add a changeup to complement his fastball and curve.

Dezse, though, seems to be the only Buckeye, who received consistent recognition by scouts and analysts. In fact, a Big Ten media panel recently tabbed the Buckeyes as the fifth-best team in the conference this season and hailed Michigan State as the team to beat.

Dezse says the team is not concerned about the lack of credit the national media lent the young Buckeyes.

“Our goal is to make it to the national tournament,” he declared.

When asked who he is looking forward to playing this year, Dezse grinned and said, “Michigan.” Even in the dead of winter, all Buckeyes look forward to the same things: sun, blue sky, and beating That School Up North.

BTN To Dial Up Buckeyes

The Ohio State baseball team will be on Big Ten Network at least three times in 2012, the conference office announced Thursday. In addition, BTN will televise all Big Ten Tournament games from Huntington Park in Columbus.

In all, BTN will nationally televise at least 32 Big Ten baseball games and stream at least 51 additional games on the Big Ten Digital Network.

The Buckeyes’ home games against Minnesota at noon on April 8, vs. Cincinnati at 7 p.m. on April 18, and against Northwestern at 7 p.m. on May 4 will all be televised live on BTN.

All home games not aired live on BTN will be streamed live online at either BTN.com or Buckeye Vision on OhioStateBuckeyes.com.

Rapid-Fire Response

Jeff Rapp — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 17:24:00 GMT

Most of the talk surrounding the suddenly troubled Ohio State men’s basketball team heading into Tuesday night’s contest at Minnesota was about shaking off the Michigan State loss with a quick turnaround.

The Buckeyes did just that, ripping off a 20-0 run in the first half and controlling matters at Williams Arena in a tidy 78-68 win. In the process they improved to 22-4 and 10-3 in the Big Ten while the Golden Gophers (17-9, 5-8) plummeted to 10th in the league standings.

In that same vein, I now offer my own rapid response with several different observations from the game. The following are 10 on which to chew:

I’m thinking the Buckeyes may yet become a good road team. That could be the one favor of the Michigan State game.

Jared Sullinger said the Buckeye looked like “spoiled brats” when they watched tape of themselves doing battle with MSU. He’s right. They bickered with each other, leered at referees on no-calls and tried to freelance too many plays instead of showing patience on offense and offering help on defense.

All of that went away at Minnesota. They not only pulled away from a 12-12 tie with crisp ball movement and offense efficiency, they also bolted out to 32-12 and took control by clamping down on defense and with the wings offering support on the backboards. In fact, William Buford ended up tying Sullinger for team-high honors with eight while off-guard Lenzelle Smith Jr. added seven.

The Buckeyes also feasted on Gopher miscues, logging a 17-7 edge in points off of turnovers and a 20-6 advantage on second-chance points.

But more than the statistical improvement, Ohio State simply seemed coherent and focused. When calls didn’t go the Buckeyes’ way, they shrugged them off, and when Minnesota brought the crowd back to life with a key basket they simply answered with a big one of their own.

If the Buckeyes are to get a piece of the Big Ten title or win it outright, this approach has to continue. Next up is “Gameday” battle with rival Michigan at the Crisler Center on Saturday night (9 p.m. Eastern, ESPN), and the final two games of the season are at Northwestern Feb. 29 and at Michigan State March 4.

It’s more fun to watch OSU play defense than offense. That’s funny to say after the Buckeyes improved their output by 30 points and were impressive in getting the ball zinged around, especially when Tubby Smith ordered up a zone defense. Plus, Buford returned to the dazzling form of the Feb. 7 Purdue game with 24 points and Sullinger ate up the Gophers inside with 23 points. Deshaun Thomas also made his mark with a dozen.

Still, this group is best served to lean on its defense and especially make life miserable for opposing backcourts.

The Buckeyes were called for 21 personal fouls but many of those were a result of aggressive play and some, quite frankly, were questionable at best (more on that later). Also, head coach Thad Matta made it clear he didn’t like how his players started gambling late in the second half when Minnesota whittled OSU’s 20-point lead in half.

However, Ohio State still was superior and disruptive on that end of the floor. The Buckeyes pursued the ball and anticipated passes. They also forced the Gophers into several low-percentage plays.

Ohio State can win this league title by clamping down defensively. Ditto for the Big Ten Tournament. And the Buckeyes will be a very tough out in the NCAA tourney as well if they can put together a concentrated effort on that end of the floor and avoid foul trouble.

Meanwhile, Buford is so important on the offensive end. Those who want to give up on him or label him merely as a “streak shooter” or worse just don’t get it. He’s one of the more talented wings in the country, especially when you funnel his game down to the intricacies of being able to shoot over defenders.

When he makes shots – and he drained 10 of 17 in this game – he tends to unhinge the necks of opposing coaches, players and fans. It’s a collective, “Damn, what can you do?”

Matta said during interviews Monday that film study by the coaches has shown that Buford actually hits a higher percentage of shots when he’s guarded than when he’s wide open. That, of course, makes him the exception to everyone else on the team. Buford hit 4 of 10 threes with Minnesota hugging the lane and then flying out (too late) onto him, but his performance is more noteworthy than that.

I’ve always believed he plays his best when he helps on the boards and doesn’t settle just for jumpers 18 feet and out. On Tuesday, he ball-faked and got to 16 feet a few times and also made some beautiful feeds inside.

The average OSU fans is quick to point out that another poor shooting effort by Buford will be the death of the Buckeyes in the postseason. While that may be true, I dare say it could be looked at the other way: A dialed-in Buford, as well as some scoring support by Thomas, makes Ohio State look darn-near unbeatable.

Willie B. is the key.

Steals. They are a beautiful thing – unless you are on the wrong end of the theft.

Ohio State compiled 10 of them against Minnesota and that was much more than the mediocre Gophers could handle. Aaron Craft, who leads the Big Ten in that department, grabbed six of them. There were three times I could remember where he literally ripped the ball cleanly out of a Golden Gopher who had two hands on the ball, including once right after a Minnesota big man came down with a rebound.

Sullinger, Smith, Shannon Scott and Sam Thompson – that’s a lot of esses – added one steal apiece. Thomas also tried to get in on the act and went grabbing at the ball a few times, pestering the player opposite him.

The Gophers still finished with only 14 turnovers, which means they probably would have had pretty good success in taking care of the ball against a team less determined to pilfer it.

I bring this up because OSU had zero steals, maybe the weirdest stat of the year, in the 87-84 survival against Purdue. That’s not Buckeye defense, and I’m guessing we won’t see that again for quite a while.

Craft turning his ankle is a scary sight. While it as kind of neat to see Scott log 13 minutes in a must-have road game, Craft’s second-half injury is not what anyone hoping for great things from the team needed to see.

We tend to believe Craft is indestructible, mostly because he gives us reason to believe it. Yet, a simple ankle roll like could really prove to be costly. He is the voice on the floor, the point guard, the quarterback, the brains on the operation, and on top of that he’s the most disruptive defender in the league. Tom Izzo just called him the best on-ball defender he’s ever seen. You just can’t put a price on what he does and how much he triggers what the Buckeyes are able to do on both ends of the floor.

Ironically, I jokingly asked Sullinger and Buford before the game if they were worried about Craft sliding off the raised floor in Williams Arena and hurting himself.

The 1989 season went up in flames after Jay Burson broke his neck at Iowa on Feb. 13 and five years to the day later the Buckeyes’ NCAA hopes were dashed when Derek Anderson wrecked his knee against Michigan (don’t ask me how I remember this stuff). Similarly, OSU’s outlook would turn very dire this season if Columbus’ favorite stunt man were lost with a significant injury.

Just sayin’.

Speaking of the postseason, the box score from Tuesday would be a nice template. Actually, flipping Scott’s 13 minutes with the five played by Evan Ravenel would make more sense, but it’s good to see 10 names listed under the words “Ohio State.”

It also is always a good sign when the Buckeyes are shooting and making free throws. OSU’s 28 attempts, including 12 from Sullinger, is a clear indication of its patience and willingness to get the ball dumped into the post. Also, Matta has to be pleased to see a 15-to-9 assists-to-turnovers ratio as well as the aforementioned 10 steals. The Buckeyes also beat a frontline-heavy team on the boards, 37-34.

OSU’s field-goal percentage of 44.6 wasn’t stellar but this team isn’t going to have to shoot the lights out to survive and advance in March.

Minnesota fans either don’t have very good sightlines in The Barn or just aren’t very basketball-savvy. Fans whine when calls go against their team. That happens everywhere. However, they groaned after very obvious infractions like UM players raking the arms of the Buckeyes or, my favorite, a Gopher swinging on the rim after a dunk and landing on the back of Craft, who wasn’t even looking up at the play.

Rodney Williams is another ready example of the type of power forward who gives Ohio State a lot of trouble. Days after dealing with the headache that is All-Big Ten forward Draymond Green, the Buckeyes had a tough time slowing down the 6-7, 200 Williams, who takes long strides to the basket and springs up well for rebounds.

Williams was aggressive throughout and finished with 21 points, nine rebounds and two blocked shots. Thomas presents mismatches at the four-spot with his face-up game but also can be a liability on defense against versatile power forwards.

There’s no real remedy for this other than the Buckeyes being aware of the problem and helping out when possible. Fortunately for them on Tuesday, it didn’t become an issue once the lead was extended.

Speaking of shortcomings, Smith probably should just stop shooting threes on nights where his range is not there. Granted, he came up big against Indiana and Michigan with 28 points and 17, respectively, but those games were at home, and teams are still going to roll the dice and slough off of him at times.

Yes, he needs to at least threaten to shoot from the outside but his game is to hustle, rebound, defend, push the ball when the opportunity is there and aid the offensive flow. Chucking up three from deep and not coming close to making any of them doesn’t go into any of those files.

He winds his jumper from behind his head and shoots with one foot ahead of the other, sometimes in a very pronounced way. It just doesn’t give the appearance of “dangerous shooter,” even though I do like Smith’s overall game.

Ed Hightower is now a walking punchline as a lead official. It’s no secret that the venerable ref is well past his prime and is getting these types of assignments on time served, but, seriously, do we have to watch this anymore?

He is too old to keep up with the action when the pace rises and simply stays out of most of the calls, leaving the “clean-up” to his cohorts. Some games he misses multiple calls, even several in a tight stretch of action.

He’s also notorious for the hometown makeup call, especially when the outcome is basically decided. Sure enough, late in this contest he made at least three questionable pro-Minnesota calls as if to say to Tubby, “See, I’m giving you a fair shake.”

I’ve been calling this guy Eddie Homegame for 20 years, and I used to mean it as a compliment when he was still a good ref. He knew how his bread was buttered and made sure to give the home team a little extra consideration, which is the way of the Big Ten and a good way to keep getting plum games.

But now it’s just blatant and sad.

Late in the game Tuesday, he called a jump ball right after Craft grabbed a defensive rebound. The play shouldn’t have warranted a whistle. Minnesota then was awarded the ball on alternate possession and the inbounder took FOUR STEPS before tossing the ball back into a teammate. (Watch the replay if you don’t believe me.)

Hightower, of course, was the closest official, and, of course, let the obvious travel go. He wasn’t about to give the Gophers a break and then take it back away right in front of their bench.

Look, I have covered Big Ten basketball for close to 25 years and watched it another 10. I know officials miss calls and I know how the homecourt-advantage thing works. But this is downright embarrassing now.

Ed Hightower was a very good ref in this league for a very long time, hasn’t been good for the last 10 years and has been abysmal for the last two or three. It’s time.

Putting The (Ugly) Past Behind

Jeff Rapp — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 17:38:00 GMT

Thad Matta is in uncomfortable territory.

Not that he has Ohio State tied for first place in the Big Ten midway through February and ranked among the top-10 teams in the country. That actually has been pretty standard for the eighth-year OSU coach.

What likely has him a little squeamish is that the Buckeyes (21-4 overall, 9-3 in league play) are coming off such a dreadful and potentially damaging performance that he has spent much of the quick turnaround time heading into a road test with Minnesota pointing out what went wrong in a 58-48 home loss to Michigan State on Saturday.

“We watched a lot of film yesterday,” guard William Buford said Monday. Jared Sullinger, seated to Buford’s immediate right, chuckled in agreement, as if to say, “That’s an understatement.”

In the setback to MSU, which snapped a 39-game winning streak at the Schottenstein Center, the Buckeyes were just 7 of 21 from the field in the first half and an even-worse 7 of 32 in the second, finishing with a season-low field-goal percentage of 26.4. That’s not going to beat anybody in the Big Ten, let alone a Spartans team that now appears poised to capture the league title.

“I don’t think we were running our offense the way we were supposed to,” said Buford, who finished just 2 of 12 from the field and scored only four points vs. the Spartans. “We weren’t sticking to our game plan the way we needed to, and it was just one of those off nights for everybody. That’s probably the lowest we’ve shot since I’ve been here.”

That’s taking in some real estate. Buford is the team’s lone senior and has seen the ups and downs of the last three-plus seasons.

Sullinger, who is a sophomore, went a step further with his assessment.

“We looked like spoiled brats out there,” Sullinger said. “If you look at the tape, (we were) arguing with one another and complaining about calls. We just looked like spoiled brats out there.”

Sullinger had to throw himself into the criticism. He logged 17 points – right around his average – and 16 rebounds against MSU but was just 5 of 15 from the field and committed 10 turnovers. He also was guilty of making eye contract with referees after physical plays.

Deshaun Thomas, whose scoring average of 14.3 points per game, is line with that of Buford (15.0 ppg), was an identical 2 of 12 from the floor. Matta tightened his rotation and got just one field goal and three total rebounds from his bench, which consisted of Evan Ravenel and Sam Thompson.

So Matta, who much rather would deal in positives and offer encouragement after tough shooting nights, was left with no other recourse before the team had to board a plane for Minneapolis Monday evening. He showed the tape of Saturday’s game to his players over and over and pointed out deficiency after deficiency.

On Monday, Matta said he and his staff will be “trying to look at the negatives and turn those into a positive.”

“So much of this is trying to get your players back,” he added. “I think it’s more attempting to get their minds ready to play tomorrow night at 9 o’clock.

“It’s what we’ve got to do, so I’ll view it as half-full and that it’s a good thing that we’ve got a quick turnaround.”

But Matta the eternal optimist also sounded like a coach with lingering concerns – like wondering to where the focus of his team has shifted.

“There were times when they had nothing to do with where we were going, and why we were going there we’re not exactly sure,” he said. “We weren’t thinking at the level we needed. Maybe they were making us not think that way.”

And when asked about Thomas, Matta bypassed his tendency for the philosophical view.

“He’s got to play better on both ends, offensively and defensively,” the coach said.

And that probably won’t happen if the Buckeyes don’t shake out the cobwebs before taking the court with Minnesota Tuesday night with ESPN again on hand.

“I think I’m speaking for the whole team: We just chalked it up to a bad day and said we’ll get (Michigan State) back on March 4th at their place,” Sullinger said.

“If we keep dwelling on this Michigan State game and harping on it, pretty soon we’re going to keep worrying about that Michigan State game and we’re not going to be able to focus on the next game and we’re going to let one slip past us. We have to stay focused on the present. We are focused on Minnesota.”

On paper, the Golden Gophers (17-8, 5-7) don’t offer much in the way of shake-in-your-shoes concern for a team at the top of the conference standing. They play with defensive tenacity, share the ball and feature Ralph Sampson III in the pivot. However, the talent out to the wings and the backcourt is glaringly mediocre, especially with power forward/rebounding machine Trevor Mbakwe out for the season.

However, Ohio State, which fell from No. 3 to sixth in both major polls, arrives with little preparation time and still licking its wounds.

And Minnesota head coach Tubby Smith knows what to do to a wounded animal – attack it. He said he’ll challenge his team to defend the Buckeyes just as hard as the Spartans did over the weekend.

UM’s last two games at Williams Arena went overtime – a 77-72 win over Illinois on Jan. 28 and a 68-61 loss to Wisconsin on Feb. 9.

Diggs 'Circus' Comes To An End

Jeff Rapp — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 17:29:00 GMT

So it has come to this.

Every year there are a few high-end football recruits who decide to stretch their decision beyond National Signing Day and oftentimes, it seems, Ohio State is part of this elongated process.

The most obvious example is quarterback Terrelle Pryor of Jeannette, Pa., who was widely considered the most coveted recruit of 2008 and in many years. He signed with Ohio State, picking the Buckeyes over Penn State, Michigan and Oregon, but it took him six full weeks from signing day to pull the trigger.

Of course, there have been others over the years, and in this day and age of ESPNU and YouTube, many of the top-rated prospects like to add to the drama and make their announcements public.

But wide receiver Stefon Diggs, the player Ohio State coach Urban Meyer made sure to save room for, may have set a new standard. On Friday night, nine days after National Signing Day, Diggs finally ended the hints on Twitter, buildup and speculation and announced he would sign a letter-of-intent with the University of Maryland.

This was big news and good news locally as Diggs, the top prospect in the state and a top-10 recruit nationally, preps at Our Lady of Good Counsel in Olney, Md., and blared his choice to an awaiting crowd in College Park. However, it has to be noted that he did so at a bar named Looney’s to a standing-room-only gathering that arrived hours before he did.

Now high school kids are helping bar owners sell more cocktails.

The Washington Post described the atmosphere as “circus-like,” especially when Diggs said the following: “I want to win a championship, I want to win bowl games. Where else is a better place to do it than your city?”

That went over big to the thirsty throng at Looney’s, which is within walking distance of Byrd Stadium. All expectation now is that Diggs will become an instant standout there and help turn around a program that went just 2-10 last season under first-year coach Randy Edsall.

The gamebreaking 6-1, 190-pound wideout opted for the Terrapins over Ohio State, Florida and Auburn.

“He is an impact player who brings a playmaking ability that will enhance our team,” Edsall said in a statement.

While fans rejoiced in Diggs’ home state, Buckeye fanatics felt some rare recruiting season disappointment. Meyer already had signatures from 25 players, including six who are currently enrolled and on campus.

OSU’s class was rated among the best in the country and the addition of Diggs might have moved it up into the top two. Another well-rated receiver, Davonte Neal of Scottsdalle, Ariz., also was showing major interest in Ohio State but for whatever reason cut out of the equation.

Meyer said at signing day that the projected roster for the 2012 season had 81 players on it, meaning there was room for just one more. Ohio State will begin serving an NCAA-imposed scholarship reduction beginning this fall and can have no more than 82 players on full aid for the next three years, meaning the penalty is for nine full scholarships.

Even before the Diggs decision, Ohio State’s class was rated as high as third by national services such as Rivals.com and Scout.com. That was based mostly on quality but also on the quantity of the class. Somewhat overlooked but as important as anything to the coaches, though, was that needs were met.

Meyer saw clear holes at offensive line and linebacker when he took over the reins of the program in late November and it’s no coincidence that Ohio State signed five players at each of those positions.

“The day I was hired,” Meyer said, “we came back here, got to work, said, ‘Let’s pick out the top offensive tackles in America, because that’s where we’re at as far as our shortage.’ That night we were on the phone. If you would have told me we got the top two guys, that would have been a good day for us.

“We got the top two guys. That was Taylor Decker and Kyle Dodson.”

Decker, who hails from Vandalia Butler, and Dodson, who starred at Cleveland Heights HS, are a pair of in-state stars who previously had committed elsewhere. Decker was promised to Notre Dame but reconsidered after Meyer came aboard and hired offensive assistant coaches Tim Hinton and Ed Warinner away from ND.

That moved raised some eyebrows, but it was the Feb. 1 announcement by Dodson that caused a real furor. He originally committed to Wisconsin but Meyer persisted and landed a signature from the 6-6, 310-pounder.

Later that day when all 25 players were signed and sealed, Meyer admitted Dodson was a high-priority recruit.

“I think we had to have him,” he said. “I don’t think, I know we did. Where we’re at right now at offensive tackle, depth at line, our sheer numbers, that was a must have. I would almost trade him for any other player that we signed. We had to have him.

“You get the two offensive tackles that three weeks ago it didn’t look like we were even in the running. And the body types are exact. God created two offensive tackles for us.”

While OSU fans were trumpeting Meyer’s tenacity, some Big Ten coaches were singing a different tune. Wisconsin head coach Bret Bielema used the word “unethical” when asked about Ohio State persuading Dodson. Michigan State head coach Mark Dantonio and defensive coordinator Pat Narduzzi, meanwhile, were outward in their disgust that OSU continued to work Canton (Ohio) McKinley defensive end Se’Von Pittman, who was committed to MSU for months.

Pittman was yet another player who “flipped” his choice to Ohio State, a number that reached eight on signing day.

Meyer, though, made no apologies when the class was announced or in the days following when the criticism mounted,

“Sometimes they say, ‘How can you go recruit a young guy committed to other school?’ ” Meyer said. “You ask a question, ‘Are you interested?’ If they say no, you move on. If they say yes, very interested, then you throw that hook out there.”

“Is it gratifying to take a guy from another school? Not at all.”

Meyer still believes there are some holes to fill, and he and his staff already are making inroads with some top 2013 prospects. He said “speed at the skill (positions)” is the top priority going forward.

Even though Diggs didn’t immediately aid that objective, Ohio State will continue to chase similar talents.

In the meantime, Ohio State fans can drool at the thought of a defense that could soon feature Pittman and fellow signees Noah Spence, Adolphus Washington and Tommy Schutt in the trenches. All four of them were considered at least four-star prospects.

When asked what is most exciting about the class, defensive coordinator Luke Fickell said, “Well, I think it’s always going to start up front. You look at it and say, If you’re going to start a class, you want to start up front, whether it’s on the offensive or defensive line. The excitement starts there and then moves, obviously, its way back for me.”

Other highly regarded prospects also fell in place for OSU, including Cleveland Glenville defensive back Devan Bogard, Canton (Ohio) GlenOak running back Bri’onte Dunn, Windsor (Colo.) HS offensive lineman Joey O’Connor, South Bend (Ind.) HS linebacker David Perkins, West Roxbury (Mass.) Catholic Memorial cornerback Armani Reeves, and Fork Union (Va.) Military Academy wide receiver Mike Thomas.

Meyer was hired at the end of November and found out the following month the program would face multiple sanctions including a postseason ban in 2012, which surprised most everyone who had been following OSU’s case with the NCAA. Still, he continued to hire top-of-the-line coaches and drew commitments from recruits of high stature.

He said a big key to that effort was being “proactive” and honest in addressing the postseason ban.

“The way we did it, the way we instructed our staff, hit that as hard as you possibly can on the front end,” he said. “Don’t wait for them to attack you with it. Your competitors are all over that. We went and were extremely proactive as far as the bowl ban. That was a little bit of a sucker punch.”

Fickell said it also helped to have coaches already in place and involved with targeted recruits.

“You’ve got to give them a lot of credit, keeping our foot in that door,” said Fickell, who served as OSU’s head coach in 2011. “I kept saying all year, when there’s clarity with what’s going on in the program, we’ll be in fine shape. We all bought in. That’s kind of the way we went about the entire recruiting throughout the season.”

Added Hinton, “It’s really unbelievable how much work is being done behind the scenes in order to create the kind of success we had.”

Meyer also said the class is a byproduct of hard work.

“Recruiting is work ethic, it’s uncovering who the champions are for each young man that you’re recruiting, but most of all it’s a belief in the place you’re at and knowledge of the place you’re at,” he said. “To be able to do that in such a quick time period, a lot of credit goes to our coaching staff.”

But Meyer is also a realist, which is why he probably didn’t get too upset when Diggs decided to attend Maryland, and why he wasn’t doing cartwheels on signing day.

“I don’t want to give the opinion that it is not a home run; we’ll evaluate that,” he said of his first haul as OSU head coach. “We signed a class (at Florida) and I heard a reporter say it’s the greatest class in the history of football. Half of them aren’t there any more. You just don’t know.”

Rapp Around: Hibernation Over

Jeff Rapp — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 13:49:00 GMT

After watching Purdue’s D.J. Byrd, who’s not even normally a starter, drain three after three over his defense, Thad Matta was asked to explain the junior’s career-high 24-point performance and 7-of-9 showing from long range.

“I think for whatever reason sometimes we’re like a get-well card,” the Ohio State coach joked.

But after OSU’s gutty 87-84 win over the suddenly spectacular Boilermakers at the Schottenstein Center on Tuesday night, Matta should be sending Matt Painter a thank-you card.

That’s because there’s no telling what the unorthodox victory did for the Buckeyes’ maturation process and their March outlook.

No. 3 Ohio State improved to 21-3 overall and atop the Big Ten with a 9-2 mark, but made even larger steps in the categories of resiliency, faith in its bench and clutch play. Purdue (15-9, 5-6) demanded all of that with Byrd leading an 11-of-19 effort from deep and by committing only four turnovers, none in the second half.

Matta and Painter always have shown great respect for each other and it was no different after their respective teams staged perhaps the most exciting Big Ten battle of the season.

The two coaches shook hands cordially after the final horn and again while passing by outside of the postgame interview room. Matta became OSU’s head coach in 2004 and Painter took over at Purdue a year later and since then their teams have had some memorable clashes.

Still, it was merely a side note that the Boilermakers were the last team to win at Value City Arena, doing so on Feb. 17, 2010. The Buckeyes had rattled off 38 straight home wins since them almost none of them holding much suspense.

My feeling as I headed to the arena was this was a trap game for the Buckeyes. They had just won at Wisconsin for the first time since 2000 and appeared to be in position to put themselves on a plane atop the rest of the conference. Michigan State is coming here on Saturday. Purdue just lost a clunker at home to rival Indiana and had been skidding. It’s clear just by looking at the minutes dispersal alone that Painter has been searching for the right combinations all season.

With a 9 p.m. start and OSU favored by 15 points, the game didn’t sell out and the majority of the 16,504 who did show up arrived just prior to tipoff.

When the Buckeyes jumped out to a 7-0 lead you could almost hear the yawns up in the rafters. After all, Purdue wasn’t supposed to be up this challenge, let alone a big early hole.

It’s a somewhat understandable predicament for Painter, who lost the services of guard E’Twaun Moore and center JaJuan Johnson after last season. The pair was productive, highly coachable, willing to dig in on defense and dependable.

He responded, though, by yanking guards Lewis Jackson and Ryne Smith from the starting lineup yet using both of them down the stretch. They delivered like Byrd, coming up with several big baskets. Smith hit a pair of threes while the diminutive Jackson logged 14 points and four assists.

“When you bench your starters, you want a response,” Painter said. “You want them to be mature about it and go out and produce.”

However, the best backcourt player on this night was Ohio State senior William Buford. All he did was jolt OSU into a seven-point lead after the game was tied at 73 and log all four of his team’s field goals in the game’s final minutes en route to a career-high 29 points.

Moments after Jared Sullinger picked up his fourth foul and joined Aaron Craft on the OSU bench, Buford decided to take over. With 4:30 left, he canned a deep jumper to give the Buckeyes a 75-73 lead. On OSU’s next possession he stumbled after a ball fake but still rose up from 17 feet and canned another well-defended shot. After PU forward Robbie Hummel missed at the other end, Buford went for the dagger and fired home a stepback three that upped the lead to 80-73 and exploded the nighttime crowd.

In that sequence, the smooth 6-6 wing also passed Jimmy Jackson and moved into sixth place on the school’s all-time scoring list. Jackson, who immediately offered congratulations on Twitter, has professed a bond with Buford since both are products of Toledo.

To see Buford awaken from his recent slumber may indeed be to witness the moment when Ohio State became truly formidable again – like national championship formidable. He hadn’t shot 50 percent from the field in his last seven games, causing many OSU fans to wonder what was holding him back and even causing some to wish him out of the starting lineup.

But on this night he played all 40 minutes and was 10 of 17 from the field, 6 of 6 from the free-throw line, and added seven rebounds and two assists.

“Anytime you’ve got a scorer like Will, he’s due for games like this,” Craft said. “That’s what he’s definitely capable of doing.”

Both Craft and Sullinger said they often beg Buford to shoot more. Matta added that he has always had faith in his lone senior.

“I said this last night on my radio show: I haven’t been worried about Will,” he said. “I think Will’s been playing pretty good basketball. Maybe the shots haven’t been falling for him, but nobody makes them all. When you look at everything he’s been a part of here, I’ve got great confidence in him and I’ll never lose it.”

If Buford is putting on a shooting display, taking pressure off Deshaun Thomas to score, aiding Craft in running the offense and offsetting all the concentration on Sullinger inside, the Buckeyes are living up to their top-five billing. And if Matta can rely on a bench that appears to be solidified by wing Sam Thompson, point guard Shannon Scott and post man Evan Ravenel, there’s no telling how far this team can advance in the postseason.

The game was tied at 40 at halftime and the traded punches and drama continued all the way through the second half. This was supposed to be a checkmark outing, but the Buckeyes probably felt like they had to play three games to earn the win.

Even midway through the second half, the crowd was antsy and the tension was thick.

Craft picked up his fourth foul with 9:18 left and the score knotted at 64. Matta called on Scott and also tabbed another freshman, Thompson, to join him in the backcourt. The next several minutes saw the lead flip-flop but Ohio State made sure to find Sullinger down low. The 6-9 soph drew fouls, made free throws and also threw down a dunk on a beautiful pick-and-roll drop-down pass by Scott that gave OSU a 71-68 lead.

But just seconds later, Sullinger was whistled for his fourth foul with 6:50 to play. Purdue responded by tying the game at 73 and setting up Buford’s heroics, which were capped when he tapped a loose ball past midcourt and threw down a dunk with 38 seconds left that provided an 83-76 edge.

But it was his deep jumpers with defenders in his grill that had the area buzzing and Painter shaking his head.

“Since he showed up on campus here four years ago, he’s always made tough shots,” said the Purdue coach. “Most of the time when you get a hand in the face or make a guy get out of rhythm the percentages drop. With Buford, when he gets in those rhythms he makes difficult shots.”

On the flip side, the Ohio State defense struggled throughout. Purdue hit 14 of 23 shots in the first half (60.9 percent) and found open driving lanes after loosening up the Buckeyes with an outside shooting exhibition.

“They spread us out with five people who could shoot threes and drivers on the floor,” Craft said. “After they hit three after three we started getting a little selfish on defense and we’re not helping out as much.”

Maybe most amazing was that OSU didn’t record a single steal and couldn’t disrupt what the Boilermakers were trying to do.

Still, the Buckeyes adjusted enough to keep PU to 14 of 31 (45.2 percent) from the field in the second half and got stops at key junctures, even with reserves on the court in crunch time.

Plus, they survived Purdue’s best effort of the season.

“I thought we had better fight to us, and obviously you’re always going to look better when you make shots,” said Painter, who also lamented a few scramble plays which saw the Buckeyes come up with loose balls.

“I said this to Matt before the game: Nobody knows how hard it is when you lose a couple NBA players,” Matta said. “He’s doing a tremendous job. Their game plan tonight was a little bit like Wisconsin – they were going to try to spread us out and shoot some threes, and theirs were going in. And then we probably locked on a little bit too much, but give them credit.

“With that said, I give our guys credit for finding a way to win the basketball game because at times the matchups weren’t real favorable. Somehow, some way, we found ways to challenge shots, we found ways to come up with rebounds.

“I thought tonight was a step in the right direction. Purdue had us on the ropes and we found a way to win the basketball game.”

And that cannot be discounted or discredited. The Buckeyes still have some growing to do, but on Tuesday night they may have lifted their head up high enough to see a deep and promising horizon.

Summed up Sullinger, “This team is coming together.”

Rapp Around: A Glut Of Super Thoughts

Jeff Rapp — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 13:01:00 GMT

First things first: I’m 46 years old, which means I can always remember what Roman numeral should be acquainted with what Super Bowl as long as I can recall the year. The Super Bowl and I are the same age.

And even in my mid-40s I felt the need to dress appropriately for the big game. So before loading up the wife and kids and a huge pot of homemade soup in the minivan and heading out to my sister’s house, I grabbed my favorite Rams sweatshirt. This, of course, makes me pathetic.

Being a Rams fan alone is embarrassing, and wearing NFL gear to watch a game with family probably is equally so. However, I do believe in karma. The New England Patriots stole the Rams’ dynasty 10 years by filming red-zone plays and eking out a win over St. Louis in Super Bowl XXXVI.

Bitter much? Yeah, you could say that.

So whenever a Bill Belichick team has a chance to stumble on the biggest stage, I’m all for it, just as I was four years ago when the G-Men stunned the 18-0 Pats.

Taking all of that emotion out of it, I still pegged New York to win Super Bowl XLVI. The Giants simply have the right makeup to win titles these days – a star quarterback (Eli Manning), one of the game’s best wide receiver tandems, a solid but not spectacular running game, a disruptive front four, reliable tacklers and very effective special teams.

Last year, I predicted Green Bay would beat Pittsburgh by six points, and I watched that game at my big sis’ house, too. Again, karma.

So I found a comfortable living room chair, popped open the laptop and decided to log my observations once again.

Here goes:

6:30 p.m. – After two weeks and an entire day of hype and overanalysis, there is a kicked football in the air and we’re underway.

6:32 – The Giants pick up the initial first down of game as Manning zips one to receiver Victor Cruz, one of the emerging stars of the NFL. You can bet Belichick and his staff don’t want this guy to get loose.

6:33 – Yet another reason to root for the Giants: Jake Ballard. The former Buckeye tight end hauls in a Manning toss and makes an early mark on the offense. New England isn’t the only team in this game that can dial up TEs.

6:36 – Ballard runs wide open down the middle of the field and Manning fails to see him. Could have been a glorious start to the scoring. I need some finger food.

6:38 – A big special teams play ensues as Steve Weatherford, out of Illinois, knuckles one around the New England 5 and a gaggle of G-Men are there to cover it. Weatherford celebrates like Oprah just handed him car keys.

6:39 – The first in-game commercial out of the chute is for Audi. However, the foreign car company wins points by incinerating a young vampire. I wonder if we’ll see another ad for a car company? Hmmm.

6:41 – Men Without Hats are not in Indy – at least I don’t think so – but we’ve got a safety dance! Tom Brady is afraid of getting the pretty knocked out him and chucks a ball to no one out of his own end zone. That’s a no-no. Since he intentionally grounded the aerial from there, the result is a safety and two points for the NFC champs. Just for the record, a prop bet of the Giants opening the scoring with a safety is 50-to-1 in most casinos. I know this because somebody posts his receipt on Twitter – $1,000 paying $51,000! Hello. Talk about a good start to a game.

6:46 – With the ball again – Tom, you’ve got time to call your super model wife and tell her you’ll be home late – the Giants have an excellent offensive mix working and look like the more enthralled and physical team. As soon as I type this, NBC’s Cris Collinsworth says they “look like the more physical team up front.” Hey, Cris, stay out of my head.

6:50 – Another New England penalty is a big one as the Pats rip the ball free from Cruz in the red zone but are caught with 12 men on the field. There goes Belichick trying to cheat again.

6:52 – Touchdown! Manning fires right behind a Patriot defender off his back foot and finds Cruz in the middle of the end zone. It would have been understandable if Cruz dropped the ball since he couldn’t have seen it until it hit his hands. As it was, he bobbled it but hung on then broke into his trademark salsa dance. Giants 9, Evil Empire zippo. Time for some food – barbecued pork sandwich, cole slaw, fruit salad and, wait a minute, I need something really junky … there we go! Seven-layer dip and a big handful of tortilla chips. I honor you, Senor Cruz.

7:06 – The Patriots respond with a field goal. Whatever. I’m full now. Burp.

7:08 – New England placekicker Stephen Gostkowski drives the kickoff into the middle of the end zone and the Giants kneel down. The kicker does this, well, because all kickers can do it now that they’ve moved the kickoff line up 5 yards this season. Dumb rule. Football has an element of violence. Violence results on kickoff returns.

7:10 – Did that commercial just condone whizzing in the pool?

7:14 – Best ad so far has a dog getting rid of his winter gut so he can chase a Volkswagen down the street. The best part is the James Brown tune in which our canine hero is told to “get up off of that thing.” Too bad the message isn’t going to reach me.

7:20 – Just to make sure women are watching, the anticipated David Beckham underwear commercial comes to the fore. Don’t worry, guys. Madonna will be jiggling around here in a little bit (that’s a joke). By the way, Beckham is tatted enough to play in the Giants’ secondary.

7:23 – Great pitch and catch by Brady and wideout Wes Welker, but the third-down play comes up half a yard shy of a first down. Belichick doesn’t hesitate in deciding to punt. We’ve got a long way to go with 8:24 left in the second quarter. After the punt we learn another Beckum, Giants tight end Travis Beckum, has blown out his knee. More work for our man Ballard?

7:30 – Weatherford is psyched again. He just booted a punt out of bounds at the 4. Long field to go for the Pats.

7:34 – Gronk! After a fortnight of speculation regarding the playing status and ankle of Rob Gronkowski – I imagine he was probed by NASA this week – the star tight end makes a first-down catch for the Patriots. Will it alter the momentum or merely be a side note?

7:40 – The Pats appear to be on the move late in the first half when they are guilty of a holding penalty. The laundry situation is the difference in the game at this point.

7:47 – Poop. That team from Bah-ston caps off a very methodical 96-yard scoring drive and takes a 10-9 lead after Brady moves in the pockets and finds Danny Woodhead and Gostkowski adds the extra point. The length of the drive ties a Super Bowl record.

7:50 – Manning kneels down are we are at halftime. My 11-year-old son asks who is doing the halftime show. When he is told it is Madonna, he chuckles and says, “Ha, ha, she’s going to mess up.” So I guess cynicism is genetic.

8:01 – Cleopatra, er, Madonna is on stage with her army of backup dancers after – what else? – an overly elaborate entrance. It’s a pretty entertaining effort, though, including one of the most impressive staging and light productions of its kind. One question: Why is anyone holding a mic? Clearly, this a lip-synch deal.

8:13 – The halftime extravaganza ends with the words “World Peace” on the field. I didn’t even know the Lakers’ shooting forward was going to be at the Super Bowl.

8:28 – The Patriots go right down the field and score again. It’s now 17-9 and the insistence to throw to the tight end continues to be the NFL trend. There are only three problems with this: 1) I hate the Patriots (has this been established yet?), 2) I have no idea what the hell Aaron Hernandez’s TD dance was supposed to simulate, and 3) Belichick looks like he’s got a brick in the back end of his shorts. Of course, if the Giants were winning you wouldn’t be able to tell by looking at Tom Coughlin, either.

8:45 – Looks like we’re about to go old-school with the commercials. Jerry Seinfield’s was pretty funny – “Leno!” – and the Ferris Bueller ad is yet to come.

8:48 – Boom. Brady’s coronation as the greatest athlete in the history of mankind is put on hold as he is sacked for the first time. Justin Tuck drilled him on third down. Funny how these guys complete all their passes when there is no pressure and suddenly look mortal when the pocket collapses on them. I’m still banking on Eli to come through here.

8:56 – Another Lawrence Tynes field goal has cut the New England lead to 17-15. I’ll take one more of those, please – and about a dozen more sacks by the Giants D-line.

8:59 – We are headed to the fourth quarter. NBC has to be pleased that the game is close at 9 Eastern and that everything has gone off without a hitch to this point. No halftime wardrobe malfunction, no highly controversial plays, no embarrassing skirmish after a whistle. Of course, if Brady gets hurt there will be a production room suicide.

9:06 – Bueller? Bueller? Oh, there he is.

9:11 – Ballard is down holding his left leg. Looks like all fantasies of him becoming the hero of this game are flitting out the window.

9:16 – Mario Manningham, who couldn’t haul in a deep pass on his hands early in the game, runs a poor fade route on second-and-5 and steps out of bounds after catching it. Collinsworth is all over the mistake. Manning then burns New York’s second timeout and the Giants, inexplicably suffer a false-start penalty out of it. Now facing third-and-10, Manning throws a strike that would have been a chain-mover but the New England defender hits the wideout early and gets away with it. Could be a devastating sequence. I need more chip and dip or I’m going to start biting my fingernails.

9:22 – Brady has been surgical on the short and immediate throws but hasn’t had much luck going downfield in this game, thank goodness. Still, the guy might get whisked straight to the Hall of Fame after this game considering they gave him the MVP of Super Bowl XXXVI for throwing for about 140 yards. Los Gigantes need a stop – NOW.

9:24 – That karma thing is a bitch (isn’t it, LeBron?). Welker, maybe the most surehanded receiver in the league, can’t quite hang onto a pretty good Brady throw that would have set up lots of good scenarios for the Pats. The Giants break up the next play and get the ball back, fielding a punt on the 12.

9:30 – As I await Eli’s chance to repeat history with a clutch, fourth-quarter scoring drive against the Pats, I look up the numbers of the two QBs. Both them are 25 of 34 with virtually identical passer ratings heading into last Giants’ last drive. Eerie.

9:35 – Wow, wow, wow! Manningham hauls in a 38-yarder – the longest play of the game – and does an amazing job to catch the ball clean and keep both feet in with two defenders draping him. What did you think of that play, David Tyree? We have our first real replay of the game and it confirms the completion. I have griped all season how replays are ruining NFL watching for me but this added to the drama and the beauty of the play. Here comes Eli.

9:38 – The Giants pick up another key first down and are in the red zone at the two-minute warning. New York still needs to take care of the ball, manage the game correctly, make the field goal and leave Brady little time. Still, I’m liking my chances.

Losing track of time and feeling in my extremities – Are NFL coaches now smarter than the people on the competition committee? Belichick and his wicked wit decide to let the Giants walk into the end zone rather than run the clock down the nothing and kick a chip-shot field. Coughlin apparently has told his offense to not to score but Ahmad Bradshaw can’t stop his legs from churning in time, tries to go down and ends up backing over the goal line. We have the first game-winning touchdown in the Super Bowl that results in basically a squat.

Just when I think the Giants are the smarter team they decide to go for two for no particular sensible reason and fail. I hope they knew that wouldn’t take any time off the game clock. Still, New York leads 21-17 with just 57 ticks remaining. Michigan’s favorite male model is back on the field. My sister asks me if I want dessert but she doesn’t understand that A) I’m about to burst, and B) This is going to require my full concentration so the Giants don’t do something stupid and let Megamind host the Lombardi Trophy.

9:53 – Whew! After an impressive fourth-down pickup and a couple more completions, New England has a chance for a game-winning Hail Mary. Coughlin, though, shows he’s thinking again, by putting 12 defenders on the field on the prior play. It costs New York 5 yards but also pulls five seconds off the clock. Brady has to heave one now.

The ball goes into 213 players and Gronk dives for a batted ball in the end zone but thankfully can’t get to it. Man. Suddenly I’ve got room for some celebratory ice cream cake. Belichick seeks out Coughlin and gives him an uncomfortable bear hug. Hey, even evil geniuses have to admire somebody, I guess.

And the winner is … dogs. They dominate the commercials and the underdog Giants pull the upset. The other winner is Indianapolis as league and media members rave about what a good job the city did the last two weeks handling all of the festivities. Looks like the Circle City will get to host another Super Bowl sometime down the line. Fine with me. I only go there several times a year for work and I can use always use another St. Elmo’s steak in my belly (well, not really, but still).

Time to scoop up exhausted kids who have school tomorrow and make the 25-minute drive back to Rapp Estates. I know I’ll do so patting myself on the back for the prediction of Giants by 3, although it’s hard to reach with this much food weighing down my midsection.

Simple Math: G-Men Win It

Jeff Rapp — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 16:50:13 GMT

(Editor’s Note: Contributor Corey Barnes wrote this piece from his unique perspective as a SportsRappUp.com intern and OSU student/sports aficionado. Barnes is a senior from Strongsville, Ohio, majoring in business. For Barnes’ well-place hyperlinks, click on the hidden underlined words.)

Every year around this time I am faced with a question: whom should I support in the Super Bowl?

Since my natural team, the Cleveland Browns, have never reached the Super Bowl (sigh) I am forced to briefly align myself with another team’s colors. I call it “Renting a Team.” I only need to support this club for about three hours on a Sunday in February and then I can return them to the proverbial dealership.

Some seasons the decision is easier than others. For example, last year I watched proudly as the righteous Green Bay Packers smote the villainous Pittsburgh Steelers and restored balance to the Force (perhaps I exaggerate). Anyway, this year’s matchup pits an unlikable team in the New England Patriots against an unbearable fan base, that of the New York Giants.

This decision is proving difficult so I have created the following criteria to help me decide who should get my very valuable support on Feb. 5.

“Drought”

The last time the Patriots won the Super Bowl was all the way back in the 2004 season. Eight days after the win, YouTube launched. Coincidence? Yes, yes it is.

That was the third title of the decade for the Pats, and third total championship. New York, meanwhile, won Super Bowl XLII, which followed the 2007 season. That’s right: There are 4-year-olds who have never seen the Giants lift the Lombardi Trophy. A nation weeps. Those 4-year-olds have however seen a New York Yankees World Series victory, so I am sure that held them over.

Honestly, both these cities are spoiled beyond reason.

Boston has won 35 titles which is a lot except when compared to New York’s gaudy 55. In the past decade alone, Beantown has hosted seven parades and New York has had three. However, New England technically has had the longer wait, so it holds the advantage for now.

New England – 1, New York – 0.

The Line

Some very influential people in a Nevada desert have declared the Pats early three-point favorites over the G-Men. I know little about gambling and even less about spreads, but I know one thing for sure: The Underdog is cool.

When David plays Goliath, no one roots for Goliath. Of course, in this case Goliath is about 7’9” compared to David’s miniscule 7’8”.

Still, New England – 1, New York –1.

Logo

I was worried too much emphasis was being put on numbers, so let’s take a more aesthetic approach. Going purely on logos, New York is pretty unimaginative. Two lowercase letters – “n” and “y” with the second letter’s tail forming an underline. New England meanwhile sports a decapitated head with either a long hat or flowing mane.

The Patriots’ old AFL logo, however, is a thing of beauty. A colonial center squats in a three-point stance over the ball with a look that says, “hey NFL, watch this.” I’m a sucker for AFL and ABA logos so this one goes to the Pats.

New England – 2, New York – 1.

Rematch

For the next two weeks, I expect the media will be playing out one angle more than any other: the rematch of Super Bowl XLII. In case you missed it, the Patriots entered that game an unprecedented 18-0 in search of the first perfect season since the NFL expanded to 16 games.

That New England team was beyond stacked. Quarterback Tom Brady had just polished off an MVP/offensive player of the year season. Oakland castoff Randy Moss returned from the dead and zombie-caught an NFL record 23 touchdowns. There were a total of five All-Pros on the roster, and they were understandably favored to win.

Los Gigantes were not even supposed to be there. They finished the regular season 10-6 and were the five-seed. The club quickly became road warriors by springing upsets at Tampa Bay, at Dallas, and capped off conference play with an overtime win over an aging Brett Favre in snowy Green Bay. Then the Big Game arrived.

With less than three minutes remaining in the contest, New England led 14-10. Eli Manning led the Giants down the field using skill, guile, and the finest helmet catch of all time. He found Plaxico Burress in the endzone for the deciding score with 35 seconds to go.

With all this in mind, I would rather the Pats not win. If they did, all the subsequent talk would surround, a potential “tie-breaking game” as if the NFL were their own private best of three series. This rental is annoying enough as it is and I would rather not repeat it next year.

New England – 2, New York – 2.

Buckeyes

When in doubt, root for the Buckeyes. It’s simple, natural, and best of all this year, it’s easy. New England does not have any Ohio State alumni on its roster. The Giants meanwhile suit up Jim Cordle at center and use Jake Ballard as a tight end. So while rooting for anything New York-related may seem strange, just remember that if the Giants win then two Buckeyes win.

New England – 2, New York – 3.

So there you have it. Exact science has determined that the New York Giants will be my team in Super Bowl XLVI. Oh, and just in case this has not yet convinced you, remember one thing: Brady went to Michigan.

Go Giants.

Suddenly In The Driver's Seat

Jeff Rapp — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 23:58:00 GMT

Suddenly, No. 3 Ohio State looks very comfortable in its own sturdy skin.

Suddenly, Jared Sullinger not only appears to have overcome early-season injuries and has found a groove, but now he’s downright dominant in the paint once again. That’s very bad news for the rest of the contenders atop college basketball. Against a battering Wisconsin defense, Sullinger made his mark early by scoring OSU’s first seven points and stood tall all afternoon while posting 24 points and 10 rebounds. He also ripped three steals.

Suddenly, the Buckeyes have exorcized many of the demons of Wisconsin’s Kohl Center, slugging their way to a very key 58-52 win there before a rabid, sellout crowd on Saturday afternoon. Even on a day almost devoid of offensive explosion, coach Thad Matta couldn’t hide a very grin, evidence that he very much enjoyed his first win in the building.

Suddenly, the No. 19 Badgers (18-6, 7-4) don’t look so formidable, even at home where they tend to get away with all their shoves and shenanigans. They suffered their third conference loss and fourth overall at Kohl and couldn’t get untracked from the outside, making just 5 of 27 three-point attempts (18.5 percent). They may still be a team that finds itself in a first-day bye in the Big Ten Tournament but they are closer to the middle of the pack than a league title with trips to Michigan State and Ohio State remaining.

Suddenly, 20-3 overall and 8-2 in the Big Ten look like gaudy marks for the Buckeyes, especially considering the former likely would be good enough right now for a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament and the latter gives OSU a cushion atop the league standings. A full game ahead of Michigan (17-6, 7-3) and a game-and-a-half ahead of Michigan State (17-5, 6-3), the Buckeyes play four of their next six at home, where they are undefeated for the second straight season.

Suddenly, winning ugly isn’t so alarming and Ohio State’s mediocrity from the outside isn’t so daunting. Yes, the Buckeyes were just 1 of 7 from deep but they got nine offensive rebounds and several key putback baskets from Sullinger and Deshaun Thomas. They also held UW to 40.0 percent from the field six days after squeezing the rim on Michigan, which was held to 35.8 percent in OSU’s 64-49 win last weekend.

Suddenly, Thomas has to be considered as a reliable scoring option for the Buckeyes. He strongly supported Sullinger with 16 points and six boards, doing so on an 8-for-15 shooting night. The assertion that Thomas is erratic is getting harder to support considering he is among the top 10 players in the Big Ten in field-goal percentage (54.0), knocking on the top-10 door in scoring (14.7 points per game) and has scored in double figures in 20 of 23 games this season. Two of the exceptions were nine-point games. This kid produces almost every single time out and is a matchup headache for foes.

Suddenly, William Buford looked like a senior in Madison, coming through in the clutch. He had unremarkable numbers with 11 points and six rebounds and hit just 4 of 15 shots, but in the final minutes he connected on a dagger three that stretched OSU’s lead to four and he basically sewed up the win with a pair of made free throws. For the season, Buford has hit 52 of 59 foul shots for a Big Ten-best 88.1 percent.

Game Notes

A more meat-and-potatoes look at Ohio State’s six-point win over Wisconsin Saturday:

* The Buckeyes actually had lost nine straight times at the Kohl Center. They hadn’t won there since the Big Ten-championship year of 2000. Last year’s 34-3 team that went into the postseason top-ranked in the country couldn’t hold onto a 15-point lead at UW and lost that game. The 2006-07 Buckeyes who finished as national runners-up also lost at Kohl.

* Forward Ryan Evans led Wisconsin with 14 points and All-American guard Jordan Taylor, last year’s hero, had a dozen. Versatile forwards Mike Bruesewitz and Jared Berggren finished with 11 points and 10, respectively.

* Sullinger scored 16 of OSU’s 28 points in the first half. The Buckeyes led 28-24 at the break with the 6-9 Sullinger 6 of 8 from the floor and 4 of 5 from the free-thrown line.

* Matta participated in his 403rd game as a head coach and improved to 312-91 in his 12 years (one at Butler, three at Xavier and eight at Ohio State. He is 210-60 at OSU, including 110-43 in Big Ten games. He’s now won at every opposing Big Ten arena.

* OSU now leads the all-time series 83-65 and is 6-2 when both teams are ranked. Wisconsin still leads 43-28 in games in Madison.

* Sullinger became the 48th OSU player to reach 1,000 points in his career. He logged his 10th double-double of the season and 28th of his career.

* Buford was just a point behind Jay Burson on OSU’s all-time scoring list and vaulted past him into seventh place with his 11-point outing. He now has 1,766 points in his career: Burson (1986-89) finished with 1,756.

* The Buckeyes head home to host Purdue Tuesday at Value City Arena (9 p.m. Eastern, ESPN) and Michigan State (6 p.m. Eastern, ESPN). The game with the Boilers (15-7, 5-4 heading into Saturday’s game with rival Indiana) will be the only regular-season meeting with them this year.

Teammates Already

Jeff Rapp — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 18:03:35 GMT

The annual clinic for the Ohio High School Football Coaches Association is in full force after a luncheon at the Easton Town Center Hilton in Columbus kicked off the event Thursday.

At that get-together, several coaches and players who will participate in the North-South Classic were on hand, including a pair of Buckeyes-to-be: Columbus DeSales running back Warren Ball and Steubenville defensive back Najee Murray.

Ball and Murray are two of 19 prep standouts who inked national letters-of-intent proclaiming allegiance to Ohio State on Wednesday, which was National Signing Day. Six members of the 2012 class already are enrolled and head coach Urban Meyer said there is room for one more recruit to come aboard. The preference of OSU fans, and likely Meyer, is highly rated wide receiver Stefon Diggs of Maryland.

Whenever OSU’s class is complete it will be regarded as one of the best in the country.

Ball and Murray – who will be teammates for the South squad and head coach Mike Mauk of Kenton – certainly are components of all the praise after putting together topflight careers at their respective schools. Nattily attired in a Hilton ballroom for the luncheon, they found themselves in the dual role of class spokesman.

A handful of reporters attended the event to speak to the two. Offensive lineman Taylor Decker of Vandalia Butler and linebacker Devan Bogard of Cleveland Glenville, the two other OSU signees ticketed to play in the game, were not on hand. Decker will join Ball and Murray on the South squad and Bogard will suit up for the North when the all-star clash is staged April 20 at Ohio Stadium.

Ball, who signed his LOI Wednesday before classmates, teachers, administrators and reporters, is at the alphabetical forefront of the 25-man recruiting class and was among the first to commit to the program. He rushed for 1,232 yards and 29 touchdowns as a senior for the Stallions and was named first-team All-Ohio in Division III by The Associated Press. Scout.com rated him as the nation’s No. 13 running back prospect for his class and Rivals.com pegged him at No. 16 among RBs.

The hard-hitting Murray was a team leader for a Big Red outfit that was 12-2 in 2009 and 11-1 last year. As a senior, he logged 54 tackles, played shutdown defense in the secondary and also excelled as an offensive playmaker. Like Ball, he was named first-team All-Ohio in Division III and also was recognized as the AP co-defensive player of the year. He earned rankings of No. 16 nationally by Rivals.com and No. 20 from Scout.com among all senior safeties. Murray is the first Buckeye from Steubenville since wideout Buster Tillman arrived some 20 years ago.

SportsRappUp.com and other media members interviewed these two rising talents separately on Thursday. The following is a full account of those conversations:

Najee Murray
5-11, 172 pounds
Defensive back
Steubenville (Ohio) HS

Q. Could you talk about what it means to be selected to play in one of the most prestigious all-star games in the country?

Murray: “It was an honor being selected here out of all of the great athletes here in Ohio. It just means a lot to me.”

Q. You’re going to be on the same team with Warren Ball and Taylor Decker. Will it be neat to kind of get to know those guys before you get into Ohio State?

Murray: “Yeah, I already knew Warren a little bit, and it will be nice to know Decker, just to get a start before we go to Ohio State.”

Q. Have you played in any other all-star games?

Murray: “I haven’t but I’ll be playing the Big 33.”

Q. They let you know you’re going to be in that?

Murray: “Yes.”

Q. That’s kind of neat thing, too, to be in Ohio vs. Pennsylvania.

Murray: “Yeah, it is. It’s a great honor to be in that game, too.”

Q. And you’re on the border over there, too.

Murray: “Yeah, I’m 30 minutes away from PA.”

Q. Who was your main recruiter for Ohio State?

Murray: “My first recruiter was Coach (Nick) Siciliano then it went to Coach (Mike) Vrabel. So he and Coach (Luke) Fickell came to see me.”

Q. How detailed were the discussions about how you fit in? I’ve seen different projections for what maybe you can do at the next level. Are you trying to sort that out yourself or are you not that far right now?

Murray: “Right now they are saying I’m going to start up there at cornerback and I’m not getting redshirted. I’ve just got to put that time in and I’ll see some playing time, hopefully.”

Q. Have they talked to you about having a need at corner?

Murray: “Yes, he said since they had two guys depart they are in need of corners. So he said, ‘Just get up here and you’ve got to start working.’ ”

Q. So it’s a need thing, or do you feel you also possess a certain skill set that they like for that position?

Murray: “I think I possess a certain skill. Since I came up there for camp I worked out at cornerback and showed them what I can do.”

Q. You also like to hit people as a I understand.

Murray: “Yeah, Yes, sir.”

Q. Where did that come from? How long have you had that quality?

Murray: “I’ve had that since growing up and peewee football. I was always the hitter through middle school, and finally it came out in high school and I showed what I can do.”

Q. Are people excited back in Steubenville that one of their guys is going to play for the Buckeyes?

Murray: “Everyone is excited. I’m getting much love from Steubenville.”

Q. Talk about that Steubenville program. It’s one of the storied programs in Ohio. And Coach Reno (Saccoccia), just playing for him and what it means. I saw him say one time, “500 years from now this city is stilling going to be here and we’re still going to be doing this.” He’s a pretty hardcore dude.

Murray: “It means a lot to play for Steubenville. The dedication prepares you for the next level and it prepares you to become a young adult, and Coach Reno and all the coaches help you out through the whole process.”

Q. Is that also why Ohio State felt comfortable to you, with the all red and the manic fans and all that kind of stuff?

Murray: (Laughing) “Yeah.”

Q. Is it going to be exciting to get an early peek of what it will be like to play in Ohio Stadium?

Murray: “I can’t wait to play there in the ’Shoe before I ended up going over for college.”

Q. What do you remember from the first time you were there? What was it like?

Murray: “My first time I was there was during a camp, and it was amazing just to get there and play on the field. I didn’t expect us to get (to play) 7 on 7 on the field but it was worth it.”

Q. When was that?

Murray: “It was my freshman year.”

Q. You grew up an Ohio State fan?

Murray: “Actually, I didn’t. I once I started to get mature enough to learn the game of football I became an Ohio State fan.”

Q. That area is kind of West Virginia, Pittsburgh, Ohio State. It’s all kind of globbed together over there.

Murray: “Yeah, it’s the tri-valley.”

Q. Was that hard when you to switch recruiters, people who were recruiting you to Ohio State?

Murray: “It was a little difficult but once you started to talk to them and you started to build up little relationships, it started to ease on.”

Q. I think people want to know: What’s Mike Vrabel like when he’s recruiting or talking to you? What’s he like out there?

Murray: “Coach Vrabel, man, words can’t explain. Coach Vrabel was a Pro Bowler, NFL star. It was just crazy, just him coming into to see me in high school. It surprised me.”

Q. What was his message to you?

Murray: “He just kept saying, he told, ‘Keep working.’ A couple guys were up there already and Coach (Mickey) Marotti is going to have us do extra stuff in the weight room, so be prepared.”

Q. Was that exciting to you, having a guy like that coming to talk to you and maybe that message that they’re going to work you hard and get the best out of you?

Murray: “Yes, it was. Like I said, I was really surprised that he came in and talked to me. I didn’t know he was going to be my area recruiting coach.”

Q. How caught up in this recruiting process did you get? Did you find yourself on line seeing what people were saying about you? Like did you try to find out who else Ohio State was recruiting, for example?

Murray: “Actually, I did get on there a little bit and look into it, by my mom would mainly do all that. I’d just listen to what she’d say and try not to get too caught up into it. I just tried to play my game.”

Q. During the summer, you had been part of the class for a long time, was that tough, waiting out that whole period where they didn’t know who the coach was going to be and everybody saying bad things about Ohio State? What did you kind of do during all that, just keep to yourself?

Murray: “Yeah, I just kind of just sat there because I knew I was going to come to Ohio State no matter what. This is where I feel is the best fit for me. I was just going with it.”

Q. Did you feel like things sort of turned a corner when they hired Urban Meyer and you know what’s going to be happening now?

Murray: “There were a lot of rumors going on, so that was a big surprise. I’m happy Coach Meyer is going to be my coach. He’s a great coach. He reminds me of Coach Saccoccia.”

Q. Why is that?

Murray: “They’re both mean and strict (laughter) … and they like to win.”

Q. That doesn’t scare you off?

Murray: “Not at all.”

Q. Who are some of the guys in this class that you’ve developed a relationship with?

Murray: “I got to know a lot of them very well. Devan, Frank Epitropoulus, Warren, Tyvis (Powell), Blake (Thomas). The majority of the (first) 15 who committed I’ve gotten to know real well.”

Warren Ball
6-2, 205 pounds
Running back
Columbus DeSales

Q. Let’s start with yesterday. How did that go over at your school? I know there were other athletes who went on to neat things. What was that day like? As you anticipated?

Ball: “Oh, it was amazing. It was a little more than I anticipated. The entire student body was there. It was an outpouring of support from friends and family. It was a great experience to see fellow classmates and friends going to great colleges. It was a fantastic day.”

Q. What you think about what you saw with how your class shaped up compared to maybe where it was back in like June?

Ball: “It’s ridiculous. I think we’re ranked maybe sixth now by ESPN and maybe fourth by Rivals. Urban Meyer has done a fantastic job and that whole staff with recruiting. It’s remarkable. I’m very excited for what’s ahead.”

Q. You were one of the guys who stuck by Ohio State through everything. Why was that?

Ball: “Because I knew that (playing at) Ohio State was a dream of mine since I was a child. I’ve always been a Buckeye fan and I knew no matter what happens Ohio State is always Ohio State. It’s more than just one guy, per se. That’s where I want to be.”

Q. Do you remember what was being said around the dinner table when Urban was hired and what you guys said or what you were thinking as a family?

Ball: “We were actually watching the television, and the day they announced it, it was on ESPN. It was amazing. We had a feeling that it might happen or even a hope that it might happen but to actually see it announced, it was remarkable.”

Q. Warren, these recruiting websites, they can go in either direction. They can blow you guys up, quote-unquote, or they can be a little bit critical, too. I remember one thing I read about you was that you were still unproven in terms of durability. Is that a fair statement because you’ve had some injuries, or what would your response to that be?

Ball: “I don’t think so. I’ve played football for about nine years now and I never had injuries until my sophomore year, which was a torn groin. And then junior year was a high-ankle sprain, which meant I couldn’t put pressure on it. Just freak things, and that’s the game of football. Things happen. But I had a healthy senior season and I have a healthy career going forward.”

Q. Can labels be dangerous, especially for a running back? And I ask that because you’ve got some breakaway ability and that type of thing, but also I’ve seen you play and you’re comfortable between the tackles as well in the system you’ve got. So why don’t you describe yourself instead of us trying to figure it out.

Ball: “I think basically I’m a passionate runner who is going to fight for every yard he needs to get the first down or get to the end zone someone who can use power but also use speed. I’m just a whatever-the-team-needs type of runner and I’m going to fight for every yard.”

Q. Did Urban or Tom Herman or any of those guys ever talk to you maybe about how you fit into their offense?

Ball: “We haven’t spoke yet, but what I bring to the table is versatility with power and with speed. I think I’ll fit well in the spread offense or any offense that we run, so I’m excited.”

Q. What is your take on all-star games? Is it just fun or do the competitive juices get flowing again? What’s going on right now with you?

Ball: “Well, it’s both. It’s fun, but as a competitor you definitely want to go out and win. So I’m looking to have a great time, go out and meet some great guys and build some relationships, but ultimately it’s to win.”

Q. Being at Ohio Stadium, is that a pretty cool thing being from here?

Ball: “Yeah. It’ll be my first time playing in the ’Shoe. I’ve been there for several games but I’ve never gotten the chance to play a game in the ’Shoe. To be able to feel the atmosphere and play on that field and score a touchdown, it’s going to be amazing.”

Q. This is a little bit of a sensitive question and I’m not asking you to badmouth anybody, but there was a kid in the class, Roger Lewis, who was committed, who now has legal problems, and I don’t know much about it. I’m just wondering as a local kid – and maybe you know Roger – are you saddened by that or what are your feelings?

Ball: “Roger is someone I definitely have known, a childhood friend of mine. We played on the same basketball team growing up. That was someone who I was close with. My thoughts and prayers go out to him and his family. It’s definitely tough news. I’m behind him, praying for him, and I’m hoping for the best.”

Q. When you see them going after so many offensive linemen in this class, does that kind of excite you as a running back?

Ball: “Oh, definitely. We just got a commitment from Kyle Dodson. Having those guys up front, 6-6 and plus, it’s fantastic. It makes our job as a running back a lot easier.”

Q. Did you get to see his commitment? What did you think of that?

Ball: “I didn’t see it a lot, but I got a replay of it and I was excited. It’s another guy added to the class. I’m looking forward to what’s ahead.”

Q. Do you have any regrets with how you’ve handled your end of the recruiting process – when you committed, what you said or what you did? Or do you feel that chapter is close and you’re satisfied?

Ball: “I feel the chapter’s closed. I don’t have any regrets at all. Obviously it’s a school that has always been a dream of mine to go to and it’s been a dream come true to be able to play there. No regrets at all.”

Q. With a guy like Bri’onte (Dunn) in your class and getting in early, any regrets that he might get a little head start on you or jump on you?

Ball: “I think it will all work itself out. We’ll be in the same system and have to learn. He may have a little bit of time to get jump-started on the playbook but once we’re down there it’s all fair game and the best will play. So I’m excited to go down there and compete.”

Tressel Returns To NE Ohio

Jeff Rapp — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 19:46:00 GMT

From possible head coach of the Indianapolis Colts to vice president of strategic engagement at the University of Akron – that is the recent career path turn for former Ohio State football coach Jim Tressel.

Akron officials announced that role and introduced Tressel at a Thursday press conference on campus. He rose from his seat next to his wife, Ellen, and took to the microphone wearing school colors and a tie donning a logo with the school mascot – a kanagaroo named Zippy.

“Ellen wanted me to get out of the house,” he joked. “I mean, how often can you cut the grass?”

Tressel also disclosed that he read 30 of 100 books he pledged to read in his newfound free time.

The Akron community welcomed Tressel to his new role after he served as a replay consultant with the Colts, was a trusted advisor behind the scenes to team owner Jim Irsay, and even was considered for the opening of head coach in Indy.

Instead, Irsay went with Baltimore defensive coordinator Chuck Pagano last week, prompting Tressel to look elsewhere for work. Rumors quickly spread that he was going to pursue a position as a college administrator and, sure enough, he ended up at Akron, not far away from Youngstown, Ohio, where Tressel was the beloved 15-year head coach at Youngstown State.

After leading the Penguins to four Division I-AA national championships from 1986-2000, Tressel was highly successful at OSU from 2001-10, positing a record of 105-22 and winning the 2002 BCS title, although the school had to vacate the 11 wins from the 2010 season because of NCAA sanctions.

Tressel resigned under pressure on May 30 of last year and has kept a low profile since.

Tressel recently sold his posh Upper Arlington home just a few miles from the Ohio State campus. Reportedly, he and Ellen bought the house and gated property on McCoy Road for $1.38 million in 2003 and he sold it to local car salesman Bobby Layman for approximately $2.2 million.

Spokesperson Eileen Korey said Tressel and school officials had been in discussions since December, when he assisted Akron in its search for a new football coach. Akron hired former Auburn coach Terry Bowden.

Tressel is a former member of the Zips staff. In fact, he began his coaching career there as a graduate assistant in the mid-1970s after playing quarterback for his father, Lee Tressel, at Baldwin-Wallace.

He spent four years in various roles at Akron from 1975-78. Jim had just interviewed at Penn State with legendary coach Joe Paterno and was excited at the prospect of joining the Nittany Lions staff when Lee told him he would instead stay in the state and go to Akron. Young Jim, of course, obliged.

Officials from the University of Akron would not confirm reports of Tressel coming aboard but issued the following statement on Wednesday:

“When Jim Tressel and other alumni assisted us in our search for a football coach last December, we began to engage in dynamic conversations about Jim’s professional goals outside of athletics. We share a common interest in innovative programs for student success. Our discussions continue.”

A lengthy NCAA investigation into wrongdoing in the Ohio State program compelled that governing body to admonish Tressel for not being forthright at the beginning of the investigation. The NCAA then hit him with a five-year “show cause” penalty in December, making it very difficult for another Division I school to hire him in that time frame.

In essence, the penalty means that if a school tries to hire him in its athletic department during that period, it must show the NCAA why and monitor his actions. It also puts restrictions on what he can do in terms of recruiting and other duties. But it likely would have little or no effect on a job outside athletics.

Tressel was pulling down about $3.5 million annually in his final years as OSU head coach. He will earn a base salary of $200,000 per year at Akron. Still, he was thankful to be back in a college environment.

“I feel fortunate that I got this opportunity,” he said. “It’s going to be a fun one.”

In his new position, Tressel will work with Akron’s students, alumni and community organizations on a variety of issues. He will not have any direct involvement with the school’s athletic department.

Clearly, though, the university is banking on benefiting from the former coach’s name recognition and won’t be shy about introducing prospective student-athletes and donors to him. Akron, which has put money into facility upgrades throughout its campus of late, has an enrollment of about 29,000.

Some of the reporters at the packed-in press conference raised questions about Tressel’s recent issues with adhering to NCAA rules, but Akron president Luis M. Proenza defended the move to hire him.

“Look at the man; look at what he has done,” Proenza said. “Look at the thousands of lives he has impacted. We knew that was the asset. The opportunity. And we wanted that to be available. There was no question in my mind that for the university, for the community, for Northeast Ohio, for the 30,000 students at Akron, this will make a difference.”

Tressel also addressed his past.

“I think you always go back, whether it was a game you coached or a series of things that occurred and you always go back and say here’s what I could have done better,” he said. “In this type thing, working with young people, you can use your experience. Just like we did talking about special teams. If the right guard didn’t block the guy and we had the punt blocked, we wouldn’t have lost the championship.

“You always go back and you probably learn more and can teach better from some of your shortcomings.”

And teach is still what Tressel plans to do.

“I’ll be coaching students every day,” he said. “I’m an educator. I’m going to work as if this is the last place I’m ever going to work.”

Rapp Around: Worthy Of A Bow

Jeff Rapp — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 23:10:00 GMT

I hate to admit it, but my cynicism tends to get the best of me when it comes to football recruiting.

First of all, the numbers don’t add up. Twenty-five kids arriving to a program the same year aren’t all going to be impact players. That simply doesn’t happen.

Also, domination on the prep level doesn’t necessarily mean the same will follow on the collegiate level. Unlike basketball, for example, a lot of the elite players have only a handful of experiences facing other elite players.

Plus, I always cringe at how much attention these kids receive simply for what they’ve done in high school and making a college choice and how quickly many of them are forgotten soon after.

Did anyone shed a tear when Jeremy Cash decided to transfer to Duke recently? Of course not. Not when Ohio State is raking in a prospect the caliber of Armani Reeves, stealing him away from Penn State.

Does it bother anybody that Melvin Fellows simply can’t get healthy and his OSU career already is over? Nope, not with in-state guys like Adolphus Washington and Se’Von Pittman on their way.

It’s as if no one even remembers that Cash and Fellows were once considered “great gets” for the program – and by once I mean within the last couple years.

Here’s what Scout.com had to say about Fellows when he was still at Garfield Heights (Ohio) High School:

“A pure power player with the ability to handle blockers by himself. Fellows has the strength to fight double teams to a stalemate. At times Fellows looks a little slow coming off the line but once he gets going he’s a force and hard to stop. With more work on his technique and moves he’ll have a chance to be a major factor at the college level.”

Uh, not quite.

Let’s get real. Players get hurt, players don’t pan out. Some get caught in a numbers crunch at their position. Some can’t hang academically. Others develop an attitude or transfer – or both.

For every “can’t miss” prospect you could label in Ohio State’s 2012 class, I could remind you of a Buster Howe or a Jefferson Kelley or a Mike D’Andrea or …

You get the point.

No, Urban Meyer does not walk on water and, yes, there will be some misses in OSU’s haul that signed letters-of-intent on Wednesday.

However, even with that lengthy disclaimer we are still left with two irrefutable facts: 1) Ohio State’s 2012 class, on paper, is quite impressive, and 2) The entire staff, not just Meyer, deserve heaps of credit for the effort.

Meyer has been on the job for two months and his new assistants have been in town for a month. Considering that and the NCAA sanctions the program is saddled with – not to mention the Buckeyes are coming off a bowl loss and a tumultuous 6-7 season – it’s borderline amazing that OSU could wrangle a top-five class, even with all of its tradition and pluses.

Meyer said news of the postseason ban that takes effect after his first season felt like a “sucker punch” and he’s been in damage control with recruits for weeks. Obviously his resume and stature had a big hand in that effort. Also, it’s clear that recruits are attracted to newness and grandiose possibilities.

After all, Florida, Miami (Fla.) and UCLA are coming off their own share of issues and rough seasons but those programs also were able to attract more than their fair share of top-line recruits this year.

But it has to be remembered that this 25-man class loaded with four- and five-star prospects also is a byproduct of lots of hard work of the entire staff.

Clearly, Luke Fickell was instrumental in maintaining relationships and some semblance of consistency with recruits, and he still has genuine belief in his alma mater despite a rather rough go as a de facto interim coach. Meyer recognized that aspect and made keeping Fickell as his defensive coordinator his priority.

Ed Warinner’s reputation as a terrific teacher of the running game and line coach helped OSU land five offensive linemen, the most in many years. Tim Hinton, who also came over from Notre Dame, was a longtime high school coach in Ohio and understands the prep landscape in the Buckeye State.

Cherished OL Taylor Decker decided to decommit from ND and pursue a spot in Ohio State’ class mostly because of Hinton. Meyer said that assistant Taver Johnson, who ended up following coach Paul Haynes to Arkansas, laid the groundwork for the staff closing on linebacker Jamal Marcus of North Carolina.

Mike Vrabel, who shifts from linebackers coach to duties with the defensive line, helped Meyer and Fickell close on defensive end Noah Spence, the highest-rated player in the class.

OSU had 13 solid commitments when Meyer was hired at the end of November and 12 of them signed with the class. The exception is local standout Roger Lewis, who already was dropped from the group before encountering serious legal trouble this week (more on that below).

Babysitting those dozen prospects who no doubt had concerns while honoring media commitments, meeting everyone affiliated with the program, handling all the other demands of the job and continuing to hire coaches – assistant Bill Sheridan was brought on board just last week to complete the staff – had to be exhausting for Meyer. But Meyer, as legend already has it, is simply tireless.

Somehow, some way, the Ohio State coaches were able to sell some of the top-rated prospects in the country on OSU’s tradition, facilities, campus, spread offense, attacking defense and prospect for a much brighter future, effectively drawing their attention away from NCAA probation, scholarship reductions, a bowl ban and the rest of the black cloud that hung over the university for a full year.

“I never was asked that question (about sanctions) by a high school coach or a recruit at any time,” Hinton said.

That’s due to a highly laudable group effort.

So kudos are deserving and I wouldn’t blame and of these Ohio State coaches for lighting up a cigar and taking a second to admire their work.

Now the real fun – and reality – begins.

Players who inked with OSU on National Signing Day (in the order they signed):

Camren Williams, OLB (6-2, 200) West Roxbury (Mass.) Catholic Memorial
Armani Reeves, CB (5-10, 185) West Roxbury (Mass.) Catholic Memorial
Blake Thomas, TE (6-4, 240) Cleveland St. Ignatius
Pat Elflein, OG (6-3, 270) Pickerington (Ohio) North
Warren Ball, RB (6-2, 215) Columbus DeSales
Taylor Decker, OT (6-8, 290) Vandalia (Ohio) Butler
Ricquan Southward, WR (6-1, 190) Lakeland (Fla.) HS
Luke Roberts, LB (6-2, 225) Lancaster (Ohio) HS
David Perkins, LB (6-2, 210) South Bend (Ind.) Washington
Noah Spence, DE (6-3, 240) Harrisburg (Pa.) Bishop McDevitt
Najee Murray, DB (5-11, 175) Steubenville (Ohio) HS
Tommy Schutt, DT (6-2, 290) Glen Ellyn (Ill.) Glenbard West
Devan Bogard, S (6-1, 190) Cleveland Glenville
Frank Epitropoulos, WR (6-3, 195) Upper Arlington (Ohio) HS
Adolphus Washington, DE (6-6, 250) Cincinnati Taft
Se’Von Pittman, DE (6-4, 260) Canton (Ohio) McKinley
Joey O’Connor, OG (6-3, 285) Windsor (Colo.) HS
Jamal Marcus, DE/LB (6-2, 230) Durham (N.C.) Hillside
Kyle Dodson, OL (6-6, 310) Cleveland Heights (Ohio) HS

Players already enrolled at Ohio State:

Jacoby Boren, OG (6-2, 275) Pickerington (Ohio) Central
Bri’onte Dunn, RB (6-1, 220) Canton (Ohio) Glen Oak
Cardale Jones, QB (6-5, 215) Fork Union (Va.) Military Academy
Josh Perry, OLB (6-3, 225) Lewis Center (Ohio) Olentangy
Tyvis Powell, S (6-3, 180) Bedford (Ohio) HS
Mike Thomas, WR (6-4, 205) Fork Union (Va.) Military Academy

Ratings for 2012 class members according to Rivals.com:

Five stars – Spence, Washington
Four stars – Ball, Bogard, Decker, Dodson, Dunn, Murray, O’Connor, Perkins, Perry, Pittman, Reeves, Schutt, Mike Thomas, Williams
Three stars – Boren, Elflein, Epitropoulos, Jones, Marcus, Powell, Roberts, Southward, Blake Thomas

Players who were committed elsewhere previously:

Penn State (4) – O’Connor, Reeves, Schutt, Williams; Notre Dame (2) – Decker, Perkins; Wisconsin (1) – Dodson; Michigan State (1) – Pittman

The top 10 classes according to Rivals.com:

1. Alabama; 2. Texas; 3. Ohio State; 4. Florida; 5. Michigan; 6. Oklahoma; 7. Florida State; 8. Miami (Fla.); 9. Clemson; 10. Texas A&M

Players still considering Ohio State:

Wide receiver Davonte Neal of Scottsdale (Ariz.) Chaparral (No. 107 overall nationally according to Rivals.com) will choose between Arizona, Arkansas, North Carolina, Notre Dame, Ohio State and Oklahoma.

Wide receiver Stefon Diggs of Olney (Md.) Our Lady of Good Counsel (No. 8 nationally) is expected to choose between Ohio State, Florida and Maryland, among others.

Also of Note:

Pickerington (Ohio) Central receiver/kick returner Roger Lewis will not be part of this class. He committed to the program months ago but was arrested and charged with two counts of rape on Tuesday. The alleged incidents happened in December and January. A representative of Lewis’ high school told the Cleveland Plain Dealer Lewis would not be signing with a school because of “academic issues.”

Rapp Around: Trumping A Trey

Jeff Rapp — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 15:49:59 GMT

The game itself was compelling.

Ohio State vs. Michigan. First place in the Big Ten on the line. No. 4 vs. No. 20. A jam-packed Schottenstein Center (18,809) and a national television audience tuned to CBS on Sunday afternoon.

No NFL playoff games. No other real distractions.

And OSU’s 64-49 win didn’t come until the two teams staged a good, old-fashioned Big Ten slugfest replete with R-rated moving screens, rugby scrums for loose balls and several manly offensive rebounds in traffic, most of them by 6-4 OSU off-guard Lenzelle Smith Jr.

In fact, Smith became a headliner with game highs in points (17) and rebounds (12), including eight offensive boards, the most by a Buckeye this season. Meanwhile, Ohio State (19-3, 7-2) grabbed sole possession of first place in the Big Ten at the halfway point of the conference season.

Still, the game within the game was pretty fun to watch as well, and that entailed lifelong buddies Jared Sullinger and Trey Burke facing each other for the first time in anything other than a one-on-one battle in a shoveled-off driveway or the Burke basement.

“He really helped me out with my development of my one-on-one game at an early age,” Sullinger said.

A burly 6-9 sophomore post player, Sullinger is a legitimate All-American and frontline candidate for national player of the year. Burke, who is just a 5-11 freshman, arguably also is the best player on his team, and has the ball in his hands more than any other Wolverine.

Burke is a point guard by trade and one who came into his own as a sophomore at Columbus Northland in the 2008-09 season. That postseason he made all the necessary plays and fed the ball to Sullinger and J.D. Weatherspoon well enough for the Vikings to win their first-ever state title, doing do on the same Value City Arena floor.

Burke became a prep superstar but not until his senior season of 2010-11 when Sullinger and Weatherspoon had already won multiple AAU championships for All-Ohio Red and moved on to play for Thad Matta at Ohio State.

Jared’s father, Satch Sullinger, put off his retirement as boys basketball coach for one year and told anyone who would listen that Burke was a special player in his own right. When Trey’s father, Benji Burke, advised his son to decommit from Penn State to try to land a scholarship with an even bigger program, Satch approved.

Trey went haywire in the summer of 2010 for All-Ohio Red – he had played a level below Sullinger, Weatherspoon, Adreian Payne, Aaron Craft and Jordan Sibert – and accepted an offer from the University of Michigan, which raised eyebrows in more ways than one. Despite knowing they soon would be facing their close friend and former teammate in Big Ten battle, Jared and J.D. attended Trey’s public signing at Northland as a show of full support.

“At Trey’s signing, that was really special to me, because that’s like my little brother,” Jared said Friday. “It almost brought tears to my eyes.”

Jared heard all the criticisms of Trey while they played together in high school – too slow, too short, can’t shoot, can’t pass. He, of course, knew better. The public caught up when Burke won Mr. Basketball honors as Ohio’s best prep player last year.

The Wolverines lost point guard Darius Morris a year early to the NBA. He’s now toiling for the Los Angeles Lakers. But Burke has picked up the slack and then some. He returned to his home town on Sunday with season averages of 14.1 points, 3.7 rebounds and 5.0 assists per game for a UM team that stood 16-5 overall and tied for first in the Big Ten with a 6-2 league mark.

“Now everyone that has looked past him is like, ‘Wow, we should have recruited that guy,’ ” Jared said. “He’s making everybody eat their words.”

Matta is among the impressed. Freshman point guard Shannon Scott committed to OSU after his sophomore season of high school and the OSU staff also went after and landed Craft when the Ohioan decommitted from Tennessee. That left no room for Burke, but Matta certainly sees a difference maker when No. 3 in maize and blue is playing.

Matta has had a couple freshmen point guards impact his program of late in Mike Conley Jr. and Craft – and he sees similarities with Burke.

“Trey included and Michael and Aaron, No. 1 is having great players around you and all of those guys definitely have that or had that,” he said. “He’s got some veterans out there with him who can really shoot the basketball, so that opens things up. But I think John (Beilein, Michigan’s coach) has done a great job of teaching them the system and how they want to play. Obviously he’s playing at a very high level.”

Morris was a headache but not the quality outside shooter in the category of Burke.

“We were going to make (Morris) make shots from the perimeter because three-point shooting wasn’t his forte,” Matta said. “His length and his ability to drive and pass and find guys was something you feared going against him.”

Burke isn’t rangy but he has a knack for knifing through defenses, creating plays and hitting big shots. To watch him play is to wonder why so many major programs took a pass on him.

“I’m just proud that he got a scholarship,” Weatherspoon said Friday. “You can’t argue with that. He’s going to school for free. His family doesn’t have to pay nothing. I’m just glad he got the opportunity. There are going to be some feelings, of course, but at the same time we want to give each other our best games because we feel like if we don’t give them our best shot, that’s disrespectful. And he’s going to come at us with everything he’s got.”

Weatherspoon knew so because he and Burke actually did face each other once in a middle school championship game. Jared and Trey’s team won, which apparently still doesn’t sit well with Weatherspoon.

On Friday, I asked Jared if it bothered him even a little knowing his father would be sitting up in the stands wanting Burke to perform well.

“Not at all,” he said. “You know what? If I wasn’t playing against him I’d be rooting for him, too. Unfortunately, I’m on the other side of the court. Every Big Ten game he plays I’m always cheering for him and watching him play. I don’t always hope Michigan wins but I’m always rooting for Trey to make a certain basket or a big play.”

On my way into the arena on Sunday, I spotted Satch. He’s not hard to miss. He’s a mountain of a man at about 6-9 like Jared and makes an entrance like a well-liked politician. It takes him about 20 minutes to get through the breezeway of the The Schott en route to his seat as well-wishers often stop him and he makes sure to hug some of the volunteer workers.

It was easy to see that Coach Sullinger had even more spring in his step on this day.

“This is a celebration,” he told me. “See, I’ve got my Northland hat on because I love them both. We celebrate their athletic skills but they’re better young men, and that’s what I celebrate them the most.

“As for the game itself, I’ve got gray on. I’m a Buckeye. But I want Trey to do well. And the best team will win.”

Now was the matter of the actual oncourt battle. On Friday, Jared said he and Trey had texted each other Thursday about how to greet each other.

“He asked me, ‘Are we going to speak before the game?’ Jared said, “and I said, ‘Yes.’ Then I didn’t get a text back.”

The two did talk briefly and also hugged afterward. In between, each had their moments of success and frustration.

Sullinger finished with 13 points and five rebounds, well below his team-leading season averages of 18.8 ppg and 9.4 rpg. Still, he helped OSU pull away in the second half and had a major hand in OSU holding Michigan to 35.8-percent shooting from the field.

Sullinger criticized his play afterward and said he was impatient in dealing with UM’s double teams. But Matta was pleased.

“I thought Jared played really well,” said the OSU coach. “He played through some foul trouble and was very, very effective.”

Weatherspoon played only the final two minutes of the first half and logged an assist but no points.

Burke, meanwhile, was a busy man. He directed the Michigan offense and maintained his dribble through a wave of pressure, a harassing Craft and plenty of help.

“They showed a lot of late help,” he said. “They’d let me get into the lane, it looked like it’d be open, and then they’d slide over. I would think somebody was open in the corner and they would slide over and that’s when turnovers happen.

“And they did a good job of stopping the pick-and-roll. They didn’t let me use the screens as much as I wanted them to. They did a good job. It was Jared the majority of the game. He’d be there waiting for me. It was kind of a light trap. It was a pretty good scheme.”

Through that swarming defense and the added pressure of trying to show his skills back home, Burke still managed to log 13 points, five assists and two steals.

He recorded just one assist after halftime and also finished with five turnovers yet still made many positive plays against one of the nation’s top defensive teams.

“I think he did OK in the situation,” Beilein said. “I thought he did a really good job.”

In the locker room, though, Burke lamented his five turnovers – and the loss.

How important was it to keep him semi-contained? The Ohio State coaches actually focused much of their game plan on Burke and made sure to provide help on drives and when he spun out of the pick-and-roll.

“We knew he was going to be probing,” Matta said. “I thought for the most part our guys did a pretty good job, giving the guys guarding him the support they needed. He’s crafty with the ball and he finds the seams.”

Whether or not the Ohio State fans realized Burke’s oncourt value or the back story of how he ended up at Michigan, many still treated him like a traitor and booed him during introductions and early in the game.

“Yeah, I heard it, but it didn’t really affect me at all,” Burke said. “I heard it when I first came out and first got the ball, but after that it didn’t really bother me.”

More bothersome was staring down Craft for 36 minutes and a clearly motivated Scott for the other four. But Burke held up well and will have many more opportunities to begin turning this rivalry around. The Buckeyes have won 15 of the last 17 meetings.

Burke didn’t put all that on his shoulders, though, and managed to be somewhat comfortable in his return to The Schott.

“It wasn’t really weird,” he told me. “It brought back some memories, of course. I played on this court a lot. We won the state tournament here. It was fun playing here again. Unfortunately, we lost.”

So Sullinger earned the first checkmark in this new rivalry but he admits he has mixed feelings. Part of him wishes he could still catch entry passes from Burke; another part is just happy for the success of his best friend.

“It’s a little bit of both,” he said. “I’m happy that Trey got to go away and spread his wings and become his own person. A lot of people said when he played beside me I took away from his spotlight or something like that. Obviously Trey is showing everybody that he can play.

“I’m just happy that he’s at Michigan and he’s handling his business like a man.”