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Coming off of the loss to Michigan and Michigan State in hoops had a lot of Ohio State fans at a loss to understand what had happened to a team that was favored to win the conference and make a run at a title. Dave at TSB took a look at several possibilities, including-
Lack of an inside enforcer. I admit that I failed to truly appreciate Dallas Lauderdale. I called him “stone hands” and used to get frustrated at how often he had the ball slide between his big mitts. But he did two things this year’s team really misses: 1) He provided an inside force defensively who could block shots when players were beat off the ball. This year, when someone bursts by a Buckeye defender they usually have an open lane to the hoop. Big D played some ferocious D and that is greatly missed; 2) He occupied space in the lane on offense, allowing Sully more freedom to roam. Dallas not only set screens but forced the opponent’s big man to guard him or surrender uncontested dunks. That helped Sully more than we realized.
Ah, Illinois. Nothing like a little revenge in the form of a massive, home court blowout to make things all better. Take a look at Scott’s review of the game– it was just what the Scarlet and Gray doctor ordered;
The handwringing among Buckeye Nation regarding both Buford’s recent woes and the lack of playing time for the bench can stop, at least for a day. Despite the audible groans when Buford missed an open three and turned it over in first half, the senior was greeted with an overall warm reception and had one of his best shooting games of the year (7-9 from the field, 2-3 from three).
In other news, in honor of the 50th anniversary of John Glenn’s trip to space, Sam Thompson put on an anti-gravity display with an early dunk and a couple of high-flying blocks.
Speaking of Buford, BHC’s newest author got us ready for his final game in the Schott with a look at his legacy at Ohio State;
But of all his basketball statistics, there is one intangible quality that supersedes all others. It is a quality that all of us share … something that binds all of us together and pulls us through tough times. It’s a love … it’s a passion … it’s beyond words … it’s Buckeye Pride! “[Buckeye Pride] comes from the people before us. We just try to keep that thing going. It’s not about us. It’s about the school. The school is bigger than us.” Now THAT is spoken like a true Buckeye! It is easy for us as fans to get caught up in the performance of one or two games, but on this weekend, let us honor a true Buckeye as he wears our school’s colors for the last time at home. He has earned the respect of all of Buckeye Nation.
It wasn’t just the men doing work this week, though; another senior put her mark on the OSU record book, as Sammy Prahalis set the single game scoring record on senior night against Minnesota. The country’s best women’s hoops writer gives us the story;
Samantha Prahalis led the Buckeyes with perhaps the greatest performance in OSU history and one of the best performances in Big Ten history. Prahalis’s 42 points set an Ohio State single game scoring record and she added 6 rebounds, 4 assists, and 3 steals. Perhaps even more impressive was the fact that she did all of this without committing a single turnover. It isn’t unusual for players to put together great performances in their senior night game but the performance from Prahalis tonight goes far beyond that, easily becoming the greatest single game performance I have ever seen from a Buckeye. Prahalis hit 15 of 27 shots from the field, going an impressive 7 of 12 from beyond the arc.
As if Saturday’s loss to Michigan on the hardwood wasn’t bad enough, many saw Ann Arbor’s huge recruiting weekend as another victory over the Buckeyes. Jim wasn’t among them, though, and held that
The only way Ohio State can respond is to make sure that the kids they do target develop into successful college players at a higher rate than the ones they pass on- particularly the in-state kids that Hoke is waiting to snatch up.
Buckeye fans have to trust Urban Meyer and his staff’s ability to evaluate and target players. Based on his track record, I am perfectly fine doing just that.
As frustrating as it is to watch Ohio kids without offers defect north each year, there is a risk involved for the Wolverines.
After all, there is usually a reason the Ohio players Hoke targets lack an early offer from the Buckeyes.
And finally, this week brought some whispers of changes in some of the foundational aspects of the college football landscape, particularly the post season. Jason took a look at all of the options being discussed for determining a championship, and resonated with what Jim Delany and the B1G were suggesting;
I’m honestly having a hard time finding something to dislike about this concept. Home playoff games make achieving one of those top two spots worth fighting for, although it may also necessitate finding a new way to rank teams so as to avoid accusations of impropriety (at the very least, make the current system transparent). No one is going to have trouble selling out a home game for a championship berth and contingency travel packages to the title game can be sold throughout December. Also, moving the title game around the country would be beyond amazing. I can honestly say I would consider going to any title game at Lucas Oil, whether the Buckeyes were in it or not.
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