#Swish #Swoon
A bit of a different look at things this Wednesday, as I was fortunate to join Jim, JoeL, and Janelle in attending Ohio State’s win against Iowa in the hoops of shootyness. So, here’s your musical interlude for this festive event.
Buckeye Hoops Thoughts
- Great Value- This was my first trip to Value City Arena, and it was more than fantastic. Great seats (thanks, Joe!) and a good, if ugly win
- All About Timing- Not for the Buckeyes (yet), but just a comment on the 6:30 start… tons of empty seats for a Tuesday night game. I know it’s not a weekend match against Michigan, but c’mon, people!!
- Nuts. Housed.- Couldn’t have been more impressed with the Student Section, some of whom had queued up around 10 or so. Who needs classes, right? While the game was low on energy overall, the Nuthouse certainly didn’t reflect that… well done!
- He’s Crafty- Aaron broke the steals record (and our hearts… #Swoon) right in front of us. Congrats, #4!
- Reinforcements- Thomas went out and the Buckeyes went cold… although it could be argued that they were cold before this (for a couple of reasons). That being said, Matta and others have talked about how this year will need to be a “second option by committee”… and we didn’t see someone step up when Thomas was getting his injury looked at.
- On The Other Hand- Four Buckeyes were in double digits, so the wealth was spread around pretty well. Sad to see DT not get another consecutive 20 point game, though.
- This Week In Slam Thompson- I wish I had a highlight to point to, but somehow some one managed to overthrow him. How do you get the ball outside of his range?? That being said, it’s probably better that he didn’t throw one home- I was sitting to a nice lady who didn’t need to hear what exclamations would have come out of my mouth should the awesomeness have manifested itself.
-
Buckeye Faithful
Speaking Of Which- This is Barbara, who’s been coming to Buckeye games since the 50s. She deferred when I asked her about her favorite all time memory, but did say that she especially loved watching Ohio State during Coach Jent’s era. Did she have a bit of a crush on him? I’m not going to speculate about that… but sitting next to her and talking OSU hoops history was certainly a highlight of my trip to Columbus. Thanks for making a great game even more enjoyable!
- Un-expert Observation Number One- Eric and I have talked about how this team doesn’t handle change well, and that was obvious this evening when Iowa decided to start pressing in the second half. You could tell that Ohio State got more than a little frustrated (in part due to the officiating- see next point) which led to some key mistakes that brought Iowa back into the game. Having Thomas out exacerbated the matter- they couldn’t find their “security blanket”, and continued to flounder in the half court offense.
- Un-expert Observation Number Two- The officiating was terrible, for both teams, from the start. There were several plays in the first half where Miss Barbara talked about how Craft (dare I say it?) got away with some pretty “aggressive plays’ (read “fouls”). In the second half, when Iowa was more aggressive with their press and was getting results from sloppy Buckeye play, it seemed as if the officials had decided to even the game up; while I’m sure that never ever happens, I think it was just a combination of terrible work by the refs and the inconsistency that we’ve seen from Ohio State all year long.
- Cold- No, not the shooting; the temperature headed to and from the game. Seriously, what is wrong with you people??
- Nothing Else Mattas- Well, I’m sure that Coach will have something (or several somethings) to say at practice tomorrow, but ultimately we all got what we came for… Free fries.
Wheeee!!!!
Around The NCAA
- Gold. ‘Member?- Baylor seems to have found the golden ticket, and it was hiding in their helmet storage room.
- Gagging At Gnats- Great takedown of the new NCAA regulations by EDSBS, in that they don’t seem to really address any of the significant issues currently in college sport… hey! Aluminum foil!!
- Meanwhile- It sounds like “Virginia Is For Lovers… of the B1G”, with the Cavaliers next up in the ACC disembowelment. Lots of discussion about North Carolina/Duke/Georgia Tech between the SEC and B1G as well… buckle up.
- More Pro Combat! This time, the hoops version.
- The Reaper Cometh- We wrote last week about the NCAA’s timeline for the Miami Matter; it sounds as if the first round might be targeting the individuals involved, as Missouri’s basketball coach and a member of the Louisville staff are rumored to be facing significant sanctions due to their involvement at their previous institution. Ah, Louisville… you know, the program with the amazing quarterback who just happens to be from… Miami?
- All Ohio Bowl- Yup, it’s the Har-Bowl or the Super-Baugh… but never forget that they’re Toledoans, even if one of them was a turncoat.
- You Contractually Mandated Manti Te’o Update- This one more of a shot at the World Wide Leader, who had the story but didn’t run it because, in part, they wanted to be sure they could appropriately leverage it across all of their
tentaclesplatforms. I like that they (finally) got around to doing some fact checking, but wish it hadn’t been for such self-serving purposes.
And Finally-
Probably a good thing for Thorin that there aren’t a ton of legal experts in Middle Earth, don’t you think?
