Written by Brian McPeek

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Get well soon Jared Sullinger. Without you the Buckeyes are as mediocre as any other college basketball team out there (including teams like Kansas, Duke, North Carolina and Kentucky).

A decent Kansas team handled Ohio State Saturday in Lawrence, KS when the Buckeyes’ national player of the year candidate sat out for the second straight game with back spasms. There’s no doubt that Sullinger is a hugely critical component for the Buckeyes but it’s a bit disconcerting to me that the Buckeyes couldn’t rely on William Buford or a 3-point threat to give the Jayhawks a true run for their money down the stretch.

And that gets to my main point about the Buckeyes this season: it scares me that they have no one replacing Jon Diebler as a legitimate three-point specialist. Against the better teams it’s going to cost them and it could potentially ruin a run to the Elite 8 or Final 4.

The Buckeyes just out-talent most teams with Sullinger on the floor. But when you get to March the Texas Pan-American and Jackson State’s are all gone. You’re going to face stiffer tests, better athletes, better coaching and bigger issues. Teams that can will simply collapse around Sullinger to try and limit his effectiveness. It’s what Kentucky did last March with great effect. A resulting problem with capable teams who have big men that can handle that chore against Sullinger is it also takes away Aaron Craft’s one offensive weapon: the drive to the basket.

Craft can’t shoot. But he can get to the rack off attention paid to Sullinger. If teams, however, can effectively pack some bodies down low to keep Sullinger out of the lane, that traffic also impedes the ability of Craft to drive the lane too.

You know where that puts us? It puts us at the mercy (again) of William Buford whose nightmare game against UK last March likely cost the Buckeyes their opportunity to advance. And Buford was at it again Saturday. In fact, he started 1-9 from the floor and couldn’t hit water if he fell out of a boat. He did hit 7 of his next 14 but that outing, in a nutshell, defined William Buford’s entire career. He’s a gifted player and he’s a legit scorer but what he is not is a consistent and accurate shooter.

There are nights when Buford gets the hot hand and can light up the three-point arc but there are also nights when…well…when William Buford goes 2-18 or 1-9 and crushes your dreams. That lack of a knockdown, deadly 3-point shooter is where I think the Buckeyes Achilles heel will prove to be. If you left Diebler a sliver of room last year you were, in all likelihood, going to pay big. You don’t have that worry this season when choosing how to defend Ohio State.

Maybe someone steps up and maybe there’s a shooter on that bench waiting to emerge and play a big role in the coming months. I hope that’s the case. Otherwise the Buckeyes are as flawed as any of the other top five or ten teams in the country.

Giving Me a Headache

I didn’t do a Weekend Wrap last week but I did write a column after the Browns and Ravens game. I’m good for one, huge meltdown each year when this team pisses me off to the point I can’t sit back and take it.

This was it. I caution you that the language is vulgar and you shouldn’t share it with kids. But the Browns put me in that place last week and I needed to write what I wrote, for me as much as anyone else.

This week, after the Steelers loss? I have nothing. I have no bile left to spew and I have no hatred. It’s not because the Browns played hard and didn’t quit and ‘respectably’ lost 14-3 to a much better team. It’s because I just can’t get worked up about this shitty team each and every week.

It’s unhealthy. It’s emotionally draining. It makes me feel dumber than I actually am.

I do wonder how the organization keeps coming up with original ways to embarrass themselves and the fans though. If it’s not Josh Cribbs popping off each week or Peyton Hillis’s health and dedication being questioned then it’s Greg Little making himself scarce after dropping more balls than a clumsy Thai hooker.

This week the Browns upped the ante though when it comes to embarrassing. They ran Colt McCoy back onto the field two plays after he was completely blasted by Steelers LB James Harrison and despite the fact that he was diagnosed with a concussion after the game.

So, the Browns either screwed the pooch in terms of complying with NFL concussion protocol in allowing McCoy back on the field or McCoy suffered the first ever delayed concussion in NFL and medical history. Maybe he was actually perfectly fine to return to the field because the concussion followed the hit from Harrison by about a half hour….

Seriously, how do the multiple doctors on the sideline miss that? How do you not see that McCoy was glassy-eyed and out of sorts and was suffering from a concussion when it’s the only job you really have on the sidelines? Did no one think to check the kid after that car hit him in the face? How does his own head coach not see the vacant look in McCoy’s eyes and maybe keep Seneca Wallace in the game? I know Pat Shurmur isn’t a doctor. I know he’s busy being derelict in other areas of game management, but I find it difficult to believe if he talked to McCoy he couldn’t see what reporters saw immediately.

I would like to think that if one of us got hit by a car while riding our bike, and Pat Shurmur happened by, that he wouldn’t need a doctor at the scene telling him not to let us just get back on the bike and pedal home. I’d like to think he’d have the sense to do that.

I’d like to but I’m not sure I do. These are the kinds of things that happen when a head coach is overwhelmed with the job. The entire organization looks to be in disarray and then before you know it, bad things happen. You know, things like the defense not being ready against Cincinnati and it costing a game-losing TD pass, things like Cribbs and Hillis being distractions, things like only 9 guys being on the field for a Ravens punt last Sunday and little things like risking the health, safety and potentially life of your quarterback.

If only the NFL was putting an onus and emphasis on these head injury issues…..

Any way you look at it, regardless of whether you think it was solely on the medical staff or that Shurmur bears some responsibility, it makes the organization look like a bumbling collection of Grade-A assholes. It’s bad enough to be 4-9 and on your way to 4-12 but you really don’t need the lead story the day after a game being the QBs daddy getting pissed that the team could have killed his kid.

What Else?

~ You guys all heard NO Hornets PG Chris Paul died this past week, right?

What? He didn’t die? Was he diagnosed with a dreaded disease or did he lose a family member then? Maybe a young child? Something horrible obviously happened to Paul or a family member because the media spent the last few days on television, the internet and twitter crying for Chris Paul and screaming to God above that, “It’s just not fair!”, so I was assuming he had to have died or at least been Brian Piccolo’d or “‘Something For Joey”d.

My condolences to the Chris Paul family on whatever horrific event interrupted their lives this past week. God bless and keep them in this time of tribulation.

~ I always knew Dwight Howard was different. What a terrific gesture on his part to give the Orlando Magic the opportunity to trade him for some value before he leaves next season for nothing. I think it’s also magnanimous of Howard to assist the Magic in narrowing down the number of places they should look to trade him. That saves time and phone calls and who out there, especially during the holiday season, doesn’t appreciate someone saving them some time.

Narrowing it down to solely New Jersey was really a case of Howard going above and beyond in the ‘considerate’ department.

I still can’t believe that Howard didn’t seek a trade to Milwaukee, Indiana, Minnesota or Denver though. How come nobody looks to be dealt there? It’s almost like these guys have no interest at all in anywhere other than places where there’s a ton of media and/or warm weather.

Man, when that new CBA thing kicks in whenever it’s supposed to kick in, these smaller market teams are finally going to be able to draw and keep the very best players in the league. I can’t wait for that to happen.

Wait…it already…what?

~ Xavier is a catholic university, no? In fact, I think it’s a Jesuit catholic institution. And this is, in part, the Jesuit philosophy:

The Jesuit philosophy of education is nothing more than the Catholic philosophy of education intimately and inextricably linking scholastic philosophy and the dogmatic teachings of the Church, that is, reason and religion, St. Thomas and the Magisterium. Paramount is the proper understanding of human nature as created by Almighty God and the ultimate destiny of man.

Man is not merely a citizen of this or that country; he is born to be a citizen of heaven. Therefore, in all truth, we can say that the purpose of education is a preparation for life, proximately this life, but ultimately everlasting life. That is why the Jesuits educate, why we educate. And we’re here to learn the principles necessary to fulfill that end. The glory of our role as priests and our specific vocation as educators is just that; we have the opportunity to form young souls. That is something that principals and teachers need to meditate on constantly; it should be their daily concern. We are intimately involved in the formation of citizens for heaven, souls made for the Beatific Vision. And that can never be over-emphasized.-  Fr. Michael McMahon 

So I’m really not sure where this actually fits:

"We got disrespected a little bit before the game, guys calling us out. We're a tougher team. We're grown men over here. We've got a whole bunch of gangsters in the locker room -- not thugs, but tough guys on the court. And we went out there and zipped them up at the end of the game."- Xavier’s Tru Holloway 

Nice. “Bunch of gangsters”. I missed that part of the Jesuit philosophy. Holloway is wrong about the ‘thugs’ thing though. Those two teams are clearly made up of thugs. Sucker punches, curb stomping and brawling? Yeah, Cincinnati started the fight and their actions were disgusting and have led to serious suspensions (if not expulsions). But Holloway’s ‘gangster’ shit is disturbing. There’s no honor in any of that mess. None.

~ The good thing about the Indians’ offensive inadequacies is that it doesn’t take much to upgrade the production in the OF and at 1B. That appears to be the train of thought in regard to the Tribe potentially throwing some money at the A’s Josh Willingham.

Willingham would be an upgrade and he does have power but I hope the Indians are being somewhat fiscally responsible in terms of years and dollar amounts. The 32 yr old OF/DH would be much better off as a DH than in the OF because of the frying pan he wears on his hand.

Willingham hit .246/.332/.477 with 29 HRs and 98RBI which is a clear upgrade offensively versus throwing anyone else in the organization in LF. There just aren’t that many RH bats with some pop on the open market. He made $6m last year in Oakland and I’m interested to see what the dollars and years being offered (Willingham is reportedly weighing offers from the Indians and the Twins) turn out to be.

It’s speculated that the Tribe has about $3m to play with in terms of adding to the payroll and that’s not going to bring Willingham, warts and all, to Cleveland.

Oh Yeah...

The Bears led the Broncos 10-0 with just over two minutes left on Sunday. Tim Tebow threw a TD pass to DeMaryius Thomas to pull the Broncos to within 10-7 but Chicago (with Denver out of timeouts) recovered the onside kick attempt.

However, Marion Barber  inexplicably got pushed out of bounds for the Bears on a 2nd down run leaving time on the clock for Tebow. Of course, Timmy Miracle got the Broncos in a position to tie the game on a 59-yard field goal and they went on to win in overtime after a Barber fumble in Bronco territory killed the Bears OT possession.

Say what you will about the power of prayer and Tebow's faith but he won another game he had no business winning under some very strange circumstances. Tebow believes. Marion barber is no longer sure there's a God, but Tebow believes.

Oh, and the guy who caught the TD pass from Tebow, DeMaryyus Thomas? Born on Christmas day. Of course.

 

 

 

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