It was deja vu for the Buckeyes.

Ohio State had an eight point lead over the Northwestern Wildcats late in the second half last night, much like their nine point lead against Wisconsin that eventually eroded into nothing in a loss to the Badgers Sunday evening. The Wildcats were slowly chipping away at the deficit before Northwestern’s Alex Marcotulli drilled a deep 3-pointer that tied the game with seven seconds left.

On the road -- with the home crowd elated that their team was seconds away from forcing overtime against the No. 10 team in the country -- Ohio State’s mental toughness was put to the test.

Thad Matta drew up play that had Craft advancing the ball up court against Northwestern’s 1-3-1 full court press. Right before Craft hit midcourt, he lobbed a perfectly placed pass to Jared Sullinger on the low post. Sullinger turned, shot over his mismatched defender and kissed the ball off the glass to give Ohio State a two point lead with three second left. Northwestern’s John Shurna would go on to barely miss a half-court heave as the Buckeyes escaped Evanston with a 75-73 victory.

Craft and Sullinger talked about the final play, "It was just get the ball to Jared and let him make a play. That's how we drew it up and I'm glad we were able to execute."

"Craft told me he was going to throw it to me,” Sullinger said. “No ifs, ands or buts about it. He threw it to me and I made the shot."

Read more...

March Madness approaches...for many of us it’s the sporting event of the year at any level of competition. As of last year, every game is on live TV. No more “wrap-around” coverage, cutting to the most exciting game at any given time during the first two rounds. As long as you’re quick on the remote and the DVR....between CBS, TNT, TBS and the channel nobody knew existed a year ago...truTV, you can watch every bit of it...in all its mad glory.

I figure we're numbed by the outrageous dollar figures thrown around in the modern sports world, and the fact that the combined TV networks paid the NCAA $771 million to telecast the 2011 NCAA Tournament hasn’t registered yet.  An event that takes three weekends to play every winter is worth three quarters of a billion dollars to put on television...one time. The 14-year deal struck last year between the NCAA and the networks totals $10.8 billion. (That’s almost as much as will be wagered nationwide on the tournament in any given year)

But what do we care? When Ford tries to sell us an F-150, we’re switching to the game over on TNT. Besides, the schools love it. The athletic directors are all on board. Coaches especially are all in. John Calipari’s new contract at Kentucky calls for him to get a $700,000 bonus if he wins it all in any of his deal’s final three years. Many major college coaches have similar six-figure incentives to Dance Big.

Read more...

Pairing movie references or characters from classic literature with a sports storyline is an incredibly popular practice by today’s media. Whether it’s Dwight Howard or Cam Newton as Superman, Wade and Lebron as Batman and Robin or Jeremy Lin as some hybrid between Rudy and Jesus -- sports fans at large are always looking to link what they’re seeing on the court or playing field with something they’ve seen on the big screen.

I’m not exempt from this practice. I’m constantly looking to pair sports moments with movies I’ve seen. It’s a strange kind of therapy that helps me categorize and process the sports-pain I’m experiencing.

With Ohio State’s recent struggles on the basketball court -- I’ve been forced to find a Hollywood scene that fits the Buckeyes’ situation just right. Despite the obvious “Jekyll and Hyde” nature of William Buford’s game, I don’t think that’s an appropriate comparison for the teams overall flatness.

After a lot of thought, I finally settled on Jim Carrey’s scene from Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, when he’s trying to find the connection between Finkel and Einhorn. And if you’re wondering -- I didn’t show partiality in selecting this scene just because Jim Carrey is my second cousin.* It really fits, I promise.

* Yes, Jim Carrey is my second cousin. Telling that to the ladies was never as impressive as I thought it would be.

--

Read more...

Illinois came to Columbus on a bad night.

The Ohio State Buckeyes were coming off their fifth loss of the season, a 56-51 defeat to arch-rival Michigan on Saturday night. After being buried under 48 hours of relentless doubt and negativity, the Buckeyes took out all their frustrations in an 83-67 beat down of the Fighting Illini.

Deshaun Thomas scored 19 points, William Buford scored 17 and Aaron Craft added 11 as Ohio State bucked their recent shooting slump to shoot 65% against Illinois. The Buckeyes also made seven of their 13 3-pointers, and that efficiency on the perimeter allowed Ohio State to lead the game for all 40 minutes.

Ohio State coach Thad Matta talked about the Buckeyes’ hot shooting, “It was obviously good to see the ball go in early. I thought we got out and got some good shots and got the ball moving,” Matta said. “We were able to get some good shots off of our defense. It was delightful to see, trust me... We didn’t do anything magical; they just went down for us tonight.”

After struggling on offense in losses to Michigan and Michigan State, Matta wanted the Buckeyes to push the ball and look for easier buckets. In practices leading up to the Illinois game, Matta had his Buckeyes work on getting out in transition and it showed against the Illini. The Buckeyes tried out a new rotation that put speedy point guard Shannon Scott on the court with Aaron Craft at the same time. Although Scott turned the ball over a few times, his presence on the court seemed to give Ohio State a sense of urgency.

Read more...