OSU Sputtering Down Season`s Stretch

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“For The Buckeye Fan Who Needs To Know More”
March 8, 2014
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Spring Renewal
Plenty Of Work To Be Done For Ohio State
By MARCUS HARTMAN
Buckeye Sports Bulletin Staff Writer
The spring of 2014 marks the second in a row in which
Ohio State starts spring practice coming off a 12-win regular
season. That is one of few similarities to the spring of 2013.
This time around, the offensive line must be rebuilt. An
open starting position is one of multiple holes in the wide
receiver depth chart, and the Buckeyes are in search of a
new No. 1 running back.
The work to be done on defense goes deeper, however, as a disappointing end of the season was pinned
mostly on that group. The change is also greater on that
side of the ball, where two coaches have departed along
with three starters in the secondary and the team’s top
linebacker.
“Obviously it’s more than just the secondary,” head
coach Urban Meyer said on National Signing Day in early
February. “It’s linebackers and everything, but you’re going
to see some significant changes in the way we approach our
business back there.”
Many areas must be addressed, but they all point toward
one goal – getting ready for a regular season that will be as
successful as the last two and lead to much greater things
in the postseason, where the Buckeyes were 0-2 last season
after being barred from participating in such competition the
year before because of NCAA sanctions.
“We just had a group of seniors depart Ohio State that
came from losing seven games two years ago to winning
24 straight,” Meyer said. “Obviously there were a couple
bumps at the end, but it was a group of players I have a lot of
respect for. I love those guys. Those guys came in and they
let us attack their hearts and let us coach them. And they’re
gone.”
Patching The Offense
Just what will be the most important factor in Ohio State’s
improving on the past two seasons and truly becoming a
national contender remains to be seen, but what is certain is
its most valuable player will be back.
Braxton Miller, selected Big Ten MVP each of the past
two seasons, returns for his senior season as the team’s starting quarterback.
2014 Spring
Football Preview
He will likely need to be better than ever to take the
Buckeyes back to the top of the conference and into the
first College Football Playoff. That is asking a lot, especially
considering he will be limited in the spring while recovering
from what has been termed minor, outpatient surgery on his
right (throwing) shoulder in late February.
Even before Miller’s procedure, the coaching staff knew it
would need to take a long look at the rest of the quarterbacks
to figure out who will be his backup this season.
Kenny Guiton graduated after admirably filling the role of
super sub for two seasons, leaving behind him a three-man
group with two career pass attempts at the college level.
Both of those belong to Cardale Jones, a sophomore who
played in three games last season after redshirting in 2012.
A 6-5, 250-pound product of Cleveland Glenville, Jones has
great size and a strong arm, but he has yet to show the type
of consistency the staff wants to see.
Continued On Page 6
FILE PHOTO
RAMPING UP – Urban Meyer kicked off his third
spring football session as Ohio State’s head coach
March 4.
OSU Sputtering Down Season’s Stretch
By BEN AXELROD
Are the basketball Buckeyes back on the bubble?
After the way that they ended February and
began March, it’s a fair question to ask.
What appeared to be a second-half surge that
included six wins in seven games came to an end
Feb. 27 when Ohio State dropped a 65-63 decision
to last-place Penn State. The Buckeyes followed
that three days later with a 72-64 loss at Indiana,
dropping them to sixth place in the Big Ten and out
of the top 25 of both major polls.
With just one regular-season game remaining
– a March 9 home date with Michigan State – Ohio
State appears to be playing its worst basketball at
the worst possible time. There’s still the Big Ten
tournament for the Buckeyes to turn their fortunes
around, but for now they have some glaring weaknesses that need to be addressed.
“We were rolling until (the Penn State loss), in
all seriousness,” Ohio State coach Thad Matta said.
“We’re really lacking in a confidence issue and a
toughness issue in terms of playing through situa-
Y
Vol. 33, No. 17
tions. Those are things, somehow, some way, that to get the confidence back. We’ve got shooters. There’s
no excuse. We’ve got to put the ball in the bucket.”
we have to get corrected.”
Ohio State’s offensive struggles haven’t been
The Buckeyes’ struggles may be the result of
psychological issues according to Matta, but their limited to beyond the three-point arc.
The Buckeyes’ success – or lack
problems are manifesting themselves
thereof – from the free-throw line has
in a measurable manner.
also played a role in their two-game
Most notably, Ohio State has struglosing streak. OSU connected on just
gled with its shooting. The Buckeyes
66.7 percent (18 of 27) of its attempts
connected on just 42.6 percent of their
from the charity stripe in Happy Valley
field-goal attempts during their loss to
the Nittany Lions, but that was just a
before making just 14 of its 23 (60.9
sign of things to come. Marking the first
percent) against Indiana. Numbers like
time since 2004 – a span of 367 games
that won’t serve a team well in closely
– that they went an entire game withcontested games, which is why Matta
out a three-point make, the Buckeyes
has placed an increased emphasis on
went 0 for 11 from beyond the arc in
his team’s free-throw shooting of late.
Bloomington while shooting 42.4 from
“You can’t simulate game situations
Thad Matta
the field against the Hoosiers.
with free throws in practice,” he said.
But while Ohio State’s 45.0-percent shooting
“I would venture to say we’ve probably shot
percentage on the season would suggest a talent more (free throws) in practice this year than we
issue, Lenzelle Smith Jr. insists that’s not the case. have in the past.”
Rather, the senior guard believes that mental issues
While the extra practice has yet to pay dividends
have turned into physical errors the Buckeyes have for the Buckeyes, their offensive issues extend past
yet to learn how to overcome.
Continued On Page 22
“It’s just all confidence,” Smith said. “We just have
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Questioning Matta
Thad Matta is not a game coach. I am tired
of hearing him say players need to make plays.
No, coaches need to coach.
Timeouts are taken and they still run the
same weave around the arc. OSU is all catchand-shoot players. No one can proficiently
shoot off the dribble. They refuse to push the
ball up the court for easy points. Their offense
is pathetic, boring and very predictable. Time
management and shot selection has been just
plain awful.
Based on the lack of development of the center in three years, it is no wonder that the Bucks
cannot get a bona fide big man to come to OSU.
This is an indictment of whoever is working
with the centers. The one-and-done centers cannot be counted as developed players.
Also, whoever changed Aaron Craft’s shot
not once but twice during his time at OSU
needs to find another job. His shot was fine his
freshman year.
I am afraid the drop in talent has exposed
the coaching staff. Teams take on the personality of their coaches. There is no fire in any of
the coaches and the team plays like it.
On a better note, the overall performance
of the athletics teams has been outstanding
again. Congratulations to the entire athletics
department.
Brian Arledge
Lakewood Ranch, Fla.
Not Getting It Done
Mr. Copfer, you must lighten up regarding your opinions (BSB Letters, Feb. 15). You
sound like that guy (ahem) from Troy, Ohio,
with the initials RF. Rest assured we have not
begun to see the best of Urban Meyer.
In regards to Jan Cooke’s assessment of
yours truly (BSB Letters, Feb. 15), I think if
you would check through past letters of mine
since Meyer came aboard only once have I said
anything negative about him, and take note: In
the Feb. 15 paper I retracted that statement.
On occasion I’ve been critical of a couple of
players, mainly Brad Roby, for not remotely
living up to expectations this past year. Turns
out everybody and their brother felt the same
way. The play-calling in the bowl game left
much to be desired with Carlos Hyde and Jeff
Heuerman not getting any touches in the last
quarter, but that falls at the feet of the offensive
coordinator.
I just watched Penn State beat the Buckeyes
in basketball for the second time this year, and
I have to say I never watched a team play so
scared in all my life. Not to mention except
for LaQuinton Ross, we can’t make a foul shot
(what else is new?), can’t shoot from outside
(what else is new?).
Aaron Craft, as good as he is, looks like a
fullback driving to the basket. Shannon Scott
belongs on the bench more than on the court.
Lenzelle Smith is either hot or cold with no in
between. He was given a chance to win the
game twice and couldn’t do it. Penn State is the
worst team in the Big Ten, and the Buckeyes
got swept by them.
Rich Foust
Troy, Ohio
If you would like to express an opinion
concerning Ohio State University sports, please
send your letter to BSB Letters, P.O. Box 12453,
Columbus, OH 43212, or email it to [email protected] for use in BSB. Letters must be
signed and include the writer’s hometown and
a daytime telephone number for verification.
Publication priority will be given to those letters
that are brief, and we reserve the right to edit letters for publication.
Fan Question
Which football player do you most
want to see this spring?
Go to www.BuckeyeSports.com and visit the Ask The Insiders forum
or visit BSB’s Facebook page to check out the next poll/fan question.
As always, the best results will be printed in the next edition of BSB.
“It was honestly Mike Mitchell. Now
it’s Jalin Marshall. I know (Gareon)
Conley is a stud. Jalin could bring this
offense to another level.”
– TheKaiser21
“Due to the team’s pressing concerns,
I should say a LB. But I’ve been waiting
to see Jalin Marshall for a year now. So
it’s him.”
– RMosack
“Gareon Conley, Jalin Marshall,
Raekwon McMillan, Johnnie Dixon.”
– bucknutjake
“All the redshirt freshmen.”
– lross5
“(Taylor) Decker at left tackle and the
rest of the OL.”
– buckeyebones
“I can’t wait to see Billy Price bring
the nasty to the Center position. ... Also
excited to see what Noah Brown can
bring to the flex-TE position, in an Aaron
Hernandez role. Those two are the same
build and style of athlete coming out of
high school.
“I’m also excited to see J.T.
Barrett get some solid reps at quarterback. Jeff Greene is intriguing as
well.”
– phatbuck13
“Anyone who lines up on the defensive side of the ball.”
– WIBuckeye
“1. (Ezekiel) Elliott
2. Marshall
3. McMillan
4. (Eli) Apple”
– buckeye1976
“O-line. If they’re serviceable, OSU
will be pretty good on offense again next
year. If not, (Braxton) Miller is in for an
ugly season.”
– Coors73
From The Pages Of BSB
25 Years Ago – 1989
Wisconsin hurt OSU men’s basketball head coach Gary
Williams’ chances of having a happy birthday by beating the
Buckeyes, 77-65, at the Wisconsin Fieldhouse. Ohio State (1712, 6-10) lost for the sixth game in a row and saw chances to
make the NCAA Tournament virtually extinguished.
Danny Jones led the Badgers with 32 points.
The news was better for Nancy Darsch’s women’s basketball
Buckeyes, who beat Indiana by a 77-64 score on Senior Day at
St. John Arena for Lisa Cline, Niki Lowry, Geneva Sanford and
Liana Coutts. Lowry led the Buckeyes with 26 points.
Ohio State improved to 21-5 overall and 14-2 in the Big Ten.
It finished the decade of the 1980s undefeated at home in Big
Ten games, including a 63-0 mark since the start of round-robin
conference play in 1983.
Less than a month after the city of Columbus announced
plans to build a multipurpose sports arena, Ohio State unveiled
its proposal to construct a new arena of its own on campus.
While the city and Columbus mayor Greg Lashutka hoped
their planned arena would be built downtown, OSU was
steadfast in maintaining its belief that it should build an oncampus site for its students.
One of the proposed sites was at the northwest corner of
Lane Avenue and Olentangy River Road, near where a new
baseball stadium was already planned.
Former Ohio State quarterback Art Schlichter was indicted
on three counts of complicity and three counts of grand theft.
He was accused of stealing $25,000 from a bank and a total of
more than $30,000 from two separate men in Ohio’s Hamilton
County.
Bad news also hit the men’s basketball program when
star Columbus-area recruit Samaki Walker announced he had
removed Ohio State from his list of potential destinations.
“I just want to get out of town,” he said.
A media panel named Ohio State point guard Scoonie Penn
the Big Ten men’s basketball player of the year and Jim O’Brien
conference coach of the year.
The conference’s coaches tabbed Michigan State point
guard Mateen Cleaves as their player of the year, though most
seemed to think both players were deserving.
“I think the player of the year is somebody who not only
helps your team but is somebody who helps others get better,”
O’Brien said. “Scoonie and Mateen are both the type of players
who help other guys on their team. They are a lot of fun to
play with.”
Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo called it poetic
justice because the two players helped their teams in such
different ways – Penn as a scorer and Cleaves as more of a
distributor – and Indiana head coach Bob Knight endorsed
both as well.
“I don’t think they differ a whole lot,” Knight said. “They
both control the tempo of their respective teams. They each
create problems with their ability to take the ball to the basket.
They keep people honest with their outside play.”
With his team preparing for a game at Michigan, O’Brien
denied reports he was a candidate to be the next head coach
at St. John’s.
“Nobody’s called me,” he said. “I’ve not had any
conversations about anything with anybody. I’m happy to be
coaching here at Ohio State.”
He then cut off a reporter trying to ask a follow-up
question.
“I’m happy to be coaching here at Ohio State,” O’Brien
said. “This university has been great to me. We just want to
win our next game.”
The next day, the Wolverines beat the Buckeyes, 75-64,
despite 22 points from Tony Stockman.
The women’s basketball team finished the regular season
19-8 in head coach Jim Foster’s second season in Columbus.
The squad’s 11-5 Big Ten record earned it the third seed in the
Big Ten tournament.
The way college football picked its Division I-A champion
got another tweak when the Bowl Championship Series agreed
to add a fifth game to its rotation of championship contests.
The move also increased the possibility that teams from the
non-BCS leagues could make BCS games.
“This agreement is a significant victory for college sports
and higher education,” NCAA president Myles Brand said.
Five Years Ago – 2009
Queen’s “We Are the Champions” blared from the
loudspeaker as Ohio State women’s basketball players cut
down nets in the wake of the program’s fifth consecutive Big
Ten championship.
A 73-64 victory against Penn State on March 1 gave the
Buckeyes a conference-record 12th Big Ten title. It also marked
2 • BUCKEYE SPORTS BULLETIN March 8, 2014
the second time OSU had accomplished five straight crowns
along with the teams from 1983-87.
The result may have been the same, but Foster said this one
felt slightly different from the four previous triumphs.
“I think we’re a better team than we’ve been for a while,
a couple of years,” he said. “That would certainly be one
(difference). A little more enthusiasm with it. And I like the
way they took their time and respected their opponent and
celebrated afterwards.”
The men’s basketball team benefitted from a suggested
switch as struggling starter Jeremie Simmons suggested to
head coach Thad Matta that teammate P.J. Hill should start in
his place.
“I just told (Matta) I think I’ll be better coming off the bench
and I’ll be more productive,” Simmons said. “I’m a real person.
P.J., he works hard. I knew he would start us off with a strong
start on the defensive end so I wanted him to start.”
The move worked, as both players finished with double
figures in the scoring column in a 73-59 win against Penn
State.
One Year Ago – 2013
The No. 18 Ohio State men’s basketball team received a
signature victory in the form of a 68-60 home win against
fourth-ranked Michigan State in front of a raucous, sold-out
Value City Arena.
Junior point guard Aaron Craft scored a career-high 21
points to help the Buckeyes post a top-five win on their NCAA
Tournament résumé.
“Aaron Craft was more aggressive than I have ever seen
him trying to score,” Izzo said. “He tore us apart. He beat us
every way he could possibly beat us.”
The win left OSU at 20-7 overall and 10-5 in conference
play, one game behind the Spartans in the Big Ten standings.
“We still have a lot to fight for and a lot to play for,” Craft
said. “We know what we’re capable of when we play as a
team, and what we did is just proof that we can play with
anybody.”
Meanwhile, the OSU women’s basketball squad spiraled
to a 4-9 conference record that left Foster searching for
answers. Having already tried six different starting lineups, he
contemplated a seventh.
“We’ve gone through a lot of different things,” he
said. “Everybody’s had their chance. Everybody’s had their
opportunity. We’re just going to go with a smaller team. We’re
getting no productivity from our post players.”
www.BuckeyeSports.com
OPINION
Matta’s Men Can Still Make Mark In March
Vol. 33, No. 17
March 8, 2014
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Ohio State isn’t going to win the Big Ten
championship or get a top seed in the NCAA
Tournament. Not that any of that really matters. The Buckeyes will be like the other 67
teams in the March Madness hopper with
their chance to get on a two-week hot streak
and make it to the Final Four.
Unlike the football sweepstakes where
any one loss can kill a team’s national championship aspirations, college basketball is an
entirely different endeavor. For most teams,
the season includes a largely meaningless
nonconference schedule during which teams
work on chemistry, coaches work on roster
management and fans work on stifling yawns
in between games against such powerhouses
as Northwest Central Missouri State and the
College of John and Abigail Adams.
What follows is a drawn-out conference
schedule during which teams attempt to win
all of their home games while trying to steal
a victory or two on the road. After that, it’s a
conference tournament, a draining affair during which the two final teams must play an
exhausting three games in three days while
leagues already flush with cash add a few
more million dollars to their ledger sheets.
Finally, what everyone waits for – March
Madness, the three-ring circus that usually provides enough drama to satisfy even
the most casual basketball fan. Of course,
everyone from Wall Street bankers to
Poughkeepsie grandmothers filling out their
tournament brackets doesn’t exactly hurt the
NCAA Tournament’s popularity.
With regard to Ohio State, it doesn’t
really matter if the team is slotted as a five,
six, seven or even eight seed in the tournament. Likewise, it doesn’t matter whether the
Buckeyes play their opening-round games
within driving distance of Columbus or in the
Outer Mongolia bracket.
The only thing that matters is that the
team somehow gets on a hot streak when
the tournament begins. The possibility of
that strains the imagination, however, especially after watching the Buckeyes turn in
a particularly sloppy performance March
2 at Indiana. They squandered an early
eight-point lead, misfired on all 11 of their
three-point attempts, missed more than a
dozen point-blank layups and/or dunks, and
at one point during the first half missed five
consecutive free throws.
Things began poorly for OSU when Amir
Williams won the opening tip so convincingly that he tapped the ball over Aaron Craft’s
head and out of bounds under the Indiana
basket. And the final dagger came at the 1:33
mark when Craft – who was 1 for 9 from the
field at the time – launched a three-point shot
that was rebounded by Trey McDonald, who
promptly dribbled the ball off his foot and
out of bounds.
The game, coming on the heels of a second inexplicable loss of the season to lowly
Penn State, represented a microcosm of the
Buckeyes’ 2013-14 season – one step forward
and two steps back.
Craft had three steals against the
Hoosiers, tying him for the Big Ten career
lead in that category, but he shot just 2 for
11 from the floor. LaQuinton Ross tied for
the team lead with 19 points and keyed a
second-half rally that fizzled after he committed his fifth foul at the 3:33 mark, a lazy
backhanded swipe of IU forward Hanner
Mosquera-Perea, who was going to make a
layup anyway. Lenzelle Smith Jr. also had 19
points, but he missed three layups as well as
three of his four foul shots.
Even if it doesn’t win another game this
season, Ohio State is going to make the
NCAA Tournament. A 22-win team from
what many believe is the second-best conference in college basketball is going to make
the Big Dance. What the Buckeyes do once
they get there is anyone’s guess.
EDITOR’S
NOTEBOOK
Mark Rea
They have played poorly in transition for
much of the season, have very little offensive
consistency and go for long periods during
games when they have little or no presence
in the paint. Their defense will likely keep
them in every game, but basketball is unlike
football where defense still wins championships.
The simple truth is that the shelf life for a
poor-shooting basketball team is remarkably
short in a tournament format, and that’s not
very good news for a team that has shot 50
percent or better in only two of its last 20
games.
Round And Round
Every year, it’s the same thing. Someone
about to become an NFL millionaire several
times over begins to bemoan the impoverished existence he was forced to lead as a
lowly college football player.
To hear some players tell it – from Ohio
State running back Robert Smith in the late
1980s to such modern-era stars as South
Carolina defensive end Jadeveon Clowney
– the life college athletes are forced to lead is
only a few steps above forced servitude.
Clowney recently revived the old line
about university athletics departments reaping financial windfalls from selling jerseys
featuring the numbers of star players, padding their coffers on the backs of poor kids
who can’t even afford to buy a pizza or take
their girlfriends to the movies.
Of course, Clowney might have had more
pizza money had he not chosen to stud both
ears with diamonds or fill his arms from
shoulder to wrist with tattoos, but I digress.
You could forgive the guy for spending what
little money he has now on trivialities, especially when he has known for some time that
NFL teams are going to line up to make him
a very rich young man.
But what about the group of Northwestern
players who have filed to be considered university employees under the National Labor
Relations Act?
Kain Colter, who played quarterback for
the Wildcats, testified Feb. 27 during an
NLRA hearing that football dominated his
college experience. He said he was required
to devote 60 hours each week during the
season and up to 20 hours during the offseason, never getting breaks during the
summer or winter. He added that such a
schedule adversely impacted his academic
performance, including preventing him from
taking certain classes he needed for graduation.
“We are first and foremost an athlete,”
Colter said. “Everything we do is scheduled
around football. … It’s truly a job.”
Colter is correct. Playing college football
at the Football Bowl Subdivision level is
most certainly a job, and it’s pretty close to
a full-time job at that. However, if studentathletes want to drop the student part of the
equation, then let’s drop the entire facade
from college athletics.
If you want to be paid as a university
employee, then you must adhere to all of the
rules and regulations of being an employee.
For example, if you get caught cheating,
yielding a weapon, failing a drug test, assaulting someone or getting thrown in jail, you
get held to the same standard as any other
employee. You get fired.
Likewise, you can pay for your own housing, your own food, your own tuition, your
own tutors, your own books. And on top of
that, don’t forget to file that tax return every
April. Uncle Sam is going to want his cut,
too, you know.
Then there’s the small matter of compensation back to the university for all of the
free advertisement you received during your
college career. After all, weren’t you simply
auditioning for the NFL? It doesn’t seem
like that university should put you on center
stage and then receive nothing in return.
I know the arguments because I’ve
heard them for years. Football players
make untold millions for universities while
the best science or math students never
make the school a dime. Naturally, that is
a thin argument that dismisses the myriad
contributions that many students make to
the universities in particular and society in
general. Most football players never make
that kind of impact after their playing days
have ended.
If colleges and universities begin to pay
players, where does it stop? The quick answer
is that it doesn’t stop. College football would
cease to exist as we know it, either becoming
a minor league for the NFL or disappearing
altogether as the elite players jump directly
from high school to the professional ranks.
There is no easy solution to the problem.
To be sure, the universities have had it their
own way much too long, but the unionization
of players would seem to be throwing the
pendulum too far in the other direction.
Some Final Thoughts
I’m not sure if it’s because of this interminable winter we’ve been having in central
Ohio, but I started a list the other day of
things that bug me. Maybe some of them
bug you, too. Such as:
• Rushing the field/court should be
banned. Serious injuries that have occurred
during the practice are already well-documented, and for every celebration that seems
appropriate (Auburn’s win over Alabama
after a 109-yard return of a missed field goal),
there are dozens that are not. For example,
Penn State students rushed the floor Feb. 27
following their team’s 65-63 win over No. 22
Ohio State. It was a nice win for a struggling
team, but rush-the-floor worthy? Hardly.
• No more halftime interviews of coaches. The next time I hear a salient question
asked or a thoughtful response offered, it
will be the first time.
• The NCAA has long outlived its usefulness. Somewhere in its voluminous rulebook, it states that an eight-second phone
conversation between Tim Tebow and a
prospective Ohio State recruit (who wound
up not signing with Ohio State, by the way)
is an infraction. It would be almost laughable
if it weren’t so ridiculous.
• Despite knowing that many missed
three-point shots clang off the rim for a long
rebound, something you hardly ever see
anymore is a college basketball player who
follows his shot toward the basket. That
used to be one of John Wooden’s most basic
coaching tenets. Of course, what did he
know? He only won 10 NCAA Tournament
titles, including an incredible seven in a
row.
March 8, 2014 BUCKEYE SPORTS BULLETIN • 3
OHIO STATE INSIDER
All-Session Tickets for 2014 Ohio High School Athletic Association
(OHSAA) State Football Finals are available for only $105. Fans will have
admittance to each of the seven division championship games being
played at Ohio Stadium December 4-6.
At a January meeting in San Diego to discuss NCAA governance, nearly 70 percent of
schools favored changes that would give the
major revenue-producing schools autonomy
to grant cost-of-living stipends and deregulation of things such as food costs and road
trip benefits. That progress in areas he terms
to be “student welfare” left Smith excited for
what the future holds.
“I like it,” Smith said. “It’s very inclusive.
It’s not too fast. We will get our autonomy.
Everybody agrees we have to have it in certain areas, which I thought was important.
It’s primarily student-athlete welfare. We
don’t want to increase the number of scholarships. We don’t want to increase the size of
coaching staffs. We don’t want to increase
the number of contests. We don’t want to
change the revenue distribution formulas so
all 351 schools still get their revenue share.
“We’re not into that. We’re in this to say,
we have the resources to do more for our
kids, so give us the ability to do that. That’s
kind of what we’re looking for. I think we’re
going to get there. I really do.”
How it all will work remains to be seen on
just about every level.
Will the top five conferences (the Big
Ten, SEC, ACC, Big 12 and Pac-12) have
veto power on issues, much like the UN’s
Security Council, or will the votes simply
be weighted? When it comes to the cost-ofattendance stipend, will that vary by school,
or will there be a hard cap on how much
stipend a student-athlete can receive? And
will the increased benefits apply to all sports,
full scholarship sports, revenue-producing
sports, or somewhere in between?
With much to be figured out, Smith hopes
to see all Ohio State programs benefit.
“For our conferences that currently are in
renegotiations for some, while others have
these multimillion dollar contracts, I don’t
know why you can’t do it for all,” he said.
“Somebody has to show that to me. It’s a
matter of priorities.
“I’m not a guy that believes in tiering
programs, but you could tier it. You could
say, ‘These sports are going to have access
to it,’ and in there you ensure that there is
proportionality in regards to Title IX … but
we don’t operate that way (at Ohio State).
We don’t think in a tiered way.”
Although the disparity between the money
generated by the athletes and how much of
that they actually see has become a polarizing
issue, Smith doesn’t believe that major-college
athletes are being taken advantage of in any
way. He was quick to point out the increased
academic opportunities that student-athletes
have in addition to the free equipment and
training provided to them by Ohio State, not
to mention an NCAA fund used to help athletes who are in pressing financial need.
“I stand in front of our guys and I say,
‘Look, don’t ever, ever, ever be stressed for
money,’ ” he said. “If you have a financial
problem – and I’m more firm on this because
of our NCAA case with our six (football) guys
– you ask for help. And we have kids constantly asking for help, and the majority of the
time we find a way. The only way you have a
problem is if you’re going to Nordstrom every
other day or something like that.”
The goal will be to have a new governance structure approved by August, with
new legislation soon to follow.
For a complete recap of BSB’s conversation with Smith, see the Feb. 25 electronic
issue of BSB Quickly.
Contact Brian Timm at [email protected], to purchase your
tickets! Columbus is home to 21 of 28 OHSAA state championships.
Miller Awarded Silver Football,
Undergoes Minor Surgery
His biggest health scare came after the
Gators’ 2009 SEC Championship Game loss
to Alabama when he had to be rushed
to the hospital with chest pains. He then
announced his first retirement from the
Gators that December but returned to work
in the spring, then announced his chest
issues were caused by esophageal spasms
that were easily treatable with medication.
AD Smith Talks
NCAA Reform
INSIDER
Meyer Undergoes Medical
Procedure On Eve Of Spring
According to Ohio State, head coach
Urban Meyer underwent a small medical
procedure over the Feb. 28 weekend to
remove a small fluid collection related to a
congenital arachnoid cyst.
The procedure, which was performed at
OSU’s Wexner Medical Center, removed a
cyst that was first found in 1998 when he was
a coach at Notre Dame.
According to Ohio State, the procedure was
done to alleviate intermittent headaches Meyer
had been experiencing the previous few weeks.
Meyer, 49, was reported to be doing well and
was expected to be on the field March 4 when
Ohio State opened its spring drills.
Meyer, of course, has battled health concerns before. He left his job at Florida
after the 2010 season as a result of consistent health- and stress-related issues and to
spend more time with his family.
Members of the Northwestern football
team have made waves recently with their
attempts to unionize college football. In a
meeting with BSB in his Fawcett Center
office on Feb. 18, however, Ohio State director of athletics Gene Smith delivered a clear
rebuke to the idea that student-athletes are
university employees.
“Do I believe our student-athletes are
employees? No,” Smith told BSB. “They’re
not and they never should be that way. … At
the end of the day, the argument that they
are employees and should have the rights
of employees, I just fundamentally do not
agree with.”
That doesn’t mean that the idea of change
in collegiate sports is unwelcome, however. Smith admitted that college athletics is
behind the curve in some aspects and that
the campaign spearheaded by quarterback
Kain Colter probably could have been prevented had the NCAA enacted changes a
few years ago.
“(Big Ten commissioner) Jim Delany
says it best,” Smith said. “We’re behind as
an organization. We are behind. If we had
the new governance structure in place two,
three years ago when this stuff really started
(being talked about), we probably wouldn’t
have had what we had because we would
have dealt with a lot of those issues.”
OHSAA STATE FOOTBALL FINALS
RETURN TO COLUMBUS in 2014
Get your All-session
tickets starting April 1
Since 2002, the Greater Columbus Sports Commission has hosted
more than 240 new sporting events, generating close to an estimated
$500 million in visitor spending.
No player in Big Ten history has won as
many individual awards as Ohio State senior
quarterback Braxton Miller, and Miller will
have a chance to keep adding to his trophy
case after spurning the NFL draft for one
more season in Columbus.
After finishing fifth in the Heisman Trophy
voting as a sophomore, he appeared poised
for a three-year stay at OSU. However, an
early injury and late hiccup derailed those
plans. Instead, he said that at no point during
the 2013 campaign did he seriously consider
leaving Ohio State early.
“It wasn’t a deep thought about that,”
he said Feb. 19. “I always knew I was going
to eventually make that decision and I was
going to come back.”
Miller was speaking to the media following the presentation of his second consecutive Chicago Tribune Silver Football,
an award that predates the Heisman Trophy
and is awarded to the Big Ten’s most valuable player as voted on by the league’s head
coaches.
His selection marks just the fourth time
in history that a player has managed to win
the award on back-to-back occasions. Miller
joins Minnesota quarterback Paul Giel
(1952-53), Buckeye running back Archie
Griffin (1973-74) and Indiana running back
Anthony Thompson (1988-89) in that category.
He was announced as the winner Dec. 12
but not presented with the award until more
than two months later at the men’s basketball contest against Northwestern, allowing
the newspaper’s Teddy Greenstein to hand
him the trophy at center court during the
first media timeout of the game.
The award boosted Miller’s lead atop the
all-time list of major Big Ten awards with
seven, besting former Buckeye and College
Football Hall of Famer Orlando Pace, who
received five such honors over the course of
his storied career in Columbus. Miller collected the Silver Football, Big Ten Offensive
Player of the Year and Big Ten Quarterback
of the Year in both 2012 and 2013, while
also claiming Big Ten Freshman of the Year
honors in 2011.
Miller said that he didn’t take his decision
to return lightly. After seeing a 24-game win
streak turn into a two-game losing streak,
Miller gave himself some time to avoid the
flood of emotions that came following the
defeats to Michigan State and Clemson.
“I just sat down with the coaches, observed
everything, made sure I was making the
right decision and went over everything, and
it wasn’t too hard of a decision,” he said. “At
first, I was thinking heavy about everything
that was going on at the time – Orange
Bowl, Big Ten Championship Game, national
championship game, but after everything
settled down I made the right decision with
Coach (Urban Meyer) and my dad and my
parents.”
His choice had the blessing of OSU offensive coordinator Tom Herman, a man who
many also thought might bolt Columbus in
the offseason for a head coaching opportunity.
“In my opinion, this was the best thing
for him because he didn’t have anything to
lose and (had) everything to gain by coming
back,” Herman said. “It was very wise.”
Though Miller will have a chance to
increase his accolades this fall, his quest for
improvement will be slightly delayed. Two
days after accepting the award, Miller had
minor surgery on his throwing shoulder.
According to an Ohio State release, the
senior will not take snaps in spring practice,
which was slated to begin March 4 and ends
April 12.
Six Buckeyes Compete
At NFL Combine
For Bradley Roby, confidence is not a
problem. Of course, neither is putting on a
show.
OHIO STATE INSIDER
What You Missed
If you missed the Feb. 18 and 25 issues
of the electronic BSB Quickly, you missed
quite a bit.
Football fans missed a position-by-position look at the 2014 Ohio State team and
an early look at the potential depth chart.
Football recruiting buffs missed a chronological, player-by-player look at how the
class of 2014 came together, as well as a
comprehensive retrospective on the last
30 years of Buckeye recruiting – where
did each class rank and who were the stars
and busts?
BSB editor Jeff Svoboda sat down with
Ohio State athletics director Gene Smith
to discuss potential upcoming changes to
the NCAA. While excerpts of the interview
appear in this issue of BSB, the complete
story appears in the Feb. 25 BSB Quickly,
which has been archived for Buckeye
Sports Bulletin subscribers.
OSU hockey fans not only received
timely game and team coverage, but
also enjoyed an entertaining feature on
Buckeye Chad Niddery and his unusual
offseason job.
Women’s basketball fans also had
access to extensive game and team coverage and had the benefit of a feature on
Amy Scullion, who has decided to pass
up her final year of eligibility to pursue a
medical career.
And, of course, there were columns,
notes, briefs and much, much more.
All electronic postings are free to paid
print subscribers to BSB.
Buckeye Sports Bulletin publishes 36
electronic issues annually in addition to its
regular print schedule.
Current BSB subscribers wishing to
access the electronic issues must email
their name, address, phone number and
preferred email address to subscriptions@
BuckeyeSports.com. We will send back
simple instructions on how to access the
additional electronic issues as well as
the electronic version of the print BSB
on Mondays during football season and
Tuesdays the rest of the year. A complete
schedule of the additional electronic issues
appears on this page.
Please note that subscriptions@
BuckeyeSports.com is an email address,
not a website. After you send BSB your
information, we will send you instructions
on how to access the website.
Those current subscribers who elect
to enjoy the electronic version of BSB as
well as the additional electronic issues will
continue to receive their print copies of
BSB in their mailboxes.
If you have any questions, please feel
free to call us at (614) 486-2202.
Roby shone at the final day of the NFL
combine on Feb. 25, uncorking an official 40yard dash time of 4.39 seconds not long after
soliciting predictions from his more than
50,000 Twitter followers. That time placed
him fourth among cornerbacks and seventh
among all combine participants.
The 40-yard dash was one of five events
in which Roby placed among the top 10
at his position group. He finished tied for
fifth by completing the 20-yard shuttle in
4.04 seconds, tied for sixth with a 38½-inch
vertical jump, tied for seventh with 17 reps
on the 225-pound bench press and tied for
ninth with a broad jump mark of 10 feet, 4
inches.
One day prior, fellow Ohio State defender
and early entrant Ryan Shazier catapulted
to the No. 1 spot among all combine participants with a 42-inch vertical leap. His broad
2013-14 BSB
Quickly Schedule
Aug. 30
Sept. 6
Sept. 13
Sept. 20
Sept. 27
Oct. 4
Oct. 18
Oct. 25
Nov. 1
Nov. 15
Nov. 22
Nov. 29
Dec. 6
Dec. 10
Jan. 2
Jan. 6
Jan. 10
Jan. 17
Jan. 21
Jan. 24
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Feb. 4
Feb. 7
Feb. 18
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March 11
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April 8
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jump result of 10-10 ranked first among linebackers and sixth overall.
He didn’t run the 40-yard dash, but he
managed 25 reps on the bench press to place
eighth among linebackers. His three-cone
drill time of 6.91 seconds was fifth in his position group, and a 4.21-second clocking in the
20-yard shuttle was ninth for linebackers.
Running back Carlos Hyde walked into
the combine believing that he was the best
running back prospect available in this year’s
draft. His performance didn’t necessarily
fulfill his expectations, though.
After setting a goal for a sub-4.50 40-yard
dash, Hyde was clocked with an official time
of 4.66 seconds. He showed off his strength
by cranking out 19 bench press reps, but
even that ranked 13th in his position – a
group in which he was supposedly one of the
strongest members.
His efforts in the vertical jump (34½
inches) and broad jump (9-6) didn’t crack the
top 15 for running backs.
Wide receiver Corey “Philly” Brown said
he hoped to run the 40-yard dash only once
and did so with a 4.51 official time. His vertical
jump measured at 33.0 inches and his broad
jump came in at 9-8. He was timed at 7.16
seconds in the three-cone drill, 4.22 seconds
in the 20-yard shuttle and 11.94 seconds in the
60-yard shuttle. He did not place in the top 15
of any categories among receivers.
The relative struggles of Hyde and Brown
came after Corey Linsley nearly set the bar
for bench press performance.
Linsley competed in only two drills, but
he made it count by completing 36 reps of
the bench press, which ranked second overall among all position groups.
“Well, 36 was sort of at the low of what I
thought my max was going to be, anywhere
from 36 to 40,” he told BSB. “I did expect
that, without a doubt. At the end of the day,
I’m happy with what I did.”
He also displayed a 27-inch vertical jump.
Fellow offensive lineman Jack Mewhort
completed the full testing battery, running
a 5.37-second 40-yard dash and putting up
28 reps on the bench press. He managed a
28-inch vertical jump and 8-5 broad jump and
completed the three-cone drill in 7.79 seconds and 20-yard shuttle in 4.64 seconds.
Linsley’s bench-press mark was the only
top-15 performance by either player among
OL, although Mewhort narrowly missed that
cutoff in a handful of categories.
GCSC Drums Up For Support
For OHSAA Football Finals Site
Timm at [email protected] or
614-221-6180.
2nd & 7 To Host
Derby Fundraiser
The 2nd & 7 Foundation, which was
The
Greater
Columbus
Sports created by former Ohio State players Mike
Commission has attempted to raise aware- Vrabel, Luke Fickell and Ryan Miller in
ness and support for the new location of the 1999, will be hosting a horse racing-themed
OHSAA football state title games by launch- fundraiser on March 7 at 7 p.m. at the
ing a group of business leaders known as the NorthPointe Hotel and Conference Center in
Lewis Center, Ohio.
“Gridiron Gang.”
The Derby: Books, Bowties and Bourbon
The state’s high school football championships will move to Columbus and be played will also benefit the United Way and will
in Ohio Stadium from Dec. 4-6 in 2014. allow attendees to gamble on 10 horse races
Columbus last hosted the games in 1989, and will also feature a cigar bar, bourbon
and they have been played in Massillon’s bar, cocktails, a photo booth and raffle
Paul Brown Stadium and Canton’s Fawcett prizes.
The organization has aimed to erase chilStadium for the past 24 seasons.
The Gridiron Gang will have someone dren’s illiteracy for a decade and a half now
quite familiar with the new site as the honor- by sending student-athletes, many from Ohio
ary chairperson in two-time Heisman Trophy State, into Columbus-area schools twice a
winner Archie Griffin, who starred at OSU week to read to disadvantaged students and
hand out books.
from 1972-75.
For ticket information, visit secon“For the longest time, I’ve thought the
right place for the Ohio high school foot- dandseven.com.
ball championships belonged right here in
Columbus,” Griffin told BSB. “That in itself Only One Buckeye
made me want to be involved with that, and Leaves Sochi With Medal
Ohio State sent four former hockey playColumbus is centrally located. I’ve always
felt that schools more south of Columbus ers to the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi,
were at a disadvantage when it came to the Russia, but only one returned home with a
medal.
state championships, having to
At least it was gold, the medal
go that far to travel to play those
captured by women’s hockey
games.
player Natalie Spooner, who was
“That’s no knock on Massillon
on the Canadian squad that beat
or Canton because they always
the United States in overtime
did a great job, but when you
for first place at the tournament.
think of Ohio football, you think
Team Canada was undefeated at
of Ohio Stadium and the opportuthe tournament, with Spooner
nity to play in Ohio Stadium.”
– OSU’s program-record goal
The Gridiron Gang hopes
scorer – netting two goals.
to give the event an attendance
Staying in women’s hockey,
boost by having 50 members
two former OSU players who
who will work to sell 100 allNatalie Spooner
suited up for Finland – forward
session tickets apiece for both
2014 and 2015, giving each game 5,000 fans Minttu Tuominen and defenseman Emma
Terho – left without medals when their counfrom the start.
All-session passes, which give fans try lost in the quarterfinals. It was Terho’s
admission to all seven title games for record-tying fifth Olympics.
On the men’s side, Ohio State was rep$105, will go on sale April 1 through the
Gridiron Gang and will have priority seat- resented by forward Ryan Kesler, who had
ing location before tickets go on-sale to a goal and three assists for a U.S. squad
the general public in October. To inquire that lost in the semifinals to Canada and
about joining the Gridiron Gang or pur- then dropped the bronze medal contest to
chasing all-session passes, contact Brian Finland.
COVER STORY
Buckeyes Need To Find Backup Quarterback
Continued From Page 1
Though he holds an edge in age and
experience, Jones is no lock to be the No. 2
quarterback. He will face a serious challenge
from J.T. Barrett, a redshirt freshman who
has impressed the staff since arriving last
January from Wichita Falls, Texas.
Barrett might lack some of the raw physical tools Jones has, but he possesses many
intangibles quarterbacks coach and offensive
coordinator Tom Herman loves.
“This will be a big spring for those two
guys – a big spring,” Herman said.
The third man in the derby figures to be a
long shot to become the backup quarterback,
but Stephen Collier no doubt will take any
extra reps that become available this spring.
A true freshman from Leesburg, Ga.,
Collier is a three-star prospect looked upon as
a developmental quarterback with potential to
help the team down the road.
“We saw a lot of attributes to him we
thought could turn into a very good player for
us,” Meyer said. “That’s why we took him.”
The backfield will be crowded this spring
despite the loss of seniors Carlos Hyde and
Jordan Hall, who combined for 2,075 yards
and 23 touchdowns last season. Hyde accounted for 1,521 of those yards while averaging a
school-record 7.3 yards per carry.
Three sophomores and a senior are in
line to compete for the carries available with
the departure of that duo, and the youngest
member of that group is considered the frontrunner to assume most of the workload.
That would be Ezekiel Elliott, a 6-0, 218pounder from St. Louis who ran for 262 yards
on 30 carries last season as a true freshman.
He averaged 8.7 yards per carry – mostly in
garbage time – and passed class of 2012 signees Warren Ball, who redshirted in 2012 after
suffering a foot injury, and Bri’onte Dunn,
who redshirted last season after playing as a
true freshman, on the depth chart.
In addition to those sophomores, fifth-year
senior Rod Smith, who like Ball appeared in
11 games last season, figures to get one more
shot to show why he was a highly touted
recruit in the class of 2010.
“It’s time for (Smith) to show improvement,” running backs coach Stan Drayton
said. “Ezekiel Elliott proved that he has the
maturity. His body is definitely ready to play.
We’ve got Warren Ball and Bri’onte Dunn.
What I say to them in the meeting room
would not be brand-new in regards to our
scheme. So we’ve got four guys that are ready
to compete for that starting job.
“They’ve got big shoes to fill. And if it
takes more than one of them to get that type
of productivity we got from Carlos, then we’ll
do it. So I’m really excited about what we have
coming back.”
Wide receiver also figures to see a lot of
attention this spring with top pass catcher
Corey “Philly” Brown as well as key reserve
Chris Fields out of eligibility. Senior Evan
Spencer will miss spring practice while recovering from a lower leg injury suffered in the
Orange Bowl in January, leaving senior Devin
Smith and a bevy of inexperienced players to
work on filling out the depth chart.
Smith has been a major contributor since
arriving on campus in 2011, but many believe
he still has another level he can reach in his
last season in scarlet and gray despite already
catching 88 passes for 1,572 yards and 18
touchdowns in his career.
The rest of the receivers who are healthy
this spring have combined to catch four passes for 28 yards at the major-college level.
Michael Thomas, another sophomore in
eligibility who redshirted last season, accounted for three of those receptions and 22 yards
as a true freshman in 2012 while Frank
Epitropoulos caught one pass for 6 yards as a
redshirt freshman last season.
Corey Smith, a junior who redshirted last
season after transferring from East Mississippi
Community College, joins the mix along with
redshirt freshman Jalin Marshall and true
freshman Johnnie Dixon.
Corey Smith and Thomas are both intriguing prospects who bring size and strength in
older bodies, and receivers coach Zach Smith is
looking for them to make a move this spring.
“Because of the depth issues we had at
receiver, those two prepared every week to
play,” Zach Smith said. “So they didn’t take
a redshirt and take a year off. The only thing
they didn’t do was play on Saturday. They
didn’t lose a year of development.”
Marshall is a five-star talent from
Middletown, Ohio, who was one of the top
prospects in Ohio a year ago but saw his preseason marred by a concussion, while Dixon
is a 5-11, 195-pound speedster from Florida
who enrolled in classes in January.
Redshirt freshman James Clark could also
fight for playing time, but he will be limited
in spring as he continues his recovery from a
broken leg suffered early last season.
Despite the lack of experience, the receivers’ position coach said he feels good about
the raw material at his disposal.
“I have not felt better than I do now since
I’ve been here about that room,” Zach Smith
said. “It’s been a two-year work in progress
in both recruiting and development, and I’m
really excited to watch my guys go out and
compete because a lot of the motivation that
I’ve had to provide is going to be provided just
in the room with competition.”
In addition to the traditional running backs
and wide receivers, a handful of players figure
to work on earning a role as the “H” or hybrid
in Meyer’s spread offense. That was most
often filled last season by Dontre Wilson, who
rushed 31 times for 255 yards and caught 22
passes for 210 yards as a freshman.
Herman said prior to the Orange Bowl
that the staff did not use him as much as it
would have liked last season, though that was
in part a function of the production of Miller
and Hyde.
They figure to push for more from the “H”
spot this season and have more weapons to
work with as true freshman Curtis Samuel
joins the mix.
“Ezekiel Elliott and Curtis Samuel and
Dontre Wilson are those prototype guys,
hybrid-type players we’re looking for, although
really Ezekiel is more a pure tailback,” Meyer
said. “Curtis Samuel, he’s electric fast to go
with Dontre.”
With all of the upheaval on the offense,
spring in the tight ends room could be pretty
boring. That’s not a bad thing, though, as a
position that often was an afterthought in previous years at Ohio State has evolved into one of
strength thanks to the development of senior
Jeff Heuerman and junior Nick Vannett.
They are back after ably sharing the position last season while senior J.T. Moore and
redshirt freshman Marcus Baugh work to
earn a share of what playing time is left over.
Last but certainly not least is the offensive
line, a position group coming off two dominating seasons but now in major flux.
After developing a sterling reputation
among Ohio State fans for his work with the
group upon arriving from Notre Dame in
2012, offensive line coach Ed Warinner has
his work cut out for him this year with 80
percent of his starting unit to replace.
He has some known quantities to build on,
however, beginning with junior tackle Taylor
Decker. A starter on the right side last season, he is expected to shift to the left side this
year to protect the quarterback’s blind side.
Junior Jacoby Boren is expected to take
over at center after being groomed there
the past two seasons as the backup to Corey
Linsley, and sophomore Pat Elflein is penciled
in at one guard position after positive cameos
there against Michigan and Michigan State
last season.
From there, things get murkier.
Senior Darryl Baldwin, a former defensive
lineman, and sophomore Kyle Dodson figure
to get the first crack to win the other tackle
spot while a bevy of unproven players compete for the guard spot opposite Elflein.
The latter group includes senior Antonio
Underwood, junior Tommy Brown, redshirt
freshman Billy Price and early-enrolling freshman Marcelys Jones of Cleveland Glenville.
Chase Farris, a junior who battled Decker
for a starting spot last spring then played
some on defense last fall before suffering
a knee injury, will be held out of drills this
spring as he continues to work toward full
health.
Joel Hale, a senior who has played 29
games on the defensive side of the ball and
been a regular in the depth chart for three
seasons, also presents a wild card at guard,
where he will try his hand this spring.
Evan Lisle, a four-star recruit who redshirted last season, could also be in the mix
at tackle, where he will be joined by incoming
four-star recruit Kyle Trout out of Lancaster,
Ohio.
Without the combination of Hyde and
the offensive line to lean on this season,
more pressure likely shifts to Miller. Herman
agreed the major focus for the offseason is
figuring out how to complement the senior
quarterback’s abilities.
“That’s a good way to put it,” Herman said.
“We’ve got a guy coming back who is a seasoned veteran who continues to improve his
game, and we’ve got to make sure everybody
around him is up to that level.
“I think our two tight ends coming back
are fantastic players and we’ve got a couple
of wideouts that continue to improve so we’ll
be all right. It may look and feel a little bit
different here and there, but we’ve got a great
system and a great staff with quality older
guys who have been through the fire, so we’ll
be OK.”
Offensive Players On The Spot
• Darryl Baldwin and Kyle Dodson, offensive tackle: could replace the physical inside running presence provided
These two came to Ohio State from northeastern Ohio in dif- by Carlos Hyde the past two seasons, or he could stay behind
ferent seasons and in much different circumstances, but they sophomore Ezekiel Elliott and spend another year mostly in
the shadows depending on what he shows this
find themselves sharing a pivotal spring on the
spring.
offensive line. Taylor Decker provides a strong pres• Corey Smith and Michael Thomas, wide
ence at left tackle, but a reliable right tackle is vital
receiver: There should be plenty of reps to go
to rebuilding the front. Baldwin is a former defenaround at their position, and this pair has a chance
sive lineman entering his fifth year in Columbus
to show what they learned during redshirt seasons
while Dodson was among the high-profile recruits
last year. Thomas has been a standout each of the
Urban Meyer flipped two years ago when he took
past two springs, but the California native has yet
over as Ohio State head coach. Considered the
to translate that to much success in the regular
more naturally gifted of the two, Dodson has had
season. At 6-3, 202, he could bring a physical
a hard time staying healthy after shoulder issues cut
presence to the receiving corps that has been
short his high school career at Cleveland Heights.
missing in recent seasons. The 6-1, 191-pound
• Rod Smith, running back: A five-star prosSmith is also a big receiver whose skills made him
pect in 2010, Smith arrived at Ohio State as one of
Rod Smith
highly coveted coming out of both Akron Buchtel
the top running backs to come out of Indiana high
school football. The Fort Wayne native has been the subject High School in 2011 and East Mississippi Community College
of buzz coming out of practice on and off ever since, but to last year, but he has yet to display those at the major-college
this point he has carried the ball only 83 times for 453 yards level.
– Marcus Hartman
and four touchdowns in 31 games. The 6-3, 232-pounder
COVER STORY
Spotlight On Defense
Any remodeling that will be done on
offense this spring pales in comparison to the
complete reworking needed on the other side
of the ball.
Virtually nothing went as planned for the
Ohio State defense in 2013 as a completely
rebuilt defensive line turned out to be a
strength and the veteran secondary turned in
one of the worst performances by a Buckeye
pass defense in memory.
The 377.4 total yards Ohio State allowed
per game are the third most in school history,
and the pass defense narrowly missed setting
a school record for futility as well with the
268.0 yards allowed per game better only than
the 273.1 yielded in 1981.
The 2013 season replaced the 2012 campaign as the second worst in school history
when it came to pass defense, so perhaps it
is no surprise many are welcoming change
in the secondary, where new assistant coach
Chris Ash replaces safeties coach Everett
Withers (who became head coach at James
Madison) and three starters graduated.
The group of safeties inherited by Ash,
who also received the title co-defensive coordinator in his move from Arkansas, is young
but talented.
The most experienced is Ron Tanner, a
fourth-year junior from Columbus Eastmoor
who has played only sparingly on defense so
far in his career but has been a contributor on
special teams.
He is joined by Tyvis Powell, who spent
most of his redshirt freshman season as the
team’s nickel back last year before starting
the Orange Bowl at safety. Powell was one of
last spring’s standouts and will head into this
one looking to build off the experience he got
last season when he made 48 tackles, forced
a fumble and broke up two passes. He also
intercepted a two-point conversion attempt to
preserve the Buckeyes’ 42-41 win at Michigan
in the regular-season finale.
Many eyes this spring figure to be on
sophomore Vonn Bell, a five-star recruit last
year from Georgia who showed flashes of
great raw ability on special teams last season
before starting the Orange Bowl at nickel
back. He was victimized for a long touchdown
pass early in the game but made a highlightreel interception and finished the night with
seven solo tackles.
Sophomore Cam Burrows, another highly
regarded member of the 2013 recruiting class
who played sparingly on defense last season,
has reportedly moved to safety where his coverage skills could make him an asset.
“He’ll be playing some nickel, playing
some safety,” cornerbacks coach Kerry
Coombs said on signing day. “There will be
some changes.”
Also in the mix this spring will be redshirt freshmen Chris Worley and Jayme
Thompson, though Thompson will be limited
as he continues to recover from a broken
ankle suffered early in preseason camp.
Who ends up at the nickel spot is anyone’s
guess, though Powell, Burrows and Bell all
figure to be in the running. One or more of
the cornerbacks could work there as well.
That group is four deep this spring with
returning starter Doran Grant the headliner.
He entered the lineup last year as a junior and
turned in a solid campaign with 50 tackles,
three interceptions and 10 pass breakups.
The other veteran, Armani Reeves, started
three games as a sophomore last season
when All-Big Ten performer Bradley Roby
was either hurt or suspended, but he figures
to get a strong push from redshirt freshmen
Eli Apple and Gareon Conley.
“The competition I would tell you is wide
open,” Coombs said in reference to the secondary as a whole. “You’ve got to perform to
play. We’re going to work really hard on finding those guys who can compete and who will
challenge in tough situations, whether they’re
incoming freshmen, redshirt freshmen or
experienced kids.”
While the secondary was the weakest link
last season, the position group under the most
scrutiny this spring figures to be linebacker.
Meyer has not been shy about declaring
the dire situation at the position, where veterans Curtis Grant and Joshua Perry figure to
be pushed by sophomore Trey Johnson and
true freshman Raekwon McMillan.
Perry was fourth on the team in tackles
last season as a sophomore with 64, but he
contributed only two tackles for loss and one
sack. Grant notched 52 tackles, including four
for loss and 2½ sacks, as a junior last year
but had his ups and downs. Injuries slowed
Grant late in the campaign, and former fourstar recruit Camren Williams struggled in his
place.
Enter McMillan, a four-star recruit from
Hinesville (Ga.) Liberty County who enrolled
in January. He figures to get every chance to
unseat one of the starters and has the physical
presence to do it at 6-2, 242.
Johnson, a smaller prospect at 6-1, 220,
backed up Ryan Shazier on the weak side
last season and figures to get the first shot to
replace him.
Five-star 2013 recruit Mike Mitchell also
was expected to be in the competition, but
sources have indicated he is seeking a transfer and will not take part in spring drills.
Sophomore Darron Lee, who came in as
a safety, will look to impress the coaches at
linebacker, safety or nickel after contributing
on special teams as a freshman.
Walk-ons Joe Burger and Craig Fada, who
worked into the depth chart last season as
some of their more highly touted counterparts struggled with injuries or production,
are back this year as well while junior Devan
Bogard, a former safety, will miss spring
while continuing to rehabilitate his second
serious knee injury in as many years.
Finally there is the defensive line, where
everyone is back from last season’s depth
chart except for the transplanted Hale.
However, this group is not immune from
significant change as well with the arrival from Penn State of new position coach
Larry Johnson, who replaced Mike Vrabel in
January when Vrabel left to become an assistant for the Houston Texans.
Johnson, who has developed a reputation
over the years as one of the best in the business while consistently churning out All-Big
Ten defensive linemen and sending them to
the NFL, inherits a talented group that could
go three deep at every position, but where he
chooses to deploy his various new charges
remains to be seen.
The Buckeyes were ninth in the nation
and third in the Big Ten in rushing defense
last season (109.4 yards per game), and they
sacked the quarterback more times per game
(3.0) than anyone in the conference while finishing seventh nationally in that category.
The leading tackler among the linemen
last season was Noah Spence, a rising junior
whose “Viper” rush end spot will be up for
grabs early in the season as he serves the last
two games of a three-game suspension for
testing positive for a banned substance.
Classmate Jamal Marcus excelled in that
spot when Spence missed the Orange Bowl,
and he figures to continue to be the No. 1
option there with senior Steve Miller also in
the mix for playing time.
Joey Bosa returns at the other end spot
after recording 13½ tackles for loss last season
and being named a freshman All-American by
the Football Writers Association of America.
His emergence as a force came as a result
of an early-season injury to then-sophomore
Adolphus Washington, who moved inside to
3-technique tackle upon his return to health.
That ripple effect also saw Michael Bennett
move from there to nose tackle, and the result
was a line that frequently got penetration but
was less effective against the run in the second half of the season.
Bennett, now a senior and a likely candidate for captaincy, has versatility that figures
to be an asset for Johnson to build around.
Juniors Tommy Schutt and Chris Carter
as well as redshirt freshmen Michael Hill and
Donovan Munger will compete for playing
time inside, though Hill will be limited as he
recovers from shoulder and hand injuries that
caused him to sit out last season.
Filling out the large group of competitors
at end are redshirt freshmen Tracy Sprinkle
and Tyquan Lewis – who should add depth
at rush end – as well as Rashad Frazier, a
Purdue transfer from Middletown, Ohio, who
holds two years of eligibility.
For all the change swirling this spring,
Meyer is on record stating a team without a
strong defensive line will not be able to compete for championships. That has been the
goal since he returned to his home state two
years ago, and the progress of the spring will
be on display at Ohio Stadium on April 12
during the annual Scarlet and Gray Game.
OHIO STATE FOOTBALL
Ohio State Focuses On Fixing Defensive Woes
By RYAN GINN
Looking back at Ohio State’s 2013 football campaign, there were certainly a number of signs that the defense wasn’t necessarily capable of lifting the Buckeyes
to the lofty ambitions that they held for
themselves.
A slew of injuries before and during the
season meant that Ohio State was never
able to enjoy a full complement of options
to choose from, and the replacements for
those who were starters often proved inade-
quate. The passing defense struggled to the
point of finishing 110th nationally in yards
allowed per game, and the Buckeyes were
often susceptible to a big hit. Nine different receivers had 100-yard receiving days
against OSU, and the secondary surrendered seven passes of 60 yards or more.
But most of all, those struggles boiled
down to the simple fact that everything had
to go well in order for the defense to have a
shot. Unforeseen wrinkles helped Michigan
score 41 points against the Buckeyes, and it
wasn’t until Ohio State knew what play was
coming on the game-deciding two-point con-
version attempt that it made a stop. Against
Michigan State and Clemson, the Buckeyes
couldn’t get stops when the offense stalled
or left the defense with a short field because
of a turnover.
Two of those games ended with losses,
and the other very well could have if not for
the prescience of cornerbacks coach Kerry
Coombs, who told nickel back Tyvis Powell
what to look for from the Wolverines during
a timeout prior to the two-point conversion.
As spring practice began March 4, the
OSU defense featured a handful of new
faces on the field and two new assistants
on the coaching staff. The ability of new
defensive line coach Larry Johnson Sr.
to continue the success of the front four
and co-defensive coordinator and safeties
coach Chris Ash to fix the passing game
will go a long way toward determining if the
Buckeyes can get over the hump and into
the College Football Playoff this fall.
Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer
stopped shy of saying that changes to the
staff needed to be made, but he agreed that
the staff turnover and resulting hires would
likely serve as a benefit to the defense.
“I have a lot of confidence in the coaches
that were here, and obviously we didn’t
perform up to standard,” the coach said.
“We won a lot of games, but there were
some holes. Just overall, we need to freshen
up our defense. That’s what’s going to
get ready to take place over the next few
months.”
Johnson and
Ash will focus on
bringing
those
fresh approaches
to the defense and
will do so with one
goal in mind – a
No. 1 ranking at
the end of the season.
“I had some
options on the
table,” Johnson
Larry Johnson Sr.
said of his decision to leave Penn State for OSU. “I wanted
the best fit for me. I wanted the opportunity,
obviously, to win a national championship
because that’s important to me in your
career and what you do. But I wanted a
place where I could go and feel like it’s
home.”
Ash echoed those sentiments, saying
that his move from Arkansas was motivated
by a desire to win a national title. His ability to field a competent passing defense
will factor into Ohio State’s championship
aspirations, and he doesn’t shy away from
acknowledging that reality.
“You look at Coach Meyer’s plan, and
one of the signs up there (in the Woody
Hayes Athletic Center) is his plan to win,”
Ash said. “Play great defense, that’s No. 1.
You have to be able to play great defense
to win it all. You don’t have to be the best
defense in the country, but you’ve got to be
pretty darn solid to be able to say you’re
going to win (15) games, which is what it
would take in this league to win it all. You
can’t have an average to subpar defense and
get that done.”
A Fresh Start
As he goes to work on turning OSU’s
pass defense from a liability into an asset,
Ash made one thing unquestionably clear
– he has no interest in making judgments
based on what transpired in 2013 or earlier.
Instead, any player who suits up for the
Buckeyes this year will be doing so with a
fresh slate whether they come in as returning starters or true freshmen.
“I’ll be quite honest with you,” Ash said.
“I’m not concerned about what’s happened
here in the past. I really don’t care. I’m
more concerned with the direction that
we’re going to go and how we get the players aligned with what our vision is going to
be and we get better from today on. I really
don’t care what’s happened in the past.”
At his National Signing Day press conference, Meyer rattled off the names of
OHIO STATE FOOTBALL
Defensive Players On The Spot
• Curtis Grant, linebacker: The subject of extremely high early in the season as the dime back in a defensive wrinkle the
expectations since he signed with Ohio State as a five-star coaching staff tried but ultimately scrapped. This spring he will
prospect out of Virginia three years ago, Grant has yet to have to hold off Conley in the race to become Roby’s full-time
replacement. He had 26 tackles and an interception
have the impact many envisioned. He turned in a
last season.
solid first half of his junior season last year before
• Trey Johnson, linebacker: A four-star prosa variety of injuries – including those to his back
pect from Lawrenceville (Ga.) Central Gwinnett,
and ankle – limited him later in the campaign. He
Johnson appeared in six games last season as a
finished with 53 tackles in 2013, including four
freshman and recorded 11 tackles. A smallish prosfor loss and 2½ sacks. To improve defensively, the
pect at 6-1, 220, he backed up All-Big Ten performBuckeyes need Grant to be not only effective but a
er Ryan Shazier last season and figures to be first
difference maker.
in line to grab Shazier’s spot at Will linebacker now
• Gareon Conley, cornerback: Head coach
that Shazier has left early for the NFL. Linebackers
Urban Meyer used Conley as an example of a
coach Luke Fickell praised Johnson for his instincts
player who redshirted last season even though
when he signed with the Buckeyes.
the team could have used his services down the
• Ron Tanner, safety: Tanner has been a
stretch. He has reportedly been among the top
Gareon Conley
standout on coverage units but has yet to make an
performers in winter conditioning, and the 6-2,
185-pounder from Massillon (Ohio) Washington figures to be impact on defense for the Buckeyes. With two starting spots
a candidate for the starting spot vacated by Bradley Roby’s open, he has an opportunity to change that this spring at a
decision to skip his last year of eligibility and head to the position that was weak and inconsistent last season. The 6-0,
200-pounder from Columbus Eastmoor was regarded as a
NFL.
• Armani Reeves, cornerback: Reeves started three natural leader on the recruiting trail and could provide a boost
games when Roby was either hurt or suspended last season, in that area as well.
– Marcus Hartman
and his play did not produce rave reviews. He also played some
a handful of 2014 recruits who will be
expected to find a way onto the field – be
it as a starter, backup or on special teams
– this fall despite their true freshman status.
That list included the star-studded group of
linebackers highlighted by early enrollee
Raekwon McMillan, as well as cornerbacks
Damon Webb and Marshon Lattimore and
safety Erick Smith.
When he was asked if he felt pressure to
make sure that those players saw the field
as Meyer hoped, Ash didn’t flinch. It is of
course the plan to prepare every player to
compete and execute at a high level, but the
pressure that Ash faces comes from within
instead of externally.
“I’ve got pressure from myself to come
here to be successful and to succeed,” he
said. “We will put the best players on this
football field that will help us win, and we
will give everybody an ample opportunity to
show that they can do that.”
In Ash’s world, the players who execute
best will be the ones who crack the top of
the two-deep, and those efforts begin in the
spring. Former starters won’t earn a spot
solely because of their previous success or
experience advantage, and true freshmen
won’t be granted the opportunity to avoid
a redshirt solely because Meyer expects
them to play.
together, we’re all using the same terms,
the same phrases, the same words.”
Ash deftly sidestepped any notion of
internal conflict and instead extolled the
benefits of being able to work together and
communicate openly.
“It’s going to be a team effort,” Ash said.
“The defensive staff as a team, putting this
package together, trying to identify with
the direction we’re going to go and what we
need to get fixed, and on game day it will be
a team effort.”
With that being said, Ash is in Columbus
because of what he can bring to the defense.
He produced a DVD series titled “Aggressive
4-3 Defense,” and that’s the approach that
he’ll take in Columbus to fix the defense.
“There’s only one speed, and it’s full
speed,” he said. “That’s the way we’ve got
to play.”
The idea that the Buckeye defenders
need to fly to the ball and play aggressively
isn’t exactly new, though it didn’t always
have a positive effect. Junior linebacker
Ryan Shazier, who declared for the NFL
draft after the Orange Bowl loss, sometimes
became a victim of his own intensity by
overrunning his assignment.
Although he carefully guarded his
words, Coombs spoke of the defense’s goal
of bringing a more aggressive approach to
the field this season. .
“I would think you would see a more
aggressive style of play across the board
from alignment to attack and so forth,”
Coombs said. “I don’t want to speak out of
turn, but I would say absolutely that would
be the desire on everybody’s part.
The 4-3 is Ash’s base defense, but he said
that in order to improve the defense he’ll do
whatever it takes to get the 11 best players
on the field. That philosophy appears to be
a departure from the ways of 2013.
Last year, the Buckeyes played anywhere from four to seven defensive backs
on the field at a time, but those higher numbers were often out of necessity. The sevenback “penny” defense debuted against passhappy California, with quality up front sacrificed for quantity in the back in order to try
to defeat Cal’s spread attack.
Now, instead of being dictated by what
the offense is doing, Ash hopes to force the
offense to adjust to whatever scheme allows
Ohio State to put its greatest athletes on
the field.
“You’re going to do what your personnel allows you to do,” he said. “If you have
a great nickel and what the offense does
requires you or allows you to play nickel,
great, put the best athletes on the football
field. Sometimes, some years, you don’t
have a nickel guy so you’re playing with
three linebackers out there.
“You want to play the best 11 players
on the football field. I don’t want to play
nickel just because you say you’re playing
nickel when you’ve got a third linebacker
who’s a really good player standing on the
sideline. That doesn’t make much sense. Put
your best 11 players out there that
give you a chance
to win. That’s what
I believe in.”
When it comes
to third down,
Ash is known for
a style of defense
that puts a premium on confusing
the opposing quarterback. Linemen
Chris Ash
can sometimes be
seen standing up and roaming at will, and it
appears to the opposing offense that there
is no clear pattern to his approach.
In order to be most successful, Ash alternates between staying in schemes that the
team has shown it can execute and showing
a unique, random look that defenders may
not play as well but that baffles opponents.
Teams converted 35.6 percent of third
downs against the Buckeyes in 2013, and
that number will have to improve for the
defense to take a step forward.
“If you don’t have the right pieces to
the puzzle, you have no chance,” Ash said.
“That’s one of the biggest things that a
coach has to do is put people in the right
spots. Get them in the right spots where
they can be successful, give them a chance
to go out and play without hesitation and
confusion, and that’s what we have to do.”
That process won’t be a quick or easy one.
“It takes time,” Ash said. “You have to
meet with them, find out what they know,
how they learn. You’ve got to watch them
compete, you’ve got to put them in situations
at practice to find out what they can and can’t
do, and then you’ve got to evaluate every
single day, every opportunity you can.”
Putting Together The Puzzle
As co-defensive coordinator at Wisconsin
and defensive coordinator at Arkansas, Ash
was responsible for defensive play-calling
duties. His arrival has raised curiosity over
how he and defensive coordinator Luke
Fickell will go about calling games and how
he and Coombs will divvy up responsibility
in the secondary.
In fact, Coombs seems excited to work
with Ash on making sure that everyone on
the defense is on the same page, something
he intimated was lacking a season ago.
“I don’t think we function very well
in isolation,” he said. “And so one of the
things that Coach Meyer and I talked about
almost immediately after the season was
installation of pass coverage, concepts and
communication, having one voice. And that
that would be very important to everybody
in the back end.
“What I would tell you is that Chris and
I are going to function as a team in the back
end. We will have one voice. We both may
be saying it but we’ll be saying the same
thing so that when we meet together, when
we coach together, when we’re practicing
BUCKEYE CRUISE FOR CANCER
Cruise Produces Millions For Cancer Research
By JEFF SVOBODA
Buckeye Sports Bulletin Editor
What began as a mere idea for Lisa
Cisco and the crew at Travel Partners in the
Columbus suburb of Dublin has become
one of the most impressive fundraisers
every year at Ohio State.
The Buckeye Cruise for Cancer set sail
for the seventh time from Feb. 20-24, leaving Tampa, Fla., and traveling to a one-day
stop at Grand Cayman before returning to
the mainland.
When it was all said and done, the
cruise raised $1.5 million that will go to the
Urban & Shelley Meyer Fund for Cancer
Research and The Ohio State University
Comprehensive Cancer Center – Arthur
G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J.
Solove Research Institute. Adding in a donation from Kroger that topped $560,000, more
than $2 million was raised by the trip to help
defeat cancer.
Around 2,300 Buckeye fans and former
Ohio State athletes filled Royal Caribbean’s
Brilliance of the Seas as part of the event
run by Cisco, Chris Quinn and their team at
Travel Partners that seemingly gets bigger
and better every year.
“It’s mind-boggling because it took four
years to raise our first million, and then the
fifth year we raised a million, the sixth year
we raised a little more than a million, and
then the seventh year we raised $1.5 million
and growing,” said Cisco, who has seen the
cruise’s popularity explode to the point that
her daughter, Nikki, and son-in-law, Kyle,
quit their jobs to help plan the event. “We
topped $4.5 million and are homing in on
that $5 million mark, and next year our goal
is to raise $2 million.”
The cruise isn’t just a five-day, four-night
trip to a sunny locale, though. The Buckeye
Cruise has become a year-round fund-raising effort, with many of the athletes who
take part hosting charity events to raise
money for the cause throughout the year.
Even Meyer and his family get involved
with the January “Meyer Bowl” bowling
tournament.
“Everybody buys into the cruise the
whole year,” said former OSU offensive
JEFF SVOBODA PHOTOS
PARTY TIME – The 2014 Buckeye Cruise for Cancer provided plenty of entertainment and things to do, such as listening to the OSU alumni band (above)
and getting the chance to take a photo with the Heisman Trophy and award
winners Eddie George and Archie Griffin (right).
lineman Jim Cordle, who has become a and that’s what it’s all about. Some folks like
cruise regular and donates some of the myself believe that we’re going to defeat
money from his “Bowling with Buckeyes” cancer and it’s going to happen here at Ohio
event each summer to the cruise. “There’s State at the James.”
The Meyer family – including Urban and
numerous events going on, and everybody
really buys into the idea of beating cancer Shelley and children Nicki, Gigi and Nate
and doing it with the cruise family and really – was on board as was former OSU quarterwants to contribute whatever time they can back and current ESPN star Kirk Herbstreit,
outside of those couple of days in February. who was joined by fellow ESPN analysts
“It’s become almost like a lifestyle. You’re Joey Galloway and Robert Smith.
Among the other former players on board
a Buckeye Cruiser, you want to beat cancer
and you’re willing to give your time and were Eddie George, A.J. Hawk, Malcolm
Jenkins, Bobby Carpenter, Anthony Schlegel,
energy.”
Hearing that message likely hits home Mike Brewster, Dustin Fox, William White,
for someone like cruise participant Gene John Simon and Ryan Miller, who was on his
Carfrey of Haines City, Fla., who was on the seventh trip.
“It’s great to be part of this goal and this
boat for the sixth time with his wife, Carol.
The two were joined by almost 15 members mission to cure cancer at Ohio State,” Miller
of their family, and the cruise has become told BSB. “Clearly there are a lot of people
a big part of their lives, especially with how excited about Buckeye sports that are on
the ship, but I think that at the end of the
cancer has touched the family.
Gene Carfrey said his daughter was diag- day the bigger goal and the biggest purpose
nosed with cancer at 25 but has beaten the shine through pretty prominently.
“It’s such a unique experience. It’s the
disease, while his daughter-in-law died of
cancer at 33. His mother, father, grand- equivalent of going on a bowl trip without
mother and brother-in-law have also battled any stress of any kind of game because
everybody is on the same page
the disease.
in terms of trying to beat cancer.
“No. 1, we are here because
It’s just the coolest thing that
we are Ohio State football fans,
I’ve been a part of, and I love to
and No. 2, there’s nobody on this
go back every year.”
ship whose lives have not been
The basketball program was
touched by cancer,” Carfrey
also represented by 1999 Big
said. “Cancer has touched everyTen Player of the Year Scoonie
one’s lives, including ours, but
Penn and J.J. Sullinger, while
we enjoy the camaraderie. Our
former OSU swimmer Susan
family comes with us. We enjoy
Gottlieb and former Buckeye
meeting the players because
golfer Craigen Pappas were also
they’re so accessible, and I guess
on board.
just the all-around camaraderie
Scoonie Penn
There was also a sizable conof everyone on the ship is why
tingent from the James, including OSU
we come back.”
Everyone on board seemed to share in Comprehensive Cancer Center director Dr.
that sentiment this year, including 1974 and Michael A. Caligiuri, who announced on the
boat that the Buckeye Cruise will soon have
’75 Heisman Trophy winner Archie Griffin.
“It was awesome,” Griffin told BSB of the a plaque honoring its donations installed on
most recent Buckeye voyage. “It was a great a fundraising wall at the James.
On the first night of the trip, Caligiuri
cruise and a great experience. I had fun with
the athletes that were on the cruise and the lauded the work done by the Meyer Fund,
fans, interacting with them. It was just a which has helped lure more than 300 top
scientists, physicians and researchers to
good time. It’s always a good time.
“The great thing about it is you raise Ohio State to fight cancer.
“They’re calling us now,” Caligiuri said.
money for a fabulous cause, to beat cancer,
“That’s the equivalent of them saying,
‘Coach, I want to play for you.’ We’re holding up our end of the bargain.”
Spots on next year’s cruise, which will
sail from Feb. 19-23, will go on sale in
March.
Gotta See The Shows
This year’s cruise was filled with fun,
Ohio State-themed events throughout,
including a cornhole tournament run by
Penn, a belly-flop contest won by Sullinger
(who then promised to donate the prize, a
year’s supply of Papa John’s pizza, to the
James for a pizza party) and a pin-the-tail-onthe-donkey event in which the donkey was
ESPN anchor Mark May.
There were also comedians, bands –
including the Swon Brothers from NBC’s
“The Voice,” who performed two concerts
the final night – and other live shows, while
Buckeye spirit was never hard to find. The
alumni band performed daily, while the
ever-popular Shelley Graf – the Big Ten’s
first-ever female drum major when she took
over the spot in 1981 – delighted the crowd
with her daily twirling shows.
One of the best attended and anticipated
events featured four of the most popular
Buckeyes on the trip in Meyer as well Smith,
Herbstreit and Galloway. The three ESPN
personalities joined Meyer, a game analyst
for ESPN during his year off from coaching,
for a “College GameDay” segment staged by
the pool on the last day of the trip.
There, Meyer gave his thoughts on the
Buckeyes and some of the most pressing
topics in college football, including this
assessment of his 2014 team less than two
weeks before spring practice was set to
begin.
BUCKEYE CRUISE FOR CANCER
“We’ll be talented, probably a little faster
team than we have been,” Meyer said. “The
offensive line won’t be quite as good. We’re
going to try to develop that, and the defense
is a complete overhaul. We’re working on
that right now, and that’s linebackers and
the back end. But the common characteristic of every great team is leadership, and I
really like where we’re at right now. We’re
not having some of the similar issues that
we had a year ago. If we stay healthy and
keep pushing forward, I expect a very good
year.”
Herbstreit, Smith and Galloway also
spent time debating whether college football players should be paid or deserve a
stipend, while each gave their thoughts on
the Buckeyes in 2014 as well.
“I think they’re losing some great players, but I think there’s enough there offensively that you think you’re going to score
a lot of points again with Braxton (Miller)
and company coming back,” Herbstreit said.
“They made some adjustments on defense.
How does that group jell and how does that
defense get better? From 2002 through
2007, the defense and linebackers and the
safeties were as good as anybody in the
country, and I’m sure that’s what they’re trying to get back to.”
Then there was the Heisman chat held
on the first day at sea featuring Griffin – the
only two-time winner of college football’s
highest individual honor – and George, the
1995 winner. The two backs took photos
of the famous stiff-arm pose with fans for
a donation before the program, then went
about discussing their roads to the top of
the sport after both battled early fumbling
problems in scarlet and gray.
The two also played well off one another,
with Griffin – who stands less than six feet
tall – joking about George’s chiseled figure
of upwards of 6-3, 225 pounds, and his
younger counterpart returning the compliments.
“I would love to have had that size
because when Eddie played, his body build,
his size, his strength, his speed, I said, ‘He’s
just unreal,’ ” Griffin said. “I would have
loved to have had that, but I can say the one
thing that I saw in Eddie that I like to feel
that I had was the determination, the work
ethic.”
“He didn’t need the size,” George countered. “He won two Heismans. Two! He
didn’t need any of my size. Archie had
something much more than the physical
attributes, he had tremendous heart. You
watch the highlights, you can see how a
running back runs. He ran with a great deal
of passion. He ran mad.”
“Well, you had to run mad at 185 pounds,”
Griffin quipped.
One of the most popular events every year
is also the live auction. This year, donors
offered up more than $500,000 while bidding
on items such as a new Harley Davidson
and motorcycle lessons delivered by former
Buckeye linebacker Tom Cousineau, while
Herbstreit auctioned off a chance to join him
at the 2014 Heisman ceremony and dinner
that went for $40,000 as the most expensive
item of the evening. The event also featured
a series of donations that brought in close to
$250,000 that is earmarked for the James to
purchase a new piece of equipment that will
help the fight against cancer.
Fun was the theme as part of a Buckeyecentric version of “The Price is Right” held
the evening of Feb. 22. More than $65,000 in
prizes was given out to fans, while Schlegel
– now an OSU strength and conditioning coach – also took the stage to play
the popular game show in which Shelley
Meyer served as one of the stagehands who
unveiled prizes and showcased the items up
for bid.
There was also the Buckeye Spectacular,
an introductory event on the first night of
the cruise. The event started with a dance
montage to music throughout the decades
featuring Brutus, Sullinger and OSU cheerleaders before celebrating Ohio State football’s accomplishments since the hiring of
Woody Hayes.
The two-hour show also featured a couple
of surprises, as organizers debuted videos
honoring Griffin for being named the Rose
Bowl’s All-Century player as well as Hawk
for setting a Green Bay Packers record for
most career tackles last season.
Both players seemed caught off-guard
by the gesture, with Hawk being moved to
tears by the video featuring his former OSU
teammates, Packers coach Mike McCarthy
and Green Bay strength and conditioning
coach Mark Lovat, and Griffin having a
hard time believing the video that featured
former OSU coach Jim Tressel.
“They caught me by surprise there,”
Griffin said. “You guys got me going. I can’t
believe you did that to me.”
There were also some tears shed by
Meyer, who had trouble composing himself on the main stage after his sister, Gigi
Escoe, told the story of how their mother
Gisela’s battle with breast cancer stretched
to 13 years – much longer than doctors
originally gave her as a prognosis – thanks
to specialized care from Ohio State’s cancer
center.
And at the end of his address to the
Buckeye fans who crammed the theater,
Meyer sounded a refrain that was similar to
many on this night.
“We will defeat it,” he said of the disease. “We’re very humbled to be a part of
this.”
Then, a simple exhortation from the
coach: “Go Bucks!”
The room’s reply, as was customary on
the ship: “Beat cancer.”
At the end of the night, Cisco took the
stage and guaranteed that the cruise would
crush its former fundraising record. By the
end of the trip, she was proven right, and
the Buckeye Cruise for Cancer continues to
move Ohio State closer to its stated goal of
the eradication of the disease.
614-488-9957
888-842-5877
www.ticketsohio.com
1350 W. Fifth Ave., Ste. 24
OHIO STATE FOOTBALL RECRUITING
Buckeyes Lone Big Ten Team In Consensus Top 10
By RYAN GINN
In 2013, both Ohio State and Michigan
carried the Big Ten flag in the BSB consensus recruiting poll by finishing in the top
five together.
One year later, the Wolverines are
nowhere to be found, but two constants
remain – the presence of both the Buckeyes
and the team they’ve been chasing for the
past half decade.
Ohio State experienced a slight decrease
from second to fourth in 2014, but Alabama
did not. Although they failed to win a
third consecutive national championship
and fourth in five years, the Crimson Tide
unanimously finished atop BSB’s consensus poll. Alabama was followed by LSU
and Florida State in second and third,
respectively, while Tennessee and Texas
A&M finished in a tie for fifth to round out
the top five.
No other Big Ten teams placed in the
top 10.
As is often the case with recruiting, the
top spots belonged to teams with aggressive head coaches who possess an unrelenting work ethic. Alabama’s Nick Saban,
LSU’s Les Miles, FSU’s Jimbo Fisher and
OSU’s Urban Meyer have all won BCS
national championships with a combined
eight rings between the four of them.
Additionally, Kevin Sumlin at Texas A&M
and Butch Jones at Tennessee are both
viewed by analysts as up-and-coming leaders who could position their programs for
long-term success.
Since arriving at Tuscaloosa in 2007,
Saban has proved that he is willing to outwork everyone else on the recruiting trail.
Even after finishing 7-6 in his first season
with a loss to Louisiana-Monroe, he pulled
in the No. 1 recruiting class that spring to
help set the foundation for the 2009 championship run.
“They were pulling in top classes before
this run of three championships in five
years, and it all starts with Nick Saban,”
TideSports.com recruiting analyst John
Garcia Jr. told BSB. “All he really does is
recruit when he’s not out there coaching.
That trickles down to his coaches and the
biggest recruiting support staff in the country, which is something the NCAA hasn’t
really tightened up on of late. Alabama
has more people watching tape and more
people filtering information.”
Part of that success comes from Saban’s
ability to cover more ground than the average coach. With private jets and a massive
travel budget, he simply has as much or
more resources than any other coach in
the country.
Even though he was considered a long
shot to land the trio of Army All-Americans
from Cleveland Glenville who all ultimately
signed with Ohio State, Saban still jetted up
to northeast Ohio to pay Marcelys Jones,
Marshon Lattimore and Erick Smith a visit
and also convinced them to take an official
visit to Alabama.
He wasn’t successful in that specific
case, but a large chunk of his recruiting
prowess comes from the sheer volume of
prospects he visits and his attempts to convince them of his vision.
“In late January, I saw Nick Saban at
Trinity Christian in Jacksonville going to
look at juniors,” CBS Sports recruiting
analyst Tom Lemming told BSB. “A couple
of days later, he was either there before me
National Recruiting Experts’ Rankings
SCOUT.COM
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
Alabama
LSU
Florida State
Tennessee
Ohio State
Notre Dame
Texas A&M
Auburn
Florida
USC
TOM LEMMING
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
Alabama
Ohio State
Florida State
LSU
Tennessee
Texas A&M
Notre Dame
Florida
Auburn
Georgia
ESPN
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
or after me at three different high schools even more impressive, as OSU landed the
in Georgia. He outworks everyone else, and Nos. 2-4 outside linebackers and No. 5
he makes sure that his staff is relentless in middle linebacker according to Scout.com.
Hinesville (Ga.) Liberty County four-star
recruiting.”
Ohio State finished as Lemming’s No. linebacker Raekwon McMillan is already
2 class in the country, higher than any enrolled and working out, and the lone fiveother outlet polled by BSB. That spot went star of the class, Cincinnati Moeller’s Sam
to LSU in the three other polls thanks Hubbard, is also a linebacker.
“The biggest needs were
in part to a furious finish that
offensive line and linebacker,
saw the Bayou Bengals pick up
and you could make a case that
four uncommitted players on
outside of maybe Alabama and
National Signing Day.
Florida State that Ohio State
While others may have
has one of the best offensive
viewed the lack of activity by
line classes in the country,”
Ohio State in the final weeks as
Scout.com recruiting analyst
disappointing, Lemming saw no
Derek Young said. “I don’t think
reason to punish the Buckeyes
there’s anyone that can rival
for locking up the second-most
their linebacker class. That’s
four-star prospects in the coundefinitely the top group in the
try well in advance of February.
country. There’s not a team in
“They have elite players
Urban Meyer
the country that competes with
coming in at just about every
position,” he said. “Everyone they brought that type of linebacker class.”
Meyer’s approach stems from a pair of
in is an elite player, and I just liked the
athletic ability of these guys. I think some coaches who have had tremendous success
people dropped them because they didn’t on the recruiting trail.
“Urban is going after the same approach
sign a great player on signing day, but
that means nothing to me. It doesn’t mean that Pete Carroll told me and Nick Saban
anything to me if a talented player commits told me,” Lemming said. “You recruit localearly or late, I just focus on the fact that ly No. 1 draft choices in Ohio, and then you
go looking for future No. 1 draft choices
they’re a great player.”
Scout.com ranked the Buckeyes fifth around the rest of the country. That’s
behind Alabama, LSU, Florida State and what he’s doing, and that’s why he’s had
Tennessee, but BuckeyeSports.com recruit- so much success – he’s expanding his
recruiting reach. If you want to
ing analyst Bill Greene saw plenbe competitive nowadays, you
ty of positives in Meyer’s haul.
have to recruit nationally.”
With four starters on the offenOhio is a talent-rich area for
sive line out of eligibility and a
high school players, and Meyer
struggling linebacker corps that
has certainly had his success
lost All-American Ryan Shazier
there. In 2014, for example, he
to the NFL draft, OSU aggressigned the top six players in the
sively pursued contributors at
state, all of whom were rated
both positions.
Scout 100 prospects.
“It was the No. 5-ranked
However, he’s also shown
recruiting class in the country
he’s not afraid to branch out
(according to Scout) – which is
when necessary. This year’s
great, as always,” Greene said.
Nick Saban
Ohio class didn’t have the depth
“The thing I liked is that they
targeted their needs and hit their needs. of some years past, and Meyer compensatI like to say that if you took the 10 best ed by pulling recruits from Texas, Florida,
wide receivers every year and the 10 best Georgia, New York and New Jersey, among
defensive backs every year, you would have others.
The Big Ten didn’t share in his success
a highly ranked class. But would you be
this year, and Lemming attributed that
building a football team?”
The Buckeyes took five offensive line- to the continuing evolution of the confermen and managed to hold on to coveted ence’s coaches. Meyer won two championfour-star offensive tackle and No. 63 overall ships in the cutthroat SEC, and that sucprospect Jamarco Jones of Chicago De La cess was thanks in part to a pair of classes
Salle after he took a visit to Michigan State that SportsOnEarth.com ranked in the top
the weekend before signing day. They also 10 among all recruiting classes across the
landed a pair of in-state early enrollees in country since 2000.
“Nick Saban sets a great example, and
Lancaster four-star offensive tackle Kyle
Trout and Cleveland Glenville three-star Urban Meyer sets a great example to the
rest of the staff,” Lemming said. “Everything
offensive guard Marcelys Jones.
However, the linebacker group was comes down from the head coach. If he
BLEACHER REPORT
Alabama
LSU
Florida State
Texas A&M
Tennessee
Florida
Ohio State
Auburn
Georgia
Florida
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
Alabama
LSU
Ohio State
Florida State
Texas A&M
Georgia
Tennessee
Auburn
Florida
USC
BSB Consensus Poll
1.
2.
3.
4.
T5.
T5.
7.
8.
9.
10.
Alabama (4) .............100
LSU ............................94
Florida State ..............91
Ohio State ...............87
Tennessee ..................82
Texas A&M ................82
Florida .......................72
Auburn ......................71
Notre Dame ...............69
Georgia .....................67
Teams received points based on their placement in each of the four top-25 polls above.
Points assigned to teams are in inverse proportion to their placement in a poll (25 points
for first, 24 points for second, etc.) First-place
votes in parentheses.
goes to play golf, the assistants see that
and take time off also. They’re not into it
wholeheartedly, and you see teams suffer
after years of that type of recruiting.”
That sentiment could describe the Big
Ten, which barely cracked the top 25 of
any recruiting services. Michigan finished
No. 17 and Penn State No. 22 according to Bleacher Report, and Scout placed
Michigan State 19th and Penn State 25th.
Michigan (18) and Penn State (24) also
cracked ESPN’s top 25.
Lemming saw reasons for optimism in
the Big Ten, though, beginning with the
presence of Meyer. Just as the importance
of fitness and hours of practice by golfers
skyrocketed upon the emergence of Tiger
Woods, Meyer has seen his hardworking approach in recruiting growing in the
Midwest.
“He brought the SEC mentality to
the Big Ten,” Lemming said. “The other
schools are starting to catch up a little bit
when it comes to the nonstop recruiting. I
know Illinois is doing it, and you’re starting
to see a big pick up in that. The Big Ten
used to kind of always be … not lackadaisical, but not as into it on a 365-days-a-year
kind of schedule.
“Now, I think a lot of them are starting
to get that way because Urban brought it to
them. I see Minnesota doing it, Michigan
is doing it, and I think they’re all starting
to realize they’re going to have to do it in
order to keep pace with Ohio State.”
Ohio State may ultimately spark
improvement from its Big Ten counterparts thanks to Meyer’s arrival. For now,
however, the Buckeyes remain focused
on chasing Alabama and continuing their
unrelenting quest for greatness.
Edwards Becomes Third 2015 OSU Verbal
ent network of BuckeyeSports.com. “Kevin
Toliver and Jeffery Holland will be my main
targets. I’m going to try to get them to
come along with me.”
Toliver, the third-ranked cornerback in
his class, is currently committed to LSU,
while Holland, 2015’s No. 4 outside linebacker, is uncommitted and weighing an
offer from Ohio State.
As for his own commitment, Edwards
pointed to his relationship with area recruiter and tight ends coach Tim Hinton as well
as new Buckeye co-defensive coordinator
and safeties coach Chris Ash. Edwards’
physical nature will certainly be a welcome
addition in Columbus, as Ohio State continues an overhaul of the defensive unit under
The 6-0, 195-pound hard-hitting safety head coach Urban Meyer.
Edwards received his offer from Ohio
from Jacksonville (Fla.) Trinity Christian
gave his pledge to Ohio State, choosing State a little over a month before committing and discussed what made
the Buckeyes over the likes
him want to make the early
of Auburn, Georgia Tech,
decision.
Kentucky, Louisville, Maryland,
“I have a great relationship
Missouri, North Carolina,
with their coaches,” Edwards
Stanford, UCLA and Notre
said of the Buckeyes. “I call
Dame.
Coach Hinton and Coach Ash
And while landing the
every week. They’ve been pushnation’s 39th-ranked safety is a
ing for this commitment a lot
big boost for the Buckeyes in
lately. They love my style of
and of itself, he has also promplay. They want me to come in
ised to try to sway a pair of highand play early when I get up
ly rated Trinity Christian classthere. It’s a big-time program,
mates to join him in Columbus,
Ben Edwards
and they always win almost
in five-star cornerback Kevin
Toliver and four-star outside linebacker every game and it’s where I want to be.”
Despite hailing from the Sunshine State,
Jeffery Holland.
“I’m going to recruit my tail off for Ohio Edwards is no stranger to Ohio State. He
State,” Edwards told Scout.com, the par- visited the OSU campus last summer, and
Good news came for the Ohio State
football team Feb. 11 when Ben Edwards
opted to become the third member of the
Buckeyes’ 2015 recruiting class just days
after 2014’s National Signing Day.
Even better news could be on the way
should the three-star safety manage to
convince his friends to come with him to
Columbus.
RECRUITING
OUTLOOK
Ben Axelrod
SATURDAY, MARCH 29 Ȍ 6:30PM
SCHOTTENSTEIN CENTER
Tickets available at the Box Ofﬁce and Ticketmaster outlets. Charge at 1-800-745-3000 or www.ticketmaster.com
OSU Football Verbal Commitments
Players in the class of 2015 who have issued verbal commitments to play football at Ohio State.
Player
Pos.
Ht. Wt. Stars
High School
Jamel Dean
CB
Ben Edwards
S
Eric Glover-Williams RB
6-1 185
6-0 195
5-10 165
Cocoa, Fla.
Jacksonville (Fla.) Trinity Christian
Canton (Ohio) McKinley
Players in the class of 2017 who have issued verbal commitments to play football at Ohio State.
Player
Pos.
Ht. Wt. Stars
High School
Danny Clark
QB
6-3
205 NR
Columbus clearly left an impression on the
three-star prospect.
“It was a beautiful place,” Edwards said.
“It was a very nice campus. The facilities
are very nice. All the coaches they have are
cool. It was overall a great visit.”
He committed early, but Edwards insists
that his verbal is as solid as they come.
Joining four-star Canton (Ohio) McKinley
running back Eric Glover-Williams and
Cocoa, Fla., three-star corner Jamel Dean,
Edwards is already helping set a foundation for what Meyer hopes will be another
highly rated class.
“I’m done with visiting other schools,”
Edwards said. “I will only be visiting Ohio
State. I’m fired up. I’m just happy to be a
Buckeye.”
Highly Rated Wideout
Visits Columbus
While there haven’t been any major
junior days since the 2014 class was closed,
the Buckeyes still hosted a big visitor over
the weekend of Feb. 28 when Arizona wideout Christian Kirk was on campus.
The fourth-rated wideout in the class
of 2015, Kirk visited Columbus with his
mother, and he left impressed with what
the Buckeyes have to offer.
“Amazing,” Kirk said. “That’s all I can
say.”
The Scottsdale Saguaro star holds offers
from just about every major program in
the country – including Alabama, Florida,
Florida State, Michigan, Notre Dame,
Texas and USC – but said he enjoyed
meeting Meyer and spending time with
two early enrollees in the 2014 class and
one college football legend while visiting
Ohio State.
“My favorite part was meeting with
Coach Meyer,” said Kirk, a four-star prospect. “He’s such a straightforward guy. I
could tell everything he told me was true
and genuine. He’s a family guy and really
cares about his players. I loved his intensity
and how he preached about bringing the
best out of players. That’s the kind of coach
I want to be around.
“The Ohio State visit was definitely up
there with being one of the best I’ve taken.
I liked hanging out with Johnnie (Dixon)
and Raekwon (McMillan). Meeting with
Archie Griffin was unforgettable. Learning
about the entire Buckeye family was awesome.”
Kirk (5-10, 195) accounted for 30 touchdowns a season ago and is rated the No. 35
prospect in the early Scout 100.
Buckeyes Get Visit
From 2015’s No. 2 RB
The Ohio State men’s basketball team
might have lost to Michigan on Feb. 11, but
not all was lost for the Buckeyes in their
rivalry with the Wolverines.
During that very game, Ohio State
Massillon (Ohio) Washington
received a visit from one of its top targets
in the 2015 class, Berea (Ky.) Madison
Southern four-star running back Damien
Harris. A former Michigan commit, Harris
decommitted from the Wolverines in
January and has an apparent interest in
Ohio State.
The 5-11, 198-pounder even took a visit
to Columbus on his own dime to check out
the Big Ten basketball battle between two
of the top schools still vying for his services. Wearing his Madison Southern varsity jacket, Harris could be spotted being
escorted around by Meyer, who has clearly
made a strong impression on the nation’s
second-ranked running back.
“It was a pretty awesome visit,” Harris
said of his time in Columbus. “I walked in
with Coach Meyer in front of the student
section at the basketball game. Everyone
was cheering for us and saying our names.
I just really like it up there. They have a lot
to offer. They definitely will be in the tops
for me until the end.”
Harris’ trip to Ohio State wasn’t just
for show either. The former Wolverine
pledge spent time with not only Meyer but
also running backs coach Stan Drayton,
discussing his future plans, both near and
distant.
“I got to spend a lot of time with Coach
Meyer and the running backs coach, Coach
Drayton. I sat down and watched film with
them. They told me how I’d make an impact
with them,” Harris said. “They told me how
they would develop me as a person not just
as a player.
“Football will always end someday, and
they tried to push that they had a plan for
me after football. Whether it ends in college or I play a couple of years in the pros,
there are always options for me and it’s
always great to talk to Coach Meyer. He’s
a great coach.”
Meyer’s message has clearly gotten
through to Harris, who is infatuated with
Ohio State as more than just a football factory. Harris is also one who’s all in with the
third-year Ohio State head coach, which
could bode well for the Buckeyes moving
forward.
“I love it at Ohio State,” Harris said. “I
love Coach Meyer. I love the whole staff.
I really like the energy and intensity they
bring in everything they do. They’re passionate about what they do and in developing you not only as a player but a person.
Ohio State brings a family feel you don’t get
at most places.”
Despite the fact Harris decommitted
from Michigan a month ago, the Wolverines
still figure to be a factor in the recruitment
of the nation’s No. 32-rated prospect in the
class of 2015.
In fact, Harris took a trip to Ann Arbor
for a visit with the U-M coaches Feb. 22.
Chief among Harris’ goals for the trip was
getting to know new offensive coordinator
Doug Nussmeier, whom Brady Hoke hired hopes of finding a compromise that the
away from Alabama this past offseason to whole family could agree on.
No visits have materialized, however,
replace Al Borges.
“I’m trying to build a relationship with and McDowell appears intent on becomhim like I did with Coach Borges,” Harris ing a Spartan. Speaking to Scout.com, the
nation’s No. 36-ranked player
said of Nussmeier. “It’s hard
reiterated his pledge to MSU
going to a school without the
and said that he doesn’t intend
person that recruited you, and
on making any more trips.
that went into my thought pro“Michigan State,” McDowell
cess when I decided to open my
told Scout when asked what
options back up. (Nussmeier)
school he’d be attending in the
said we can start to form a relafall. “I’m not taking any other
tionship, just keep in touch with
visits.”
me and that’s what I’m trying to
Asked what drew him to the
do, try to make a close relationSpartans, the seventh-ranked
ship and get to know him as
defensive end pointed to the
much as possible.”
MSU coaching staff as well as
Having also recently been
Malik McDowell
his affinity for the East Lansing
offered by Alabama, Harris took
a trip to Tuscaloosa on March 1, but don’t campus.
“They were real steady in how they
expect a decision from the running back
anytime soon. Having already rescinded recruited me and how they talked with me,”
one commitment in his recruitment, Harris McDowell said. “They never changed up
is determined not to have to do the same and I just like the coaching staff a lot. Being
again, which is why he’ll be waiting until around the players made me feel real comthe next National Signing Day to announce fortable, just being on campus, because it’s
the kind of campus I like.”
his choice.
While McDowell has given the proverMcDowell Recruitment
bial stamp of approval to Mark Dantonio
Still Without Resolution
and his staff, the same can’t be said for his
As was chronicled in the Feb. 15 edition mother just yet. So for now, the blue-chip
of BSB, class of 2014 Southfield, Mich., prospect remains unsigned, a tricky situafive-star defensive end Malik McDowell tion that the MSU staff – and others – have
gave a verbal commitment to Michigan been monitoring.
State on National Signing Day, choosing
“They’re handling it well, just trying to
to spend his college career playing for the get in touch with my family every now and
Spartans instead of Ohio State, Michigan or then and talk to them about it,” McDowell
Florida State.
said of the Spartans’ staff’s interaction with
Except the 6-6, 292-pounder has yet to his family. “That’s about it.”
send a signed national letter of intent to
East Lansing, as his mother has refused to Buckeyes Offer 2016
put her signature on the dotted line.
Quarterback From Pa.
As a result, McDowell’s recruitment has
With Ohio State already knee deep in
continued, even though he has stood firm its quarterback recruiting in the 2015 class
in his pledge to MSU. Rumors have swirled and a signal caller already committed for
that he would be revisiting Columbus, Ann 2017 in Massillon (Ohio) Washington’s
Arbor and potentially even Tallahassee in Danny Clark, Meyer and his staff appear
to be in good shape when it comes to the
position moving forward.
That hasn’t stopped the Buckeyes from
trying to make a splash in the 2016 cycle,
though, as evidenced by OSU’s recent offer
to Warrington (Pa.) Council Rock South
sophomore Brandon McIlwain.
The 6-1, 195-pounder knew
that the Buckeyes were interested in him but admitted that
he was caught off-guard by the
recent invite.
“I really didn’t see it coming,” McIlwain said. “My coach
texted me and told me to call
Ohio State’s coach, and (the
coach) said he was going to
offer me.”
The coach whom McIlwain
connected with was Buckeyes
offensive line coach Ed Brandon
Warinner, who had plenty of positive things
to say about the rising star in the 2016
class. Warinner also invited McIlwain to
come to Columbus to throw for the OSU
staff at one of the Buckeyes’ upcoming
summer camps.
“It’s really humbling and really just a
blessing,” McIlwain said. “They want to see
me at camp and have me meet the coaches
and form a relationship. (Warinner) said
I’m a dynamic player that would fit into
their offense.”
Ohio State’s interest in McIlwain appears
to be mutual, as the Keystone State prospect sees himself as a fit in Meyer’s spread
offense. The success that Braxton Miller
has enjoyed in two years under Meyer also
hasn’t hurt OSU’s cause.
“They have a very dynamic offense,”
McIlwain said. “Braxton Miller is big in
that, and I like the way they use their quar-
terbacks. They had one of the top offenses
in the Big Ten, and that’s really amazing
and a testament to what Coach Meyer is
doing.”
McIlwain, who tossed for 1,446 yards,
11 touchdowns and nine interceptions during his sophomore season, believes that
he could be used in a similar
fashion as the two-time reigning Big Ten MVP, which would
certainly bode well for the
Buckeyes should they eventually land his services.
“With Braxton Miller, he’s
a really great quarterback,”
McIlwain said. “They mostly
have their quarterbacks passing from the pocket or on the
rollout, and if he needs too, he
runs. I do that as well.”
McIlwain
In addition to Ohio State,
McIlwain has already been offered by
Boston College, Penn State, South Carolina,
Temple and UCLA. He plans on visiting
Columbus in June, and while he still has
plenty of time to make a decision on where
he’ll spend his college career, he already
has a timetable for his recruitment and
plans on enrolling early.
“I was thinking after my junior summer
would be ideal for me,” McIlwain said of his
decision. “I want to be able to start at the
college that I go to early so I can acclimate
myself to the academics before I start working out and begin to learn the offense.”
RB Robinson Commits
To Penn State
Not long after Larry Johnson Sr. was
hired as the Buckeyes’ defensive line
Continued On Page 16
Defensive End Gets Offer From Ohio State
coach, Ohio State extended an offer to
Harrisburg (Pa.) Bishop McDevitt four-star
running back Andre Robinson. But Ohio
State’s efforts with Robinson proved to be
too little, too late, as the 15th-ranked running back in the 2015 class committed to
Penn State on Feb. 27.
Robinson had previously planned a
visit to Ohio State, but at this time, that
trip to Columbus appears to be in doubt.
Since being offered by the Nittany Lions
in January, Robinson has spoken highly of
his home-state school and new head coach
James Franklin.
“They said they’re building something
special,” he said.
In addition to OSU and PSU, Robinson
had been offered scholarships by Boston
College, Maryland, Michigan State,
Northwestern,
Pittsburgh,
Rutgers,
Syracuse and Virginia Tech. The growing interest in Robinson is justified, as
he rushed for 2,338 yards and 29 touchdowns for the 2013 PIAA AAA runner-up
Crusaders in his junior season.
Ohio State Offers St.
Ignatius Star Lineman
Though it failed to strengthen its pipeline
with Bishop McDevitt, the school that produced current Buckeye defensive lineman
Noah Spence, Ohio State is also looking to
strengthen its connection to Cleveland St.
Ignatius, a northeastern Ohio power that is
represented in the Buckeyes’ 2014 class by
four-star linebacker Kyle Berger.
OSU’s interest in its in-state school was
evident Feb. 25 when the Buckeyes extended an offer to 2015 St. Ignatius defensive
end Dre’Mont Jones, who was thrilled to
hear from the Ohio State staff.
“The feeling to hear they were offering
me a scholarship was very exciting, and I
really didn’t know what to say,” Jones said.
“I really don’t know what to think about this
offer as far as taking it or not because it still
hasn’t totally set in yet.”
At 6-5 and 250 pounds, Jones measures
in as a four-star prospect and the No. 29
defensive end in the country. An offer from
A Look Back At Recruiting From The Pages Of BSB
Tom Lemming was just one of many
national recruiting analysts impressed with
Ohio State signee Alonzo Spellman.
“He is already built like an NFL lineman,”
Lemming said of the 6-6, 260-pound Spellman,
a product of Mount Holly (N.J.) Rancocas
Valley. “He cannot be defended by only one
blocker, and he has not been tested in high
school.
“When you look at Spellman, you can’t
believe that he is as big as he is. He has the
body of a Greek god and hasn’t really had
much weight training.”
Lemming liked Orlando Pace, too.
“Orlando is one of the nation’s top five
offensive line prospects,” the analyst said of
the 6-6, 305-pound Ohio State signee from
Sandusky, Ohio.
Pace was described by Larry Cook, his
high school coach, as the best offensive and
defensive lineman Cook had seen in 30 years
of coaching high school football.
“He has a world of potential,” he said,
noting that Pace was a better run blocker than
pass blocker.
“Pass blocking is something you acquire
over a period of time, but he has the capability
to be an outstanding pass blocker with his
quick feet and long arms.”
Huron tight end Jimmy Fisher, judged one
of the state of Ohio’s top junior prospects,
committed to Michigan in February after
reportedly favoring Ohio State prior to an
unofficial visit to Ann Arbor.
“I felt more comfortable at Michigan,” he
said.
Elsewhere in the state, Ohio State hoped
to keep mining Canton McKinley for talent.
After bringing in Mike Doss, Jamar Martin and
OSU, however, gave him even more validation and helped prove to him that he’s one
of the top players at his position.
“It made me feel like I’m one of the top
players in the state,” he said of landing the
Buckeye offer. “I know the offer is special,
and it makes me feel very wanted in a lot
of ways.”
Aside from OSU, Jones has been offered by
Cincinnati and Iowa and has also been hearing
Kenny Peterson in the span of two seasons,
John Cooper and his staff had their eyes on
Bulldogs such as offensive linemen Antonio
Hall and Garrett Bush and wide receiver Andre
Hooks.
In the meantime, McKinley head coach
Kerry Hodakievic told BSB to be sure to keep
an eye on Doss.
“He could be an early impact player at
Ohio State,” the coach said. “I don’t know if
I’ve ever had a better player. He is just an ideal
strong safety. He is a big hitter, he’s got a good
vertical, he’s aggressive and fast.”
Ohio State looked toward Stark County for
a running back, this time getting interest from
Canton McKinley’s Ryan Brinson.
“I went up to Ohio State’s junior day,” he
said. “There was a basketball game that day,
too. It was nice. I’ve been there quite a few
times. I’ve been to quite a few games there.
Probably my favorites are Ohio State and
Miami (Fla.).”
He was not the only Ohio running back
on hand for the junior day. Xenia’s Cedric
Tolbert, who had run for around 1,400 yards
the previous two seasons behind a line that
included recent OSU signee Ben Person, was
also on campus.
“That’s definitely a place I’d like to be,” the
6-0, 190-pound Tolbert said of Ohio State.
He also expressed interest in Indiana,
Purdue, Pittsburgh, Wisconsin, Colorado,
Nebraska and Vanderbilt.
Five Years Ago – 2009
A rising senior prospect in Ohio continued
his movement up the recruiting rankings while
also displaying an interest in his home-state
team.
Solon four-star defensive end Darryl
Baldwin, a member of the 2010 Scout 100,
made two trips to Ohio Stadium during his
junior year, watching the Buckeyes take on
both Youngstown State and Penn State.
Baldwin, who also played tight end, had
offers from Ohio State, Michigan State,
Michigan, Notre Dame and Illinois. All those
schools fit one of the biggest traits he was
looking for – a school in the vicinity of his
hometown.
“First of all, not too far away from home
just so my mom can always watch me play,” he
said of things he was looking for in a college.
“A school that is really into their football
program, one that everyone is involved in
some way. A pretty big campus, I like big
campuses, and just one with a bunch of
people that are good to be around.”
One Year Ago – 2013
Alabama looked to make a dent in Ohio
State’s recruiting efforts by hitting where
it hurt, targeting the Buckeyes’ coveted
Cleveland Glenville pipeline.
Crimson Tide coach Nick Saban doled
out offers to a trio of Tarblooders – offensive
lineman and OSU commit Marcelys Jones
and two teammates in cornerback Marshon
Lattimore and safety Erick Smith.
“This is a big offer to me and I was
surprised to get it, to be honest,” Jones said.
“My principal came and got me out of class
and told me Alabama was on the phone. I
spoke to one of their assistant coaches for a
while, and he said they were offering me a
scholarship along with Marshon and Erick.”
Jones, who committed to the Buckeyes on
Christmas Day in 2012, said it didn’t change
his status with Ohio State. However, he also
recognized that his verbal commitment to play
in Columbus carried little weight in Tuscaloosa.
“I told them I’m still committed to Ohio
State, but they said they didn’t really care
about that at all. They said they go after who
they want and don’t pay attention to who’s
committed.”
field, the same way that Darron Lee and
Terry McLaurin have in past years.
Having taken four linebackers in 2014
and with two other top players at the
position in-state in Cincinnati St. Xavier’s
Justin Hilliard and Cleveland Benedictine’s
Jerome Baker, the Buckeyes can afford to
be choosy in 2015, which is perhaps why
position coach and co-defensive coordinator Luke Fickell agreed with
his boss’ stance.
“I also met with Coach
Fickell,” Conner noted. “He’s
a great guy and wants to continue to build the relationship
with me and my family. He’ll
continue to recruit me and he
OSU Wants Local
wants me to perform at camp.
LB To Earn Offer
They all want to see me at
When Dublin (Ohio) Scioto
camp to determine if they want
2015 linebacker Nick Conner visto offer.”
ited Ohio State in mid-February,
While the eighth-ranked
Nick Conner
many expected the four-star
outside linebacker in the 2015
prospect to walk away with an offer from class awaits a potential offer from the nearthe Buckeyes. Instead, the 6-3, 215-pounder by Buckeyes, interest from other schools
left with a challenge from Meyer, one that has picked up in recent weeks. Although
he plans on taking head on.
Conner does not have an official invite from
“I just walked in with Coach Meyer into OSU, he has offers from Boston College,
his office,” Conner recalled of his visit. “We Cincinnati, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky,
all sat down with my family. We got to know Pittsburgh, Syracuse and West Virginia.
each other. He said I had a great family and The Dublin prospect has also received
I know he does too. He’d love to see me strong interest from Michigan State, a facagain on campus and working on football tor that could lead to OSU offering Conner
so he can see me personally. Coach Meyer before it would like to.
said that he would like to see me improve
Nevertheless, Conner plans on stopping
my speed and my footwork. He thinks those by a Buckeyes spring practice for another visit
aspects of my game can be worked on.”
and will also be in camp at OSU this summer.
Translation: The Ohio State staff would All things considered, an offer from his homelike to see Conner come to an on-campus state school seems likely, although other
camp this summer and earn an offer on the options are certainly opening up already.
from Tennessee, Notre Dame and Georgia.
Given the Buckeyes’ proximity to Cleveland
and his relationship with Berger, it would be
easy to assume that Ohio State is the leader in
the race for Jones’ services, although the junior
insists that’s not the case.
“We are pretty close, but that won’t really affect my decision,” Jones said of Berger.
“I called my parents first off after hearing
the news, and they were very
excited for me. I grew up a big
fan as a kid, but I’ve never been
to a game there yet.”
Thanks to his most recent
offer, it’s a safe bet that won’t be
the case for long.
OHIO STATE FOOTBALL RECRUITING FEATURE
New To Football, Hooker Learns Fast
By RYAN GINN
Ohio State coach Urban Meyer spent
the majority of his opening statement at his
National Signing Day press conference rattling off names of true freshmen he expected
to have an impact in some form or fashion
this fall.
One by one, he discussed the merits of
various defenders he expected to see time
on the Ohio Stadium turf in 2014, beginning with all four linebackers and ending
with a trio of defensive backs in Cleveland
Glenville products Erick Smith and Marshon
Lattimore and Detroit Cass Tech’s Damon
Webb.
Expectations don’t always meet reality,
though. In 2013, a pair of highly rated true
freshmen in linebacker Mike Mitchell and
cornerback Eli Apple ended up redshirting
despite some serious concerns at both linebacker and defensive back for the Buckeyes.
It’s quite possible – probable, even – that
some of those seven players mentioned by
Meyer end up sitting out the entire 2014
campaign for any number of reasons.
One player among the four defensive
backs Ohio State signed does appear pointed
toward a redshirt season, and not without
reason. New Castle, Pa., four-star athlete
Malik Hooker – a prodigious talent whom
OSU has designs on lining up as its safety
of the future – has played only two seasons
of football and will likely need time for his
increasingly sharp technique to match up
with his unparalleled athleticism.
“Malik Hooker is a guy who only played
two years of football,” Meyer said at the Feb.
5 press conference. “I watched him play basketball and he certainly has the athleticism
and size. It’s just experience. So he might
take a little bit longer, but that’s an area obviously that we need to improve.”
Scout.com recruiting analyst Bill Greene
echoed that sentiment, telling BSB that
Hooker could end up as one of the most
successful members of the class even if his
impact isn’t felt immediately.
“I think he has as much upside as anyone
in this class when you look at a run, jump,
quick type of athlete, but his football is
behind some of the other guys in the class
and he’s not enrolling early,” Greene said.
“I think a redshirt year would be great for
him.”
Hooker’s winding journey to Columbus
actually began in a classroom less than three
years ago.
He is a basketball player by trade –
and a successful one at that. His vicious,
rim-rattling dunks have been featured on
“SportsCenter.” The sport has always been
his first love.
For his first two years of high school at
New Castle, Hooker never even bothered
to play football. That all changed when he
ended up in the classroom of Joe Cowart, the
newly installed football coach who teaches
mathematics and communications.
At 6-2, 190 pounds, Hooker already stands
out when placed next to the average high
school student. Having seen what he’d done
on the basketball court made him even more
impressive, so Cowart began to ask. And
ask. And ask.
“My coach was pretty much begging
me,” Hooker told BSB. “He asked me to play
pretty much every day in his class.”
One day, the answer was yes.
His raw talent didn’t take long to shine
through.
In his first game, Hooker faced off against
Monaca (Pa.) Central Valley wide receiver
Robert Foster, a five-star prospect who ultimately became a member of Alabama’s 2013
recruiting class. Central Valley handed New
Castle a 31-7 defeat, but Hooker showed
glimpses of the promise that would eventually land him offers from just about every D-I
school on the eastern seaboard.
“This was Malik Hooker’s first football
game for us, so we didn’t know a lot about
him,” Cowart told BSB. “There were long
stretches in that game where he was the
best football player on the field, and it wasn’t
debatable. Even though Foster was one of
the top kids in the country, Malik was the
best player on the field for long stretches.”
That didn’t mean the message immediately sank in to his coaches about what
a talent they had on their hands. Hooker
continued to play both sides of the ball, but
at wide receiver in a high school offense,
he didn’t always receive an overwhelming
amount of chances to show what he could do
with a ball in his hands.
That problem was ultimately remedied
thanks to a spur-of-the-moment decision in
practice midway through his junior year.
“It took us a little bit – maybe we’re just
not that smart,” Cowart said with a laugh.
“There was a time where he was strictly a
wide receiver for us on offense. We went to
a wildcat formation in practice one day just
by chance. When we direct snapped to him,
he didn’t have to do anything else but use
his ability. When we began to do that, he
flourished. It was just one of those things
where we saw it and knew we had something
special.”
It didn’t take much longer for college
coaches to catch on to the emerging prospect in western Pennsylvania. By the summer prior to his senior season, his offer
sheet was full enough to steer him away
from basketball and convince him that football offered him the best opportunity.
“You just have to look at it as what’s going
to take care of your family and what’s going
to help you have more success,” Hooker
said. “For me, football kind of took that role
because you can’t beat a full scholarship to
The Ohio State University.”
Get To Know: Malik Hooker
High School – New Castle, Pa.
Position – Safety
Height, Weight – 6-2, 190 pounds
Rankings – Scout.com rates Hooker a
four-star prospect and the No. 47 wide
receiver in the 2014 class.
Player Evaluation – “He’ll bring speed
and athleticism to the secondary. He’s a kid
that runs really well. He’s always been really
good, it’s just that he’s gotten a better
understanding of what to do on the field
Malik Hooker
and the little nuances of the game. You
see most of it on offense because he just understands angles
and he’s very decisive in his movements. He’s been a tremendous athlete since before he started playing football and has
developed the technique to go with it.” – Scout.com recruiting analyst Brian Dohn
Strengths – “He’s a tremendous athlete. He accelerates
well and runs really well. If you change direction, he’s very
loose. He has the ability to line up against guys in the slot
and has the speed to be able to run with them. He has the
length to be able to deal with bigger receivers.” – Dohn
Weaknesses – “He has to refine a lot of little things. His
technique has to get a little better and he has to get stronger. I want to see him come up in the box and improve his
tackling.” – Dohn
Hooker’s talk about the value of an education isn’t just lip service, either. He’s a standout in the classroom with a high GPA, and he
said Ohio State stood out to him because the
Buckeyes were willing to repeatedly engage
with him on topics other than football.
When new co-defensive coordinator and safeties coach Chris Ash visited Hooker with Meyer
in January, he followed that approach and quickly
developed a bond with his future position player.
“I have a very strong relationship with
Coach Ash,” Hooker said. “When we talked,
he wasn’t just talking to me about football.
He was asking me about my life and school
and academic things.”
Hooker’s intellectual curiosity should
serve him well in Columbus, too. Those
who watched him in high school have little
doubt that he’ll be able to quickly pick up on
the defensive concepts necessary to excel at
safety. After all, he developed into the No.
258 overall player in the country in only two
years on the gridiron.
“He’s like a sponge,” Cowart said. “He’s
one of those guys who has the rare ability
of picking things up right away. You can see
guys with his athleticism try to cut corners
because they can get away with it, but he’s
always trying to do the right thing. He does
his job, and he does it at such a high level.
He doesn’t take any shortcuts. He tries to get
better on a daily basis.”
Watching Hooker every day, his coach
sees reminders of another bright young man
who started at wide receiver only to be converted into a defensive back.
“He and I were joking about the fact that he
is very Richard Sherman-esque,” Cowart said,
comparing his player to the cornerback for the
NFL’s Seattle Seahawks. “He’s an incredibly
humble kid who is low-key off the field, but he’s
just a really high-level competitor on the field.
His competitiveness is scary when he’s on the
field, and at his very core, he’s a winner.
“He’s been a part of some really successful basketball teams here and really successful track programs and football teams.
Anything he’s around, he’s won, and he
brings that to the people around him. It’s
been pretty special.”
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OSU Sees Bright Future In Sunshine State
think Michigan, Ohio State and Notre Dame the 12 classes spanning from 2000-2011, the
pretty much know what their class is going to Buckeyes inked at least two Florida products
look like in the final days.”
in every year except 2003 and ’05.
So when Urban Meyer showed up to coach
Still, the reward for venturing down to the
The voice of Ohio State cornerbacks coach
Kerry Coombs filled the air as he spoke to a southernmost points of Florida is often worth the Buckeyes in time to recruit for the final
group of recruits making official visits in the effort and risk. The sheer talent is among few months of the 2012 class, it seemed to be
December. The recruiting cycle was just two the best the country has to offer for football, a given that the man who won two national
months away from coming to a close, and a and the volume of players who are considered championships at Florida would make it a
handful of coveted prospects from around the Division I prospects dwarfs that of most other point to poach his old stomping grounds.
Instead, his first three classes didn’t
country were on hand in Columbus to hear regions.
Ohio is considered to produce some of the appear to follow a blueprint that singled out
the Buckeyes’ best pitch.
In a speech that has now become famous best high school football talent nationally and Florida in any special way. Ohio State signed
thanks to YouTube video uploads from the has backed that up with 16 players in the 2015 wide receiver Ricquan Southward in 2012,
father of sophomore running back Ezekiel Scout 300. Still, that’s less than half the total of wide receiver James Clark and defensive end
Elliott, Coombs enthusiastically ranted for 10 Florida, which currently has 33 players listed Joey Bosa in 2013 and then Dixon in 2014.
minutes in front of a gray curtain dotted with among the 300 best – a portion that accounts While four players in three years is a decent
total, it’s still behind the pace of both Cooper
Ohio State logos. He spoke of the familial for 11 percent of a 50-state puzzle.
The University of Miami famously capi- and Tressel.
bond between both players and coaches and
That trio of players from Meyer’s first
reiterated his pride in the program’s recent talized on its location by outlining a region
24-game win streak that was only outdis- stretching from Miami to Tampa and focus- two classes has been a mixed bag thus far.
ing on persuading those players to stay Southward has already transferred, and Clark
tanced by a thirst to better it.
The oratory wonder was delivered without home. After winning less than 50 percent broke his ankle in the 76-0 win against Florida
notes (or breaths of air) and was so filled with of their games in the 1970s, the Hurricanes A&M and was able to take a medical redoptimism that it could have driven even the combined for five national championships shirt.
However, Bosa, who came
most positive person to suspicion or cynicism. under four different coaches –
from the fabled Fort Lauderdale
But there was a moment in the beginning that Howard Schnellenberger, Jimmy
St. Thomas Aquinas program that
was unequivocally true, stealthily dropped Johnson, Dennis Erickson and
includes former Buckeye receivin for a brief moment between fawning sen- Larry Coker – from 1983-2001.
er and NFL Hall of Famer Cris
tences.
Why are high schoolers
Carter on its staff, earned fresh“We are going to recruit the 25 best foot- from that area so successful?
man All-American honors after a
ball players in America,” Coombs told the Johnnie Dixon, a 2014 four-star
season that included 13½ tackles
players and their family members. “We will wide receiver from Palm Beach
for loss and 7½ sacks along with a
go to any corner of this country to find those Gardens (Fla.) Dwyer who
fumble recovery.
men.”
enrolled early at Ohio State, has
“That’s the only reason why
Ohio State has shown the ability to pull his own theory.
you leave Florida,” Carter said in
recruits from just about anywhere in the coun“We’ve got some great playan interview following an Orange
try. The Buckeyes hauled in players from 11 ers down there, and all of them
Joey Bosa
Bowl practice that he attended.
states other than Ohio in 2014, and that trend have a story behind why they’re
figures to continue into the future. Over playing,” Dixon told BSB. “They’re all driven “You don’t really leave for any other reason
the weekend of Feb. 28, Scottsdale (Ariz.) by something that makes them want to play.” unless you can make an impact on a big program like Ohio State. You don’t leave Miami,
Saguaro four-star wide receiver Christian
Florida State … you just don’t do that.”
Kirk, the fourth-rated wideout in the 2015 A Renewed Push
There are signs that Ohio State is poised
class, was in Columbus to visit the Buckeyes,
The Buckeyes are no stranger to south
showing that OSU coach Urban Meyer could Florida. From the 1988 recruiting cycle when for more success down south in 2015, beginwork his magic even out west.
John Cooper was hired to the present, Ohio ning with the obvious fact that two of its three
Of all the corners of the country, though, State has signed 50 prospects from Florida. current commits – Cocoa three-star cornerthe Buckeyes are showing a particularly keen, Many of those recruits haven’t worked out back Jamel Dean and Jacksonville Trinity
renewed interest in one – the talent-rich state – in fact, one of the four players from Sarasota Christian three-star safety Ben Edwards – hail
of Florida, and more specifically, the region of in the 1989 and 1990 classes never enrolled, from Florida.
“The activity in Florida has ramped up 500
south Florida that includes recruiting hotbeds while another was an academic casualty later
such as Miami, Fort Lauderdale and West in his career. The Buckeyes have also seen percent over what it’s been the past couple of
Palm Beach.
their share of transfers from Sunshine State years,” Greene said of Ohio State’s efforts. “I
Heading into the Miami metropolitan area products, with seven of those 50 voluntarily don’t know why or what would have changed,
to recruit is by no means an easy task. For a choosing to end their collegiate careers else- but they’re being extremely aggressive right
now in Florida.”
program like Ohio State, the cutthroat world where.
According to the Scout.com recruiting
of the Gold Coast lends itself to much more
Still Ohio State has its share of success
uncertainty than the Midwest.
stories, too. Wide receiver Santonio Holmes, database, Ohio State has offered 125 pros“In the South, you’ll see kids take visits defensive back Chris Gamble, defensive line- pects in the class of 2015 as of March 1. Of
the last weekend of the recruiting cycle and man Ryan Pickett and wide receiver Michael those 125 players, a whopping 36 – more
end up committing to a school they didn’t Jenkins have all gone on to productive careers than 25 percent – are from Florida, while just
eight are in-state prospects. Much of that is
even have an offer from,” BuckeyeSports. in the NFL.
com recruiting analyst Bill Greene told BSB.
The success that began under Cooper, because of the work of wide receivers coach
“I don’t know if things are done behind the who was the first OSU coach to carve out a Zach Smith, who was part of Meyer’s proscenes or if the kid just doesn’t publish it, but national recruiting strategy instead of stay- gram at Florida, and defensive coordinator
a lot of weird things happen in the last week- ing primarily in Ohio, continued with his Luke Fickell.
“It seems like they’ve shifted strategy
end down there, more so than the Midwest. I replacement Jim Tressel in the 2000s. In
because it felt like they weren’t doing much
in Florida the past couple years,” Greene said.
“Now, all of a sudden, they’re full bore right
now. It’s back to the way it was under Tressel.
They’re being very aggressive right now.
Zach Smith and Luke Fickell have both been
1500 W. Third Ave., Suite 121
down there, and they’ve probably offered
more kids during one week this January than
they have in the past couple years.”
WALK-INS WELCOME!!
Still, sheer numbers don’t always tell the
Haircut $10 • Men Only.
story when it comes to recruiting. The offer
list is impressive, but Scout recruiting analyst
HOURS
Derek Young argued that it doesn’t necessarMonday through Friday:11-7
ily correlate to commitments. Many of the
Saturday: 10-4 • Closed Sunday
players are three-star prospects who wouldn’t
be a lock for OSU to take over some four-star
By RYAN GINN
Rose Agriesti’s Barber Shop
487-9215
in-state prospects who have yet to receive an
offer.
“You can’t really look at it just by offers
because Ohio State will probably offer around
200 kids in the 2015 class,” Young told BSB.
“You have to look at how hard they’re pursuing kids or whether they’d take them right
away. I look less at the offers and more
toward how they go about recruiting, and
there are a few kids I’m pretty sure they’re
going to get.”
How they go about recruiting is certainly
a critical piece of the puzzle in looking at how
the Buckeyes attack Florida. Ohio State director of player personnel Mark Pantoni said
that while the Buckeyes do their best in areas
outside of Ohio, they’re often forced to rely on
pre-existing connections in order to develop
meaningful relationships that lead to official
visits and, ultimately, commitments.
Factoring in the distance, the number of
elite schools that are closer to Florida than
Ohio State and one of the worst winters in
recent memory, it’s not exactly a shoo-in for
OSU to pluck kids away from the Sunshine
State.
“I’m probably the pessimist of the staff,”
Pantoni said. “To say we recruit the state of
Texas is false. To say we recruit the state
of Florida is false. We have to make sure
there’s some sort of tie, otherwise our percentage of getting them is probably very low.
With Johnnie, his high school coach, we had
signed four players at Florida and we have a
great relationship. With Raekwon (McMillan
from Georgia), two of his high school coaches
are from Ohio.
“There are connections there. To say we’re
going to get a kid from Fort Lauderdale with
no connections there, it’s very hard because
you have to beat the three in-state schools,
Georgia, Alabama. And that’s a long way and
it gets cold here.”
Of course, Ohio State’s staff has assembled
its fair share of connections in Florida, something that should set up the Buckeyes for
long-term success. In fact, OSU’s infrastructure in Florida is better than the biggest and
most ruthlessly efficient recruiting machine
in the country – Nick Saban’s Alabama program.
Alabama has had its pick of players from
around the country, but despite its southern
location and stature as the most dominant
program of the past five years, it hasn’t always
produced excellence in Florida.
“That’s really one frontier that Alabama
hasn’t conquered,” TideSports.com recruiting analyst John Garcia Jr. told BSB. “They’ve
done well there randomly, but they haven’t
locked it down and plucked every kid they
wanted. I think with Ohio State, you could
make the argument that they’ve already made
better inroads in the state of Florida with their
current regime than Alabama has with their
staff.”
Mr. Smith Goes To Florida
One overlooked aspect of the hiring of
former Penn State assistant Larry Johnson
Sr. as Ohio State’s defensive line coach is the
ripple effect it had on OSU’s recruiting strategy. Smith and Johnson used to battle against
each other in the mid-Atlantic, and that spot
went to the longtime Nittany Lions coach
when he moved to Columbus.
Johnson’s arrival freed up Smith to focus
on Florida, an area that the wide receivers
coach couldn’t pursue as aggressively while
focusing on Virginia and the surrounding
region. Even while splitting time, he showed
off what he could do in the Sunshine State by
Top 2015 Florida Prospects
5
7 34
BE
1
99 JD
23 91
43
Aug. 6, 2013
12 37
42
6087
Here is a look at uncommitted prospects from Florida in the Scout.com 100 list
for the class of 2015 that have received Ohio State offers.
Rk Name
Pos. Ht./Wt.
High School
1
5
7
12
23
34
37
42
43
60
87
91
99
OT
DE
CB
QB
WR
OLB
S
RB
S
CB
S
OT
RB
Apopka
Glen St. Mary Baker County
Jacksonville Trinity Christian
Plantation American Heritage
Tarpon Springs East Lake
Plantation American Heritage
Fort Lauderdale St. Thomas Aquinas
Haines City
Coconut Creek Monarch
Coconut Creek Monarch
Tampa Plant
Orlando Timber Creek
Martez Ivey
CeCe Jefferson
Kevin Toliver
Torrance Gibson
George Campbell
Jeffery Holland
Tarvarus McFadden
Jordan Scarlett
Derwin James
Calvin Ridley
Shawn Burgess-Becker
Jake Fruhmorgen
Jacques Patrick
6-5/281
6-3/245
6-2/180
6-4/207
6-3½/185
6-2/230
6-3/195
5-11/195
6-1/199
6-2/170
6-2/190
6-5/265
6-1/210
Pos.
Ht./Wt.
Jamel Dean
Ben Edwards
CB
S
6-1/185
6-0/195
reeling in Dixon, who announced his decision Dec. 17. Of all the players who ended
up in the 2014 class, Pantoni said that Dixon
was the one who seemed least likely to end
up in Columbus at the start of his recruiting
process.
“Johnnie Dixon would probably be the one
just because being in Florida and the distance
factor and having Miami, Florida, Florida
State and Alabama in after him, but Zach
Smith did an incredible job with him,” Pantoni
said. “The relationship that I had and Coach
Meyer had with his high school coach helped
us a little bit there as well, but at the end of the
day, Zach Smith got that one.”
Dixon told BSB that what sold him on Ohio
State was the relationship that he formed with
Smith. After they first starting communicating, he and Smith developed a level of trust
that strengthened enough to convince him to
leave south Florida.
“Zach being a young guy, he like myself
understands social media,” Pantoni said.
“He’s really good at relating to kids. Being
down there at Florida for a long time, that’s
what you need – a guy who can relate to the
kids down there and the swag factor and all
that, so he’ll be great down there.”
He’ll be given the task of bringing one of
the crown jewels of the 2015 class – Plantation
American Heritage five-star quarterback and
No. 12 overall prospect Torrance Gibson
– to Columbus. One year after whiffing on its
Buckeyes Begin Preparations For 2013 Campaign
Commitment
Uncommitted
Uncommitted
LSU
Uncommitted
Uncommitted
Uncommitted
Uncommitted
Florida Atlantic
Florida State
Uncommitted
Uncommitted
Uncommitted
Uncommitted
Here is a look at Ohio State’s 2015 verbal commitments who hail from the
Sunshine State.
Name
Back At It
High School
Cocoa
first quarterback choices, OSU has targeted
Gibson as one of its highest priorities, if not
the highest.
The 2015 class is another typically successful class in Florida, beginning with the
loaded south Florida area and extending all
the way up to Jacksonville thanks to a starstudded roster at Trinity Christian.
“There’s a lot of guys that we like down
there,” Smith said. “I can’t compare it to
years past, I really don’t know that, but
we’re trying to recruit the best players in the
country. We want to really recruit the state
of Ohio because we love Ohio, we love the
coaches here, the players here, but at the
end of the day we need the best quarterback
in the country, the best receiver in the country and we’re going to get them wherever
they are.”
In order to do so, Ohio State will send in
the man named Big Ten recruiter of the year
for the 2014 class by Scout.
“Zach Smith is going to be a reason that
they may want to emphasize south Florida
a little bit more because he’s one of the best
recruiters,” Young said. “When you put him
in south Florida, that tells you that’s an area
that they want to hit harder in the next few
years.”
As Coombs said in December, Ohio State
is chasing the 25 best prospects in the country. There’s no better place to start the race
than south Florida.
2013-14 BSB Quickly Schedule
Aug. 30
Sept. 6
Sept. 13
Sept. 20
Sept. 27
Oct. 4
Oct. 18
Oct. 25
Nov. 1
Nov. 15
Nov. 22
Nov. 29
Dec. 6
Dec. 10
Jan. 2
Jan. 6
Jan. 10
Jan. 17
Jan. 21
Jan. 24
Jan. 31
Feb. 4
Feb. 7
Feb. 18
Feb. 25
March 11
March 25
April 8
April 22
May 6
May 20
June 17
July 15
July 29
Aug. 5
Aug. 12
Ohio Less Of Emphasis Early In Meyer Era
By MARCUS HARTMAN
Urban Meyer has been clear from day
one of his tenure as head coach of the Ohio
State football team that recruiting Ohio is
a priority.
“I welcome the opportunity to once
again work with the state of Ohio high
school coaches and re-establish the many
relationships that I had that existed the
previous 25 years,” he said in November
2011. “Our objective is simple. It’s to make
the state of Ohio proud, recruit studentathletes that will win in the classroom and
win on the field.
“Football is really, really important in
the state of Ohio. Cleveland, Columbus,
Cincinnati – this is as good of football as
there is in America.”
The Ashtabula native has repeated his
affection for his home state on many occasions, and on National Signing Day 2013 he
concluded his press conference by extolling the virtues of recruiting Ohio kids.
“One thing I love about the players
in the state of Ohio, the respect factor
is there,” he said. “In my opinion, (the
respect factor) is greater … than any state
in the country because the high school
coach is still in charge of the program.
When you go meet with a player in Ohio,
you’re going to meet with his high school
coach. And you can’t say that about all
the states across the country. That’s my
favorite part about recruiting the state of
Ohio.”
But so far, the numbers have shown
a different approach by Meyer than any
of his predecessors as head coach of the
Buckeyes.
After signing 45.8 percent Ohioans in
his first full year at the helm, he inked
a 2014 class that was only 39.1 percent
Ohioan this past February.
That marks the first time in at least the
past 25 years and likely ever that Ohio
State has signed back-to-back classes that
were not more than half full of kids from
Ohio.
To examine why this might be the case,
BSB studied the numbers compiled by
the previous two men who coached the
Buckeyes and talked to experts who rate
the state for Scout.com.
Here is what we found.
Top 2015 Ohio Prospects
By The Numbers
When John Cooper took over as Ohio
State head coach in December 1987, no one
was verbally committed to be a Buckeye
the following year.
His first recruit was Kirk Herbstreit, a
quarterback from Centerville, Ohio, who
grew up dreaming of being a Buckeye
and was the son of a former Ohio State
captain.
Cooper, a Tennessee native who came
to Ohio State from Arizona State, proceeded to sign an 18-man class that included 14
Ohioans.
Although he developed a reputation for
expanding Ohio State’s recruiting nationwide for the first sustained period, Cooper
signed nearly 59.1 percent Ohioans during
his 13 years as head coach and only three
of his recruiting classes were less than
50 percent Ohioan. The one of those that
had the highest percentage of out-of-state
recruits (11 of 19, or 57.9 percent) came in
1991, when uncertainty about the direction
of the program likely played a role in several of the state’s top prospects choosing
to go elsewhere.
When Jim Tressel replaced Cooper
as head coach in January 2001, he had
only three weeks to put together a class.
The former Youngstown State head coach
ended up with 17 players, including 10
Ohioans.
Tressel would go on to sign exactly 60.0
percent Ohioans in his 11 years while gaining just the opposite reputation within the
state that Cooper had. While Cooper was
viewed as an outsider by some, Tressel
was beloved by the state’s high school
coaches and frequently mined those connections for in-state stars.
All but two of Tressel’s classes were
more than 50 percent Ohioans with the
exceptions coming when he signed 10
Ohioans in a 20-man class in 2006 and two
years later when only nine of his 20 signees came from Ohio.
65 52
84
83
95
82
44
Here is a look at prospects from Ohio in the Scout.com 100 list for the class of
2015. Ohio State has received a verbal committment from one of these players,
listed in bold.
Rk Name
Pos. Ht./Wt.
High School
OSU Offer?
44
52
65
82
83
84
95
OLB
OLB
CB
OLB
RB
DE
RB
Cincinnati St. Xavier
Cleveland Benedictine
Lakewood St. Edward
Dublin Scioto
Hubbard
Warren Harding
Canton McKinley
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
No
Yes
Yes
Justin Hilliard
Jerome Baker
Shaun Crawford
Nick Conner
L.J. Scott
Hjalte Froholdt
Eric Glover-Williams
6-1½/210
6-1/205
5-9/170
6-3/215
6-1/220
6-5/265
5-10/165
Tressel also started the effort of wooing
a 2012 class that was loaded in Ohio but
could not finish the job. He was forced to
resign in May 2011 after breaking NCAA
rules and violating his contract for failing
to report potential NCAA violations by
some of his players.
After interim coach Luke Fickell did
what he could to hold together the class
through the summer and the regular season, Meyer was hired in late November
and went into recruiting overdrive.
Meyer pulled in 11 commitments after
being hired to finish with a 24-man class
that included nine out-of-state prospects.
Of the ones he recruited or re-recruited,
four came from Ohio – offensive linemen Taylor Decker of Vandalia Butler
and Kyle Dodson of Cleveland Heights,
defensive lineman Se’Von Pittman of
Canton McKinley and Bri’onte Dunn of
Canton GlenOak. Dunn originally committed during Tressel’s tenure before
flirting with other programs and ultimately reaffirming his pledge to Meyer
that December.
In the two years Meyer has had to put
together a class wholly his own, he has
signed 20 Ohioans and 27 players from out
of state, a 57.4-percent rate of non-Ohioans
that nearly reverses that of his predecessors.
Why that has been the case might not
be easy to discern, however.
Commitment
Uncommitted
Uncommitted
Michigan
Uncommitted
Uncommitted
Arkansas
Ohio State
Changing Times
A year ago when a reporter asked a
question concerning whether Meyer was
remaking the image of the Ohio State
roster to have a more national theme, the
head coach of the Buckeyes seemed to
take exception to that notion even though
the class he was announcing contained 11
Ohioans and 13 players from out of state.
“We recruit Ohio,” he said in February
2013. “And what happened last year was we
got behind the eight ball a little bit. We’re
not going to offer a player until we get to
know him.
“So this time last year we closed a class.
The next week all of a sudden offers started
jumping all over the place (to) in-state kids
in Ohio. And I had never met them.”
Meyer found that he and his staff were
at a disadvantage at the beginning of the
2013 recruiting cycle because they were
going up against staffs from places such
as Michigan and Notre Dame that had
already been in place the previous year
and thus been able to evaluate the 2013
prospects when they were younger.
“And so some of the kids early committed,” he said. “Right out of the get-go, they
were like, ‘Where is my offer?’ We’re like,
‘Well, we’d like to see you in camp and get
to know you a little bit.’ ”
Some of the state’s top prospects were
not willing to wait, however, and ended
up going elsewhere. Michigan notably
Expanding
The Fence
Percentage of Ohio State
commits from outside
the Buckeye State.
2014
2013
61 percent
(14 of 23)
54 percent
(13 of 24)
2012
38 percent
(9 of 24)
2011
42 percent
(10 of 24)
2010
44 percent
(8 of 18)
2009
44 percent
(11 of 25)
2008
2007
2006
55 percent
(11 of 20)
33 percent
(5 of 15)
50 percent
(10 of 20)
2005
39 percent
(7 of 18)
2004
39 percent
(9 of 23)
2003
2002
2001
2000
1999
20 percent
(3 of 15)
28 percent
(7 of 25)
41 percent
(7 of 17)
48 percent
(12 of 25)
29 percent
(7 of 24)
1998
44 percent
(7 of 16)
1997
41 percent
(9 of 22)
1996
40 percent
(10 of 25)
1995
47 percent
(9 of 19)
1994
45 percent
(9 of 20)
1993
1992
1991
50 percent
(8 of 16)
19 percent
(5 of 26)
58 percent
(11 of 19)
1990
50 percent
(10 of 20)
1989
42 percent
(10 of 24)
1988
22 percent
(4 of 18)
signed nine Ohioans in 2013, including six
– linebackers Ben Gedeon of Hudson and
Michael McCray of Trotwood-Madison,
running back DeVeon Smith of Warren
Howland, wide receiver Jaron Dukes of
Columbus Marion-Franklin, tight end Jake
Butt of Pickerington North and defensive
end Taco Charlton of Pickerington Central
– who committed between Feb. 1 and the
end of April 2012.
“We were behind the eight ball a bit,”
Meyer said. “I would rather probably get
another three or four from in state from
now on.”
Despite that goal, Meyer’s second full
signing class at Ohio State in 2014 had
fewer Ohiaons (nine) than his first in 2013
(11). The percentage of Ohio natives in the
class declined, too, from 45.8 to 39.1.
Scout recruiting analysts Bill Greene
and Dave Berk both said that those numbers may not be reason to doubt Meyer’s
intentions of recruiting his home state,
though.
“If you look at the talent level in Ohio,
Ohio State has done a good job of getting
the top guys,” said Berk, who has spent
more than a decade evaluating talent in
Ohio from his home base in the Dayton
area. “There are always going to be arguments made down the road of a kid who
develops late, but I think they’re getting
the top-level guys.”
Greene, who is based in Stark County,
agreed he has seen Meyer’s staff follow the
talent for the most part the past two years.
“I just think it’s a question of quality.
Last year there was a line at six and he got
all six of them,” said Greene, referring to
2014 signees Sam Hubbard of Cincinnati
Moeller, Erick Smith and Marshon
Lattimore of Cleveland Glenville, Kyle
Berger of Cleveland St. Ignatius and Parris
Campbell and Dante Booker of Akron St.
Vincent-St. Mary, who were rated the top
six players in the class in Ohio.
“There were still some kids below six
that were Ohio State-Notre Dame-Michigan
quality, but there was a line after six. It got
slim. I think he would love to be able to
take 15 from Ohio because then if you can
take 15 from your own state you can really
dial it in and concentrate on the best kids
nationwide.
“When you only get six, seven, eight
from your own state that you typically
should not have to work that hard to get,
well then you have to go find 12 or 15
that you have to battle for in Georgia or
Florida.
“I don’t think it has anything to do with
Urban Meyer compared to Jim Tressel
compared to John Cooper – I think it’s the
last two years the talent at the top has not
been as good as what it has been in the
past.”
Whether that turns out to be a trend
remains to be seen. While neither Berk nor
Greene feels it will be, they were not quite
ready to completely rule it out, either.
“I thought ’13 was just an aberration
and I thought ’14 was just the second year,
but now we’re rolling into year three so I
don’t know,” Greene said. “I’m starting to
get concerned, but it’s too early to write
some of these ’15 kids off. Kids change
at 16 years old, so it’s too soon to make
that determination on this ’15 class, but I
know Ohio State is the same way because
they’ve only offered a few kids.”
Berk agreed the cream of the crop has
been smaller of late, and in fact, Ohio State
has offered only eight kids from Ohio thus
far from the 2015 class according to Scout.
com’s database. Included in that group is
the one commitment from the Buckeye
State, running back Eric Glover-Williams Ohio generally is. Even as the quality at
of Canton McKinley, the state’s seventh- the top might fluctuate, Berk and Greene
ranked player.
said 150-170 Division I-quality players can
The Buckeyes have offered only five of be found in the state every year.
the top 10 prospects in the state according
While the top programs have only so
to Scout, while two of the top 10 – third- much evaluation time in Ohio, they are
rated Shaun Crawford, a cornerback from loath to miss on a recruit because that can
Lakewood St. Edward, and 10th-rated mean a scholarship is tied up for four or
Tyree Kinnel, a DB from Huber Heights even five years.
– are committed to Michigan. Crawford
Cooper even once suggested to BSB
has an OSU offer while Kinnel does not.
in a past interview that he would prefer to
Things could change in 2016, though, miss outside Ohio’s borders than within
which could look more like a recent class because the odds are much higher he will
that Ohio State was not fully able to take be back in a local community again for
advantage of. The 2012 group was very another prospect than he will return to a
strong, but that happened to coincide with far-off high school from another state.
the NCAA scandal that engulfed
“The other thing people
Ohio State and brought an end
need to realize is if you take an
to Tressel’s time as head coach.
in-state player that cannot play
It also sent some of Ohio’s best
for you, that’s not good enough
prospects out of state before
to play, I think that’s the worst
Meyer was hired.
thing you can do,” Cooper told
“I think elite prospects are
BSB for a story in 2010. “The
down in 2015 as far as Ohio,
kid’s not happy and so he’s
but I think it will come back up
going to hurt your program 365
in 2016,” Berk said. “The 2016
days a year if he’s not happy.”
class is looking very strong as
New Reality?
far as what we’re seeing early.
While Greene did not think
“I think things come in
John Cooper
comparing Meyer and his prewaves. Certain classes are
going to always be very strong. You can
look back a couple of years at one with
Braxton Miller and Trey DePriest and
those types of guys (in 2011). It wasn’t a
bad year (in 2014), but we didn’t look and
see 20 guys who we said were going to be
playing on Sundays or at an extremely high
level on Saturdays.”
Considering Ohio is one of the top
states in the nation for high school football, Berk does not expect that trend to
continue, though.
“I don’t expect it to be long-term,” he
said. “Football in Ohio is still very strong.
It’s taken some hits, especially in the
northeast where there has been population loss and jobs lost over the years that
maybe is finally catching up a little bit, but
if you look at the 2015 class some of the
top guys are coming out of the northeast. I
don’t expect it to be long-term. I think the
development process is still very strong
in Ohio. You’ve got great high school
coaches who develop guys.”
Berk also offered one more wild card for
those programs fighting for a spot at the
top of the national food chain, schools such
as Ohio State, Notre Dame and Michigan
that aspire to recruit from as wide a talent
pool as possible.
While conventional wisdom holds a
coaching staff has a better chance to get to
know a local recruit compared to one growing up farther away, NCAA restrictions on
when players can be evaluated and an Ohio
rule prohibiting spring football complicate
that equation.
“Coaches from Ohio State and Michigan
State and Michigan can go to Florida and
watch spring football and get a better
sense of what a kid is than they can in the
state of Ohio just from the fact that in Ohio
they will go see him working out in the
weight room or playing basketball,” Berk
said. “A quarterback, they may get lucky
and get a chance to see him throw, but if
that kid doesn’t go to their camp, they’re
basically going off of film.
“They only get so many weekends (during the season) to go out and see them.
If they go out they usually go to multiple
games so they don’t get to watch them play
until the final gun. I think that evaluation
time is a big factor.”
That could help explain how talent gets
dispersed even within a state as deep as
decessors strictly by the numbers was
necessarily valid, he pointed out Meyer is
facing a different situation than Tressel or
Cooper did in terms of competing for Big
Ten titles and national championships.
With the upcoming College Football
Playoff replacing the BCS for determining a national champion beginning this
season and the addition of the Big Ten
Championship Game three years ago,
teams face the situation of a taking on
three high-quality opponents at the end of
the season instead of only one in the old
system to get to the national title.
“I think you need to have as close to
85 studs as you can get, and I think they
realize that,” Greene said. “There’s no
data to prove that, but I feel that way. I
think you have to look at it that way. The
road to win a championship is so much
more difficult now. How are you going
to get that done when you have one title
in the last 40 years? It’s not like you’re
dominating college football. You’re going
to have to outcoach people, which is hard
to do, or you better have dogs out there.
You better have monsters at every position, and I think that’s what Urban really
wants.
“If you only need nine or 10 from outside Ohio, then you only have to concentrate on maybe 30 kids to get those 10. I
think that’s the way he’d rather do it.”
Comments from Meyer in the past and
recruiting coordinator Mark Pantoni this
year would seem to bear that out, though
neither man has talked publicly about the
level of talent in Ohio fluctuating.
“Trust me, we do uncover every stone
for kids in the state of Ohio,” Pantoni said
on signing day 2014. “We spend unlimited
time and resources on them. We want to
sign as many kids from Ohio as we can,
and that’s our ultimate goal. Ohio is first,
then we’ll branch out to the Midwest and
then if we have to, we’ll branch out to the
Southeast or Texas, but our ultimate goal
is to get Ohio kids who understand the
tradition, the rivalry and who grow up as
Buckeyes. That’s important to us.”
Regardless of priorities or preferences,
however, sometimes reality gets in the way.
That is something that has been demonstrated so far in Meyer’s recruitment of
Ohio, and it will be interesting to watch the
situation develop over the next few years.
COVER STORY
Buckeyes Hoping To Avoid NCAA Bubble
what any shooting percentage or statistic
can show. Watching Ohio State play, there’s
a sense that this team lacks a security blan-
ket that can score, as Jared Sullinger and
Deshaun Thomas provided in the recent
past.
That – coupled with inconsistent outside
shooting – has led to opponents stopping the
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Buckeyes by packing it in and playing zone
defense. And until Ohio State can show the
ability to shoot defenses out of the paint, the
blueprint on how to beat the Buckeyes is
readily available.
“We stop attacking sometimes against
the zone,” Scott said. “We start throwing
the ball around the perimeter and not really
getting inside the paint at all. It’s kind of like
a windshield wiper going back and forth and
side-to-side. We don’t get inside the paint
when (opponents) run the zone.”
Whatever the reason for their struggles,
Ohio State is running out of time to find a
solution. Otherwise, what’s been a long winter for the Buckeyes could turn into a very
short spring to close the season.
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Despite its recent skid, Ohio State still
appears to be in good enough shape to make
the NCAA Tournament. But for how long the
Buckeyes can maintain that status remains
to be seen.
At 22-8 overall and 9-8 in Big Ten play,
Ohio State has created quite the interesting
résumé for the tournament selection committee to review. The Buckeyes’ nonconference schedule may be viewed by some as
soft, but they still lay claim to the nation’s
25th-best RPI rating. That’s one of the tools
used to help determine the tournament field
and something that should bode well for the
Buckeyes moving forward.
Signature road wins against Wisconsin
and Iowa will also help OSU’s case, as will
an overall record featuring at least 22 wins, a
number that could balloon against Michigan
State and in the conference tournament.
But it remains to be seen how a potential
.500 record in Big Ten play will be viewed
despite the league’s status as one of the
nation’s best.
Although the Buckeyes missed the Big
Dance in 2008 with a 10-8 mark in conference play, Ohio State made the tournament
the following year with the same league
record. From that, you could deduce that the
selection committee doesn’t place an overwhelming emphasis on conference standings. But it’s also worth noting that Iowa
missed the tournament a season ago after
KEVIN DYE
‘DESPERATION’ TIME – For the Ohio
State men’s basketball team, including junior Sam Thompson, time to
right its ship before the Big Ten and
NCAA tournaments is limited.
posting 20 overall wins and a .500 record in
the Big Ten.
As they currently stand, the Buckeyes project to be a No. 6 seed in the NCAA Tournament
according to both ESPN’s Joe Lunardi and
CBS’ Jerry Palm. But a potential loss to the
Spartans and a subsequent first-round exit in
the Big Ten tournament would be the kind of
thing that could make things uneasy for the
Buckeyes when it comes to the bubble.
Tournament-bound or not, the Buckeyes
are well aware that they still have work to do.
Momentum is not on OSU’s side as the final
stretch of the season approaches, and the
Buckeyes know that there are only limited
opportunities to regain it.
“It’s definitely desperation,” forward Sam
Thompson said. “We’re not trying to fall to the
tape, we’re definitely trying to bust through it.
Every game from here on out is a must-win.
Once we get to the Big Ten tournament and
the NCAA Tournament, it’s one and you’re
done. Every game from here on out is a desperation game. We look at every game from
here on out is a tournament-type game that
we have to win and that we have to come out
and give our best effort for 40 minutes.”
Even if his team’s recent play suggests
otherwise, forward LaQuinton Ross still
believes that you shouldn’t bet against the
Buckeyes. In a season that’s been full of ups
and downs, Ohio State is currently enduring the latter, which means that the former
could be right around the corner.
“This team is still capable of a lot,” Ross
said. “With the players in this locker room, we
can still make a long run in the tournament.
There’s a reason this team and coaching staff
has been to four straight Sweet 16s.”
Like his teammate, Smith remains confident.
Having followed a 15-0 start to the season
with five losses in six games before a successful mid-February stretch, the Buckeyes know
a thing or two about bouncing back this year.
So while the chances of OSU making a
fifth consecutive Sweet 16 may seem dim
now, there’s also reason to believe that
the Buckeyes’ best basketball could still be
ahead of them.
“We’re a great team when we come to
execute and when we’re on top of our game,”
Smith said. “I said we can beat any team in
the country, and I’m going to stick by that.
I’m going to stay on the boat, and I should
be happy with what we should produce at the
end of the season.
“I’m not panicking. I’m not worried about
anything.”
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Every Sunday home game one member
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Fireworks after ALL Friday home games
Bark in the Park
April 14, May 13, Aug. 26 & Sept. 23
Weekend of STAR WARS™ Fun
May 2–4
Mother’s Day May 11
Girls Night Out July 11
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Schedule and promotions
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OHIO STATE MEN’S BASKETBALL
Ross Continues To Progress As Defender
Given his similar size and scoring prowess, it’s been tough for Ohio State forward
LaQuinton Ross to shed comparisons to former teammate Deshaun Thomas. But on the
defensive end of the floor at least, Buckeyes
head coach Thad Matta believes that the
parallels are uncanny, which could bode well
for Ross moving forward.
“He’s a lot like Deshaun,” Matta said of
Ross. “There was a day when he started
taking pride in getting the stops and doing
what he was supposed to do, and you really
see that with LaQuinton. Hopefully, knock
on wood, he’ll continue that because it’s definitely helping us.”
COURT REPORT
Ben Axelrod
While Matta maintains that improved
effort has led to Ross’ increased effectiveness on the defensive end, the 6-8, 220pounder claims that’s not case. Instead, the
Jackson, Miss., native insists that a growing
knowledge of the game has led to his more
consistent play on both ends of the floor.
“It’s just me knowing my spots, knowing
where I’m supposed to be, being there on
time and knowing all the rotations,” Ross
said. “I don’t think it was anything with me
not giving effort. I think I’m just more attentive to the game right now.”
Playing on a team with lockdown defenders such as Aaron Craft, Shannon Scott,
Lenzelle Smith Jr. and Sam Thompson,
Ross’ deficiencies as a defender were glaring at times as he developed a reputation
as a one-way player. And while he may still
not be playing up to the standard that his
teammates have set, Ross’ improvement on
defense is apparent to anybody who’s witnessed the Buckeyes’ second-half surge in
Big Ten play.
“I think sometimes people try to compare me as a defensive player to Craft and
Shannon, which I’m definitely not that,” Ross
said. “That would be a lot of comparison for
a lot of guards and a lot of people in general.
As a team defender, I definitely can do that
– knowing my spots, being able to stop my
man and also give help to other players.”
Ross might not be playing up the level of
some of his teammates, but he has certainly
impressed his fellow Buckeyes with his
recent defensive improvement. Arguably the
top defender in college basketball, Craft has
spoken highly of the junior forward, who he
believes is finally learning how to use his
body to his advantage on the court.
“With his wingspan and how tall he is, he
can disrupt a lot of things,” Craft said. “The
biggest thing you have to try to get across to
people is you don’t necessarily have to get a
steal, but we need you to be in the right position, we need you to discourage a drive here
or discourage a pass here. LaQuinton’s able
to do that with his length. If he’s in the right
position, he can take up a lot of space.”
In his second season of consistently seeing significant minutes, Ross appears to
have learned how to just do that. His ability
to continue to do so could play a prominent
part in Ohio State’s success moving forward,
although like it was for Thomas, it will also
be a challenge he faces on a nightly basis.
“If you look across the Big Ten, most
teams have a really, really good player at
his position,” Matta said. “I think that aided
Deshaun as well in his time here. He was
normally guarding a really, really good basketball player.
“With that said, I think Q’s found that,
‘Hey, if I want to make an impact in the
game, I’ve got to take this more seriously
and make it count.’ I think he’s more prideful
in what he’s doing defensively.”
tains that there’s still a chance that his son
will wind up playing for head coach Travis
Ford at Oklahoma State.
“We don’t know right now,” Grandstaff
said. “We are just going to see what happens. We just decided this over the past
few days. We loved Oklahoma State and it
could end up like (Indiana signee) James
Blackmon and he could end up going back
to Oklahoma State.”
Thompson Adding Second Threat
Ross isn’t the only Ohio State player
whose game has improved as March
Madness nears.
It seems to have been a trend on Matta
teams in recent years for a second scoring threat to emerge as tournament time
approaches. William Buford, Thomas and
Ross have all done it in each of the past three
seasons, with Buford and Thomas playing
second fiddle to Jared Sullinger and Ross
acting as Thomas’ sidekick during last year’s
run to the Elite Eight.
This season, finding an established primary scorer has been trouble enough for the
Buckeyes, but they appear to have done just
that thanks to the steady play of Ross. Help
also appears to be on the way coming in the
form of Thompson, who has shown that he
can be more than just a flashy dunker since
being inserted into the OSU starting lineup
at the start of February.
“That’s a part of what he does,” Matta
said of Thompson’s slams. “A lot of guys
do things like a jump hook over the left
shoulder. He can dunk. But it’s all the other
things – finishing around the basket, making
his free throws, knocking down some threes.
Those are the things that I think kind of complete who he is.”
All of those parcels were on display Feb.
22 when Thompson went on a one-man 10-0
run to help fuel the Buckeyes’ second-half
comeback win against Minnesota. Finishing
the contest with a game-high 19 points, the
Chicago native scored in every which way
for OSU, connecting from the free-throw
line, beyond the three-point arc and on an
alley-oop dunk.
Thompson, for his part, sees himself as a
missing piece to the Buckeyes’ puzzle and a
player whose newfound assertiveness could
go a long way toward improving OSU’s postseason hopes.
“I just have to continue to be aggressive,
continue to make plays,” Thompson said. “I
need to do so in the flow of the offense and
do so in the flow of the team but continue to
make plays. That’s when we’re at our best.”
As for Ross, the Buckeyes’ leading scorer
has welcomed the help that Thompson has
provided on the offensive end in recent
weeks.
“It definitely makes my job a lot easier,”
Ross said. “Anytime anybody’s pitching in
and getting that extra scoring – not even
just extra scoring, but people making plays
and being aggressive – I think that helps
out our team a lot. I think we’re a way better
team when everybody’s being aggressive
and trying to attack on the offensive end.
When we’re playing offense like we play our
defense, I think we’re a great team.”
Having stated on multiple occasions that
Thompson has the talent to be one of the
best ever to play at Ohio State, Matta has
been pleased with the progress that the 6-7,
200-pounder has made in the second half of
his junior season.
And while Thompson’s offense has caught
the attention of most, he has remained a
complete player, which will only bode well
for the Buckeyes moving forward.
Battle To Visit Buckeyes
KEVIN DYE
GETTING BETTER – According to his
head coach, Ohio State’s LaQuinton
Ross (10) has improved defensively
during his junior season.
“I love the energy he’s playing with,”
Matta said of Thompson. “Everyone’s talking
about his scoring, but defensively he’s really,
really doing a heck of a job for us. He’s sort
of become one of those guys that we can put
on guys to lock people down if you will. And
the fact that he is scoring the ball has been
really beneficial to us.”
OSU Offers Former OK State Commit
In early February, Rockwall, Texas, 2015
shooting guard Austin Grandstaff backed
away from his commitment to Oklahoma
State. And it didn’t take long for the 6-5,
190-pounder to receive interest from another
school with the OSU initials.
“Just heard from Coach Matta from Ohio
State they offered,” Grandstaff posted to his
personal Twitter account (@AustinGstaff1)
on Feb. 23.
A four-star prospect and the 12th-ranked
shooting guard in the 2015 class, Grandstaff
committed to the Cowboys last June but
opted to reopen his recruitment while in the
midst of a stellar junior season. Averaging 26
points per game, Grandstaff is the top scorer
in the Texas 5A region, which has led to him
grabbing the attention of several new potential suitors – including Ohio State.
“He’s playing out of his mind right now,”
Austin’s father, Wes, said of his son. “We just
played one of the best teams in Texas, and
he had 30 on them. I’ve always felt like he
could play anywhere in the country.”
In addition to the two OSUs, Grandstaff
holds offers from Arizona State, Creighton,
Iowa State, Marquette, Nebraska, Oklahoma,
SMU and Texas A&M. With Grandstaff also
having heard from Texas and Baylor, more
offers could be on the sharpshooter’s way
– at least that’s what his father suspects.
“There are a lot of schools out there that
I think he has a chance to play at,” the elder
Grandstaff said “We probably jumped the
gun too early.”
As for now, Grandstaff isn’t set to name
a new favorite, as he’s just getting settled
into his reopened recruitment. The No. 47
overall prospect in the 2015 class, Grandstaff
could wind up with a plethora of schools to
pick from by the time his high school career
comes to an end, although his father main-
With Greg Paulus in attendance, Tyus
Battle didn’t disappoint.
As the Ohio State assistant coach
watched, the 2016 Gladstone (N.J.) Gill St.
Bernard’s guard scored 24 points, grabbed
eight rebounds and dished out six assists
in an 81-46 victory against Watchung Hills
on Feb. 24.
It won’t be long until the five-star sophomore repays the visit to Paulus, either, as
Battle will take a trip to Columbus on March
9 to see the Buckeyes battle Michigan State
in their regular-season finale.
“Ohio State’s really working hard,” Tyus’
father, Greg, told the popular basketball website ZagsBlog.com. ”We’re definitely going
to get out to Ohio State this year because we
haven’t been there. We haven’t seen a game
at Ohio State so we’re going to go.”
At 6-5 and 185 pounds with room to grow,
Battle is similar in size to the wings who
have thrived in Matta’s offense in recent
years. That’s something that’s particularly
appealing to both him and his father, especially given the standard that Matta has set
for the Buckeyes’ program since arriving in
Columbus in 2004.
“Thad Matta, he just wins,” the elder
Battle continued. “We love how they played
Evan Turner. We see Tyus in that same kind
of mode, so they’ve had some experience
with guys like that.”
Landing this particular prime-time
perimeter player won’t be easy for the
Buckeyes, as they are joined by Syracuse,
Indiana, Connecticut, Miami (Fla.), Xavier,
Vanderbilt, SMU, Rutgers and Washington
in having extended a scholarship offer to the
sophomore scorer.
In addition to his upcoming visit to
Columbus, Battle has already taken a trip to
Syracuse and will visit Ann Arbor on June 7,
where he suspects he’ll pick up an offer from
Michigan.
Because he is the top-ranked shooting
guard and the No. 7 overall player in the
2016 class, securing a commitment from
Battle will require quite the fight for the
Buckeyes, but one that would ultimately be
well worth the effort.
Targets Litter 2015 Rankings
With the start of the first 2015 signing
period a mere 10 months away, interest in
the crop of current high school juniors has
heated up in recent weeks, and as a result,
Scout.com has updated its rankings for the
2015 class.
Not surprisingly, there are a number of
Ohio State commits and offerees to be found
on Scout’s latest list, starting at the very top.
Taking over the No. 1 overall spot in
the Scout 2015 rankings is Oakland (Calif.)
Bishop O’Dowd power forward Ivan Raab.
At 6-10 and 220 pounds, Raab entered his
junior year as Scout’s fourth-ranked prospect
but jumped to No. 1 after showing steady
improvement throughout the season. A fivestar prospect, Raab currently lays claim to 10
Division I scholarship offers, including invites
2014-15 Big Ten Matchups
2013-14 Ohio State Men’s Basketball Statistics
22-8 Overall (9-8 Big Ten)
Statistics through games of March 2
ILLINOIS
Home: Indiana, Maryland, Penn
State, Rutgers; Away: Iowa, Minnesota,
Ohio State, Wisconsin; Home/Away:
Michigan, Michigan State, Nebraska,
Northwestern, Purdue.
INDIANA
Home: Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota,
Penn State; Away: Illinois, Nebraska,
Northwestern, Wisconsin; Home/Away:
Maryland, Michigan State, Ohio State,
Purdue, Rutgers.
IOWA
Home: Illinois, Maryland, Michigan
State, Rutgers; Away: Indiana, Michigan,
Penn State, Purdue; Home/Away:
Minnesota, Nebraska, Northwestern,
Ohio State, Wisconsin.
MARYLAND
Home:
Michigan,
Minnesota,
Northwestern, Wisconsin; Away: Illinois,
Iowa, Ohio State, Purdue; Home/Away:
Indiana, Michigan State, Nebraska, Penn
State, Rutgers.
MICHIGAN
Home: Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska,
Wisconsin; Away: Indiana, Maryland,
Penn State, Purdue; Home/Away:
Illinois, Michigan State, Northwestern,
Ohio State, Rutgers.
MICHIGAN STATE
Home: Minnesota, Ohio State, Penn
State, Purdue; Away: Iowa, Nebraska,
Rutgers, Wisconsin; Home/Away:
Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Michigan,
Northwestern.
MINNESOTA
Home: Illinois, Northwestern, Ohio
State, Rutgers; Away: Indiana, Maryland,
Michigan, Michigan State; Home/Away:
Iowa, Nebraska, Penn State, Purdue,
Wisconsin.
NEBRASKA
Home: Indiana, Michigan State,
Northwestern, Rutgers; Away: Michigan,
Ohio State, Penn State, Purdue; Home/
Away: Illinois, Iowa, Maryland, Minnesota,
Wisconsin.
NORTHWESTERN
Home: Indiana, Ohio State, Penn State,
Purdue; Away: Maryland, Minnesota,
Nebraska,
Rutgers;
Home/Away:
Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State,
Wisconsin.
OHIO STATE
Home: Illinois, Maryland, Nebraska,
Wisconsin; Away: Michigan State,
Minnesota, Northwestern, Rutgers;
Home/Away: Indiana, Iowa, Michigan,
Penn State, Purdue.
PENN STATE
Home: Iowa, Michigan, Nebraska,
Purdue; Away: Illinois, Indiana, Michigan
State, Northwestern; Home/Away:
Maryland, Minnesota, Ohio State, Rutgers,
Wisconsin.
PURDUE
Home: Iowa, Maryland, Michigan,
Nebraska; Away: Michigan State,
Northwestern, Penn State, Wisconsin;
Home/Away: Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota,
RUTGERS
Home: Michigan State, Northwestern,
Ohio State, Wisconsin; Away: Illinois,
Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska; Home/
Away: Indiana, Maryland, Michigan,
Penn State, Purdue.
WISCONSIN
Home: Illinois, Indiana, Michigan State,
Purdue; Away: Maryland, Michigan,
Ohio State, Rutgers; Home/Away: Iowa,
Penn State.
Player
Rebounds
O-D
T-Avg. PF-FO
G-GS Min.-Avg. FG-FGA
Pct. 3P-3PA
Pct. FT-FTA
Pct.
LaQuinton Ross 30-30 838-27.9 146-330
Lenzelle Smith Jr. 30-30 862-28.7 119-268
Aaron Craft
30-30 1024-34.1 91-191
Amir Williams
30-30 704-23.5 92-152
Sam Thompson
30-9 732-24.4 82-189
Shannon Scott 30-21 810-27.0 82-193
Marc Loving
30-0 353-11.8 41-113
Amedeo Della Valle29-0 350-12.1 39-110
Trey McDonald
30-0 361-12.0
26-47
Jake Lorbach
8-0
14-1.8
3-7
Andrew Goldstein 2-0
2-1.0
0-1
TEAM
.442 40-103
.444 47-135
.476 15-44
.605
0-0
.434 23-63
.425 20-74
.363 13-55
.355 23-70
.553
0-0
.429
0-0
.000
0-0
.388 105-144
.348 70-92
.341 86-114
.000 64-95
.365 36-54
.270 38-55
.236 51-66
.329 18-28
.000 10-34
.000
0-3
.000
0-0
.729
.761
.754
.674
.667
.691
.773
.643
.294
.000
.000
50-117
33-120
6-98
67-108
17-67
22-82
18-41
17-34
25-21
0-2
0-0
36-31
167-5.6
153-5.1
104-3.5
175-5.8
84-2.8
104-3.5
59-2.0
51-1.8
46-1.5
2-0.3
0-0.0
67-2.2
Ohio State
Opponents
.450 181-544
.401 140-505
.333 478-685
.277 337-476
.698 291-721
.708 309-710
1012-33.7
1019-34.0
30
30
6050
6050
721-1601
644-1604
to play for Ohio State, Arizona, Arizona State,
California, Kansas, Louisville, North Carolina
State, UCLA, UNLV and USC.
Not far behind sits another one of the
Buckeyes’ top targets in the 2015 class
in eighth-ranked Cleveland Villa Angela-St.
Joseph power forward Carlton Bragg. The
6-9, 210-pound five-star prospect holds offers
from Ohio State, Arizona, Illinois, Indiana,
Kansas, Kentucky, Louisville, Maryland,
Michigan State, UCLA and West Virginia,
but he has admitted that he’s not very far
along in his recruitment process.
“I’m just in the process of getting recruited,” Bragg told Scout. “It’s kind of fine but
sometimes it can be overwhelming the way
they call you. I’m planning as many visits as
possible.”
Sitting in the No. 11 spot in the updated Scout rankings is five-star Huntington
(W.Va.) Prep center Thomas Bryant, who
in addition to Ohio State holds offers from
Florida State, Syracuse, UCLA, Villanova and
West Virginia. The 6-10, 220-pound prospect
has admitted that he has his eye on the
Buckeyes, and he believes he could make an
immediate impact in Columbus.
“They are saying that I would fit really
well with how they play and that I could
come in and play right away,” Bryant said
of the Buckeyes. “Basically I have just been
watching them a lot, and I think they run a
good system.”
Fellow five-star center Elijah Thomas
claims the No. 12 ranking, with the 6-9,
250-pound Lancaster, Texas, native holding
offers from Ohio State, as well as Arizona,
Baylor, Indiana, Illinois, Louisville, North
Carolina State, Oklahoma, SMU, Texas
A&M and TCU.
Two spots back, however, is where another one of the Buckeyes’ top priorities sits,
as Franklin, Ohio, five-star shooting guard
Luke Kennard measures in at No. 14 in the
latest rankings.
At 6-4 and 175 pounds, Kennard has
proven himself as one of the top scorers
in the country, and a who’s who of college
basketball makes up the list of schools currently in the race for his services. Aside from
the home-state Buckeyes, Duke, Kentucky,
Indiana, Louisville, Michigan, Michigan
State and North Carolina have all come calling for the nation’s third-ranked shooting
guard, with a spring decision expected from
the Buckeye State sharpshooter.
One of two Ohio State commits for the
2015 class, Plano (Texas) West forward
Mickey Mitchell measures in at No. 31 in
the new rankings, dropping from a five-star
prospect to a four-star. The 6-7, 220-pounder’s commitment to the Buckeyes has come
into question in recent weeks, with reports
surfacing that his brother, Ohio State linebacker Mike Mitchell, is transferring from
the Buckeyes football program.
For now, however, the younger Mitchell
remains committed to Ohio State, as does
Dayton Dunbar point guard A.J. Harris. The
5-9, 150-pound four-star prospect measures
in as the nation’s No. 79 overall player and
No. 14 point guard in the latest Scout rankings.
Of the top 100 prospects in the 2015
class, only 16 are committed, with Ohio
State being one of just four schools to currently claim multiple commitments. Other
programs that have nabbed multiple top-100
junior prospects include Connecticut, Illinois
and Syracuse.
Big Ten Announces 2015 Foes
With the additions of Maryland and
Rutgers to the Big Ten in 2014, Ohio State
will see fewer home-and-home conference
A TO BS ST Pts.-Avg.
45-2 26
49-0 45
72-1 136
80-1
9
48-1 24
69-2 102
44-1
6
24-0
6
60-0
5
2-0
0
1-0
0
42
32
76
45
23
53
18
20
18
1
0
4
16
1
1
54
25
5
7
5
18
0
0
20
19
76
12
17
62
6
5
7
1
0
437-14.6
355-11.8
283-9.4
248-8.3
223-7.4
222-7.4
146-4.9
119-4.1
62-2.1
6-0.8
0-0.0
494-8 359 332 132 225 2101-70.0
583-0 267 433 89 113 1765-58.8
series in the coming years. And while the
Buckeyes will have to wait for their first trip
College Park to take on the Terrapins, they
now at least know whom they’ll be playing
next year, how many times they’ll be doing
so and where.
The Big Ten has announced its schedule pairings for next season’s conference
slate, and Ohio State will face Indiana, Iowa,
Michigan, Penn State and Purdue both on
the road and in Columbus. Illinois, Maryland,
Nebraska and Wisconsin will only travel to
Columbus in 2015, and the Buckeyes will
play road dates at Michigan State, Minnesota,
Northwestern and Rutgers.
Unlike football, Big Ten basketball will
not be split into separate divisions. Dates for
each game as well as the full 2014-15 schedule have yet to be announced.
Join us for the 2nd annual Fairways for Airways Buckeye Celebrity
Golf Classic to benefit the local mission initiatives of the
American Lung Association and the Buck-Icon Foundation.
Each foursome to play with a fifth, a former OSU football star!
Monday, May 5, 2014
Scioto Reserve Country Club, Dublin, Ohio
REGISTER TODAY!
BuckeyeGolfClassic.org t 614-279-1700
Buckeyes Open March At Indiana With Thud
By BEN AXELROD
The Ohio State men’s basketball
team started its March like it ended its
February.
With a loss.
Falling by a score of 72-64 on March 2
in Bloomington to Indiana, the Buckeyes
dropped their second game in as many
contests after a Feb. 27 loss to Penn State.
A crowd of 17,472 inside Assembly Hall
witnessed one of OSU’s worst offensive
efforts of the season, as the Buckeyes
failed to make a three-point shot in a game
for the first time since 2004.
“I think it was just we couldn’t make a
shot,” Ohio State head coach Thad Matta
said. “You know, 0 for 11 from three,
that was kind of the deal. We were short
on everything. They didn’t go down. It
was definitely one of those days in that
regard.”
The Buckeyes’ loss to the Hoosiers was
only amplified by the absence of Indiana
freshman forward Noah Vonleh, as the Big
Ten’s leading rebounder missed the game
because of inflammation in his foot. Ohio
State appeared poised to take advantage of
Vonleh’s injury, jumping out to a 9-2 lead
in the game’s opening five minutes and
change.
An additional 9-3 Buckeye run was punctuated with a Lenzelle Smith Jr. free throw
and gave Ohio State a 20-12 lead with 7:54
remaining in the first half, but the Buckeyes’
advantage wouldn’t last for long.
Receiving seven points from Yogi a 17-8 run that pushed Indiana’s lead to
Ferrell and five from Will Sheehey, Indiana 10 with less than two minutes left on the
used a 16-0 run to take control of the game clock. Ohio State never got back within six
and a 28-20 lead with 3:41 left in the half. A points of Indiana, which sealed the game
with seven made free throws in
Sheehey three pushed Indiana’s
the final 1:01 of play.
advantage to nine before an
“I think it just shows the
Aaron Craft free throw cut the
grittiness of our team,” Ferrell
Hoosiers’ lead to 33-25 heading
said. “I feel like everyone
into halftime.
stepped up to the challenge.
It wouldn’t take long for
We just really wanted to get
Indiana to stretch its lead to douthis win.”
ble digits as a Jeremy Hollowell
The Buckeyes also struglayup gave the Hoosiers a 10gled from the charity stripe,
point lead less than a minute
making just 14 of their 23 free
into the second half. But a
throws (60.9 percent). Ohio
subsequent 10-2 OSU run cut
State’s offensive issues extendIndiana’s advantage to two, and
LaQuinton Ross
ed past the free-throw line and
a LaQuinton Ross jumper with
15:03 remaining kept the Buckeyes close the three-point arc, as the Buckeyes shot
an unimpressive 42.4 percent (25 of 59)
as Indiana held a 39-37 lead.
A 7-0 Hoosiers run that was highlighted from the field.
“We just get too comfortable at times
by a Ferrell three temporarily ballooned
during the game, thinking
their lead back to nine, but
we’ve got the lead and we’re
the Buckeyes wouldn’t go down
going to be able to hold it, not
without one last fight.
thinking that those other teams
Reeling off another 10-2
we’re playing are just as good
stretch that was capped by a
as us,” Ross said. “They’re putRoss jumper, the Buckeyes
ting their foot on the gas, and
were within just one point as
we’re taking ours off.”
they trailed the Hoosiers by a
Ohio State received 19
48-47 score with 9:22 remainpoints each from Ross and
ing. That, however, would
Smith, but no other Buckeye
prove to be as close as Ohio
scored more than seven
State would get to Indiana’s
points. Indiana was paced by
advantage.
Lenzelle Smith Jr.
20 points from Ferrell and 19
Back-to-back threes from
Evan Gordon and Sheehey jump-started from Sheehey, with Gordon providing nine
points and Hanner Mosquera-Perea adding
eight off the Hoosiers bench.
In contrast to OSU’s lack of success
from beyond the three-point arc, Indiana
connected on 7 of 18 attempts (38.9) from
long distance. The Hoosiers also enjoyed a
48.0 percent (24-50) field-goal percentage.
The Buckeyes were limited to recording
just five assists on the night, four of which
were posted by Craft. The senior point
guard also tied Illinois’ Bruce Douglas for
the Big Ten’s career steals record (324)
with his three thefts against the Hoosiers.
Indiana 72, Ohio State 64
March 2, 2014
Assembly Hall; Bloomington, Ind.
Ohio State
Total FG FT Reb.
(22-8, 9-8)
Min. M-A M-A O-D A PF Pts.
Ross
28 7-11 5-8 0-3 1 5 19
Thompson
33 1-6 2-3 1-1 0 3
4
A.Williams
22 3-4 0-1 5-2 0 2
6
Craft
40- 2-11 3-4 0-6 4 3
7
Smith Jr.
31 9-15 1-4 1-4 0 2 19
Loving
7
0-2 2-2 1-2 0 0
2
Scott
22 3-7 1-1 0-1 0 5
7
Della Valle
10 0-3 0-0 0-2 0 0
0
McDonald
7
0-0 0-0 2-0 0 2
0
Totals
200 25-59 14-23 10-22 5 22 64
Percentages: FG: 42.4%. FT: 60.9%. 3-point goals:
0-11 (Ross 0-1, Thompson 0-1, Craft 0-3, Smith Jr. 02, Loving 0-1, Della Valle 0-3). Team rebounds: 1.
Blocked shots: 7 (Ross 2, Thompson 2, A.Williams
2, Loving). Turnovers: 14 (Ross 4, Craft 3, A.Williams
2, McDonald 2, Thompson, Smith Jr., Della Valle).
Steals: 7 (Craft 3, Scott 2, Ross, Smith Jr.).
Indiana
Total FG FT Reb.
(17-12, 7-9) Min. M-A M-A O-D A PF Pts.
Sheehey
38 8-12 0-0 2-4 1 3 19
T.Williams
32 2-4 4-5 0-2 3 2
8
Etherington
24 1-3 0-0 1-5 3 3
2
Hollowell
15 1-4 2-3 1-4 1 3
4
Ferrell
38 5-14 7-8 0-2 4 2 20
Gordon
19 3-5 2-2 0-2 3 2
9
Mosquera-Perea15 3-4 2-3 0-5 0 3
8
Davis
2
0-2 0-0 0-0 0 0
0
Robinson
9
1-2 0-0 0-3 1 3
2
Howard
8
0-0 0-0 0-1 0 1
0
Totals
200 24-50 17-21 4-30 16 22 72
Percentages: FG: 48.0%. FT: 81.0%. 3-point
goals: 7-18 (Sheehey 3-5, Etherington 0-1, Hollowell
0-2, Ferrell 3-9, Gordon 1-1). Team rebounds: 2.
Blocked shots: 5 (Mosquera-Perea 3, Etherington,
Hollowell). Turnovers: 18 (Robinson 4, Ferrell 3,
Sheehey 2, T.Williams 2, Etherington 2, Hollowell
2, Gordon, Davis, Howard). Steals: 9 (Sheehey 4,
Gordon 3, Etherington, Mosquera-Perea).
Halftime: Indiana 33, Ohio State 25. Officials:
Wymer, Kitts, Oglesby. A: 17,472.
Now on a losing streak for the second
time this season, Ohio State will end its
regular season March 9 with a Senior Day
date with No. 22 Michigan State (22-7,
11-5). A third straight loss would leave
the now sixth-place Buckeyes potentially
fighting for their NCAA Tournament hopes
in the Big Ten tourney in Indianapolis the
following week.
“Little things,” Matta said when asked
what’s been ailing the Buckeyes. “Those
are the type of things that just say, hey,
we’ve got to get our concentration back,
get our focus back, an understanding of
what we’re doing.”
Penn State Completes
Shocking Sweep Of OSU
By BEN AXELROD
Penn State 65, Ohio State 63
Feb. 27, 2014
If Lenzelle Smith Jr. was upset after Ohio
State lost to Penn State on Jan. 29, one can
only imagine what the Buckeyes senior guard
was feeling a month later.
It had been 29 days since OSU’s loss
to the Nittany Lions in Columbus, and the
Buckeyes had reeled off a 6-1 record since.
But the Buckeyes found themselves with an
all-too-familiar feeling Feb. 27 when Penn
State upset Ohio State for the second time in
as many games with a 65-63 victory in Happy
Valley.
Smith, who delivered an emotional outburst following the Buckeyes’ first loss to
the Nittany Lions, missed two three-pointers
in the final moments of February’s rematch,
each of which would have given No. 22 Ohio
State the lead. An announced crowd of 8,736
fans witnessed PSU guard D.J. Newbill continue to be a thorn in the side of the Buckeyes,
with the junior guard scoring a game-high 23
points after going for 25 in Columbus.
The majority of the Nittany Lions’ success
came in the second half, in which they outscored Ohio State by a 39-35 margin. Trailing
by six points less than two minutes into the
second half, Penn State reeled off a 20-9 run,
taking a 47-42 lead with nine minutes to go in
the game.
When all was said and done, the Nittany
Lions led or were tied with the Buckeyes for
the game’s final 15:15 of action.
“It was one of those games where two
guys pound the ball off the backboard and
it bounces out and they make a three on
us,” Ohio State head coach Thad Matta said.
“Little things like that is kind of the way the
game went.”
Despite holding the advantage for more
than half of the second stanza, Penn State
never stretched its lead to more than five
points. There were plenty of sweaty palms to
be found inside the Bryce Jordan Center, as
the Buckeyes attempted to save themselves
from another embarrassing loss.
With the Buckeyes trailing by a 64-59
mark with 32 ticks left on the clock, forward
LaQuinton Ross connected on a pair of free
throws before Shannon Scott stole the ensuing inbounds pass and found Trey McDonald
for a layup to cut the Nittany Lions’ advantage
to one.
After Ross Travis missed a pair of Penn
State free throws, Ohio State had a chance to
take the lead, but Smith’s three-point jumper
with 12 seconds left was off the mark.
“I was fine with the shot,” Matta said. “It
was as good a shot as we were going to get.”
Smith had a chance at redemption after
PSU guard Tim Frazier split a pair of free
throws but again missed a three from the
right wing as time ran out on the Buckeyes.
With that, Ohio State was officially eliminated from the Big Ten title hunt.
“When we executed what we were supposed to do, it was amazing what happened”
Matta said. “We didn’t have the flow that we
normally do. That was the difference. We talked about it and talked about it. We couldn’t
get it to where we needed it.”
Ross led the Buckeyes with 19 points but
was joined in double-digit scoring by only
senior guard Aaron Craft (10 points), who
battled foul trouble for the better part of the
game. McDonald had a career-high nine
points on 4-of-6 shooting.
Bryce Jordan Center; University Park, Pa.
Ohio State
Total FG FT Reb.
(22-7, 9-7)
Ross
33 4-12 11-13 2-4 1 3 19
Thompson
34 3-10 0-0 0-2 0 3
8
A.Williams
12 1-1 0-2 0-0 1 4
2
Craft
19 3-3 3-3 1-2 4 4 10
Smith Jr.
33 2-7 0-1 0-6 1 2
5
Loving
6
2-3 1-2 1-1 0 1
5
Scott
28 1-4 0-0 0-3 5 4
3
Della Valle
10 0-1 2-2 0-0 0 0
2
McDonald
25 4-6 1-4 1-0 0 3
9
Totals
200 20-47 18-27 5-20 12 24 63
5-17 (Ross 0-3, Thompson 2-4, Craft 1-1, Smith Jr. 16, Scott 1-2, Della Valle 0-1). Team rebounds: 2.
Blocked shots: 6 (McDonald 4, A.Williams, Scott).
Turnovers: 10 (Craft 5, Thompson, A.Williams,
Smith Jr., Scott, Della Valle). Steals: 7 (Smith Jr. 2,
Scott 2, Thompson, Della Valle, McDonald).
Penn State
Total FG FT Reb.
Travis
25 2-6 0-2 1-7 1 4
4
Dickerson
21 1-2 0-0 2-2 0 4
2
Newbill
38 5-9 11-12 1-2 3 3 23
Frazier
38 4-12 7-8 0-1 2 3 16
Cooper
1
0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0
0
Woodward
5
1-1 0-0 0-0 0 3
3
Jack
20 2-5 1-1 0-4 3 2
5
Taylor
32 1-4 0-1 1-6 2 3
3
Thorpe
19 3-4 3-4 1-2 0 2
9
Wisniewski
1
0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0
0
Totals
200 19-43 22-28 7-27 11 24 65
5-13 (Newbill 2-3, Frazier 1-4, Woodward 1-1, Jack 02, Taylor 1-3). Team rebounds: 4. Blocked shots: 5
(Dickerson 2, Taylor 2, Travis). Turnovers: 16 (Frazier
6, Newbill 3, Dickerson 2, Taylor 2, Jack, Thorpe,
TEAM). Steals: 2 (Newbill, Frazier).
Halftime: Ohio State 28, Penn State 26. Officials:
Dorsey, Whitehead, Szelc. A: 8,736.
Celebrating his senior night, Frazier added
16 points to the cause of the Nittany Lions,
who outrebounded OSU by a 34-25 margin.
Revenge seemed probable for the
Buckeyes in the first half as they jumped out
to a 10-2 lead on their last-place opponent. A
Sam Thompson three-pointer with 13:35 left
in the half pushed the Buckeyes’ advantage to
nine as OSU led by a score of 15-6.
Ohio State would go on to lead by as
many as 11 points, as an Amir Williams layup
with 8:54 remaining gave the Buckeyes a
22-11 advantage. The Nittany Lions, however, roared back, closing the half on a 15-6
run before Ohio State took a 28-26 lead into
halftime.
Thanks to a pair of Ross free throws
and a layup and free throw from Craft, the
Buckeyes opened the second half on a 5-0
run and appeared to regain control of the
game.
Mirroring what happened in Columbus,
though, Penn State ultimately had the last
laugh. Newbill made five free throws as part
of a 7-0 run that tied the game at 33, and the
teams were deadlocked for the last time at 49all before Geno Thorpe gave Penn State the
lead for good by splitting a pair at the charity
stripe with 6:38 left.
He added a dunk that was followed by a
Ross layup, but Newbill hit a three on the
next possession that gave Penn State a 55-51
lead with just under four minutes to play, and
the Buckeyes couldn’t make up the points
from there.
Falling to 22-7 overall and 9-7 in Big Ten
play, Ohio State dropped to fifth place in the
league standings. The Buckeyes’ loss to the
Nittany Lions also marked the first time that
a Big Ten opponent had beaten OSU twice in
the regular season since 2009.
Penn State had not swept OSU in the regular season since 1998.
“It’s a bad feeling,” Ross said. “Every loss
to me is a bad feeling, but knowing what’s at
stake, this one hurts a little bit more.”
Stumble Vs. U-M Lone Defeat In Mid-Feb.
By BEN AXELROD
The Ohio State men’s basketball team
had some success since BSB last went to
press, bouncing back from a home loss to
Big Ten leader Michigan with three consecutive victories to make it six wins in seven
tries overall.
The run was highlighted by a bit of
revenge as the Buckeyes atoned for an
earlier loss at Minnesota by playing to their
potential in the second half of a 64-46 victory
Feb. 22 against the Golden Gophers.
A change to the starting lineup seemed
to help, as junior guard Shannon Scott was
excelling off the bench while classmate Sam
Thompson was proving to be a key offensive
threat in the starting five, including scoring
19 points in the win vs. Minnesota.
Full recaps of the four games from Feb.
11-22 appeared in BSB Quickly. Capsule
recaps, in reverse chronological order, follow.
Second-Stanza Surge Beats Goldy
Two very different halves made up
a strange game Feb. 22 for the No. 24
Buckeyes, who played arguably their best
basketball of the season in the second half
against Minnesota, pulling away with the
64-46 victory.
While the final score showed a gashing
of the Golden Gophers in front of a sellout
crowd of 18,809 fans in Value City Arena, it
was far from that in the first half, when the
Buckeyes headed to the locker room trailing
by 10.
“I think they have heart,” OSU coach
Thad Matta said when asked what he
learned about his team in its rematch with
Minnesota. “I like the fact that they came
back, fought and clawed and put the run
together. It shows me these guys got a lot
of heart.”
The Buckeyes reeled off a 27-5 run early
in the second half to erase and eclipse
Minnesota’s double-digit advantage. Ohio
State scored at will and stood strong on the
defensive end of the floor for the game’s final
20 minutes, taking a 45-35 advantage with
10:42 left in the game before pushing its lead
to as many as 21 points.
Thompson scored a season-high 19 points,
at one point scoring 10 straight OSU points
on his own. The junior’s starring second-half
stretch included the Chicago native scoring
in every which way for the Buckeyes, connecting on free throws, a three-point jumper,
a finger-roll layup and, of course, one of his
signature slams.
Ohio State’s second-half success came
in stark contrast to a first half that saw the
Buckeyes shoot 27.3 percent from the field
and head into halftime at a 28-18 disadvantage. The Gophers jumped out to a 7-0 lead
in the game’s opening three minutes.
Joining Thompson in double-digit scoring
against Minnesota were Lenzelle Smith Jr.
with 13 points and Shannon Scott with 10.
The Gophers were paced by guard Andre
Hollins’ 13 points.
Fight Highlights KO Of NU
One of the uglier sides of college basketball made itself apparent Feb. 19 when
a scuffle between the Ohio State and
Northwestern basketball teams broke up
one of the Buckeyes’ best stretches of play
of the season.
With just a little more than five minutes
remaining before the final buzzer sounded on
what was ultimately a 76-60 OSU win, a fight
broke out underneath the Ohio State basket
when Wildcat forward Nikola Cerina got tangled up with Buckeye center Amir Williams.
When all was said and done, Cerina and
OSU forward LaQuinton Ross were ejected
from the game after Cerina threw a punch
toward Williams and Ross shoved Cerina
and Northwestern guard Drew Crawford.
As a result, Cerina was suspended for the
Wildcats’ ensuing contest, after what was
officially deemed “fighting,” while Ross was
not suspended.
Prior to the scuffle, 15,878 in attendance
in Value City Arena saw Ohio State play
some of its best basketball of the year.
Entering the second half with just a fourpoint lead, the Buckeyes reeled off a 24-7 run
in the stanza’s opening 10 minutes, pushing
their to lead to 21 points at 61-40.
OSU’s strong second-half stretch was
aided by eight points from Thompson. The
Buckeyes pushed their lead to 21 on a Marc
Loving free throw with 10:46 remaining and
maintained a comfortable distance from the
Wildcats for the remainder of the game.
Ross led all Ohio State scorers with 16
points and was joined in double digits by
Smith (14), Aaron Craft (14) and Thompson
(11). Northwestern senior guard Drew
Crawford paced the Wildcats with 22 points.
Sluggish OSU Survives Champaign
It might have seemed like an eternity
to some, but Ohio State’s Feb. 15 trip to
Champaign finally was assured of victory
when Craft made a jumper that ballooned
No. 22 OSU’s lead over Illinois to 12 points
in the final stages of a 48-39 win.
The second half had been an exercise in
futility for OSU’s opponent – the Fighting
Illini, who led 23-20 at the half, scored just six
points through the first 15½ minutes of the
period – but Ohio State still couldn’t rest comfortably until Craft’s bucket while squeezing
every second out of its possessions.
“I would say I didn’t think it was over until
there was about 10 seconds left and we had
the ball,” Loving said.
Craft led the Buckeyes with 14 points and
three steals, and Ross followed with nine
points and six rebounds.
While Craft’s offensive aggression certainly helped, Ohio State had its defense to
thank for the win. The Buckeyes suffocated
the Illini, holding the hosts to 28.3-percent
shooting.
The Buckeyes also benefitted from a
resurgent offensive performance by Loving,
who had been held without a field goal
for six games in a row. The Toledo native
accounted for eight points, all of which came
consecutively in the second half as OSU
began to pull away.
Loving’s play highlighted a huge stretch
by the OSU bench that turned a 30-29 lead
into a 42-29 advantage over the course of
nearly eight minutes.
Wolverines Wear Out Buckeyes
Michigan snapped an 11-year winless
streak in Columbus Feb. 11, walking away
from Value City Arena with a 70-60 win over
the Buckeyes.
The Wolverines outmaneuvered the No.
22 Buckeyes on the boards, pulling down
39 rebounds compared to OSU’s 27 in front
of a sellout crowd of 18,809. Fourteen of
Michigan’s rebounds came on the offensive end of the floor, with the 15th-ranked
Wolverines scoring 11 second-chance
points.
Ohio State 64, Minnesota 46
Feb. 22, 2014
Value City Arena; Columbus, Ohio
Minnesota
Total FG FT Reb.
King
33 4-11 0-0 1-1 0 3
9
Eliason
23 2-5 0-0 1-3 2 3
4
An.Hollins
33 3-4 4-4 0-3 0 2 13
Mathieu
36 5-10 2-2 0-3 3 0 12
Au.Hollins
25 1-4 0-0 2-2 1 1
2
McNeil
11 0-2 0-0 1-1 0 0
0
Osenieks
7
0-4 0-0 0-0 0 0
0
Walker
17 2-3 0-0 2-0 1 5
4
M.Smith
15 0-5 2-2 0-3 0 2
2
Totals
200 17-48 8-8 8-17 7 16 46
goals: 4-17 (King 1-5, An.Hollins 3-3, Mathieu 0-1,
Au.Hollins 0-1, McNeil 0-1, Osenieks 0-2, M.Smith
0-4). Team rebounds: 2. Blocked shots: 1 (Eliason).
Turnovers: 13 (King 3, Au.Hollins 3, Eliason 2,
Walker 2, An.Hollins, Mathieu, McNeil). Steals: 2
(An.Hollins, Mathieu).
Ohio State
Total FG FT Reb.
(22-6, 9-6)
Ross
34 4-10 1-1 3-3 2 0
9
Thompson
27 7-12 3-5 1-3 0 2 19
A.Williams
27 3-3 1-1 1-3 1 2
7
Craft
34 2-7 2-2 0-6 5 2
6
L.Smith Jr.
29 4-11 4-4 1-5 1 2 13
Loving
5
0-2 0-0 0-0 0 1
0
Scott
21 3-6 4-4 3-1 3 1 10
Goldstein
1
0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0
0
Della Valle
8
0-1 0-0 0-1 0 0
0
Lorbach
1
0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0
0
McDonald
13 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 2
0
Totals
200 23-52 15-17 12-23 12 12 64
3-14 (Ross 0-1, Thompson 2-5, L.Smith Jr. 1-5, Loving
0-1, Scott 0-1, Della Valle 0-1). Team rebounds: 4.
Blocked shots: 6 (A.Williams 4, Ross, Della Valle).
Turnovers: 7 (Craft 4, Ross, A.Williams, McDonald).
Steals: 11 (McDonald 3, Thompson 2, A.Williams 2,
Craft 2, Ross, L.Smith Jr.).
Halftime: Minnesota 28, Ohio State 18. Officials:
Sanzere, Scirotto, Steratore. A: 18,809.
Ohio State 48, Illinois 39
Feb. 15, 2014
State Farm Center; Champaign, Ill.
Ohio State
Total FG FT Reb.
(20-6, 7-6)
Ross
26 3-8 2-2 0-6 0 0
9
Thompson
25 2-7 0-0 0-2 0 0
4
A.Williams
20 0-3 0-0 1-3 0 2
0
Craft
25 5-6 3-5 0-3 2 4 14
Smith Jr.
30 1-4 2-2 1-4 1 0
4
Loving
16 3-7 2-2 0-0 0 1
8
Scott
26 1-6 0-2 0-4 3 1
2
Della Valle
17 2-4 0-0 1-2 0 1
5
McDonald
15 1-2 0-2 1-1 0 3
2
Totals
200 18-47 9-15 6-28 6 12 48
3-13 (Ross 1-2, Thompson 0-3, Craft 1-1, Smith Jr.
0-2, Loving 0-2, Scott 0-1, Della Valle 1-2). Team
rebounds: 5. Blocked shots: 7 (Thompson 3, Ross
2, A.Williams 2). Turnovers: 11 (Craft 5, Della Valle
2, Ross, Thompson, A.Williams, Loving). Steals: 10
(Scott 5, Craft 3, Ross, McDonald).
Illinois
Total FG FT Reb.
Hill
23 1-3 0-0 0-1 1 2
2
Egwu
35 3-7 0-0 4-10 2 5
6
Abrams
32 4-12 2-2 1-3 0 1 13
Rice
31 4-10 2-2 1-4 0 4 11
Nunn
30 2-7 0-0 0-0 3 1
5
Tate
8
0-2 0-0 0-1 0 2
0
Bertrand
19 1-7 0-0 1-2 1 0
2
Morgan
3
0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0
0
Ekey
19 0-5 0-0 1-5 1 0
0
Totals
200 15-53 4-4 9-27 8 15 39
goals: 5-16 (Abrams 3-5, Rice 1-3, Nunn 1-3,
Bertrand 0-2, Ekey 0-3). Team rebounds: 2. Blocked
shots: 5 (Egwu 3, Rice 2). Turnovers: 13 (Bertrand
4, Abrams 3, Tate 3, Egwu 2, Nunn). Steals: 3 (Rice
2, Bertrand).
Halftime: Illinois 23, Ohio State 20. Officials:
Boroski, Kitts, Eppley. A: 16,618.
“At the end of the day, they just wanted it
more,” Ross said.
Michigan was the much more impressive
team down the stretch in the two rivals’ only
scheduled meeting of the season, outscoring
Ohio State by a 19-11 margin in the game’s
final 6:22. An 8-0 run pushed the Wolverines’
advantage from four to 12 as the clock
dipped below two minutes.
The first half was a different story, as
OSU built a 28-18 lead in the first 16-plus
minutes. The Wolverines clawed back, using
an 8-0 spurt to cut the Buckeyes’ advantage
to two before a pair of Ross free throws gave
OSU a 30-26 lead heading into halftime.
Ohio State 76, Northwestern 60
Feb. 19, 2014
Northwestern
Total FG FT Reb.
Abrahamson 11 0-1 0-0 0-2 0 2
0
Olah
25 4-9 0-0 2-2 0 2
8
Crawford
35 8-13 2-2 0-2 1 4 22
Cobb
38 3-10 2-4 0-5 1 3
8
Lumpkin
36 1-3 0-0 1-0 0 4
2
Sobolewski
2
0-0 0-0 0-2 0 1
0
Demps
34 5-9 3-5 0-1 1 1 14
Montgomery
1
0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0
0
Taphorn
9
2-4 2-3 0-1 0 1
6
Cerina
9
0-1 0-0 0-2 1 5
0
Totals
200 23-50 9-14 4-19 4 23 60
goals: 5-21 (Abrahamson 0-1, Olah 0-2, Crawford
4-7, Cobb 0-5, Lumpkin 0-1, Demps 1-2, Taphorn 02, Cerina 0-1). Team rebounds: 3. Blocked shots:
1 (Lumpkin). Turnovers: 12 (Crawford 4, Cobb 2,
Lumpkin 2, Cerina 2, Abrahamson, Olah). Steals: 2
(Olah, Taphorn).
Ohio State
Total FG FT Reb.
(21-6, 8-6)
Ross
24 5-8 4-4 2-4 0 3 16
Thompson
28 4-5 0-0 0-2 1 1 11
A.Williams
16 1-5 4-4 3-2 0 3
6
Craft
34 4-7 6-7 0-3 3 0 14
Smith Jr.
28 4-9 5-6 4-6 4 3 14
Loving
15 0-3 1-2 0-1 0 2
1
Scott
22 3-6 2-4 0-3 2 2
9
Goldstein
1
0-1 0-0 0-0 0 1
0
Della Valle
13 0-3 1-2 1-1 0 2
1
Lorbach
1
0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0
0
McDonald
18 2-3 0-0 0-1 0 1
4
Totals
200 23-50 23-29 10-24 10 18 76
goals: 7-16 (Ross 2-3, Thompson 3-4, Craft 0-1,
Smith Jr. 1-3, Loving 0-2, Scott 1-2, Della Valle 0-1).
Team rebounds: 1. Blocked shots: 4 (Thompson 2,
A.Williams, McDonald). Turnovers: 10 (Craft 2, Scott
2, McDonald 2, Ross, Smith Jr., Loving, Della Valle).
Steals: 8 (Craft 4, Thompson 2, A.Williams, Scott).
Halftime: Ohio State 37, Northwestern 33. Officials:
Perone, Carstensen, Gaffney. Technical fouls: NW:
Cerina; OSU: Ross 2, A.Williams. Ejections: NW:
Cerina; OSU: Ross. A: 15,878.
Michigan 70, Ohio State 60
Feb. 11, 2014
Michigan
Total FG FT Reb.
Robinson III
24 3-10 2-2 4-1 0 2
9
Morgan
19 3-4 0-0 6-2 0 4
6
Walton Jr.
36 3-10 6-6 1-9 6 2 13
Stauskas
38 4-9 4-5 0-3 0 1 15
LeVert
38 3-11 2-2 2-3 2 0
9
Albrecht
5
0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0
0
Horford
20 4-5 0-2 1-3 0 3
8
Irvin
20 2-3 4-5 0-3 0 2 10
Totals
200 22-53 18-22 14-25 8 14 70
goals: 8-17 (Robinson III 1-1, Walton Jr. 1-2, Stauskas
3-6, LeVert 1-6, Irvin 2-2). Team rebounds: 1.
Blocked shots: None. Turnovers: 9 (Stauskas 2, Irvin
2, Morgan, Walton Jr., Albrecht, Horford, TEAM).
Steals: 2 (Walton Jr., LeVert).
Ohio State
Total FG FT Reb.
(19-6, 6-6)
Ross
37 8-17 8-11 3-4 1 0 24
Thompson
24 2-5 0-0 0-2 1 3
4
A.Williams
29 3-4 1-3 3-4 0 4
7
Craft
37 3-6 2-2 0-1 2 3
8
Smith Jr.
31 5-11 0-0 1-2 1 1 13
Loving
2
0-1 0-0 0-2 0 1
0
Scott
27 2-6 0-0 1-3 2 4
4
Della Valle
3
0-1 0-0 0-0 0 1
0
McDonald
10 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0
0
Totals
200 23-52 11-16 8-19 7 17 60
goals: 3-20 (Ross 0-4, Thompson 0-1, Craft 0-2,
Smith Jr. 3-9, Loving 0-1, Scott 0-2, Della Valle 0-1).
Team rebounds: 1. Blocked shots: 2 (Thompson,
A.Williams). Turnovers: 8 (A.Williams 3, Craft
2, Smith Jr., Loving, Scott). Steals: 4 (Scott 3,
Thompson).
Halftime: Ohio State 30, Michigan 26. Officials:
Valentine, Oglesby, Dorsey. A: 18,809.
But Michigan took the lead for good with
10:56 to play during a 12-0 run that gave the
visitors a 49-43 lead with 9:16 remaining.
Michigan offset a 41.5-percent outing from
the field with eight three-point makes on 17
attempts and a balanced scoring effort that
was led by sophomore guard Nik Stauskas’
15 points.
Ross paced the Buckeyes with 24 points,
but only Smith joined him in double figures
with 13 points. Smith made 3 of 9 three-pointers on the night, but the rest of the Buckeyes
went a combined 0 for 11.
BIG TEN NOTES
Spartans Give Raises To Dantonio, Staff
After a very successful season for the
Michigan State football team, the university
rewarded head coach Mark Dantonio and
his staff with raises.
Dantonio, who led the Spartans to a Big
Ten championship and a Rose Bowl victory
last season, inked a new six-year rolling deal
that will up his annual compensation to $3.64
million. He previously made just under $2
million per season and is now the fourth in
the conference when it comes to yearly salary among head coaches.
BIG TEN NOTES
Matthew Hager
“Mark Dantonio and his assistants have
done a remarkable job in putting Michigan
State football back on the national map and
positioning it to compete for Big Ten championships on a consistent basis,” MSU athletics director Mark Hollis said. “The amended
contract and enhanced compensation reflect
his and his coaching staff’s value in the current marketplace. These upgraded figures
position Mark and his staff in the upper tier
of the Big Ten.
“We believe that we have not only one of
the finest head coaches in the conference
but in all of college football, and we feel the
same about his assistant coaches.”
Dantonio’s assistants received a combined investment of $785,000, which puts
their collective salary at $3.169 million per
year. That latter figure puts MSU’s assistants
second in the league behind only Ohio State
($3.416 in 2013).
The highest-paid assistant in the Big Ten
is now Michigan State defensive coordinator/assistant head coach Pat Narduzzi, who
will make $904,583 per year. Narduzzi’s
Spartans were the top-ranked defense in the
nation last season, which helped Michigan
State complete a 13-1 season. He made
$512,500 last season.
“Coaching staff stability is extremely
important for the long-term success of a program,” Dantonio said. “We have outstanding
coaches and support personnel. We’re very
excited about what our program has accomplished over the last seven years, and we
believe the best is yet to come.”
Of interest to Ohio State fans, MSU
co-offensive coordinator (and former OSU
assistant) Jim Bollman’s salary was increased
from $260,000 to $368,333. Co-offensive coordinator Dave Warner is up from $270,000 to
$379,167.
Feds Look Into U-M, MSU
The U.S. Department of Education’s
Office for Civil Rights confirmed Feb. 25 that
it is investigating a trio of sexual violence
allegations at Michigan State and Michigan.
Two complaints at MSU and one at
Michigan are under federal scrutiny. In all,
federal officials are investigating more than
three dozen complaints about a university’s
handling of sexual assault across the nation
according to a U.S. Department of Education
spokesman.
The Detroit News learned the Michigan
case involves the investigation into an alleged
rape of a student by former football player
Brendan Gibbons in 2009. He was arrested
but never charged.
According to Michigan’s student newspaper, the Michigan Daily, Gibbons was
Men’s
Basketball
Michigan
Michigan State
Wisconsin
Iowa
Nebraska
Ohio State
Indiana
Minnesota
Illinois
Northwestern
Penn State
Purdue
Conf.
W L Pct.
Overall
W L Pct.
13
11
11
9
9
9
7
7
6
5
5
5
21
22
24
20
17
22
17
18
17
12
14
15
3
5
5
7
7
8
9
10
10
11
11
11
.813
.688
.688
.563
.563
.529
.438
.412
.375
.312
.312
.312
7
7
5
9
11
8
12
12
12
17
15
14
.750
.759
.828
.690
.607
.733
.586
.600
.586
.414
.483
.517
Feb. 25 Games
Minnesota 95, Iowa 89
Wisconsin 69, Indiana 58
Feb. 26 Games
Michigan 77, Purdue 76 (OT)
Illinois 60, Nebraska 49
Feb. 27 Games
Penn State 65, Ohio State 63
Indiana 93, Iowa 86
March 1 Games
Illinois 53, Michigan State 46
Nebraska 54, Northwestern 47
Michigan 66, Minnesota 56
March 2 Games
Indiana 72, Ohio State 64
Wisconsin 71, Penn State 66
Iowa 83, Purdue 76
March 4 Game
Michigan at Illinois, 7 p.m.
March 5 Games
Nebraska at Indiana, 7 p.m.
Purdue at Wisconsin, 9 p.m.
March 6 Games
Penn State at Northwestern, 7 p.m.
Iowa at Michigan State, 9 p.m.
March 8 Games
Indiana at Michigan, 6 p.m.
Illinois at Iowa, 8:30 p.m.
Penn State at Minnesota, 8:30 p.m.
March 9 Games
Northwestern at Purdue, Noon
Michigan State at Ohio State, 4:30 p.m.
Wisconsin at Nebraska, 7:30 p.m.
End of regular season
expelled by the university in December for
violating its sexual misconduct policy in connection with the ’09 incident.
“We’re very proud of our student sexual
misconduct policy, our prevention efforts
and our programs to support survivors of
sexual misconduct,” U-M spokesman Rick
Fitzgerald told the Detroit News. “We will
fully cooperate with the Department of
Education, and we believe that a review of
our policy, programs and investigations will
conclude that the University of Michigan is
doing what it should in this important area.”
The OCR confirmation came on the same
day that students marched on Michigan’s
campus to protest the university’s handling
of sexual assault investigations.
Michigan State spokesman Kent Cassella
said MSU will “continue working with the
OCR on this matter.”
“While federal law and privacy concerns
prevent MSU from fully discussing specifics, we have a comprehensive record of the
actions we took that supports the university’s position that we acted appropriately,”
Cassella said.
OCR officers were on campus at Michigan
State on Feb. 26-27. News reports indicate
at least one of the incidents involved two
student-athletes and took place in a dorm
in August 2010, though Ingham County officials chose not to press charges.
“This is clearly an issue that we take
Women’s
Basketball
Penn State
Michigan State
Nebraska
Iowa
Purdue
Minnesota
Michigan
Indiana
Northwestern
Ohio State
Wisconsin
Illinois
Conf.
W L Pct.
Overall
W L Pct.
13
13
12
11
11
8
8
5
5
5
3
2
22
21
22
23
21
19
17
18
15
15
10
9
3
3
4
5
5
8
8
11
11
11
13
14
.813
.813
.750
.688
.688
.500
.500
.313
.313
.313
.188
.125
6
8
6
7
7
11
12
11
14
17
18
20
.786
.724
.786
.767
.750
.633
.586
.621
.517
.469
.357
.310
Feb. 24 Games
Michigan State 75, Minnesota 61
Nebraska 94, Penn State 74
Feb. 27 Games
Iowa 65, Ohio State 61
Nebraska 72, Illinois 65
Minnesota 73, Indiana 62
Michigan State 75, Northwestern 44
March 1 Game
Penn State 77, Michigan 62
March 2 Games
Minnesota 74, Ohio State 57
Northwestern 77, Wisconsin 73 (OT)
Purdue 82, Nebraska 66
Iowa 81, Illinois 56
Michigan State 76, Indiana 56
End of regular season
seriously,” said Paulette Granberry Russell,
Title IX coordinator and director of
MSU’s Office for Inclusion & Intercultural
Initiatives. “Clearly, it is an issue that the
U.S. Department of Education and Office
for Civil Rights takes very seriously. To
the extent that we are partnering and cooperating with them speaks volumes to our
commitment to student safety, particularly
around sexual assault.”
No Friday Night Lights
Don’t expect MACtion to come to the Big
Ten anytime soon.
For the uninitiated, MACtion is the term
coined for the nontraditional weeknight college football games – often high-scoring,
wacky contests – played by Mid-American
Conference schools on the ESPN networks.
The Wisconsin State Journal made – pardon the pun – headlines with its headline
“OK with Badgers football on Friday night?”
on Feb. 25 for a story discussing potential scheduling changes the Big Ten could
undergo as part of the conference’s next
series of television deals. The league’s current contract with ESPN/ABC for regularseason games runs through 2017, while the
deal with Fox to televise the conference football championship game ends in 2016.
Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany quickly put the kibosh on any thoughts that the
league could play on Friday nights – or any
other weekday night. He told the Chicago
Tribune that the conference is instead
looking at playing more night games on
November Saturdays.
“We’re looking hard at more prime time,”
said Delany, who made the comments Feb.
27. “We’re looking at many, many issues
– 100 issues.
“We’re trying to enhance the (TV) package, but the notion that we’re playing Friday
nights – I don’t think it will happen while I’m
here. There are much higher priorities.”
Delany cited three main reasons the
league is not interested in playing on Friday
nights – high school football, missed class
Men’s
Hockey
Minnesota
Wisconsin
Michigan
Ohio State
Michigan State
Penn State
Pts.
38
31
27
22
19
7
W
12
10
8
5
3
2
L
2
5
6
7
7
13
T SW GF GA
2 0 47 26
1 0 48 34
2 1 50 49
4 3 44 42
6 4 29 37
1 0 32 62
Overall records – Minnesota 23-4-5,
Wisconsin 19-9-2, Michigan 16-10-4, Ohio
State 15-12-4, Michigan State 9-15-7,
Penn State 6-22-2.
Feb. 28 Games
Ohio State 2, Michigan 2 (OSU wins SO, 1-0)
Minnesota 5, Penn State 1
March 1 Games
Minnesota 2, Penn State 1
U.S. U-18 Team 4, Michigan State 3 (OT)*
March 2 Game
March 7 Games
Michigan State at Michigan, 7 p.m.
Wisconsin at Penn State, 7 p.m.
Minnesota at Ohio State, 7:30 p.m.
March 8 Games
Minnesota at Ohio State, 6:30 p.m.
Wisconsin at Penn State, 7 p.m.
Michigan at Michigan State, 7 p.m.
* – Exhibition
time for players and whether campuses can
handle playing under the lights on Fridays.
Big Ten Bits
• Testimony came to a close Feb. 25 in
the National Labor Relations Board hearings
that will help determine whether a group
that includes several Northwestern football
players can form a union.
Former NU quarterback Kain Colter and
Wildcats head coach Pat Fitzgerald had previously testified. Colter was the top witness
for the College Athletes Players Association,
while Fitzgerald represented his employer/
alma mater. Colter described being a college football player as a grueling job, while
Fitzgerald said he and his charges do not
have an employee-employer relationship.
The final day of testimony featured three former Wildcats who testified on Northwestern’s
behalf. Offensive linemen Doug Bartels and
Patrick Ward and long snapper John Henry
Pace said the university was supportive in
their academic pursuits, even at the cost of
their football responsibilities.
With testimony concluded, both sides will
wait for a decision from an NLRB regional
director, whose determination will likely be
appealed to the federal NLRB in Washington,
D.C., no matter the outcome. The decision is
expected within four to six weeks.
• Four Big Ten goaltenders were among
18 candidates for the inaugural Mike Richter
Award, which honors the most outstanding goaltender in NCAA men’s hockey.
Michigan’s Zach Nagelvoort, Michigan
State’s Jake Hildebrand, Minnesota’s Adam
Wilcox and Wisconsin’s Joel Rumpel made
the list. The winner will be presented at the
2014 NCAA Frozen Four.
• Penn State women’s basketball standout
Maggie Lucas was named a semifinalist for the
2014 Women’s Naismith Trophy, which honors
the national player of the year. Lucas was one of
10 semifinalists announced on Feb. 27.
• Eighteen current and former Big Ten
athletes, coaches and students earned 20
Olympic medals at the 2014 Winter Olympic
Games in Sochi, Russia. Included in that
haul were five gold, 11 silver and four bronze
medals.
OHIO STATE WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
Tournament Time Arrives For Ohio State
The regular season came to a rough end on
the road for the Ohio State women’s basketball
team, which dropped a 65-61 decision at Iowa
and fell 74-57 at Minnesota in the last week of
the first campaign under the direction of head
coach Kevin McGuff.
The pair of setbacks left the Buckeyes 1517 overall and 5-11 in the Big Ten, tied with
Indiana and Northwestern for eighth place
in the league. They also finished in a tie for
eighth place last season, ending a streak of 10
years in which Ohio State never finished worse
than a fourth-place tie.
DOUBLE DRIBBLE
Marcus Hartman
When February began, McGuff’s squad
had been through some ups and downs but
was sitting in the middle of the Big Ten pack at
14-10 overall and 4-4 in league play.
They went only 1-7 the rest of the way,
however, and could mostly blame their offense
for the slide.
After averaging 67.9 points per game in
their first eight Big Ten games, the Buckeyes
managed only 60.0 per contest in the last eight.
While the defense slipped as well (from 67.0
points allowed to 71.1), the change was not so
dramatic.
“I don’t think today was a lack of physical
effort or want-to mentally,” McGuff said Feb.
16 after his team lost 74-54 to No. 9 Penn State,
the eventual conference co-champion with
Michigan State. “When we made mistakes,
they made us pay, and when we had opportunities to make shots, we just didn’t make them.”
Not making shots was a common theme
for the Buckeyes, who were 10th in the Big
Ten during conference play with a shooting
percentage of 40.1. They tied Wisconsin for
the league’s worst three-point shooting mark
at 30.4 percent.
Tiebreakers gave the Buckeyes the No.
8 seed in the Big Ten tournament scheduled
to take place at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in
Indianapolis from March 6-9.
“We’ve got to have a great week of preparation,” McGuff said. “Whoever we play will be
someone we’ve played before, and we have
to go over there and play incredibly hard and
fight.”
As it turned out, the Buckeyes drew
Northwestern, the only team they beat in the
last month of the season.
“We’ve got a lot of kids who it will be a last
opportunity to play in a Big Ten tournament,
and we’ve got to go over there and compete
hard,” McGuff said.
product’s scoring average of 20.3 points per
game during conference play was third in the
league, and she was 10th in assists at 3.6 per
game. For all games, Alston topped the team in
scoring (18.2 ppg), assists (99) and steals (36).
With Alston’s achievement, Ohio State has
had at least one player make one of the all-conference first teams in 10 consecutive seasons, a
streak that began with Jessica Davenport from
2005-07. Jantel Lavender was a four-time selection from 2008-11 while Samantha Prahalis
made it in ’10 and ’12 and Tayler Hill was
picked in 2012 and ’13.
Raven Ferguson, a junior guard from
Columbus Africentric, received honorablemention all-conference recognition from Big
Ten media after averaging 12.8 points per
game in conference play. She scored in double
figures in 11 of 16 Big Ten games. Ferguson
ranked second on the team in rebounds (5.4
per game), assists (35) and steals (20) during
Big Ten play.
Amy Scullion, a fourth-year junior guard
from Salem, Ohio, was selected the team’s
recipient of the Big Ten Sportsmanship
Award.
Trio Receive Recognition
Three Buckeyes were recognized when
the Big Ten announced its postseason awards
March 3.
The top honor went to Ameryst Alston, the
sophomore point guard who led Ohio State in
scoring this season.
She was named to the All-Big Ten first team
by both the conference media and coaches following a regular season in which she scored in
double figures 30 times and reached the 30-point
mark three times. The Canton (Ohio) McKinley
Scullion Calling It A Career
As profiled in our most recent electronic
issue of BSB Quickly, Scullion has decided to
forgo her final season of eligibility to concentrate on medical school.
A 6-0 guard, she arrived at Ohio State in
2011 as the reigning Gatorade Player of the
Year for Ohio after a standout career at Salem
High School, but a knee injury forced her to
redshirt during her first year in Columbus.
After fighting injuries again during the
2012 season and struggling to find a niche in
the final season of Jim Foster’s tenure as Ohio
State head coach last year, Scullion became
a significant contributor this season under
McGuff.
She started 31 of 32 regular-season games,
scoring 3.3 points per game while grabbing 4.0
rebounds.
“Obviously Amy is an extremely bright
young woman with an amazing future ahead,”
McGuff said. “I think she’s kind of grappled
with that over the past seven to 10 days, and
she came in to talk about it. I think she was
thinking, ‘Maybe I should turn the page and
it’s been a great experience but I think I want
to pursue this medical thing.’
“I told her I think it’s a great decision. It’s
not like she’s going off to Europe for a year to
backpack. She’s got something really special in
front of her that is a great opportunity very few
people get, so for her to jump on that and get
going is the right decision and she’ll be incredibly successful.”
Kynard Returns
One of the bright spots of the last weekend of the regular season was the return of
Maleeka Kynard, a junior guard who missed
nearly all of February with an unidentified
health issue.
The 5-7 Toledo Start product played three
minutes and made two assists in the Buckeyes’
loss at Iowa on Feb. 27 then started for the
injured Alston three days later at Minnesota.
She had two rebounds and an assist in five
minutes against the Golden Gophers.
Final Four Bid In
While McGuff hopes to take a future Ohio
State team to the Final Four, the department of
athletics is working with Columbus and various partners in the area to try to bring a Final
Four to the Buckeyes’ home city.
Columbus has been named a finalist to host
the event at downtown’s Nationwide Arena from
2017-2020, joining Dallas, Houston, Nashville,
New Orleans, Pittsburgh and Tampa Bay.
The same partners worked together on an
unsuccessful bid in 2008, and some members
of the partnership told BSB some of the things
they felt they learned back then that they can
apply now.
“As we went into our presentation with the
NCAA representatives a couple of months ago
one of the things we went in there with was we
probably needed to do a better job of selling
the city of Columbus because people just don’t
realize how great a city Columbus is, so I think
that was a big part of our position and part
of our appeal,” Ohio State associate athletics
director Miechelle Willis told BSB.
“One of the questions they asked last time
they also asked this time – what is there to do
in Columbus? People from outside of the city
don’t understand, so I think we did probably a
better job of selling that.”
Women’s Basketball Tournament
March 6-9, 2014 • Bankers Life Fieldhouse; Indianapolis
MARCH 6
MARCH 7
MARCH 8
MARCH 9
All Times ET
No. 1 Penn State
No. 8 Ohio State
Gm. 5 • Noon • BTN
Gm. 1 • Noon • BTN
No. 9 N’western
Gm. 9 • 3:30 p.m. • BTN
No. 4 Purdue
No. 5 Iowa
Gm. 2 • 25 mins. after
Gm. 1 • BTN
Gm. 5 • BTN
No. 12 Illinois
Gm. 11
(Championship Game)
• 1 p.m. • BTN
No. 2 Mich. State
No. 7 Michigan
Gm. 7 • 6:30 p.m. • BTN
Gm. 3 • 6:30 p.m. • BTN
No. 10 Indiana
No. 3 Nebraska
No. 6 Minnesota
Gm. 3 • BTN
Gm. 9 • BTN
Gm. 7 • BTN
No. 11 Wisconsin
2014-15 Big Ten Matchups
2013-14 Ohio State Women’s Basketball Statistics
15-17 Overall (5-11 Big Ten)
Statistics through games of March 2
ILLINOIS
Home: Iowa, Minnesota, Ohio State,
Wisconsin; Away: Indiana, Maryland,
Penn State, Rutgers; Home/Away:
Michigan, Michigan State, Nebraska,
Northwestern, Purdue.
INDIANA
Home:
Illinois,
Nebraska,
Northwestern, Wisconsin; Away: Iowa,
Michigan, Minnesota, Penn State; Home/
Away: Maryland, Michigan State, Ohio
State, Purdue, Rutgers.
IOWA
Home: Indiana, Michigan, Penn
State, Purdue; Away: Illinois, Maryland,
Michigan State, Rutgers; Home/Away:
Ohio State, Wisconsin.
MARYLAND
Home: Illinois, Iowa, Ohio State,
Purdue; Away: Michigan, Minnesota,
Northwestern, Wisconsin; Home/Away:
Indiana, Michigan State, Nebraska, Penn
State, Rutgers.
MICHIGAN
Home: Indiana, Maryland, Penn
State, Purdue; Away: Iowa, Minnesota,
Nebraska, Wisconsin; Home/Away:
Illinois, Michigan State, Northwestern,
MICHIGAN STATE
Home: Iowa, Nebraska, Rutgers,
Wisconsin; Away: Minnesota, Ohio
State, Penn State, Purdue; Home/Away:
Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Michigan,
Northwestern.
MINNESOTA
Home: Indiana, Maryland, Michigan,
Michigan
State;
Away:
Illinois,
Northwestern, Ohio State, Rutgers;
Home/Away: Iowa, Nebraska, Penn
State, Purdue, Wisconsin.
NEBRASKA
Home: Michigan, Ohio State,
Penn State, Purdue; Away: Indiana,
Michigan State, Northwestern, Rutgers;
Home/Away: Illinois, Iowa, Maryland,
Minnesota, Wisconsin.
NORTHWESTERN
Home:
Maryland,
Minnesota,
Nebraska, Rutgers; Away: Indiana, Ohio
State, Penn State, Purdue; Home/Away:
Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State,
Wisconsin.
OHIO STATE
Home: Michigan State, Minnesota,
Northwestern, Rutgers; Away: Illinois,
Maryland, Nebraska, Wisconsin; Home/
Away: Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Penn
State, Purdue.
Rebounds
O-D
T-Avg. PF-FO
Player
G-GS Min.-Avg. FG-FGA
Pct. 3P-3PA
Pct. FT-FTA
Pct.
Ameryst Alston
Raven Ferguson
Martina Ellerbe
Cait Craft
Darryce Moore
Ashley Adams
Maleeka Kynard
Amy Scullion
Lisa Blair
A.Dobranic
TEAM
32-30 1170-36.6 208-461
29-2 735-25.3 109-303
32-26 1042-32.6 105-252
32-32 1010-31.6 76-213
32-29 651-20.3 104-222
32-8 617-19.3 80-165
18-1 259-14.4
21-74
32-31 706-22.1 34-116
22-1
158-7.2
7-18
12-0
52-4.3
3-12
.451 33-96
.360 24-81
.417 21-67
.357 36-123
.468
0-0
.485
0-0
.284 12-36
.293 18-53
.389
0-0
.250
0-2
.344 134-161
.296 74-102
.313 37-48
.293 70-106
.000 46-64
.000 29-43
.333 20-27
.340 18-24
.000
0-8
.000
1-2
.832
.725
.771
.660
.719
.674
.741
.750
.000
.500
33-77
48-112
54-130
20-64
66-119
40-113
9-15
29-99
13-38
1-6
42-67
110-3.4
160-5.5
184-5.8
84-2.6
185-5.8
153-4.8
24-1.3
128-4.0
51-2.3
7-0.6
109-3.4
.407 144-458
.375 212-648
.314 429-585
.327 426-581
.733 355-840
.733 459-828
1195-37.3
1287-40.2
Ohio State
Opponents
32
32
6400
6400
747-1836
723-1929
That effort was made easier by some of
the improvements the city has seen in the
meantime as well, not the least of which is a
new Hilton hotel in the downtown area that can
serve fans of teams playing in the Final Four
as well as attendees of the national coaches’
convention.
“Certainly we are a different city than we
were six years ago,” Linda Logan, the director
of the Greater Columbus Sports Commission,
told BSB. “Our footprint has really grown in
terms of the walkability for our guests for the
arena and the convention center.”
She admitted the last time a bid was put
together, organizers had to expand their footprint all the way to the intersection of I-71
North and the I-270 outerbelt to come up with
enough hotel rooms to satisfy the NCAA’s
minimum demand. That wasn’t necessary this
time.
The GCSC and Ohio State can also boast
of continuing to build experience in hosting
events, having recently been awarded eight
different NCAA championship events as well
as the 2015 NHL All-Star Game.
“It’s no coincidence all of those things are happening with great momentum because I think the
more events that we book and have great experiences, people then go back to Colorado Springs
where a lot of the national sports governing body
is located or back to the NCAA headquarters in
Indianapolis and share their experiences,” Logan
said. “I think that only helps us grow as a sports
destination.”
She also noted that many of the partnerships – and sponsorships – formed the first
time around have been maintained and in
many cases strengthened.
“A lot of the same people we tapped then
are already jumping in, and we have a great
story to tell,” Logan said, noting the presence of not only Ohio State as a Division I
basketball program but also Division II Ohio
Dominican and multiple Division III programs
where teams can hold practices.
The central location of the city’s convention center is also key as far as accommodating the coaches’ convention, and she hopes
the various new restaurants and other attractions built since the last time basketball committee members visited the city catch their
eye as well.
“Everybody’s in and we’ve been able to
rally them and keep some women’s athletics
leadership groups engaged since then,” Logan
said. “We’re growing as a destination for all
sports, but in particular I’m happy to report
some of the big marquee women’s events are
coming to Columbus such as the Final Four
for women’s volleyball and the Division II
women’s basketball (championship) at Ohio
Dominican, so I think there is really something
for everybody here.”
Willis expressed confidence in the job
Logan has done in organizing her team and
also highlighted the ability of associate athletics director for internal operations Mike
Penner to organize and pull off various events
in recent years.
She noted Columbus is easily accessible to
some of the schools that have historically been
home to strong women’s basketball programs
and explained the university and its partners
now understand the NCAA wants to know just
what type of impact a Final Four could have on
those it touches.
64-0
78-2
64-0
72-1
108-5
59-4
37-0
41-0
23-2
8-0
A TO BS ST Pts.-Avg.
99 116 0 36
64 96 7 28
43 58 32 24
51 67 2 35
34 63 22 23
45 36 63 27
21 27 1 24
36 44 11 11
1
8 26 0
4
6 0 1
8
583-18.2
316-10.9
268-8.4
258-8.1
254-7.9
189-5.9
74-4.1
104-3.3
14-0.6
7-0.6
554-14 398 529 164 209
583-0 387 524 114 217
2067-64.6
2084-65.1
“It’s a four-day event, so what can we do
leading up to the Final Four and what can we
do after it?” Willis said. “What kind of legacy
can this event have with girls and women in
the sport? Those were interesting things that
the committee wanted to hear from us, and
I think that the collaboration with the city and
the community were huge and this time we did
a better job of selling that collaboration.”
The final bid must be submitted by May
2, and an on-site visit from NCAA committee
members will follow in late spring or early
summer. The hosts will be chosen after final
presentations are made at the NCAA headquarters this fall.
“This is a great community and I think
we would really support a Final Four in a big
way, all the way from the hospitality to the
attendance,” said McGuff, who was head coach
at Xavier when the last bid from Columbus
was submitted. “I think it would be awesome
for our community, so I’m very hopeful that
works out and we have a chance to show the
women’s basketball community what a special
place this is.”
Alston Nabs Buckeye Honor
Although the month did not go well for the
team as a whole, Alston certainly did her part
to improve the Buckeyes’ chances of winning
every time out in February.
The sophomore averaged 22.3 points, 3.9
rebounds and 2.9 assists per game in seven
times out. She made 31.0 percent of her threepointers (9 for 29) and went 33 for 40 from
the free-throw line (82.5 percent) while also
nabbing five steals, and for that effort she was
named the Plank’s Lady Buck of the Month.
PENN STATE
Home: Illinois, Indiana, Michigan
State, Northwestern; Away: Iowa,
Michigan, Nebraska, Purdue; Home/
Away: Maryland, Minnesota, Ohio State,
Rutgers, Wisconsin.
PURDUE
Home: Michigan State, Northwestern,
Penn State, Wisconsin; Away: Iowa,
Maryland, Michigan, Nebraska; Home/
Away: Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, Ohio
State, Rutgers.
RUTGERS
Home: Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota,
Nebraska; Away: Michigan State,
Northwestern, Ohio State, Wisconsin;
Home/Away:
Indiana,
Maryland,
Michigan, Penn State, Purdue.
WISCONSIN
Home: Maryland, Michigan, Ohio
State, Rutgers; Away: Illinois, Indiana,
Michigan State, Purdue; Home/Away:
Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, Northwestern,
Penn State.
Gophers Bury OSU In Regular-Season Finale
By MARCUS HARTMAN
The Ohio State women’s basketball team
fell behind early and was not able to rally at
Minnesota, falling 74-57 in Minneapolis to
close out the regular season on a two-game
losing streak March 2.
“It was disappointing, a lot of things in
the first half,” McGuff told the Ohio StateIMG Radio Network after the game. “I
think overall our issue was we just didn’t
get enough of the 50-50 balls or tough
rebounds.
“Minnesota played a little harder than
we did, and that was disappointing. We
missed a lot of shots that we should have
made, but those 50-50 balls hurt us.”
Cait Craft put Ohio State on top with
a three-pointer that made it 9-8 at the
14:49 mark, but Rachel Banham answered
that with a trey to start an 8-0 run for the
Golden Gophers, who also got a pair of free
throws by Mikayla Bailey before Banham
connected again from downtown to make
it 16-9 through eight minutes.
The Buckeyes (15-17, 5-11) pulled back
within a basket at 18-15 by the time the
seven-minute mark arrived, but Minnesota
dominated the rest of the half to open up a
lead of as many as 16 in front of a crowd of
3,403 at Williams Arena.
Banham started a 10-0 Minnesota run
with a pair of free throws, then teammate
Stabresa McDaniel added two more from
the charity stripe. Senior Micaëlla Riché
sandwiched a pair of Banham free throws
with a couple of jumpers, the latter at the
3:49 mark of the half that gave Minnesota
a 28-15 advantage.
Ameryst Alston, Ohio State’s leading
scorer who came off the bench while nursing a shoulder injury, finally ended the
run with a free throw at the 3:35 mark, but
Ohio State could only get back to within 14
by the end of the half.
Minnesota outscored Ohio State 18-2 off
turnovers in the first half while establish-
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ing a 35-21 lead overall, as the Buckeyes
lost the ball 11 times in the first 20 minutes.
The Buckeyes held the hosts to 32.3
percent shooting (10 for 31) but could
not themselves reach the 30-percent
mark as head coach Kevin McGuff’s
team was only 7 for 26 from the floor
(26.9 percent).
Both teams got warmer in the second
half, but Ohio State was unable to get
within single digits.
The Gophers (19-11, 8-8) extended their
lead to 20 points in the opening four minutes of the second half, and the difference
hit a game-high 21 on a McDaniel jumper
that made it 47-26 with 14:36 left in the
game.
Later in the half, Alston and senior
forward Martina Ellerbe combined for a
7-0 run that allowed the Buckeyes to draw
within10 at 56-46 at the seven-minute mark,
and Sari Nogi and Ellerbe then traded
treys to make it a 10-point game again (5949) with six minutes left.
Ohio State senior Darryce Moore had a
chance to bring the Buckeyes within eight
but missed a jumper just before the threeminute mark, and Minnesota closed it out
by outscoring the visitors 9-2 the rest of
the way, giving the Gophers the No. 6 seed
in the conference tournament while the
Buckeyes settled into No. 8.
Banham, who won the league scoring
title with an average of 22.4 points per
game, ended the afternoon with 27 points
for the Gophers. She also handed out
seven assists.
Despite the high point total, Banham
was only 5 for 14 from the field, and
McGuff credited Craft for making her work
for her points.
“She played really hard,” McGuff said
of the OSU sophomore. “Cait always plays
hard. She was very good defensively.
Rachel Banham is one of the best players
in the country, and she really frustrated
her.”
Amanda Zahui B. added 14 points and
18 rebounds for Minnesota while McDaniel
tallied 11 points.
Raven Ferguson scored 16 points to
Minnesota 74, Ohio State 57
March 2, 2014
Williams Arena; Minneapolis, Minn.
Ohio State
Total FG FT Reb.
Ellerbe
40 5-11 1-2 0-3 1 1 13
Blair
16 0-3 0-0 2-3 0 5
0
Kynard
5
0-3 0-0 0-2 1 1
0
Craft
30 2-8 4-4 0-2 2 5
9
Scullion
21 1-1 2-2 0-2 1 1
4
Alston
36 4-14 2-4 2-2 9 3 11
Moore
16 2-5 0-0 1-2 0 4
4
Ferguson
28 6-10 1-2 3-3 0 2 16
Adams
8
0-3 0-0 0-1 0 0
0
Totals
200 20-58 10-14 10-23 14 22 57
goals: 7-18 (Ellerbe 2-5, Kynard 0-1, Craft 1-6,
Alston 1-2, Ferguson 3-4). Team rebounds: 5.
Blocked shots: 9 (Blair 4, Adams 2, Ellerbe, Moore,
Ferguson). Turnovers: 13 (Ellerbe 3, Alston 2, Moore
2, Ferguson 2, Blair, Kynard, Craft, TEAM). Steals: 5
(Craft 2, Alston, Ferguson, Adams).
Minnesota
Total FG FT Reb.
Hirt
13 0-2 0-0 0-1 0 1
0
Zahui B.
36 6-16 2-4 7-11 1 4 14
Banham
37 5-14 13-14 0-4 7 1 27
Noga
38 3-10 1-1 1-3 4 1
9
Bailey
19 2-3 2-2 1-1 0 1
7
McDaniel
29 3-5 5-6 1-4 1 1 11
Riche
26 2-4 2-2 0-3 1 3
6
Hedstrom
2
0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1
0
Totals
200 21-54 25-29 13-29 14 13 74
7-17 (Banham 4-8, Noga 2-8, Bailey 1-1). Team
rebounds: 5. Blocked shots: 4 (Noga 2, Hirt, Zahui
B.). Turnovers: 11 (McDaniel 4, Banham 3, Hirt,
Zahui B., Noga, Riche). Steals: 4 (Banham, Noga,
Bailey, Riche).
Halftime: Minnesota 35, Ohio State 21. Officials:
Trammell, Marsh, Lukanich. A: 3,403.
lead Ohio State, which also got double-figure scoring afternoons from Ellerbe (13)
and Alston (11).
Still feeling the effects of the left shoulder injury suffered at Iowa three nights
earlier, Alston came off the bench. She
played 36 minutes, though, and handed out
nine assists.
“I think she was kind of feeling her
way through it at the beginning, but she
really toughed it out,” said McGuff, who
noted Alston did not practice prior to the
Minnesota game.
Ohio State lost for the third straight
time at Williams Arena but maintained a
winning record against the Gophers on
their home court.
The Buckeyes have won 20 of the 31
meetings there and lead the all-time series
with Minnesota 53-15.
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Upset Bid Falls Short, Iowa Holds Off OSU
By MARCUS HARTMAN
Ohio State hung with No. 25 Iowa for
nearly 40 minutes on Feb. 27 but ultimately
fell short in a bid for a third win of the season over a ranked opponent.
The women’s basketball Buckeyes fell
65-61 in front of 3,492 fans on Senior Night
at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
“We had plenty of chances, but we made
too many mistakes at the end – turnovers,
missed free throws and missed blockouts,”
Ohio State head coach Kevin McGuff told
the Ohio State IMG Sports Radio Network
after the game. “You can’t beat a good
team like Iowa on the road if you’re going
to make those mistakes.”
The game was
a tight affair early
in the second half
until Ohio State
used an 8-0 run
to open up a 51-44
lead with 12 minutes to go.
Center Ashley
Adams started the
spurt with a pair
of free throws that
put the Buckeyes
Ashley Adams
on top 45-44 with
14:31 left, and Cait Craft followed with a
three-pointer 21 seconds later. After a pair
of free throws by Ameryst Alston, Adams
capped the spurt with a layup.
Back-to-back layups by Theairra Taylor
and Bethany Doolittle quickly cut the
Buckeyes’ lead to three points and prompted
McGuff to call timeout with 10:58 left, but his
squad could not stop the Iowa onslaught.
A pair of fastbreak layups by Melissa
Dixon put Iowa back on top 52-51 with
eight minutes left, and the Hawkeyes eventually stretched the lead out to six on a
Dixon three-pointer.
Trailing 61-55 with five minutes left, the
Buckeyes did not fold. They drew to within
two thanks to layups by Adams and Alston,
and they had multiple unsuccessful tries to
tie the game before a Taylor layup made it
63-59 with 2:18 left.
Then came a scary moment on the following possession as Alston was knocked
to the floor on a drive into the lane and
ended up lying face down under the basket
in obvious pain.
Play was stopped at the 1:29 mark while
Alston was tended to. She walked off the
floor under her own power but did not
return to the game. Ohio State later confirmed she injured her left shoulder and
labeled her day-to-day.
After a pair of free throws by Raven
Ferguson drew Ohio State back within
two points – 63-61 – with 1:26 left, the
Buckeyes forced a missed three-pointer
by Dixon, but a killer offensive rebound
by Iowa point guard Samantha Logic set
up a Taylor layup with 22 seconds left
that closed out the scoring and sent the
Buckeyes to defeat.
“We didn’t capitalize at the end,”
McGuff said. “Those turnovers especially
were just killers, and it really came down
to that.”
Ohio State’s defense remained strong
throughout – holding Iowa to 36.7-percent
shooting in the second half and 41.7 for
the game – but the Buckeyes committed
21 turnovers in the game.
That helped fuel an Iowa transition
Plank’s Cafe
Iowa 65, Ohio State 61
Feb. 27, 2014
Carver-Hawkeye Arena; Iowa City, Iowa
Ohio State
Total FG FT Reb.
Ellerbe
31 0-5 0-0 2-3 2 4
0
Moore
9
2-3 0-0 0-3 0 4
4
Craft
39 4-11 0-1 1-3 2 2 10
Alston
37 7-10 4-4 0-4 5 2 18
Scullion
27 2-5 0-0 0-2 2 1
6
Kynard
3
0-0 0-0 0-0 2 2
0
Ferguson
23 4-9 2-4 0-6 1 4 11
Adams
31 5-9 2-3 1-5 1 0 12
Totals
200 24-52 8-12 6-29 15 19 61
5-15 (Ellerbe 0-2, Craft 2-7, Scullion 2-3, Ferguson 13). Team rebounds: 5. Blocked shots: 6 (Adams 4,
Scullion, Ferguson). Turnovers: 21 (Alston 7, Ellerbe
4, Ferguson 4, Craft 3, Moore, Scullion, Adams).
Steals: 6 (Ellerbe 2, Scullion, Kynard, Ferguson,
Adams).
Iowa
Total FG FT Reb.
Doolittle
30 5-13 2-2 1-2 0 2 12
Disterhoft
36 2-9 3-6 1-9 2 4
7
Dixon
33 6-11 0-0 0-0 1 2 14
Logic
40 2-9 0-4 2-2 10 2
5
Taylor
36 8-14 3-4 1-6 4 0 21
Kastanek
8
0-1 0-0 0-0 1 1
0
Till
10 1-1 2-2 0-1 1 1
4
Peschel
7
1-2 0-0 0-1 0 2
2
Totals
200 25-60 10-18 9-25 19 14 65
5-17 (Disterhoft 0-4, Dixon 2-7, Logic 1-3, Taylor 2-3).
Team rebounds: 8. Blocked shots: 3 (Doolittle 2,
Taylor). Turnovers: 13 (Logic 6, Disterhoft 3, Taylor
3, Doolittle). Steals: 15 (Logic 4, Taylor 4, Doolittle 3,
Kastanek 2, Dixon, Till).
Halftime: Iowa 36, Ohio State 34. Officials: Napier,
Mattingly, Pethtel. A: 3,492.
SONNY BROCKWAY
PITCHING IN – Ohio State junior
Raven Ferguson was one of four
Buckeyes to reach double figures in
scoring with 11 points during a 65-61
loss at Iowa on Feb. 27.
game that left the Hawkeyes with a 20-6
advantage on the fast break even as the
difference in points off turnovers was only
19-15.
“Iowa is a really, really good offensive
team, and we had a couple of good days of
practice to prepare for them,” McGuff said.
“I thought we executed what we wanted
to do on that end of the court, but we just
squandered too many opportunities on
offense.”
Alston scored a team-high 18 points
while fellow starting guard Craft added
10. Ferguson and Adams scored 12 and 11
points, respectively, off the bench.
“I think we played really hard and we
stuck to the game plan for the most part,”
McGuff said. “We just made too many mistakes, and it’s unfortunate. It’s really disappointing because this could have been a
great win for us.”
There were six ties in the first half, and
Ohio State’s early advantage at 10-5 was
the largest for either team in the first 20
minutes.
Iowa (22-7, 10-5) had a pair of four-point
leads in the first half, but the Buckeyes
battled back to tie the game at 29 on a
jumper in transition by Ferguson at the
3:24 mark. The game was tied at 34 when
Doolittle connect on a 15-foot jumper with
10 seconds to go that set the halftime score
at 36-34 in favor of the home team.
Ohio State shot 51.9 percent from the
floor in the first half – including 4 of 8 on
three-pointers – but suffered the effects
of turning the ball over 11 times. Iowa
turned those miscues into 11 points and
outscored the Buckeyes 9-4 in fastbreak
points.
“I always love the steals that lead to
baskets,” Iowa head coach Lisa Bluder
said. “To me, that’s a lot of fun. (Taylor)
got her hands up and she got her hands
in the passing lane and the zone and made
some great deflections, and she kept the
ball in play.”
In her last regular-season game in Iowa
City, Taylor scored a game-high 21 points
on 8-for-14 shooting. She also had four
assists and four steals.
“We withheld when they went up seven,
and we kept the faith, and we picked up our
defense and forced them into 21 turnovers
for this game,” Bluder said. “That got us
into fastbreak points, and we’re at our best
when we do that. But the most important
thing was it was Theairra’s night.”
Dixon and Doolittle joined Taylor in
double figures with 14 and 12 points,
respectively.
Ameryst Alston
Sophomore Guard
Canton, Ohio
PLANK’S LADY BUCK
OF THE MONTH
FOR FEBRUARY
Senior Day Win Ends OSU’s Losing Streak
By MARCUS HARTMAN
A five-game losing skid down the
stretched dulled some of the excitement
of the first year of the Kevin McGuff era,
but that didn’t matter much Feb. 23 as the
Ohio State women’s basketball team celebrated Senior Day in Value City Arena in
style with a 71-62 win vs. Northwestern.
Ashley Adams, Darryce Moore, Martina
Ellerbe and Aleksandra Dobranic along
with fourth-year junior Amy Scullion
played their final games in their home
building and came out firing, opening a
20-point lead in the first half and cruising
home from there.
That victory came on the heels of losses
Feb. 20 vs. No. 17 Nebraska and Feb. 15
at 25th-ranked Michigan State, leaving the
Buckeyes at 15-15 and 5-9 in what has been
a resurgent Big Ten league in 2014.
Full recaps of the games vs. the Wildcats,
Cornhuskers and Spartans were published
in BSB Quickly, and capsule recaps follow
in reverse chronological order.
Senior Day Triumph
It was the final home game for five
members of the program, but a sophomore led the way for the Buckeyes vs.
Northwestern, just as Ameryst Alston has
all season.
The OSU point guard scored 18 points
in the first half on her way to 30 for the
game, allowing the Buckeyes to post the
71-62 victory against the visiting Wildcats
and snap the program’s longest losing
streak since February 1997.
The game was Alston’s 28th double-figure scoring performance of the season and
14th in a row. She eclipsed 20 points for
the 10th time this season and reached 30
for the third time.
Ohio State opened up an 11-point lead
early thanks to a 9-0 run featuring baskets
from four different Buckeyes and capped
by a Cait Craft three-pointer that made it
18-7 with 12:46 to go in the half in front of
6,670 happy partisans.
Northwestern’s Maggie Lyon brought
that to an end with a three-pointer, but
Ohio State continued to dominate. The
Buckeyes ran off 19 of the next 25 points
to open up a 37-16 advantage. Alston had
10 points during that spurt, including a
layup at the 5:07 mark that capped it, while
junior Raven Ferguson had a pair of threes
in the run.
The Buckeyes
led 41-21 at halftime, including an
18-0 advantage off
turnovers.
“I thought that
was the best half
we’ve played in a
long time in the
fact that we put
things together
on both ends of
Kevin McGuff
the floor,” McGuff
said. “We were good offensively and defensively and efficient in both ways. I think
our effort stayed consistent, but our focus
kind of lacked in the second half.”
As McGuff alluded to, after OSU
opened a 24-point advantage early in the
second half, Northwestern utilized a fullcourt press to stage a rally, getting as
close as 64-59 with less than a minute to
play. Three Buckeyes combined to go 7
Ohio State 71, Northwestern 62
Nebraska 67, Ohio State 59
Feb. 23, 2014
Feb. 20, 2014
Northwestern
Total FG FT Reb.
Cohen
15 0-3 0-0 1-2 0 2
0
Coffey
36 4-10 1-4 5-13 4 5
9
Deary
24 1-3 1-2 0-3 1 4
3
Inman
31 3-7 4-4 2-1 1 3 10
Lyon
37 7-17 3-4 2-2 2 1 21
McKeown
11 0-1 0-0 0-1 0 0
0
Douglas
29 3-16 6-7 4-5 0 4 13
Taylor
0+ 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1
0
Roser
17 3-5 0-0 1-1 0 4
6
Totals
200 21-62 15-21 18-29 8 24 62
5-20 (Cohen 0-1, Coffey 0-1, Inman 0-1, Lyon 4-11,
McKeown 0-1, Douglas 1-5). Team rebounds: 4.
Blocked shots: 3 (Douglas 2, Cohen). Turnovers:
23 (Coffey 6, Deary 5, Lyon 5, Douglas 4, Inman,
McKeown, Roser). Steals: 2 (Deary, Inman).
Nebraska
Total FG FT Reb.
Sample
39 0-6 1-2 3-8 3 2
1
Cady
40 3-10 0-0 8-3 4 0
6
Hooper
32 8-17 3-4 0-7 0 2 24
Laudermill
25 1-6 3-4 1-0 1 4
6
Theriot
40 9-19 6-6 2-5 4 2 26
Jeffery
16 1-4 0-0 2-1 0 0
2
Havers
8
1-3 0-0 0-0 0 0
2
Totals
200 23-65 13-16 19-25 12 10 67
8-20 (Cady 0-1, Hooper 5-11, Laudermill 1-3, Theriot
2-3, Jeffery 0-2). Team rebounds: 4. Blocked shots:
2 (Sample, Havers). Turnovers: 11 (Cady 3, Hooper
3, Sample 2, Theriot 2, Jeffery). Steals: 7 (Hooper 3,
Sample 2, Laudermill 2).
Ohio State
Total FG FT Reb.
Ellerbe
39 4-9 3-4 3-3 2 1 13
Moore
20 2-7 0-0 3-2 1 4
4
Craft
34 1-3 1-2 1-2 4 4
4
Alston
35 8-15 14-17 2-2 3 3 30
Scullion
29 1-6 0-0 1-7 3 2
2
Dobranic
1
0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1
0
Ferguson
22 3-17 2-3 2-7 0 4 11
Adams
20 3-5 1-2 3-4 1 3
7
Totals
200 22-62 21-28 15-28 14 22 71
6-17 (Ellerbe 2-4, Craft 1-2, Alston 0-4, Scullion 0-2,
Ferguson 3-5). Team rebounds: 1. Blocked shots:
7 (Adams 4, Ellerbe 2, Moore). Turnovers: 15
(Ferguson 5, Moore 4, Alston 3, Craft 2, Scullion).
Steals: 9 (Adams 3, Alston 2, Ellerbe, Moore, Craft,
Ferguson).
Halftime: Ohio State 41, Northwestern 21. Officials:
Larance, Steratore, Hallead. Technical foul: OSU:
Ferguson. A: 6,670.
for 8 from the free-throw line to close out
the game, including a pair from Ellerbe,
who scored 13 points and grabbed six
rebounds.
Lyon led the Wildcats with 21 points.
Huskers Pull Away To Win
In a classic game of runs, No. 17
Nebraska had the biggest and the last at
Ohio State on Feb. 20, using a 17-0 spurt
late in the second half to pull out a 67-59
victory.
“This one should hurt because we had a
real chance to beat a great team,” McGuff
said. “But we didn’t finish it out, and to
their credit they did.”
The 4,612 fans at Value City Arena did
not have much to cheer about in the first
half, but they looked like they had a chance
to go home happy when the Buckeyes led
52-44 with eight minutes to go.
Then Nebraska star Jordan Hooper started the decisive run for the Cornhuskers
(20-5, 10-3) with a three-pointer with 7:06
left. She scored seven of her 24 points
over the next six minutes while Tear’a
Laudermill added six.
Rachel Theriot, a sophomore point
guard from Middleburg Heights, Ohio,
finished with a team-high 26 points for the
Cornhuskers, including six on free throws
in the final minute as Ohio State attempted
a futile comeback.
After a back-and-forth first half,
Nebraska took a 27-25 lead into intermission as Alston hit a three right before
the buzzer to set the halftime score. The
Huskers opened the second half on a quick
run that gave them a 36-29 lead, but Ohio
State replied with a 13-3 run that gave the
home team the lead. It started and ended
with Craft layups while Scullion had five
points and Alston added four along the
way.
After an Emily Cady jumper pulled
the Huskers within one at 42-41, Alston
scored eight in a row to push Ohio State’s
lead to its largest at 50-41 with 10:44 to
go.
Ohio State
Total FG FT Reb.
Ellerbe
40 2-8 0-0 0-2 2 3
5
Moore
16 1-2 0-0 1-4 1 4
2
Craft
37 3-6 0-0 0-2 3 1
6
Alston
37 12-17 2-2 0-4 0 2 31
Scullion
24 4-8 0-0 1-5 2 2 10
Blair
5
0-1 0-2 0-0 0 1
0
Ferguson
22 2-12 0-0 1-4 0 3
5
Adams
19 0-2 0-0 4-4 1 0
0
Totals
200 24-56 2-4 8-26 9 16 59
9-21 (Ellerbe 1-5, Craft 0-1, Alston 5-8, Scullion 2-5,
Ferguson 1-2). Team rebounds: 2. Blocked shots: 8
(Ellerbe 2, Blair 2, Ferguson 2, Adams 2). Turnovers:
18 (Craft 4, Ferguson 4, Alston 3, Scullion 3, Ellerbe
2, Moore, Blair). Steals: 3 (Moore, Craft, Adams).
Halftime: Nebraska 27, Ohio State 25. Officials:
Smith, Hall, Daley. Technical foul: Nebraska: TEAM.
A: 4,612.
But Nebraska controlled the game down
the stretch, much to the chagrin of OSU’s
first-year coach.
“I think for 35 minutes we played well,”
McGuff said. “We really competed. In the
last five it wasn’t that we weren’t trying,
we just made too many mental mistakes to
beat a team like Nebraska.”
Alston had a game-high 31 points for
the Buckeyes. She was 12 for 17 from the
floor while the rest of the team went 12
for 39.
MSU Dominates In East Lansing
No. 25 Michigan State (17-8, 9-3) opened
a 42-21 lead by halftime and cruised home
to a 70-49 victory in the Breslin Center on
Feb. 15.
“In general, our effort was really poor,”
McGuff said. “Michigan State played harder, and they were the tougher team today,
clearly. Specifically, we were really bad on
the boards. They were really aggressive,
and we didn’t have enough fight and push.
We were really bad in executing the transition defense.”
In fact, things went poorly for the
Buckeyes from even before the opening
tip, as Ohio State was assessed an “administrative technical foul” before the game
even began. McGuff explained the technical foul was a result of not getting the
Buckeyes’ starting five turned in to the
scorer’s table on time.
Tori Jankoska hit one of the two free
throws to give her team a 1-0 lead before
Michigan State 70, Ohio State 49
Feb. 15, 2014
Breslin Center; East Lansing, Mich.
Ohio State
Total FG FT Reb.
Ellerbe
32 1-5 0-0 2-5 1 1
2
Moore
18 2-7 0-0 2-2 1 0
4
Craft
33 4-8 2-4 0-3 0 4 11
Alston
38 11-32 2-4 1-1 3 2 25
Scullion
25 0-4 0-0 0-2 0 1
0
Dobranic
1
0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0
0
Blair
21 0-1 0-0 0-5 0 3
0
Ferguson
28 3-10 0-2 2-1 1 2
7
Adams
4
0-1 0-0 0-0 0 1
0
Totals
200 21-68 4-10 9-24 6 14 49
3-11 (Craft 1-2, Alston 1-6, Ferguson 1-3). Team
rebounds: 7. Blocked shots: 7 (Blair 4, Ellerbe,
Craft, Scullion). Turnovers: 11 (Alston 3, Ellerbe
2, Moore 2, Ferguson 2, Craft, Adams). Steals: 10
(Craft 5, Ellerbe, Moore, Alston, Scullion, Ferguson).
Michigan State Total FG FT Reb.
(17-8, 9-3)
Pickrel
38 7-15 2-2 4-7 6 0 17
Mills
26 7-14 1-2 2-6 0 3 17
Jankoska
38 4-13 1-3 1-5 3 2 11
Bell
27 1-1 2-2 0-8 5 3
4
Powers
30 6-11 1-2 0-7 5 2 15
Miller
1
0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0
0
Hines
23 2-4 0-0 2-4 0 1
4
Agee
15 0-4 0-0 2-2 2 1
0
Hengesbach
1
0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0
0
Morrissey
1
1-1 0-0 0-0 0 0
2
Totals
200 28-64 7-11 14-43 21 12 70
7-21 (Pickrel 1-7, Mills 2-3, Jankoska 2-7, Powers 24). Team rebounds: 7. Blocked shots: 7 (Mills 5,
Jankoska, Powers). Turnovers: 21 (Bell 5, Powers 5,
Jankoska 4, Pickrel 3, Agee 3, Hines). Steals: 8 (Mills
2, Bell 2, Powers 2, Pickrel, Jankoska).
Halftime: Michigan State 42, Ohio State 21.
Officials: Mattingly, Kantner, Grinter. Technical foul:
Ohio State: TEAM. A: 10,626.
the clock even started, and Michigan
State’s Becca Mills made a three-pointer
to stretch the Spartans’ lead to 4-0 before
OSU even had the ball.
Michigan State quickly opened a 122 lead that Ohio State cut to 25-19 with
7:04 left in the half, but Michigan State
took control of the game by outscoring
the visitors 17-2 from that point until
halftime.
The closest the Buckeyes got in the second half was 15. That came when Alston
hit a three-pointer to make it 64-49 with
2:56 to go.
That was the last Ohio State basket of
the game as Michigan State closed out the
victory in front of 10,626.
Alston led all scorers with 25 points but
went just 11 for 32 – taking nearly half of
OSU’s 68 shots – from the floor and had
three assists. Craft had 11 points on 4-for-8
shooting and was the only Buckeye other
than Alston to score in double figures as
OSU made just 30.9 percent of its field
goals.
Annalise Pickrel and Mills had 17 points
apiece to pace the Spartans, who also got
15 points from Aerial Powers and 11 from
Jankoska.
Ohio State had won the last three meetings against the Spartans in East Lansing,
and Michigan State swept the season series
for the first time since 1998.
OHIO STATE MEN’S HOCKEY
Dzingel Excelling For Now Cancer-Free Father
There’s a reason Ohio State’s foe in the
now defunct Central Collegiate Hockey
Association is named Northern Michigan.
The school in Marquette puts the up
in Upper Peninsula, and at 630 miles from
Columbus, it can take half a day to get there
and seem even longer on the return trip following a loss to the Wildcats.
Fortunately for the Buckeyes, the teams
are now in separate leagues and OSU is no
longer required to journey to the city on the
edge of Lake Superior.
But that’s not why the bus trip to Marquette
in January 2013 was a momentous one in
the life of Ohio State junior forward Ryan
Dzingel.
IN THE CREASE
Craig Merz
On the way there he was informed by his
family that his father, Rick, had cancer in his
lymph nodes and throat and would have to
undergo months of chemotherapy and radiation treatments.
“I found out on the 11-hour bus ride so
that was a tough experience,” the younger
Dzingel said. “I grew a lot from all of it.
I realized hockey’s just a game and life’s
short.”
Dzingel idolized his father and early on
wanted to follow in his footsteps and be a
baseball player. Rick played at Louisiana Tech
and had a brief career in the low minors in the
St. Louis Cardinals organization.
He was the baseball coach at Ryan’s high
school, Wheaton (Ill.) Academy, and despite
father and son differing on whom to root
for – Ryan is a Chicago Cubs fan while Rick
prefers the rival White Sox – they were very
close.
“It was tough dealing with that and worrying about Dad,” Ryan said. “He’s always
been my rock with sports. That was definitely
tough going back and seeing him go from a
big, strong man – he’s my idol, and chemo
really takes it out of you.”
Despite receiving the news about his father’s
cancer, Dzingel played both games at Northern
Michigan and had a total of three assists.
Dzingel was able to make it home to
Wheaton several times the remainder of the
season and on occasion would sleep on a
couch in his father’s hospital room.
“I prayed a lot and thank God it worked
out,” Ryan said.
Yes, the good news is that his father is
now cancer-free and has been able to make
trips to Columbus, the last time for games
against Michigan State on Jan. 10-11.
Looking back a little more than a year
later since having his world rocked, Ryan
told BSB recently he doesn’t feel his father’s
illness was a weight on his shoulder. Instead,
he used the battle to overcome cancer as
inspiration.
“Seeing the burden on him and how he
handled what he went through was unbelievable,” Ryan said. “It’s another thing for me to
look up to. I’ve looked up to him my whole
life.”
The statistics show that Dzingel’s play did
not suffer. Over the final 16 games after the
Northern Michigan series he had 18 points
(7 goals, 11 assists) to finish as the Buckeyes’
leading scorer for the season with 16 goals
and 22 assists for 38 points.
Included were three assists in the deciding third game of the CCHA quarterfinals
series vs. Ferris State, a 3-2 win that sent the
Buckeyes to the league semifinals for the first
time since 2005.
Dzingel (6-0, 187 pounds) has continued to
set the pace this season as OSU competes in
the inaugural season of the Big Ten’s hockey
conference.
The candidate for the Hobey Baker Award,
hockey’s equivalent of the Heisman Trophy,
leads all conference scorers with 38 points (a
career-high 17 goals plus 21 assists) through
30 overall games. Also, his 19 points (9-10) in
16 league games are the most even though
he has no goals and two assists in the past
six games.
“Teams might key on him, which they
should,” first-year coach Steve Rohlik said.
“He’s the leading scorer in the Big Ten.”
Dzingel had an eight-game goal streak
snapped Dec. 29 against Mercyhurst but had
three assists vs. the Lakers. In his next game
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KEVIN DYE
TOP BUCKEYE – Junior Ryan Dzingel led the Ohio State men’s hockey team
with 38 points (17 goals and 21 assists) through March 2.
against Michigan State he recorded the first
hat trick in conference history.
“He’s gotten better doing the little things
and being more responsible around the net,
shooting the puck,” junior teammate Nick
Oddo said. “Coach always stresses he’s got
to shoot the puck more. He creates a lot of
offense. He works hard and is a good player
to be around.”
Former OSU coach Mark Osiecki harped
on Dzingel his first two years to fire the puck
more, and the forward is finally doing that
under Rohlik.
“I’ve always tried, especially my freshman
year, to be receptive and hear that message,
but growing up I’ve been a skilled player
who likes to make plays and pass the puck,”
Dzingel said. “That’s just my identity and the
type of player I thought I was. I’ve grown in
my shot and trust it now.”
In fact, his 95 shots are second on the
team to junior Max McCormick’s 98.
“I’m always going to be a pass-first guy,
but I know I need to shoot the puck more,”
Dzingel said. “When I get the opportunity
to shoot and I’m open, I’ll take it more than
I used to.”
Rohlik enjoys seeing Dzingel put up points,
but he’s just as pleased by his development off
the puck. Dzingel had a minus-9 on the plus/
minus ledger last season but is at plus-13 this
time around.
“The thing that impresses me the most
about Ryan is his complete game,” Rohlik
said. “No one ever thought he’d be killing
penalties. He’s been killing penalties all year.
Ryan does a lot of good things besides scoring points.”
Even so, Dzingel admits that aspect of the
game wasn’t on his radar when he entered
the program.
“I came here as a freshman and never
played PK and was never focused in the
D-zone, a guy who would go out late in the
game,” he said. “I’ve been working with the
coaches a long time.”
He’s proved that concentrating on defense
won’t hinder his offense, and Feb. 15 he registered an assist against Wisconsin to become
the first OSU junior since current Columbus
Blue Jackets forward R.J. Umberger to reach
100 career points (40-60).
“I’ve been fortunate to be around some
pretty good players in my 23 years of coaching,” Rohlik said. “His skill set is right there.
You’ve certainly got to do a lot of good things
to get to 100 points, in your junior year yet.
“He puts himself in position. He’s had very
good teammates around him, but at the end of
the day he works at his craft, he spends hours
on his craft. I see a big jump in his overall
game. I attribute that to a lot of success. He’s
scored points at every level.”
The question becomes when will Dzingel
take the next step in his career? The seventhround selection of the Ottawa Senators in the
2011 NHL draft said now is not the time to be
thinking about turning pro after this season.
“Obviously it’s around and I understand that,
but I’ve talked to Coach about it and I’m just
focusing on winning here,” he said. “I’ve never
been able to make the (NCAA) tournament
here at Ohio State so we’re focusing on that.”
If he does make it to the NHL at some
point it would fulfill a dream to play at the
highest level even if it isn’t in a sport his
father had hoped. Ryan was a shortstop for
him in high school and thought of pursuing
a scholarship.
“I played baseball my whole life and was
planning to play in college before I went the
hockey route,” he said. “It was a tough decision but once I got drafted I realized hockey
was probably my best choice. I love hockey
a little bit more so I chose hockey. My dad
regrets it a little bit because he wishes I
played baseball, but it worked out well.
“I miss baseball but there are no regrets.”
Frey Is The Guy
Freshman goalie Christian Frey is the BSB
Varsity Club Icer of the Month for February. In
five games the Arlington, Texas, native went
2-1-2, allowing 10 goals and posting a .929
save percentage.
He also stopped seven of eight shootout
attempts, including the final seven, in a twogame series at Michigan State on Feb. 7-8 to
help the Buckeyes claim the extra point in
both games.
Welcome Back
Next up for the Buckeyes are the final
two home games of the season in Value City
Arena against Minnesota on March 7-8.
The No. 2 Golden Gophers own the series
14-1 and have won seven straight against
the Buckeyes, including 1-0 and 4-2 wins in
Minneapolis on Jan. 17-18.
Minnesota (23-4-5, 12-2-2) has played only
twice in Columbus, recording 7-2 and 6-3 wins
Oct. 20-21, 2006.
OHIO STATE MEN’S HOCKEY
Buckeyes, Wolverines Split Pair Of Tight Games
By CRAIG MERZ
When Michigan defeated Ohio State by a
4-3 score March 2 the Wolverines widened
the gap to five points between themselves
and the fourth-place Buckeyes in the Big Ten
standings, but in reality there’s not much of a
difference between the teams.
That’s because Michigan won three of the
four games this season between the teams
by a goal but the Buckeyes earned a 2-2 tie
in Ann Arbor on Feb. 28 and won the subsequent shootout.
“If you follow this series or this rivalry
between these two programs the past five
years, you’ll see just about every game is
decided by one goal and there’s not much to
choose between the teams,” Michigan coach
Red Berenson said.
OSU sophomore defenseman Sam Jardine
said the Buckeyes are still confident they can
beat Michigan.
“If you look back
to the first two games
(in December vs.
Michigan) we had
a really bad taste
in our mouths,” he
said. “One of them
we gave away in
overtime and one
we gave away with
a minute left in the
game.
Sam Jardine
“We’re clearly
on their level. If we got to play them in
the (conference) tournament that would be
great. There’s no intimidation factor at all.
That’s a team we want to play every night.
We like that rivalry. We’re ready for that.”
Not So Special
OSU gave up two early power-play goals
and never recovered in the 4-3 loss on March
2 before an announced crowd of 5,748 at
Nationwide Area, home of the NHL’s Columbus
Blue Jackets. That was the site because the ice
was taken out of Value City Arena for the weekend’s state high school wrestling tournament.
“This time of the year usually the team
that wins the special teams is going to win
the game,” OSU coach Steve Rohlik said.
“That was the case tonight. We kind of shot
ourselves in the foot and gave them a running
start. We couldn’t catch up.”
Alex Kile, Luke Moffatt, Derek BeBlois and
Phil Di Giuseppe scored for the Wolverines.
Steve Racine stopped 34 OSU shots, including
14 of 15 in the third.
Freshman David Gust brought the
Buckeyes back from a 2-0 deficit, junior Darik
Angeli pulled OSU to within one at 3-2 in the
second period and Jardine made it 4-3 in the
third, but that was it as freshman goalie Matt
Tomkins made 34 saves as well.
“We ran out of time at the end,” Rohlik
said. “It was probably an entertaining game
for most people to watch.”
Michigan needed just 32 seconds on two
power plays to take a 2-0 lead in the opening
7:03 of the game. The Wolverines opened
the scoring when Kile was stationed in front
of the goal to redirect a shot from the left by
Andrew Copp at 2:26.
The Buckeyes had a chance to tie the
score with their own power play but failed to
finish, and the Wolverines showed them how
to do it 14 seconds after Jardine was sent off
for boarding as Moffatt scored from the slot.
“That was frustrating because I thought
we had a good start,” Jardine said. “Their
power-play gaoals happened very early in the
power plays. They were bang-bang. It’s not
like they were working us around on long
shifts and we got tired.”
It was an uphill battle the rest of the way for
the Buckeyes, and it got worse in the second
period when senior forward Alex Szczechura,
the star of Friday’s game with a goal and the
shootout winner, appeared to hurt his left knee
or ankle when it buckled as he skated backward in the second period. He did not return.
Buckeyes Make A Point
Szczechura scored the lone goal in the
Feb. 28 shootout and Tomkins stopped all
three Wolverines’ tries as the Buckeyes took
two of three points in the standings.
Still, Ohio State squandered a 2-1 thirdperiod lead when Alex Guptill scored with just
over five minutes remaining before the usual
sellout of 5,800 at Yost Ice Arena.
“We talked about it right away in the locker room,” Rohlik said. “It certainly wasn’t our
best game, but good teams find a way to get
points. We’ve been talking about just getting
points. We’re on the road, in this building, in
this atmosphere – it was fun. For us to come
away with two points, that’s big for us.”
Freshman Nick Schilkey, the lone
Michigander on the OSU squad, gave the
Buckeyes a 1-0 lead in the first before OSU
killer Guptill tied it with 28.2 seconds left in
the period.
Szczechura, who was a healthy scratch
the previous game, netted his fourth midway through the second, but the Buckeyes
couldn’t hold on.
Tomkins, who made his first start in place
of fellow freshman Christian Frey since a Jan.
24 loss at Wisconsin, was outstanding with 35
saves. He had a big third period when OSU
was outshot 17-10.
“Matty was just waiting in the wings,”
Rohlik said. “He deserved an opportunity. I’m
really happy for him. You give all the credit
for him stepping in after the long stretch
between games for him and to come back and
show what he’s all about.”
Ohio State never trailed in the game and
held a 2-1 lead as time ticked down and
Ohio State 2, Michigan 2
Feb. 28, 2014
Yost Ice Arena; Ann Arbor, Mich.
1
F
3
OT
2
March 2, 2014
Nationwide Arena; Columbus, Ohio
1
2
3
F
1 1 0 0 2
2
1
1
4
1 0 1 0 2
0
2
1
3
Ohio State wins shootout, 1-0
Scoring
First Period – OSU: Schilkey 10 (Niddery),
4:26; U-M: Guptill 10 (Compher), 19:31.
Second Period – OSU: Szczechura 8
(Jardine, Gedig), 10:00 (PP).
Third Period – U-M: Guptill 11 (Allen),
14:44.
Shootout – U-M: Copp (MISS), Moffatt
(MISS), Guptill (MISS). OSU: Schilkey (MISS),
Szczechura (GOAL).
Scoring
First Period – U-M: Kile 4 (Copp, Downing),
2:26 (PP); U-M: Moffatt 9 (Copp, Downing),
7:03 (PP).
Second Period – OSU: Gust 6 (Niddery,
Healey), 3:03; U-M: DeBlois 5 (Guptill, Nieves),
6:12; OSU: Angeli 9 (Jardine, Gedig), 17:45
(PP).
Third Period – U-M: Di Giuseppe 9 (Clare,
Nieves), 10:30 (PP); OSU: Jardine 1 (Niddery,
Johnson), 11:49.
SOG – U-M 37, OSU 26. Penalties – OSU 714, U-M 4-8. PP – OSU 1-3, U-M 0-6.
Goaltenders (Saves) – OSU: Tomkins (35).
U-M: Nagelvoort (24).
Att. – 5,800. Records – OSU 15-10-4 (5-6-43 Big Ten); U-M 15-10-4 (7-6-2-1 Big Ten).
SOG – U-M 38, OSU 37. Penalties – U-M 510, OSU 4-8. PP – U-M 3-4, OSU 1-5.
Goaltenders (Saves) – U-M: Racine (34).
OSU: Tomkins (34).
Att. – 5,748. Records – OSU 15-11-4 (5-7-43 Big Ten); U-M 16-10-4 (8-6-2-1 Big Ten).
Michigan pushed for an equalizer. It came
with 5:16 on the clock.
Evan Allen found the puck in the corner
for U-M and sent it to Guptill in front, and
the Michigan junior first hit the post behind
Tomkins before burying the rebound past the
down-and-out goalie.
Ohio State also couldn’t score on a late
power play in regulation and had some chances in overtime before a true gut check, as
Michigan defenseman Michael Downing hit
the post as the clock ticked under 10 seconds
to go in the extra frame.
“We looked like we were 13 days off,”
Rohlik said. “I thought we’d be sharper, and
we actually had a really good week of practice.
Give credit to Michigan, but I thought both
sides, the first period, it was like a pingpong
match. It really looked that way. They got
their legs under them and they obviously had
some chances, and we could never get over
the hump.”
Ten schedule Feb. 21-22, and the Buckeyes
last took to the ice before the Michigan series
Feb. 14-15 when they split the points with
visiting Wisconsin in Value City Arena.
The Buckeyes ran their unbeaten streak to
six (4-0-2) in the opener with a 2-1 win vs. the
No. 8 Badgers. OSU jumped on Wisconsin
early, as Tyler Lundey converted Nick Oddo’s
feed past Joel Rumpel just 2:08 into the game
and Darik Angeli buried Oddo’s rebound in a
scramble later in the period.
Michael Mersch scored early in the third
for Wisconsin, but Frey made 29 saves while
earning the victory.
The unbeaten run ended in the second
game, as Wisconsin grabbed a 2-0 lead in the
first period and took home a 4-2 victory. Mark
Zengerle scored twice for the Badgers (17-9-2,
8-5-1-0 Big Ten).
Ohio State got goals from Schilkey in the
second period and Max McCormick in the
third but never could tie the score before
Nick Kerdiles scored an empty-net goal.
Full recaps of the games were published in
the Feb. 18 BSB Quickly.
Buckeyes, Bucky Split Points
Ohio State had an open week in the Big
VARSITY CLUB
ICER OF THE MONTH
For February
Christian Frey
Freshman Goaltender
Arlington, Texas
OHIO STATE WRESTLING
Buckeyes Take Momentum Into Big Ten Meet
By JEFF SVOBODA
Buckeye Sports Bulletin Editor
What Ohio State did this season is no
secret in the wrestling world.
With a strong freshman class this season
and more highly rated wrestlers set to join
the program next year, head coach Tom
Ryan and his staff elected to redshirt some of
the team’s best athletes in a no-holds-barred
attempt to make a run at the 2015 NCAA
championship.
The Buckeyes would never say they sacrificed this season in order to win in the future
– after all, at Ohio State, you try to win every
match in front of you – but there was a fair bit
of wondering just how this season would go.
And after a 21-12 loss to Michigan in
Columbus on Jan. 31, the answer didn’t look
good. The setback dropped OSU to 7-4 overall and 2-4 in the Big Ten, and it was fair to
wonder what the direction would be for the
final months of the season.
To their credit, the Buckeyes didn’t take
the situation lying down. OSU closed the Big
Ten with wins at Purdue and vs. Michigan
State then took third place at the 16-team
NWCA National Duals in St. John Arena,
giving top-ranked Minnesota a run for its
money in the semifinals before downing No.
11 Oklahoma in the consolation bout.
Add in a 23-16 Senior Day win Feb. 23 vs.
16th-ranked Virginia Tech and the Buckeyes
will head to this year’s Big Ten championships, set for March 8-9 in Madison, at 13-5
overall and having won six of their last seven
of duals.
“There was a point there when we were
concerned for the team,” Ryan said. “You lose
to Wisconsin, then we lost to Nebraska, we
lost to Michigan – all winnable duals. So you
start to head in this direction where it’s like,
‘Man, no one is stepping up at all.’
“Then you end up 13-5 in duals, we have a
couple of good wins – Oklahoma was a good
win, Virginia Tech was a decent win for the
amount of guys we had out of the lineup – so
overall I think it was all right. All right is not
the standard, but it was all right. Overall, I’m
proud of the way the guys are competing.”
Two-time Big Ten champion Logan
Stieber can feel momentum building as the
Buckeyes head to the league meet looking to
improve on last year’s fourth-place finish.
“I think we’re all getting a little bit more
confident and seeing all the work we’ve
done, it’s really helped us,” Stieber said.
“We’re confident and wrestling pretty well
right now.”
Doing so will be difficult, though, considering the Big Ten is stacked as usual.
The top three teams in the Feb. 25 USA
Today/NWCA national coaches poll are Big
Ten squads – Minnesota is first followed by
three-time defending NCAA champ Penn
State and Iowa – with Michigan in seventh,
Nebraska eighth and OSU rated 11th.
Individually, the Buckeyes will look to
Stieber to capture his third consecutive
league crown, this time at 141 pounds, while
senior Nick Heflin is one of the favorites
at 197. After that, ranked wrestlers such as
Nick Roberts (20th at 125), Johnni DiJulius
(eighth at 133), Ian Paddock (18th at 149),
Mark Martin (13th at 174), Kenny Courts
(12th at 184) and Nick Tavanello (32nd at
heavyweight) will also be in the mix as Ryan
hopes to qualify at least eight wrestlers to the
NCAA tournament.
The following is a weight-by-weight breakdown of the Big Ten. The national top-20
rankings, noted in parentheses, are those
bestowed by the NCAA Division I Wrestling
Coaches Panel on Feb. 27. In addition, the
numbers of automatic qualifiers to the NCAA
tournament from each weight class are listed,
and additional wild-card spots will be handed
out by the NCAA after the meet.
125 Pounds (7 Qualifiers)
• Favorites – Nico Megaludis, Penn
State (2)
• Contenders – Jesse Delgado, Illinois
(3); Thomas Gilman, Iowa (5); Bradley Taylor,
Wisconsin (9); Tim Lambert, Nebraska (12);
Conor Youtsey, Michigan (15); Roberts (20)
• Breakdown – Roberts has been
ranked for much of this year but finished
Big Ten duals at 2-6, though he did add a
decision over Minnesota’s Sam Brancale at
the National Duals. The redshirt freshman is
25-11 overall and had won five straight bouts
before losing a decision to Virginia Tech’s
Joey Dance, who is ranked 18th.
Ryan says Roberts and Tavanello have
a lot in common despite being on opposite
ends of the weight spectrum.
“The bookend Nicks, little Nick and big
Nick, it all boils down to their belief system,”
Ryan said. “If they realized how good they
are and what they’re capable of, they’ll be
fine, but if they continue to wrestle with slight
hesitation and doubt, you don’t know what
you’re going to get. I’ve seen both from each
of them.”
Delgado is the defending champion but
lost a decision to Megaludis on Jan. 24.
“I wasn’t as fully prepared as I should
have been the first time,” Stieber said. “If I
get a takedown, I will try to ride him a little
longer and control him. Last time, I didn’t
ride him as long as I should have. If I happen
to be on bottom, I just have to be smart. I’ve
been working on a lot of stuff on getting off
the bottom.”
Stieber – whose brother, Hunter, won
at this weight last year before taking a redshirt this season – has posted bonus points
in every win, including eight pins and nine
technical falls.
“Logan is an offensive wrestler,” Ryan
said. “He’s extremely dominant. Retherford
is more defensive, controls the pace of the
match. I see that as a final, and Logan is at
another level now than he was at the time
they competed.”
149 Pounds (6)
• Favorite – Nick Dardanes, Minnesota
(2)
• Contenders – Jake Sueflohn, Nebraska
(4); Jason Tsirtsis, Northwestern (6); Brody
Grothus, Iowa (7); Eric Grajales, Michigan
(8); Paddock (18)
• Breakdown – Paddock boasts a 22-12
record overall and was 3-5 in Big Ten duals
during his senior campaign. He has had trouble with top competition, though he did down
Grajales at the CKLV meet in December.
This will be his fourth conference meet, with
his best finish fifth place at 133 in 2010.
Sueflohn (27-3) was last year’s Big Ten
runner-up, while Dardanes is 28-2.
133 Pounds (8)
• Favorite – Tony Ramos, Iowa (3)
• Contenders – Tyler Graff, Wisconsin
(5); David Thorn, Minnesota (7); DiJulius (8);
Cashé Quiroga, Purdue (9); Zane Richards,
Illinois (10); James Guilbon, Penn State (15);
Rosario Bruno, Michigan (17)
• Breakdown – This is one of the toughest weights in the Big Ten, which makes
DiJulius’ road a difficult one.
He’s had an excellent bounce-back season
as a junior, going 23-4 overall and posting
a win at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invite
in December over top-ranked Joe Colon of
Northern Iowa as well as two victories over
No. 11 Cody Brewer of Oklahoma, a returning
All-American. But DiJulius has also dropped
matches to Bruno, Thorn and Quiroga, though
he did best Bruno at the CKLV meet.
“Johnni has had a really solid year overall,” Ryan said. “The weight at the Big Ten is
brutal. Heck, the top eight are ranked really
high in the country, but he’s had a great season. He’s capable of doing really big things
this year.”
Ramos, meanwhile, will be dead set on
capturing a Big Ten title after losing to
Stieber in each of the last two seasons.
141 Pounds (6)
• Co-Favorites – Zain Retherford, Penn
State (2); Logan Stieber (3)
• Contenders – Chris Dardanes,
Minnesota (5); Stephen Dutton III, Michigan
(11); Josh Dziwea, Iowa (13); Danny Sabatello,
Purdue (20)
• Breakdown – Retherford probably
should be the favorite considering the freshman is the lone wrestler to beat Stieber
(22-1) this year, but betting against the twotime defending league and national champion
come tournament time is a fool’s errand.
The two seem to be on a collision course
to meet again, with Stieber wanting to earn
revenge for the 4-2, overtime loss he absorbed
Dec. 15.
157 Pounds (8)
• Co-Favorites – James Green, Nebraska
(1); Isaac Jordan, Wisconsin (3)
• Contenders – Derek St. John, Iowa
(4); Dylan Ness, Minnesota (7); Taylor
Walsh, Indiana (8); Dylan Alton, Penn State
(11); Brian Murphy, Michigan (13)
• Breakdown – Trying to make an
impact for Ohio State will be junior Randy
Languis, who went 18-18 overall and 1-7
in the Big Ten. He comes in with some
momentum, though, including two wins at
the National Duals and a close loss to Ness at
that meet.
“Randy has wrestled really well at times,”
Ryan said. “He’s one position away from
beating Ness. But the thing about Randy to
this point is he’s lost close to a lot of people.
Losing close and winning close are worlds
apart.”
Green took second at last year’s meet and
is 26-1, though his lone loss was in overtime
Feb. 21 vs. Jordan (24-4).
165 Pounds (8)
• Favorite – David Taylor, Penn State
• Contenders – Logan Storley,
Minnesota (4); Matt Brown, Penn State (5);
Michael Evans, Iowa (6); Martin (13); Leroy
Munster, Northwestern (20)
• Breakdown – Martin is 24-9 overall
and 5-3 in Big Ten duals, though breaking
through into the top class of wrestlers at this
meet will mean he’ll have to post a quarterfinals upset. The junior has won five matches
in a row heading to Madison but has losses
to Kokesh (6-2) and Brown (16-4) on his
résumé.
Brown won last year’s meet over Evans,
but Kokesh is 29-1 and has decisions over
both of them this year.
184 Pounds (7)
• Favorite – Ed Ruth, Penn State (2)
• Contenders – Ethen Lofthouse, Iowa
(4); Kevin Steinhaus, Minnesota (7); Timothy
Dudley, Nebraska (8); Courts (12)
• Breakdown – Courts has been
banged up, though Ryan expects him to be
ready to go. He is 25-5 this year, was 5-3 in
league duals and has won five matches in
a row. Courts was on the receiving end of
a major decision vs. Ruth and was pinned
by Dudley. Seeded sixth, he’ll have some
tough competition in the form of Lofthouse
in the quarterfinals.
Ruth, who beat Steinhaus last year for the
Big Ten crown, is a two-time national champion, though his 84-match win streak was
snapped in January
197 Pounds (8)
• Favorite – Morgan McIntosh, Penn
State (3)
• Contenders – Scott Schiller, Minnesota
(4); Heflin (5); Mario Gonzalez, Illinois (9);
Braden Atwood, Purdue (12); Nathan Burak,
Iowa (13); Alex Polizzi, Northwestern (16)
• Breakdown – Heflin is 21-1 this
year, with his lone loss coming in overtime to Wisconsin’s Tim McCall on Jan.
10. He has not faced McIntosh but bested
Schiller, 8-4, at the National Duals. Having
moved up from 174 – where he had a second-place Big Ten finish in 2011 – to 197,
Heflin is poised to make a run at a title in
his final season.
“He’s ready to win it,” Ryan said. “I think
that he’s been strength training all year long,
the fact that he’s not been cutting weight at
all, he has climbed as the season has gone
on. He’s gotten stronger, and I would say he
also learned how to wrestle ’97-pounders and
not ’74-pounders. I feel like he’s wrestling as
well as he’s ever wrestled.”
Schiller was last year’s Big Ten runnerup, while McIntosh is 25-2 this season with
his only losses coming vs. No. 2 J’Den Cox
of Missouri.
(1)
• Contenders – Nick Moore, Iowa (4);
Pierce Harger, Northwestern (6); Daniel
Yates, Michigan (10); Jackson Morse, Illinois
(13); Austin Wilson, Nebraska (20)
• Breakdown – Ohio State junior Joe
Grandominico went 10-21 overall and 1-7 in
Big Ten duals, besting only Michigan State’s
Bobby Nash. He’ll have his work cut out to be
one of the national qualifiers despite the fact
this isn’t the league’s best weight.
Taylor, a native of St. Paris, Ohio, won last
year’s Hodge Trophy as the best wrestler in
the nation, is 26-0 and has never lost to Big
Ten opposition.
174 Pounds (7)
• Favorite – Robert Kokesh, Nebraska
(3)
Heavyweight (9)
• Favorite – Adam Coon, Michigan (1)
• Contenders – Mike McMullen,
Northwestern (2); Adam Chalfant, Indiana
(4); Bobby Telford, Iowa (5); Anthony Nelson,
Minnesota (6); Mike McClure, Michigan
State (7); Connor Medbery, Wisconsin (8);
Jonathan Gingrich, Penn State (14)
• Breakdown – Tavanello went 20-14
this season but was just 2-6 in league duals,
which makes sense given the depth at the
top of the league. He has losses vs. Medbery,
McMullan, Coon (in overtime) and McClure
on the season.
Nelson won last year’s conference crown
vs. McMullen on the way to his second
national title, but Coon has moved to up No.
1 on the strength of a 28-1 record.
MEN’S BASKETBALL
(22-8, 9-8 Big Ten)
Nov. 3 WALSH (Exhibition), W 93-63; 9
MORGAN STATE, W 89-50; 12 OHIO, W 79-69; 16
at (17) Marquette, W 52-35; 20 AMERICAN, W 6352; 25 WYOMING, W 65-50; 29 NORTH FLORIDA,
W 99-64.
Dec. 4 MARYLAND, W 76-60; 7 CENTRAL
CONNECTICUT STATE, W 74-56; 11 BRYANT
(Gotham Classic), W 86-48; 14 NORTH DAKOTA
STATE (Gotham Classic), W 79-62; 18 DELAWARE
(Gotham Classic), W 76-64; 21 at New York vs.
Notre Dame (Gotham Classic), W 64-61; 27 LA.MONROE, W 71-31; 31 at Purdue, W 78-69.
Jan. 4 NEBRASKA, W 84-53; 7 at (5) Michigan
State, L 72-68 (OT); 12 (20) IOWA, L 84-74; 16 at
Minnesota, L 63-53; 20 at Nebraska, L 68-62; 23
ILLINOIS, W 62-55; 29 PENN STATE, L 71-70 (OT).
Feb. 1 at (14) Wisconsin, W 59-58; 4 at (17)
Iowa, W 76-69; 8 PURDUE, W 67-49; 11 (15)
MICHIGAN, L 70-60; 15 at Illinois, W 48-39; 19
NORTHWESTERN, W 76-60; 22 MINNESOTA, W 6446; 27 at Penn State, L 65-63.
March 2 at Indiana, L 72-64; 9 MICHIGAN
STATE, 4:30 p.m.; 13-16 Big Ten Tournament at
Indianapolis.
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
(15-17, 5-11 Big Ten)
Nov. 3 BELLARMINE (Exhibition), W 101-48; 8
at West Virginia, W 70-61; 10 FLORIDA ATLANTIC,
W 91-88; 14 VCU, W 83-71; 17 at (24) Georgia, L
53-49; 22 OLD DOMINION (Basketball Hall of Fame
Challenge), W 75-60; 23 MARIST (Basketball Hall of
Fame Challenge), W 62-59; 24 BOWLING GREEN
(Basketball Hall of Fame Challenge), L 64-52; 27
LEHIGH, W 93-63.
Dec. 1 vs. (1) UConn (Basketball Hall of Fame
Challenge) at Springfield, Mass., L 70-49; 4 at (8)
Maryland (Big Ten/ACC Challenge), L 67-55; 8
(24) GONZAGA, L 59-58; 13 ARMY, W 59-56; 15
at Cincinnati, L 64-49; 17 TENN. MARTIN, W 8260; 20 APPALACHIAN STATE, W 52-38; 29 N.C.
CENTRAL, W 65-47.
Jan. 2 (17) PURDUE, W 89-78; 5 MICHIGAN,
L 64-49; 11 at (22) Indiana, W 70-51; 16 at (16)
Penn State, L 66-42; 19 IOWA, L 81-74; 23 at
Michigan, W 61-50; 26 MICHIGAN STATE, L 82-68;
30 ILLINOIS, W 90-64.
Feb. 2 at Wisconsin, L 82-71; 6 at (25) Purdue,
L 74-58; 9 (9) PENN STATE, L 74-54; 15 at (25)
Michigan State, L 70-49; 20 (17) NEBRASKA, L
67-59; 23 NORTHWESTERN, W 71-62; 27 at (25)
Iowa, L 65-61.
March 2 at Minnesota, L 74-57; 6 Big Ten
Tournament First Round at Indianapolis vs. (9)
Northwestern.
BASEBALL
(7-3)
Feb. 14 Snowbird Classic at Port Charlotte,
Fla., vs. UConn, W 8-2; 15 Snowbird Classic at
Port Charlotte, Fla., vs. Auburn, W 1-0; vs. Indiana
State, L 7-3; 16 Snowbird Classic at Port Charlotte,
Fla., vs. Indiana State, L 8-6; 21 UCF Tournament
at Orlando, Fla., vs. UCF, W 9-3 (13 innings); 22
UCF Tournament at Orlando, Fla., vs. The Citadel,
W 5-4; 23 UCF Tournament at Orlando, Fla., vs.
Oklahoma, W 6-3; 28 Keith LaClair Classic at
Greenville, N.C., vs. Pittsburgh, W 6-2.
March 1 Keith LaClair Classic at Greenville,
N.C., vs. Western Kentucky, W 5-4; 2 Keith LaClair
Classic at Greenville, N.C., vs. East Carolina, L 3-2;
7-9 at Oregon; 11 at Oregon State; 14 SIENA, 5:05
p.m.; 15 SIENA, 3:05 p.m.; 16 SIENA, 1:05 p.m.; 18
AKRON, 5:05 p.m.; 19 XAVIER, 5:05 p.m.; 21-23
at Michigan State; 25 MARSHALL, 6:35 p.m.; 28
INDIANA, 6:35 p.m.; 29 INDIANA, 3:05 p.m.; 30
INDIANA, 1:05 p.m.
April 1 OHIO, 6:35 p.m.; 2 TOLEDO, 6:35 p.m.;
4-6 at Nebraska; 9 DAYTON, 6:35 p.m.; 11 PENN
STATE, 6:35 p.m.; 12 PENN STATE, 4:05 p.m.; 13
PENN STATE, 1:05 p.m.; 15 at West Virginia; 16
BALL STATE, 6:35 p.m.; 18 MURRAY STATE, 6:35
p.m.; 19 MURRAY STATE, 1:05 p.m.; 20 MURRAY
STATE, 1:05 p.m.; 25-27 at Purdue; 30 at Louisville.
May 2 IOWA, 6:35 p.m.; 3 IOWA, 3:05 p.m.;
4 IOWA, 1:05 p.m.; 6 MIAMI (OHIO), 6:35 p.m.;
9-11 at Michigan; 13 CINCINNATI, 6:35 p.m.; 15
NORTHWESTERN, 6:35 p.m.; 16 NORTHWESTERN,
6:35 p.m.; 17 NORTHWESTERN, 3:05 p.m.; 21-24
Big Ten Tournament at Omaha, Neb.
MEN’S HOCKEY
(15-11-4, 5-7-4-3 Big Ten)
Oct. 5 TORONTO (Exhibition), W 9-1; 11 (2)
MIAMI (OHIO), L 6-2; 12 at (2) Miami (Ohio), L 6-3;
15 at Bowling Green, L 4-3; 25 ROBERT MORRIS,
W 5-3; 26 at Robert Morris, W 4-3; 29 BOWLING
GREEN, W 5-3.
Nov. 1-2 (20) MINN. DULUTH, L 3-1, W 4-2; 8-9
NIAGARA, W 4-1, W 6-1; 15-16 CANISIUS, W 3-0,
W 3-1; 29 at (3) Michigan, L 4-3 (OT).
Dec. 2 (3) MICHIGAN, L 5-4; 28-29
MERCYHURST, W 6-3, W 7-2.
Jan. 10-11 MICHIGAN STATE, W 5-3, T 1-1 (SOL
3-2); 17 at (1) Minnesota (TCF Bank Stadium), L 1-0;
18 at (1) Minnesota, L 4-2; 24-25 at (9) Wisconsin, L
5-3, W 3-1; 31-Feb. 1 PENN STATE, W 5-1, W 5-2.
Feb. 7-8 at Michigan State, T 2-2 (SOW 2-1), T
2-2 (SOW 1-0); 14-15 (8) WISCONSIN, W 2-1, L 4-2;
28 at (13) Michigan, T 2-2 (SOW 1-0).
March 2 (13) MICHIGAN (at Nationwide Arena),
L 4-3; 7-8 MINNESOTA, 7:30 p.m., 6:30 p.m.; 1415 at Penn State; 20-22 Big Ten Tournament at St.
Paul, Minn.
WOMEN’S HOCKEY
(15-17-5, 9-14-5 WCHA)
Sept. 28 TORONTO AEROS (Exhibition), L 2-1
(OT).
Oct. 5 at (7) Mercyhurst, W 4-3 (OT); 11-12 ST.
CLOUD STATE, T 2-2 (SOL 2-1); W 4-2; 18-19 at (5)
North Dakota, L 5-2; W 2-1.
Nov. 2-3 at (2) Wisconsin, L 4-1, L 3-2; 8-9
BEMIDJI STATE, L 3-2; T 2-2; 15-16 MINN. DULUTH,
L 3-2, L 2-0; 22-23 at Minnesota State, L 4-1, L 2-1;
26 (10) ROBERT MORRIS, L 2-1; 30-Dec. 1 at New
Hampshire, W 3-2, W 2-0.
Dec. 7-8 (1) MINNESOTA, L 9-2, L 5-1.
Jan. 3-4 PENN STATE, W 8-0, W 4-0; 10-11 at
(1) Minnesota, L 6-0, T 2-2 (SOW 1-0); 18-19 at
Minn. Duluth, T 0-0 (SOL 1-0), T 2-2 (SOW 2-0); 2425 MINNESOTA STATE, W 3-2 (OT), W 4-2; 31-Feb.
1 at St. Cloud State, W 4-1, W 6-1.
Feb. 7-8 (2) WISCONSIN, L 3-0, L 3-2; 14-15
at Bemidji State, L 4-1, W 3-1; 21-22 (7) NORTH
DAKOTA, W 2-0, W 3-1; 28-March 2 WCHA First
Round at Minn. Duluth (best of three), L 1-0, W
3-2, L 5-1.
MEN’S GOLF
Feb. 14 Big Ten Match Play at Sarasota, Fla., vs.
Nebraska, W 3-2-0; vs. Iowa, L 2-2-1; 15 Big Ten
Match Play at Sarasota, Fla., vs. Indiana, L 3-2-0; vs.
Illinois, L 2-2-1.
March 2-4 USF Invitational at Tampa, Fla.; 1516 Seahawk Intercollegiate at Wilmington, N.C.
April 5-6 Irish Creek Intercollegiate at Kannapolis,
N.C.; 12-13 ROBERT KEPLER INTERCOLLEGIATE; 1920 Boilermaker Invitational at West Lafayette, Ind.
May 2-4 Big Ten Championship at French Lick, Ind.
WOMEN’S GOLF
Feb. 9-11 Northrop Grumman Regional
Challenge at Palos Verdes Estates, Calif., 16th/16;
23-24 Westbrook Spring Invitational at Peoria,
Ariz., 1st/14.
March 14-16 SunTrust Gator Women’s Golf
Invitational at Gainesville, Fla.; 28-30 Bryan National
Collegiate at Greensboro, N.C.
April 7-8 Web.com Collegiate at Jacksonville,
Fla.; 19-20 LADY BUCKEYE SPRING INVITATIONAL;
25-27 Big Ten Championship at French Lick, Ind.
MEN’S GYMNASTICS
(1-2, 0-2 Big Ten)
Dec. 16 SCARLET & GRAY INTRASQUAD, Scarlet
wins 178.400-176.050.
Jan. 11 ALUMNI EXHIBITION, NTS; 18 Windy
City Invitational at Chicago, T2nd/6; 26 at (8) Illinois,
L 428.450-425.450.
Feb. 1 at (2) Michigan, L 444.750-440.800;
14 (8) CALIFORNIA, W 443.300-426.500; 20-22
Winter Cup Challenge at Las Vegas, NTS.
March 1 ARNOLD CHALLENGE, 3rd/6; 8 at
Stanford; 15 vs. TEMPLE AND OKLAHOMA, 4 p.m.;
28-29 Big Ten Championships at Lincoln, Neb.
April 10-12 NCAA Championships at Ann
Arbor, Mich.
WOMEN’S GYMNASTICS
(2-8, 1-4 Big Ten)
Jan. 11 (12) OREGON STATE, L 195.200194.750; BOWLING GREEN, W 194.750-191.950;
19 (16) RUTGERS, L 195.275-194.775; 25 at (5)
Michigan, L 197.325-195.200.
Feb. 1 (24) PENN STATE, L 196.150-195.625;
7 (15) MINNESOTA, L 196.025-195.900; 14 at
Iowa, W 195.275-195.075; 23 at (14) Illinois,
L 196.775-195.925; at Champaign, Ill., vs. (19)
Central Michigan, L 196.425-195.925.
March 2 at West Virginia, L 196.175-194.950;
8 BALL STATE, 4 p.m.; 15 vs. Nebraska, Illinois and
Michigan State at East Lansing, Mich.; 22 Big Ten
Championships at State College, Pa.
April 5 NCAA Regional at TBA; 19 NCAA
Championships at Birmingham, Ala.
MEN’S LACROSSE
(1-3)
Feb. 9 at (9) Johns Hopkins, L 10-9 (3OT); 16
Moe’s Southwest Grill Classic at Jacksonville, Fla., vs.
UMass, L 12-11 (OT); 22 MARQUETTE, W 11-7.
March 1 (9) PENN STATE, L 11-8; 8 at Hofstra;
15 at Denver; 21 BELLARMINE, 7 p.m.; 25 NOTRE
DAME, 4 p.m.; 29 JACKSONVILLE, 2:30 p.m.
April 6 at Delaware; 12 MICHIGAN (at Ohio
Stadium), 11 a.m.; 19 AIR FORCE, 1 p.m.; 26 at
Fairfield.
May 1 ECAC TOURNAMENT SEMIFINAL; 3
ECAC TOURNAMENT CHAMPIONSHIP.
WOMEN’S LACROSSE
(2-3)
Feb. 7 DETROIT, W 18-3; 9 WINTHROP, W 178; 15 at (14) Stanford, L 11-9; 22 at (13) Boston
College, L 9-7.
March 1 at Canisius, L 11-10; 4 LOUISVILLE, 4
p.m.; 9 NORTHWESTERN, Noon; 10 HIGH POINT,
3 p.m.; 15 at Hofstra; 22 FLORIDA, 1 p.m.; 26
OREGON, 7 p.m.; 29 WILLIAM & MARY, Noon.
April 2 at Michigan; 6 at Vanderbilt; 13 PENN
STATE, 1 p.m.; 15 NOTRE DAME, 6 p.m.; 26 at
Johns Hopkins.
May 1-3 ALC Tournament at Evanston, Ill.
SOFTBALL
(6-9)
Feb. 7 FAU Kick-Off Classic at Boca Raton, Fla.,
vs. Tulsa, L 1-0 (8 innings); vs. St. John’s, L 6-3; 8 FAU
Kick-Off Classic at Boca Raton, Fla., vs. Northern
Illinois, W 6-4; vs. (19) Louisville, L 5-4 (8 innings); 9
FAU Kick-Off Classic at Boca Raton, Fla., vs. Florida
Atlantic, L 3-1; 14 Easton Desert Classic at Las Vegas
vs. Cal State Northridge, W 9-0 (5 innings); vs. Long
Beach State, W 10-8; 15 Easton Desert Classic at
Las Vegas vs. (1) Florida, L 19-2 (5 innings); vs. (10)
Oregon, L 9-0 (6 innings); 16 Easton Desert Classic
at Las Vegas vs. Utah Valley, W 8-0 (6 innings); 28
Diamond 9 Citrus Classic at Kissimmee, Fla., vs.
Bradley, W 5-3; vs. Fordham, W 1-0.
March 1 Diamond 9 Citrus Classic at Kissimmee,
Fla., vs. (23) Notre Dame, L 3-1; vs. (1) Florida,
L 9-1 (6 innings); 2 Diamond 9 Citrus Classic at
Kissimmee, Fla., vs. (18) Missouri, L 7-0; 7 Red and
Black Classic at Louisville, Ky., vs. UMass; vs. Ohio;
8 Red and Black Classic at Louisville, Ky., vs. Illinois
State; 9 Red and Black Classic at Louisville, Ky., vs.
Louisville; vs. UMass; 12 at California; 14 Fresno
State Classic at Fresno, Calif., vs. Cal Poly, vs. Fresno
State; 15 Fresno State Classic at Fresno, Calif., vs.
Pacific, vs. Saint Mary’s; 16 Fresno State Classic at
Fresno, Calif., vs. Colorado State; 21 MICHIGAN
STATE, 4 p.m.; 22 MICHIGAN STATE, 1 p.m.; 23
MICHIGAN STATE, 1 p.m.; 25 at Pittsburgh (DH);
28-30 at Indiana.
April 4-6 at Michigan; 9 OHIO (DH), 5 p.m.;
11 PURDUE, 6 p.m.; 12 PURDUE, 2 p.m.; 13
PURDUE, 1 p.m.; 15 at Wright State; 18-20
at Nebraska; 23 PENN STATE (DH), 4 p.m.; 25
NORTHWESTERN, 6 p.m.; 26 NORTHWESTERN, 2
p.m.; 27 NORTHWESTERN, 1 p.m.
May 2-4 at Iowa; 8-11 Big Ten Tournament at
Chicago.
MEN’S SWIMMING & DIVING
(10-1, 0-1 Big Ten)
Oct. 11 at Kentucky, W 176-122; 18 SCARLET
VS. GRAY (Exhibition); 19 ALUMNI VS. VARSITY
(Exhibition); 25 KENYON, W 186-101.
Nov. 1 CLEVELAND STATE, W 201-91; DENISON,
W 202-90; VIRGINIA TECH, W 156.5-135.5; 8 vs.
(21) Iowa at West Lafayette, Ind., W 195-105; vs.
Northwestern at West Lafayette, Ind., W 231-69;
at (22) Purdue, W 169-131; 9 at Miami (Ohio), NTS
(Relays Only); 22-24 OHIO STATE INVITATIONAL,
1st/5.
Jan. 17-18 Kenyon Winter Invite at Gambier,
Ohio, 1st/5; 25 vs. Ball State and Eastern Michigan
at Ypsilanti, Mich., postponed; 31 WEST VIRGINIA,
W 177-99.
Feb. 1 (1) MICHIGAN, L 151-147; 7
WRIGHT STATE, W 159-106; 8-9 OHIO STATE
WINTER INVITATIONAL, NTS; 26-March 1 Big Ten
Championships at Ann Arbor, Mich., 3rd/10.
March 9 at Georgia Tech; 27-29 NCAA
Championships at Austin, Texas.
WOMEN’S SWIMMING & DIVING
(9-1, 2-1 Big Ten)
Oct. 11 at Kentucky, W 195-104; 18 SCARLET
VS. GRAY (Exhibition); 25 KENYON, W 191-99.
Nov. 1 CLEVELAND STATE, W 252-48;
DENISON, W, 251.5-48.5; VIRGINIA TECH, W
191-109; 8 vs. Northwestern at West Lafayette,
Ind., W 211-89; at Purdue, L 157-143; 9 OHIO,
W 193-106; 22-24 OHIO STATE INVITATIONAL,
3rd/5.
Jan. 11 at Toledo, W 206.5-93.5; 17-18 Kenyon
Winter Invite at Gambier, Ohio, 1st/5; 25 vs. Ball
State and Eastern Michigan at Ypsilanti, Mich., postponed; 31-Feb. 1 (21) MICHIGAN, W 181-172.
Feb. 19-22 Big Ten Championships at
Minneapolis, 4th/12.
March 2 LAST CHANCE MEET, NTS; 20-22
NCAA Championships at Minneapolis.
MEN’S TENNIS
(17-0, 2-0 Big Ten)
Jan. 22 BUTLER, W 7-0; XAVIER, W 7-0; 25 ITA
KICK-OFF WEEKEND VS. (57) DENVER, W 4-0; 26
ITA KICK-OFF WEEKEND VS. (48) LOUISVILLE, W
4-1; TOLEDO, W 4-0.
Feb. 4 YOUNGSTOWN STATE, W 4-0; WRIGHT
STATE, W 4-0; 7 (17) KENTUCKY, W 4-0; 9 (8)
TEXAS A&M, W 4-3; 14 ITA National Indoors
Opening Round at Houston vs. (12) Florida, W 4-1;
15 ITA National Indoors Quarterfinal at Houston vs.
(10) Texas, W 4-2; 16 ITA National Indoors Semifinal
at Houston vs. (1) Virginia, W 4-3; 17 ITA National
Indoors Championship at Houston vs. (3) USC, W 41; 22 at (10) Notre Dame, W 4-2; 24 at (58) Indiana,
W 5-2; 28 (12) NORTH CAROLINA, W 4-1.
March 2 (34) PENN STATE, W 5-2; 7 at
Oklahoma; 12 at Georgia; 21 MICHIGAN, 6 p.m.;
23 at Michigan State; 28 NORTHWESTERN, TBA; 30
ILLINOIS, Noon.
April 4 at Minnesota; 6 at Wisconsin; 9 at
Kentucky; 11 TULSA, 6 p.m.; 13 at Purdue; 18
IOWA, 6 p.m.; 20 NEBRASKA, Noon; 24 Big Ten
Championships at East Lansing, Mich.
May 15 NCAA Championships at Athens, Ga.
WOMEN’S TENNIS
(5-4, 1-0 Big Ten)
Jan. 18 at (19) Baylor, L 4-3; at Waco, Texas, vs.
Prairie View A&M, W 7-0; 24 ITA Kick-Off Weekend
at Coral Gables, Fla., vs. (9) Miami (Fla.), L 4-2; 25
ITA Kick-Off Weekend at Coral Gables, Fla., vs.
(59) South Florida, L 4-1; 31 SYRACUSE, W 4-0;
YOUNGSTOWN STATE, W 7-0.
Feb. 14 at (38) Kentucky, L 4-2; 21 (27)
TENNESSEE, W 4-3; 25 at Penn State, W 7-0.
March 5 NORTHERN KENTUCKY, Noon; CINNATI,
6 p.m.; 8 PRINCETON, 10 a.m.; 12 at UNLV; 14
vs. Marquette at Las Vegas; 21 at Michigan; 23
MICHIGAN STATE, Noon; 29 at Northwestern; 30
at Illinois.
April 4 MINNESOTA, 3 p.m.; 6 WISCONSIN,
Noon; 11 INDIANA, 1 p.m.; 13 PURDUE, Noon; 18
at Iowa; 20 at Nebraska; 24-27 Big Ten Tournament
at Evanston, Ill.
MEN’S INDOOR TRACK AND FIELD
Jan. 10 BUCKEYE CLASSIC, NTS; 17-18 Nittany
Lion Challenge at State College, Pa., NTS; 24-25
Ron McCravy Memorial Invitational at Lexington,
Ky., NTS; 31-Feb. 1 Indiana Relays at Bloomington,
Ind., NTS.
Feb. 7-8 Meyo Invitational at South Bend, Ind.,
NTS; 14-15 SPIRE NCAA Division I Invitational at
Geneva, Ohio, NTS; 14-15 Don Kirby Elite Invitational
at Albuquerque, N.M., NTS; 21 BUCKEYE TUNE-UP,
1st/15; 28-March 1 Big Ten Indoor Championships
at Geneva, Ohio, 7th/11.
March 14-15 NCAA Indoor Championships at
Albuquerque, N.M.
WOMEN’S INDOOR TRACK AND FIELD
Jan. 10 BUCKEYE CLASSIC, NTS; 17-18 Kentucky
Invitational at Lexington, Ky., NTS; 24-25 Gladstein
Invitational at Bloomington, Ind., NTS.
Feb. 7-8 New Balance Invitational at New York,
NTS; 14-15 SPIRE NCAA Division I Invitational at
Geneva, Ohio, NTS; 21 BUCKEYE TUNE-UP, 1st/16;
27-March 1 Big Ten Indoor Championships at
Geneva, Ohio, 6th/10.
March 12-14 NCAA Indoor Championships at
Albuquerque, N.M.
MEN’S VOLLEYBALL
(7-7, 4-3 MIVA)
Jan. 9 Outrigger Invitational at Honolulu vs. (14)
Hawaii, L 3-0 (25-22, 25-21, 25-21); 10 Outrigger
Invitational at Honolulu vs. (7) UCLA, L 3-0 (25-14,
25-23, 25-21); 11 Outrigger Invitational at Honolulu
vs. (11) Penn State, L 3-0 (28-26, 25-20, 25-19);
17 LEES-MCRAE, W 3-0 (25-12, 25-12, 25-12); 18
GEORGE MASON, W 3-0 (25-23, 25-22, 25-19);
24 at Quincy, W 3-0 (25-21, 25-18, 25-23); 25 at
Lindenwood, W 3-1 (25-18, 16-25, 25-22, 25-17).
Feb. 1 at (1) Loyola (Ill.), L 3-0 (25-15, 25-20,
25-23); 5 at (12) Penn State, L 3-1 (29-27, 22-25,
31-29, 25-15); 9 ST. FRANCIS (PA.), W 3-1 (25-19,
29-31, 25-23, 25-17); 15 (10) LEWIS, L 3-1 (25-22,
20-25, 25-22, 25-16); 21 GRAND CANYON, W 3-0
(25-18, 31-29, 25-23); 22 GRAND CANYON, W 3-0
(25-18, 25-21, 25-20); 26 (14) BALL STATE, L 3-1
(20-25, 26-24, 25-20, 26-24).
March 5 at IPFW; 7 PENN STATE, 7 p.m.; 11
at Lewis; 14 at Long Beach State; 15 at Cal State
Northridge; 18 HARVARD, 7 p.m.; 23 at Ball State;
28 QUINCY, 7 p.m.; 29 LINDENWOOD, 7 p.m.
April 4 IPFW, 7 p.m.; 6 at George Mason; 11
LOYOLA (ILL.).
WRESTLING
(13-5, 4-4 Big Ten)
Oct. 17 VARSITY WRESTLE-OFF (Exhibition).
Nov. 2 NWCA All-Star Meet (Exhibition) at
Fairfax, Va., NTS; 3 Clarion Knight Point Open at
Clarion, Pa., NTS; 9 Michigan State Open at East
Lansing, Mich., NTS; 15 NOTRE DAME (OHIO), W
29-11; 23 at Duke, W 25-10; 24 Davidson Tri-Meet
at Davidson, N.C., vs. Davidson, W 40-6; vs. George
Mason, W 29-6.
Dec. 6-7 CKLV Wrestling Invitational at Las
Vegas, 3rd/10; 15 at (1) Penn State, L 31-6; 19 at
Kent State, W 27-6.
Jan. 10 at (23) Wisconsin, L 22-15; 12 at
(11) Illinois, W 18-16; 17 at Cincinnati vs. (15)
Northwestern, W 21-12; 24 (10) NEBRASKA, L 2812; 31 (11) MICHIGAN, L 21-12.
Feb. 3 at (24) Purdue, W 16-15; 7 at Massillon,
Ohio, vs. Michigan State, W 39-6; 16 NWCA
NATIONAL DUALS OPENING ROUND vs. HOFSTRA,
W 29-10; QUARTERFINAL vs. KENT STATE, W 324; 17 NWCA NATIONAL DUALS SEMIFINAL vs. (1)
MINNESOTA, L 25-10; THIRD-PLACE MATCH vs.
(10) Oklahoma, W 23-16; 23 (16) VIRGINIA TECH,
W 23-16.
March 8-9 Big Ten Championships at Madison,
Wis.; 20-22 NCAA Championships at Oklahoma
City, Okla.
BUCKEYE BRIEFS
Baseball Buckeyes Off
To Solid Start
A five-game winning streak highlighted a
7-3 record for the Ohio State baseball team
through three weekends of play.
OSU started by going 2-2 with wins vs. 2013
Big East champ UConn and SEC foe Auburn
at the Snowbird Classic in Port Charlotte, Fla.,
before sweeping all three games vs. UCF,
The Citadel and 2013 Super Regional squad
Oklahoma at the UCF Tournament.
Finally, the Buckeyes opened the Keith
LeClair Classic from Feb. 28-March 2 with
wins against Pittsburgh and Western Kentucky
before falling in the final game vs. home-standing East Carolina.
“I like the fact that some of our victories
are against teams that I consider outdoor practicing teams,” head coach Greg Beals said.
“We’ve beaten Auburn, Central Florida, The
Citadel and Oklahoma. All of those teams have
been outside playing on their own fields so traditionally they’re ahead of us this time of year.
For us to go out and win ballgames against
those teams says a lot to the mentality of the
character of this ballclub.”
The team’s pitching was carrying the day in
the early going, with Ohio State posting a team
ERA of 2.81 and holding opposing batters to a
.237 average. Senior opening day starter Greg
Greve was 2-0 with a 2.08 ERA in three appearances, while the bullpen trio of righthanders
Jake Post and Travis Lakins and southpaw
Tanner Tully had combined for a 3-0 record,
1.24 ERA and one save in 29⅓ innings over
nine outings.
Ohio State was averaging 5.1 runs per game
through the first 10 contests thanks in part to
performances by two scorching-hot outfielders.
Freshman Ronnie Dawson led the team in hitting with a .382 average, a homer and five RBI,
while senior Tim Wetzel was hitting .345 with
eight RBI and a .441 on-base percentage. Third
baseman Jake Bosiokovic had a homer and a
team-best 11 RBI.
Included in the sweep at UCF were two
games won in the final at bat. The Buckeyes
tied the score against the home Knights in the
ninth on a two-out, two-run single by Wetzel
then plated six runs in the 13th, highlighted by
a two-run double by Bosiokovic. A day later vs.
The Citadel, Dawson’s walkoff single scored
Troy Kuhn with the winning run.
Other highlights included Greve taking a
no-hitter into the seventh in the win vs. Pitt and
a four-run eighth inning vs. WKU that included
a two-run single by Bosiokovic that put OSU
ahead for good.
Men’s Tennis Wins
National Indoor Crown
Since Ty Tucker became head coach of the
Ohio State men’s tennis team, the Buckeyes
had seemingly done everything but win a team
national championship.
That was changed Feb. 14-17 when the
Buckeyes captured the ITA National Team
Indoor Championship crown in Houston. The
fifth-ranked Buckeyes downed No. 12 Florida,
10th-ranked Texas, No. 1 Virginia and No. 3
USC to win the title.
“Anytime any sport wins a national title for
the school it’s a huge deal,” senior Peter Kobelt
said. “A student-athlete is a student-athlete, and
you always cheer for your other student-athletes at Ohio State. It’s pretty cool to win one for
the tennis program.”
Ohio State captured college tennis’ indoor
team championship with a 4-1 victory against
the Trojans. The Buckeyes captured the doubles point to start things off, with the secondranked duo of Kobelt and Kevin Metka as well
as the team of Ralf Steinbach and Chris Diaz
posting wins to give OSU a 1-0 lead.
Moving on to singles, Ohio State built
quick leads at a number of spots, with Hunter
Callahan making it 2-0 with a straight-sets upset
of No. 47 Johnny Wang. Diaz fell, but the 23rdranked Kobelt made it 3-1 at the top spot by
downing No. 7 Ray Sarmiento.
The Buckeyes clinched the title moments
later at No. 4 singles as Steinbach completed a
6-5 (4), 6-4 triumph by winning a service game
against Connor Farren.
“Pete came to my court and I looked at
him and saw him smiling, so I knew he won,”
Steinbach said. “I saw Hunter winning, so I
knew we were up 3-1. There was a point where
I realized, OK, I can finish it.”
The semifinal match was just as memorable, as the Buckeyes rallied from a 3-1 deficit
to upset the top-ranked Cavaliers, 4-3. It was
the first loss for UVA, the defending champs,
in 36 matches.
“It was an incredible match,” Tucker said.
“Both teams had chances to win it, and our
guys kept fighting no matter what the circumstances were at the moment. They wanted to
win the match. It’s nice to beat the defending
champs.”
OSU dropped doubles but rallied in singles
behind wins from Callahan over No. 62 Jordan
Diagle and a three-set win by Kobelt vs. No.
3 Mitchell Frank. Trailing 3-2, the Buckeyes
won the last two matches thanks to Steinbach
and Metka, who saved two match points and
finished things off with a three-set win vs. ThaiSon Kwiatkowski.
The tournament win moved the Buckeyes
to No. 1 in the national rankings, and the
Buckeyes didn’t disappoint after that, downing
No. 10 Notre Dame by a 4-2 score Feb. 22 in
South Bend.
After that victory, OSU picked up three
straight wins at Indiana (5-2, Feb. 24), vs. North
Carolina (4-1, Feb. 28) and vs. Penn State (5-2,
March 2) to reach a school-best start of 17-0.
The latest victory ended Penn State’s 10-0 start
to the campaign and extended the Buckeyes’
home winning streak to 183 matches.
Men’s Swimming, Diving Sets
Records, Takes Third At B1Gs
Six Buckeyes earned All-Big Ten honors
and seven school records fell as the No. 7 Ohio
State men’s swimming and diving team placed
third at the Big Ten championships, held Feb.
26-March 1 in Ann Arbor.
Defending NCAA champion and secondranked Michigan won with 889 points, while
Ohio State racked up 515. Indiana finished
second with 564. Matt McHugh, Tim Phillips,
Michael DiSalle and Josh Fleagle received
first-team All-Big Ten accolades, while DJ
MacDonald and Connor McDonald were
named second-team choices.
The Buckeyes left with two event winners,
and senior Tim Phillips had a hand in both.
The 2012 Olympic trials finalist won the 100yard butterfly in 45.62 to best his own school
record, and he teamed with DiSalle, Fleagle
and McHugh to win the 200 free relay in
1:17.93.
Among other school records, three were set
by relays. The 800 free relay of DiSalle, Steffen
Hillmer, Alex Miller and Fleagle took third
in 6:19.28, while the 400 free relay of Phillips,
DiSalle, Hillmer and Fleagle touched third in
2:51.68. The 400 medley relay of McDonald,
MacDonald, McHugh and DiSalle placed second in 3:06.63.
In individual records, McDonald earned
third in the 200 backstroke with an NCAA “A”
cut and school-record time of 1:40.74. In addition, DiSalle placed fifth in the 200 freestyle
in 1:34.53, while Tamas Gercsak posted an
OSU-best time of 3:44.98 to take sixth in the 400
individual medley.
Men’s 4x400 Relay, Abraham
Claim B1G Track Titles
The Ohio State track and field teams competed at the Big Ten championships held Feb.
28-March 1 in Geneva, Ohio, with the women’s
team earning sixth place and the No. 25-ranked
men’s team placing seventh.
Ashlee Abraham highlighted the women’s
team’s efforts by winning the 60-meter dash in
7.31 seconds, crossing the line one-hundredth
of a second sooner than runner-up Mahogany
Jones of Penn State.
Abie Ehimwenman was the only other medalist for the Buckeyes, taking second place in
the long jump with a leap of 6.20 meters that
ranks second in school history.
The Buckeyes scored points in twelve different events and finished with 51 points, well
behind the winning total of 114½ from the
Nittany Lions.
On the men’s side, Ohio State collected
55 points, while Wisconsin took home the
team title by amassing 122½ points, but the
Buckeyes didn’t go home empty-handed. The
4x400-meter relay team of Champ Page, Jordan
Rispress, Javon Walker and Lamar Bruton
crossed the line in 3:07.47 to give OSU its fifth
indoor league title in the event in seven years.
The Buckeyes collected four other medals,
putting together three second-place finishes
and one third-place effort. Timothy Faust finished runner-up in the 60-meter dash with a
personal-best time of 6.70 seconds while also
taking second in the 200 meters with a time of
20.77, while Donovan Robertson set a school
record of 7.65 seconds while finishing second
in the 60-meter hurdles.
Football wide receiver Devin Smith earned
a bronze medal, his first at OSU, in the high
jump by clearing 2.12 meters.
Women’s Golf Team
Sweeps To Tourney Title
With a program-record score of 26-under
838, 18 strokes better than the previous best,
the Ohio State women’s golf team captured the
Westbrook Spring Invitational title in Peoria,
Ariz., on Feb. 23-24.
The No. 34-ranked Buckeyes’ win was the
first since the team captured the 2012 Lady
Buckeye Spring Invite. Ohio State won by 10
strokes over No. 22 Oregon and bested a field
that included five other Big Ten teams.
In addition, freshman Jessica Porvasnik
won her first career tournament, firing a 13under 203 on the par-72 Westbrook Village
Vistas Course. She opened with a 7-under 65
before finishing with rounds of 67 – which
included a hole in one on the 163-yard second
hole – and 71.
Zoe-Beth Brake tied for second with a score
of 9-under 207, while Allison Harper shot 211
to place fifth and Katja Pogacar carded a 214
to earn 10th.
Fencers Earn Conference
Tournament Crown
Highlighted by three individual champions,
the Ohio State fencing team captured first place
at the Midwest Fencing Conference championships, hosted March 1-2 by Notre Dame.
Ohio State earned first overall at the 19-team
meet while capturing four weapon titles. The
BUCKEYE BRIEFS
Buckeyes defeated the Fighting Irish by a 5-2
score in men’s foil and women’s sabre while
capturing women’s epee vs. Notre Dame by a 51 final. The Buckeyes also won men’s epee by a
5-3 final over Northwestern. Ohio State claimed
second in the remaining weapon classes.
OSU swept the medals in women’s sabre,
with Alexa Antipas edging Celina Merza, 15-14,
in the finals to earn the gold medal. Kimberly
Young lost to Merza in the semifinals but took
bronze.
On the men’s side, Kristian Boyadzhiev
beat teammate Bill Meyer in the epee final,
while Rhys Douglas earned first place in sabre
as well. Second-place finishes for OSU also
included Andrew McDonald in men’s foil and
Mona Shaito in women’s foil.
In addition to Vance’s first-place win, two
senior swimmers recorded top-three finishes.
Alex Norris (4:39.88) placed third in the 500
freestyle, and Michelle Williams (22.46) finished third in the 50 freestyle.
Minnesota won the meet with 760 points.
Men’s Gym Star Makes National
Team, OSU Sets Record Score
A 23-year streak of dominance at the North
Regional Championships came to a close for
the Ohio State synchronized swimming program when it placed second at the meet held
March 1 in St. Louis.
Lindenwood posted 102 points to take first
place for the first time in the event’s history,
while the Buckeyes tallied 89 points to finish
second.
With a score of 81.76 points, two-time AllAmerican Yuliya Maryanko earned first in the
Technical “A” competition. Freshman Emma
Baranski notched 81.31 points to take second
in the event.
Lindenwood took first place in each team
event, though, with the Buckeyes placing second in team, solo and duet.
Freshman Sean Melton’s trip to the 2014
Riviera Cup in Las Vegas paid off with a selection to the U.S. Senior Men’s National Team
on Feb. 22.
Melton finished third overall in the allaround at the USA Gymnastics event, putting
together a total score of 173.000. He placed
third on high bar (29.650), fourth on vault
(30.050) and fifth on floor exercise (30.000).
Sophomore Jake Martin also represented
the Buckeyes at the national team qualifier,
concluding the meet eighth overall in the allaround after compiling three top-10 results. His
best finish was on high bar, where he scored
29.300 to place fifth.
That tournament came on the heels of the
team setting a program-record score for the
second week in a row when it downed eighthranked Cal on Feb. 14 in St. John Arena by a
443.300-426.500 score.
Ohio State also competed March 2 as part
of the Arnold Sports Festival in downtown
Columbus, scoring 429.500 to place third of
six teams. Second-ranked Michigan won with
a score of 437.500 in the season’s first five-up,
five-count meet, but the Buckeyes also gave
a number of younger gymnasts a chance to
compete.
Women’s Icers End With
Series Loss At UMD
Men’s Spikers Fall To
Ranked Ball State
A senior weekend sweep of No. 7 North
Dakota allowed the Ohio State women’s
hockey team to finish in fifth place in the
Western Collegiate Hockey Association, but
the Buckeyes saw their season come to an end
a week later with a three-game playoff series
loss at Minnesota Duluth.
The first-round playoff series was held Feb.
28-March 2, and the Buckeyes opened with
a 1-0 loss to the Bulldogs during which Lisa
Steffes made 24 saves but allowed the lone goal
to Minnesota Duluth’s Jamie Kenyon in the
second period.
OSU bounced back to even the series in
the second game with a 3-2 victory. Kendall
Curtis scored in the second and Ally Tarr
tied the game in the third before Kari Schmitt
put in a power-play goal for the winner at the
6:11 mark of the final frame. Steffes posted
32 saves.
The Buckeyes couldn’t finish off the comeback, though, falling 5-1 in the third and deciding game to close the season. OSU finished at
15-17-5 on the year, with the lone tally coming
from Kayla Sullivan before UMD scored four
unanswered goals.
The 13th-ranked Ohio State men’s volleyball
team saw its record even at 7-7 on the year Feb.
26 when the Buckeyes dropped a 3-1 (20-25, 2624, 25-20, 26-24) decision to No. 14 Ball State in
St. John Arena to end a five-match homestand.
Freshman Miles Johnson led the Ohio State
offense with a career-high 16 kills in the match.
Setter Peter Heinen notched his first doubledouble of the season, collecting 47 assists and
a team-high 11 digs for the Buckeyes. Redshirt
freshman Driss Guessous and junior Michael
Henchy each chipped in 12 kills.
The Buckeyes had come off a sweep of visiting Grand Canyon in Midwestern Intercollegiate
Volleyball Association play, but the loss to Ball
State dropped OSU to 4-3 in MIVA action.
Synchronized Swimming
Takes Second In Region
Women’s Swimming, Diving
Sets Records At Big Tens
Junior swimmer Ashley Vance compiled 44
points and won an individual conference title
in the 200 individual medley to lead Ohio State
to a fourth-place finish with 374 points at the
women’s Big Ten championships held Feb. 1922 in Minneapolis.
Vance was the lone OSU swimmer to bring
home a conference title, touching the wall in a
school-record 1:56.91 to take top honors in the
200 IM. She also broke the school record in
the 100 breaststroke in a preliminary , clocking
a time of 1:00.90. For her efforts, she was also
the lone Buckeye to be named All-Big Ten at
the four-day meet.
Two other school records fell, as senior
Kristyn Fulcher finished the 400 IM in 4:13.59
and freshman Taylor Vargo clocked a time of
2:11.62 in the 200 breaststroke.
Women’s Lacrosse Drops
Third Straight Vs. Canisius
After opening the season at 2-0, the women’s lacrosse team dropped three matches in
a row, including an 11-10 loss at Canisius on
March 1.
The game featured five ties and seven lead
changes with Canisius scoring the eventual
game winner with 3:10 remaining on a free
position shot.
Offensively, senior midfielder Kaila Gottlick
tied her career high with four goals, while
junior midfielder Mary Kate Facchina had four
points on three goals and classmate Kelsea
Ayers had a pair of scores.
OSU finished a three-match road trip winless, having lost 11-9 on Feb. 15 at No. 14
Stanford and dropping a 9-7 final on Feb. 22 at
13th-ranked Boston College.
Women’s Tennis Claims
First Big Ten Victory
The Ohio State women’s tennis team opened
conference play with a bang on Feb. 25, cruising to a 7-0 victory at Penn State.
Ohio State opened by winning all three
doubles matches to win the doubles point.
In singles, Nicole Flower struck first with
a 6-2, 6-0 win. That was quickly followed by a
6-4, 6-4 triumph from Grainne O’Neill and a 6-3,
6-4 victory by Ferny Angeles Paz that clinched
the match. Gabrielle Se Dantis, Miho Kowase
and Sandy Niehaus finished off the shutout
with wins.
It was the second straight win for Ohio State,
which downed No. 27 Tennessee by a 4-3 score
Feb. 21 in the Varsity Indoor Tennis Center
behind a sweep of the doubles matches and
singles wins from Kowase, Paz and Niehaus.
Men’s Lacrosse Drops Match
To No. 9 Nittany Lions
The men’s lacrosse team dropped its third
of four games this season in an 11-8 loss to
Penn State in Ohio Stadium on March 1. The
win allowed Penn State to capture this year’s
Creator’s Trophy, which goes to the Big Ten
school with the best record against each other.
The visitors netted six consecutive goals
spanning the second and third quarters to take
a 7-2 lead, and although the Buckeyes bounced
back by scoring four of the next five goals they
were never able to fully erase the deficit.
Jesse King tallied four goals and two assists
for the Buckeyes, while Turner Evans contributed two goals.
OSU had earned its first win the week prior,
downing Marquette by an 11-7 score.
Women’s Gymnastics
Falls To Mountaineers
The No. 22 Ohio State women’s gymnastics
team lost on the road for the second meet in
a row, dropping a 166.175-194.950 decision at
West Virginia on March 2.
Melanie Shaffer placed second in the allaround competition by tallying a 39.250 on the
four apparatuses.
The meet was highlighted by OSU’s season-best score of 49.150 on balance beam, and
Sarah Miller won with an individual score of
9.875.
Shaffer won the all-around with a 39.325 and
the Buckeyes posted a season-best score of
195.925 Feb. 23 at Illinois but finished third in
a three-team meet vs. the 14th-ranked Illini and
No. 19 Central Michigan.
Men’s Golf Takes Eighth
At Big Ten Match Play
Ohio State won its first match at the annual
Big Ten match play tournament that signaled
the open of spring play, but the Buckeyes lost
three in a row to place eighth.
The fifth-seeded Buckeyes got off to a good
start Feb. 14 with a 3-2 win vs. 12th-seeded Nebraska in the event held at the par-72
Concessions Golf Club in Bradenton, Fla. Boo
Timko, Tee-k Kelly and Frederik Hammer
earned the wins for Ohio State.
The Buckeyes moved on to take on fourthseeded Iowa and lost a tiebreaker after a 2-2-1
match. On day two, OSU lost to sixth-seeded
Indiana by a 3-2 score and then dropped anoth-
er tiebreaker after a 2-2-1 match against topseeded Illinois.
Timko had an outstanding weekend, winning all four of his matches, while Kelly went
2-1-1.
Softball Goes 2-3 At
Florida Tourney
Ohio State opened the Diamond 9 Citrus
Classic in Kissimmee, Fla., with wins vs.
Bradley and Fordham on Feb. 28, but the
softball squad finished the last two days of the
tournament with losses to No. 23 Notre Dame,
No. 1 Florida and No. 17 Missouri.
Senior Melanie Nichols drove in two runs
against Bradley as part of a 5-3 victory and
pitched a shutout against Fordham in a 1-0
triumph. Evelyn Carrillo added two hits and an
RBI double vs. Bradley, while Nichols struck
out nine in the triumph vs. Fordham and Erika
Leonard doubled home the only run of the
game in the first inning.
Leonard also had an RBI in the 3-1 loss to
the Fighting Irish, while Florida finished off the
Buckeyes 9-1 in six innings. Missouri’s triumph
was by a 7-0 score.
Two weekends earlier, freshman Shelby
Hursh threw a no-hitter as the Ohio State
softball team went 3-2 while competing at the
Easton Desert Classic in Las Vegas. Hursh
threw for the Buckeyes against Utah Valley and
struck out 12 while throwing the team’s first
no-no since 2009.
Pistol Team Sweeps
Through Sectionals
The Ohio State pistol team hosted the NRA
Midwestern Air Pistol Sectionals on Feb. 28March 1 at the Lt. Hugh W. Wylie Range, claiming the top eight spots.
Senior A.J. Tourigny was the match champion, earning a score of 568. Freshman Seth
Bearjar and classmate Elizabeth Szalajko each
shot a 551 to round out the top three.
Upon conclusion of the event, Ohio State
earned an official invitation to the NRA Pistol
National Championships held March 9-14 at
Fort Benning in Columbus, Ga.
Two Rifle Buckeyes
Make NCAA Meet
Shooters Amanda Luoma (smallbore and air
rifle) and Deanna Binnie (smallbore) will compete
at the NCAA championships March 14-15 hosted
by Murray State after advancing from an NCAA
qualifier held at the Wylie Range on Feb. 24.
Luoma won both events at the qualifier,
shooting 587 in smallbore and 592 in air rifle.
Binnie added a score of 582 in smallbore to finish second at the meet.
As a team, Ohio State shot 4,653 – it’s
highest qualifier mark ever – but finished just
outside of the top eight to fail to advance to the
national meet.
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OPINION
Taking An Early Look At 2014 Football Season
Football signing day is over. The basketball team is struggling. And the spring
football game is still weeks away.
But, hey, it’s not too early to start to
turn the focus to the 2014 football season.
In fact, M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore
put tickets on sale Feb. 28 for the Buckeyes’
opener, a game in the Charm City against
Navy.
That game will be played at noon on
Saturday, Aug. 30.
THE EXNER POINT
Rich Exner
Officially speaking, it will be Ohio
State’s opener. Unofficially, it’s the beginning of a new eastern era of football for
Ohio State.
Not only will Rutgers and Maryland
be part of the Big Ten, the Buckeyes are
beginning 2014 with a heavy dose of eastern football.
In fact, Ohio State doesn’t play anyone
west of Cincinnati until November.
After the opener against Navy, the only
other trips before November are to Penn
State (formerly known as the Beast of the
East) and Maryland (the new Big Ten entry
from the Atlantic Coast Conference).
Even the home schedule slants east. The
westernmost opponent before November
is Cincinnati (Sept. 27). OSU’s other earlyseason home games are against Virginia
Tech (Sept. 6), Kent State (Sept. 13) and
Rutgers (Oct. 18).
Ohio State does not play a traditional member of the Big Ten until hosting
Illinois on Nov. 1. From then on, it’s an
old-time Big Ten schedule, closing against
Michigan State, Minnesota, Indiana and
Michigan.
Early Questions
What I’m curious the most about regarding the 2014 Buckeyes – even nearly six
months in advance of the opener – is how
the pass defense will be this season.
Here’s one not-so-bold prediction.
The pass defense will be better. That’s
not saying much. But how much better?
And will coaching changes make the difference, or will Ohio State find more talent
with a fresh set of younger players thrown
into the mix of defensive backs?
If OSU does improve its pass defense,
I think the bigger influence will be better
coaching.
Another area of curiosity revolves
around the growth of Braxton Miller. He,
of course, has been a very good quarterback for Ohio State. I don’t want to even
debate that among the naysayers. He’s a
two-time player of the year in the Big Ten.
Miller is a tremendous college football
player. End of debate.
What we don’t know, however, is
whether he will improve in the right areas
to become a tremendous NFL prospect.
He needs to significantly step up his passing game. In other words, he needs to
make the type of dramatic transformation
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between his junior and senior years that
Troy Smith did en route to a Heisman
Trophy season that also improved his status in the NFL draft.
I predict Miller will make significant
improvements – much like Smith did his
senior year.
Here’s a couple of other predictions.
Despite losing a super running back in
Carlos Hyde, the drop-off – if any – won’t
be big. Ohio State is very deep at that
position. There’s a collection of capable
athletes waiting for their chance. One, or a
group of them, will step up to become just
as effective.
And I expect to see really big things
from Joey Bosa on the defensive line during his sophomore season. One of the
reasons Ohio State lost to Clemson in the
Orange Bowl was because Bosa was hurt
much of the night. If healthy this season,
his play will merit serious consideration
for All-America awards.
NBA Buckeyes
Each year around this time, I like to
check in on the Buckeyes in the NBA, not
only in how they are doing on the court
but also for updates on their salaries,
since money is the reason so many turn
pro early.
• It’s hard to believe, but Michael
Conley is already in his seventh season
for the Memphis Grizzlies, and it’s been a
good season. He’s averaging a career-high
17.4 points a game to go along with 6.2
assists.
Conley has averaged double figures
each season since his second year in the
league. He is making $7.9 million this year,
with a contract calling for $8.8 million next
season and $9.7 million the year after. (All
salaries listed here are from Hoopshype.
com, a credible source of NBA information.)
• While Conley (through February)
had played 486 NBA games since leaving Ohio State after his freshman season,
the same cannot be said for his former
Buckeye, AAU and high school teammate
Greg Oden, who is now up to just 94
games.
But at least the former No. 1 overall
pick – who has been plagued by injuries
– is back on an NBA roster for the first
time since 2009-10.
Oden has played in 12 games (just one
start) this year for Miami. His per game
averages: 3.0 points and 2.3 rebounds.
Before this season, Oden played in just
61 games as a rookie and 21 games in his
second year for Portland, never putting up
big numbers.
Oden’s Miami team has the NBA’s thirdhighest payroll, but not because of Oden.
His contract, good only through this year,
is for just $884,293. By comparison, Chris
Bosh, Dwayne Wade and LeBron James
combine to make $56.6 million a year with
their nearly identical contracts. All three
have options to extend their contracts for
the next two seasons but can opt out.
• The third player of that Conley-Oden
Ohio State class to move on to the NBA
after just one season was Daequan Cook.
He hasn’t caught on to the NBA this season
after splitting 2012-13 between Houston
and Chicago. Cook’s top scoring year was
2008-09, when he averaged 9.1 points for
the Heat.
• Evan Turner, the second overall pick in the 2010 draft, was shipped
out of Philadelphia to Indiana recently
in a roster-dumping move for the 76ers.
Turner fetched only a second-round pick
for Philadelphia despite putting up solid
numbers again this year. At the time of the
trade, he was averaging a career-high 17.4
points in 54 games, plus 6.0 rebounds and
3.7 assists.
The 76ers saved millions of dollars in
dumping Turner, and the Pacers picked up
some scoring help. Such is the business of
the NBA. Turner is making $6.7 million in
the final year of his contract.
• Seven-footer Byron (B.J.) Mullens
continues to earn an NBA salary, five years
removed from Ohio State. Mullens is making $947,907 this year. He has the option
to extend his contract for another year, at
$1.1 million.
In 29 games this season for the Clippers
and 76ers, Mullens is averaging 2.9 points.
His best season was last year for Charlotte,
where he averaged 10.6 points and 6.4
rebounds in 53 games, including 41 starts.
• Likewise, another 7-foot, one-anddone player for the Buckeyes, Kosta
Koufos, continues to stick in the NBA well
after being drafted in 2008.
Koufos started 81 games for Denver
last year, though he averaged just 8.0
points and 6.9 rebounds. This year he’s
in Memphis, starting a little less than half
the time and averaging 6.8 points and 5.7
rebounds a game.
Koufos is making $3 million this year.
Memphis has a club option to extend the
contract for another year at the same $3
million pay rate.
• Jared Sullinger, the 21st pick in the
2012 draft, has put up decent numbers
considering where he was drafted. He’s
averaging 13.1 points and 8.3 rebounds in
54 games for the Boston Celtics. That playing time includes 41 starts.
Sullinger’s pay: $1.4 million this season and next season, with a team option
to extend the contract for 2015-16 at $2.3
million.
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OPINION
Ohio State Has Perhaps Peaked Too Early
I cringed when he said it.
Buckeye Sports Bulletin basketball beat
writer Ben Axelrod suggested, right before the
Ohio State basketball team went on its ill-fated
road swing to Penn State and Indiana, that the
Buckeyes were “peaking at the right time.”
In my heart, I knew that this edition of
the Ohio State basketball team was too inconsistent to suggest at any point that they had
peaked. Or maybe Ben was partially right.
The Buckeyes had peaked. His definition of
the “right time” was just wrong and they had
peaked a couple of weeks early.
As I have watched this season play out, I am
beginning to believe that the Buckeyes have
actually been playing about as they should –
that they are, and always have been, a middleof-the-pack Big Ten team. Of course, given the
obvious strength and balance of the Big Ten in
basketball, being in the middle of this pack still
leaves you among the better basketball teams
in the country.
In retrospect, I’m not sure why expectations were as high as they seemed to be for
the Buckeyes this season. While there was a
wealth of talent returning and fans might have
set the bar high after a perfect record vs. a
weak nonconference slate, the team lacks a
dominant center – Amir Williams tends to take
a lot of heat from fans but has actually been
serviceable in the post, just not dominant – and
a proven secondary scoring threat to go along
with LaQuinton Ross.
Ross has mustered a fine 14.6 points a
game, but that is down from the conferenceleading 19.8 that Deshaun Thomas poured in
last year, a figure that optimistic Buckeye fans
hoped the offensively gifted Ross would be
able to replace.
After Ross, it is a crapshoot as to who is
going to provide consistent scoring support.
Second leading scorer Lenzelle Smith Jr. has
reached double figures in 11 of the Buckeyes’
17 conference games but has also been held to
five points or less four times by league foes.
While stats never tell the whole story, I
have been fascinated by them since my days
of poring over the backs of baseball cards as
a youth. Here are a few Big Ten rankings for
conference games only, which may tell part of
the Buckeyes’ story.
While I was surprised to see that the
Buckeye were ranked as high as sixth in the
conference in field-goal shooting percentage
at 43.4, a more telling stat may be that they
are ranked ninth from beyond the arc at
31.4. The Buckeyes are 10th in rebounding
(31.2) and rebounding margin (-2.9), and in
a league where tight games are the norm,
Ohio State is ninth in free-throw shooting at
70.8 percent.
On the positive side, Ohio State leads the
Big Ten in scoring defense in conference
games, yielding just 62.5 points per outing.
I think the way that the Buckeyes have
lost their games may affect the way their fans
perceive the team.
First there was the brutal stretch in January
when the Buckeyes lost five of six games. And
there were the opposing fans storming the
court after losses at Nebraska and Penn State
(one of the two painful losses to the Lions),
which leaves a vivid impression. Never mind
that Nebraska is actually 9-7 in league play this
season and tied for fourth place.
The reality of college basketball is that
it’s not what you do during conference play
anymore but what you do in the NCAA
Tournament that matters.
With the Buckeyes as inconsistent as they
are, maybe the real “peak” will come during
March Madness. If so, all will be forgiven.
THE VIEW FROM 15TH & HIGH
Frank Moskowitz, Publisher
From The Pages of BSB
From time to time you will see me mention
in this space how much I enjoy our “From the
Pages of BSB” feature, as well as the similar
feature recalling Ohio State football recruiting.
I am generally entertained, but I am also continually amazed by all the things I have forgotten during my nearly 34 years at the paper.
I had completely forgotten, for instance,
that the women’s basketball team had ended
the 1988-89 season on a 63-game home conference winning streak, never having lost a
game in St. John Arena since the Big Ten
went to round-robin league play in the 1982-83
campaign.
The streak was as much a comment on the
quality – or lack thereof – of the conference
back then as it was an indication of the abilities of the Buckeye program. Ohio State was
primarily challenged, in conference, only by
Iowa. But no matter the quality of a particular
conference, a streak of that magnitude is still
quite an accomplishment.
The Buckeyes would stretch the streak
– which started on Jan. 9, 1983, with a 79-63 win
over Indiana – to 66 games the following season before they were crushed by the archrival
Hawkeyes, 71-48, on Jan. 28, 1990.
An interesting note about the streak, which
demonstrates the growth of Ohio State and Big
Ten women’s basketball as well as women’s
basketball in general, is that the first win over
the Hoosiers was witnessed by 1,058 fans,
while the loss to Iowa came before 11,301 as
the Buckeyes-Hawkeyes rivalry, as any longtime OSU women’s basketball fan knows, was
hot at the time.
I also took note of a 1989 entry in the
recruiting feature about New Jersey defensive
lineman Alonzo Spellman.
“When you look at Spellman, you can’t
believe that he is as big as he is,” noted recruiting expert Tom Lemming said at the time. “He
has the body of a Greek god and hasn’t really
had much weight training.”
At the time, a BSB reader from New
Jersey sent us a picture of Spellman playing
basketball for Mt. Holly Rancocas Valley
Regional. We passed the picture of Spellman
in his basketball uniform around the BSB
office – and I know staffers Mark Rea and
Mike Wachsman remember this – like it
was a Playboy centerfold. Other than WWF
professional wrestlers who were obviously
juiced up on steroids, I don’t know that we
had ever seen a body like that – Greek godlike, as Lemming put it.
Spellman went on to become one of the
more colorful Buckeyes in recent memory and
was a first-round draft choice who played nine
seasons in the NFL.
Finally, in last year’s recruiting entry,
Cleveland Glenville’s Marcelys Jones talked about his recruitment by Nick Saban’s
Alabama, even after he had committed to the
Buckeyes on Christmas Day 2012.
“I told them I’m still committed to Ohio
State, but they said they didn’t really care
about that at all,” Jones said. “They said they
go after who they want and don’t pay attention
to who’s committed.”
This is the type of SEC recruiting mentality that Urban Meyer has brought to the Big
Ten, a strategy that was met with criticism by
other Big Ten coaches, Michigan State’s Mark
Dantonio among them, when Meyer took over
the Buckeye job.
It didn’t take Dantonio – who must have
figured “if you can’t beat them, join them”
– long to adopt a similar strategy, attempting
to raid the Buckeye commit list this recruiting
season.
And other conference coaches are also following suit, which might actually help lift the
entire conference up in its battle to reach the
competitive level of the SEC.
“He brought the SEC mentality to the Big
Ten,” Lemming says of Meyer elsewhere in
this issue. “The other schools are starting to
catch up a little bit when it comes to the nonstop recruiting. I know Illinois is doing it, and
you’re starting to see a big pickup in that. The
Big Ten used to kind of always be … not lackadaisical, but not as into it on a 365-days-a-year
kind of schedule.
“Now, I think a lot of them are starting to
get that way because Urban brought it to them.
I see Minnesota doing it, Michigan is doing it,
and I think they’re all starting to realize they’re
going to have to do it in order to keep pace with
Ohio State.”
Who’s The Coordinator?
Regular readers of this column also know
that I have never been wild about the notion of
“co” offensive or defensive coordinators. Who
is really in charge?
Sometimes, “co” means top lieutenant and
is a title given as a reward and acknowledgement for a job well done. I always felt former
Ohio State head coach Jim Tressel tried to give
a title to as many coaches as possible. It was
kind of a Tressel thing to do.
When current Ohio State assistant Luke
Fickell was co-defensive coordinator with veteran coach Jim Heacock, most believed that
it was Heacock who was ultimately in charge.
When Meyer came along and named Everett
Withers co-defensive coordinator with Fickell
and the team struggled on defense, observers
wondered if there was some type of tension
among the two defensive coaches.
Now, along comes Chris Ash, an experienced defensive coordinator at the higher
levels of college football, who also takes on
the co-coordinator title with Fickell and has
clearly been brought in by Meyer to help fix
that which Fickell and Withers could not repair
on their own.
I was struck by a quote from Ash in our
Feb. 18 electronic issue of BSB Quickly.
Ash was talking about defensive schemes
and how they are often dictated by the personnel at hand.
“You’re going to do what your personnel
allows you to do,” Ash said. “If you have a great
nickel and what the offense does requires you
or allows you to play nickel, great, put the best
athletes on the football field. Sometimes, some
years, you don’t have a nickel guy so you’re
playing with three linebackers out there.
“You want to play the best 11 players on
the football field. I don’t want to play nickel just
because you say you’re playing nickel when
you’ve got a third linebacker who’s a really
good player standing on the sideline. That
doesn’t make much sense. Put your best 11
players out there that give you a chance to win.
That’s what I believe in.”
That sounds like a coordinator talking to
me, as have other things Ash has said since
his arrival in Columbus, including comments
in this issue of BSB.
It will be interesting to see how Fickell
adapts to his new co-coordinator as the team
moves forward.
Adapting is something that Fickell has had
to do a lot of lately.
First he had to adapt to being thrown in
as head coach of the team upon the demise
of Tressel. Then he had to adapt to going
back to being an assistant upon the hiring of
Meyer, while also being joined at the hip with
Withers.
Now he has to adapt to the presence of
Ash, who arrives with a mandate from the head
coach to help clean up a mess of which Fickell
oversaw the creation. And he has to do so without the support of his old college buddy, Mike
Vrabel, who has moved on to the NFL, leaving
Fickell outnumbered as far as Meyer hires, as
opposed to coaches from the pre-Meyer days.
One thing I can say about Fickell.
He has handled the trials and tribulations of
the past few years, for the most part, with a lot
of dignity. This was especially true during the
final weeks of his tenure as head coach in 2011,
when he had to coach the final games of the
season with constant speculation – which of
course proved true – that Meyer was prepared
to take over the program.
How well Ash and Fickell mesh could be
a key to the improvement of the defense this
season.
For a list of some of the other things you may
have missed from the two BSB Quicklys published since Buckeye Sports Bulletin last went to
press, see the box on page 5 of this issue.
One other interesting note in talking about
the past year’s porous pass defense. The 2013
squad gave up more passing yardage (268.0)
than any Buckeye squad other than the 1981
squad, which yielded 273.1 yards through the
air.
After the failure of the defense, especially in
the last several games of 2013, it was assumed
that Meyer would shake up the defensive staff.
With Vrabel and Withers presumably departing on their own, Meyer was able to reshape
the staff without firing anyone.
Meyer’s mentor, Earle Bruce, who was
head coach when the ’81 Buckeye defense
leaked like a sieve, was forced to act on his
own and fired three defensive coaches shortly
after an ugly victory over Navy in the 1981
Liberty Bowl.
The coach of the defensive secondary who
got the ax after the 1981 season was none other
than Alabama’s Saban, now acknowledged by
most as the best coach – and certainly the
most successful – in college football, the coach
that Meyer, who is also in the “best coach”
discussion, seems most anxious to pursue and
overtake.
The Buckeye pass defense ranked 136th of
137 schools that season. Also losing their jobs
were defensive coordinator Dennis Fryzel and
defensive line coach Steve Szabo.
“I decided a staff reorganization was needed for the best interests of the Ohio State
football program,” Bruce said in a statement
after the firings. “It was a very difficult decision
for me because of my deep appreciation and
close attachment to the coaches involved. Any
further comment on my part would be unfair
to all concerned.”
Saban was in his second year on the
Buckeye staff after stints at his alma mater,
Kent State, as well as Syracuse and West
Virginia. He would end up at Navy in 1982, one
more step in the vagabond coaching career
that ultimately took him to Alabama in 2007.
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OSU Sputtering Down Season`s Stretch

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