After Sunday’s hoops win over TTUN, some shocking numbers and facts were brought to my attention. There is a hiring at Purdue I don’t really understand, we’ve got some quick hitters on recruiting and even some professional sports. It’s Wednesday, let’s rumble!
No. 1? Not in Columbus
Smack dab in the middle of the NFL divisional playoff weekend was a college hoops showdown at the Schottenstein Center between our beloved Ohio State Buckeyes and their arch nemesis, that team up north. The Fighting Stink Rats came into the game at 16-0 and ranked number 2 in the country. After the top ranked Duke Blue Devils fell to North Carolina State on Saturday, TTUN was poised to step into the number one spot when Monday’s polls were released. All they had to do was win in Columbus.
Admittedly, I wasn’t too sure our guys could beat them. After coming from ahead to lose at Dook and getting thumped by Kansas at home and Illinois on the road, my hoops confidence level was somewhere around a 5 out of 10. Of course, this was TTUN they would be playing on Sunday and it was being played at home in front of the Buckeye Nuthouse. It wouldn’t be of “shock the world” caliber, but a win would have been surprising to most considering the Stink Rats had been dominating opponents and looking like it may actually be there season to shine after all these years in the dark.
Did you know that coming into Sunday it had been 3,652 days since TTUN had won a basketball game in Columbus? Let that sink in for a minute: Three thousand, six hundred and fifty two days. The last Stink Rat basketball team to win in Columbus was on January 15th, 2003. That’s nearly ten years to the exact date on Sunday!
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0X06HoBb2e0?rel=0]
What could TTUN’s excuse be for not winning in Columbus in ten years? “I freaked out, joined the Army, went into business for myself. I’m a professional killer.”
DT and the near miss
As would be expected, DeShaun Thomas led the Buckeyes offensively with 20 points. However, it was his defense that may have had the most impact by holding the Stink Rat’s Glenn Robinson III to just 8 points on 3-8 shooting with just one rebound on the afternoon. For his play DT was awarded the co-Big Ten Player of the Week award. He shared the award with Indiana Hoosier Cody Zeller.
The biggest story coming out of Sunday had to be that the Buckeyes scored 29 points in the first 13:08 and only 27 points the last 27:52. The “coming from ahead to lose” philosophy has hurt the Buckeyes this year, most notably at Cameron Indoor Stadium against Duke. The Buckeyes need more offensive output, but where is it going to come from? Unfortunately, I do not have the answer and it appears that head coach Thad Matta doesn’t either. But he is searching.
Let’s hope someone steps up into a scoring role soon. While we all will probably admit that right now this doesn’t look like a Final4 team, with another legit scoring threat, by late February and into March it very well might. It certainly has the athletic potential; there are no stiffs or guys who can’t run on this squad.
What about football?
So we dug up that interesting little stat about the 3,652 days since TTUN had won a basketball game in Columbus, Ohio against Ohio State. What about the football team? We all remember Jim Tressel’s ten year 9-1 run through TTUN. When was it and how long ago since the Stink Rats celebrated a football win in the great state of Ohio?
The answer: A whopping four thousand, four hundred and forty three days! Let that settle in for a moment… 4,443 days! The last win for TTUN came on November 18, 2000, 38-26. That game featured names like Jonathan Wells, Steve Bellisari, Ken-Yon Rambo, Anthony Thomas and Drew Hensen.
Brady Hoke was asked about not winning in “Ohio” since 2000 prior to this year’s game. Here is his response…
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cPxPSzz0LBY?rel=0]
Bollman’s back
Though he hasn’t been introduced to the media yet (word is head coach Darrell Hazell is waiting to introduce his staff altogether), in a shocking move Jim Bollman has been hired as offensive line coach at Purdue. This is the same post he held while under Jim Tressel at Ohio State along with offensive coordinator.
I’m sure Jim Bollman is a good man, so anything forthcoming is meant with no malicious intent other than I’m still upset about the job he did at Ohio State. Bollman was famous for taking four and five star offensive lineman and getting them to perform at two and three star levels. His offensive lines were always slow and lumbering while often mistake prone for spurts only to appear to straighten up and later on have relapses.
Can anyone argue that the 2006 National Championship game was decidedly lost by the play of the Ohio State offensive line? Alex Boone and Kirk Barton were over matched and looked like statues against the much faster and athletic defensive ends the Florida Gators brought to Glendale. I guess the argument can be made that by that point, the National Championship game after 12 games, the damage had already been done.
When Urban Meyer was hired to be the head coach at Ohio State, many thought Bollman was going to slip away into retirement. Instead he took a job as the offensive line coach at Boston College where he promptly coached them into an offensive line that was tied for 106th in country giving up 36 sacks for the season. They tied for 91st in tackles for loss allowed and were 115th in rushing offense.
This leaves me with a question that has to be asked: If Darrell Hazell is such a great coach, the future of college football and some say the eventual replacement to Urban Meyer at Ohio State, why would he hire Jim Bollman to his brand new coaching staff at Purdue?
Wasn’t one of the biggest complaints about Jim Tressel, one of the reasons many thought he never took the program higher than he already had brought it, was because of his unwillingness to part with assistant coaches and continually look for better ones? I’m hard pressed to believe that a young up and comer like Hazell couldn’t find anyone better than Bollman to coach his offensive line. As a matter of fact, forget hard pressed, I can’t believe it because there is no way that’s possible.
I have to assume that Hazell hired him from a comfort standpoint, as someone he knows what he’s going to get. To which I say: I guess?
Here’s what nobody want’s to say: If Bollman’s offensive line produces Boston College 2012-like numbers and he makes into a second year at Purdue, put up the first “red flag” on Darrell Hazell.
Quick hitters
Damon Webb of Detroit Cass Tech joined Cleveland Glenville’s Marcelys Jones as a member of the class of 2014. Webb, listed at 6’ – 0” and 175lbs, is a defensive back and considered one of the top prospects in the state of _ichigan for 2014.
Check Jim’s recruiting breakdown for us here at the BBC!
Good job by the Buckeye Nuthouse on Sunday against TTUN for being loud but mostly for not rushing the floor as the horn sounded to make the game final. For teams that haven’t been to the Final 4, won conference championships or themselves been ranked number one, rushing the floor after beating a rival and/or the number 2 team in the country is perfectly acceptable. But when you’ve been there before, act like it. Well done, students!
Word keeps flying around that LeBron James is interested in returning to Cleveland when he is eligible to opt out of his contract after the 2014 season. I’d welcome him back with open arms, but until the ink on the paper is dry I refuse to believe it is anything more than a publicity stunt.
The Cleveland Browns sold the name of their stadium to First Energy. It is now simply called “First Energy Stadium, home of the Cleveland Browns”. Like I said, simple. This is great for the Browns, but how does First Energy justify their recent layoffs due to, as employees were told, financial reasons and then cut a big check to the Browns to have its name emblazoned onto the stadium? It just doesn’t seem fair to those people and their families that are now out looking for work.
The Buckeye hoops team has the week off until Saturday when they play in East Lansing against Michigan State. The game tips off at 6pm and can be seen on ESPN. Make sure and stop by this website and join in on the Live Game Chat while you watch it!
Wrap it up
I like the fact that Ohio State fans and players are never satisfied with wins over TTUN. It would be easy for complacency to set in, as it did up north during the 90’s. I’m proud that we won’t fall into that trap and continue cherish every win over TTUN as though it is the most important of the season, because it is. Until next week, Go Bucks!
Metallica track of the week
We all go a little mad, sometimes. How about we go back to the Big 4 DVD from Sofia, Bulgaria in 2010 for our MTOTW: Welcome Home (Sanitarium)
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bb_vJQt_eSw?rel=0]
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