Good morning. Ohio State emerged from a huge sporting weekend with mixed results – baseball lost its grip on a Big Ten crown, men's lacrosse was throttled by Cornell in NCAA quarters, and men's tennis ended USC's four-year run of NCAA titles, but it's Deshaun Thomas that leads our Monday morning.
At the NBA draft combine, teams poked and prodded Thomas, recording the vitals and metrics that will be used to evaluate where he goes. Ohio State officially listed Thomas at 6-foot-7, 215 pounds and he checked in at 6-7 in shoes (6-5 without), weighing in at 219.8 pounds.
His wingspan was 6-foot-10, not great, but not terrible, either, while his body fat – 9.1% – put him in the top five of all players tested. Or is that bottom five? At any rate, it was the second straight year a Buckeye entered the combine with higher than average body fat. Jared Sullinger's booty alone was good enough to register half of his 10.7 percent body fat last year.
I'm not sure whether that really means much. Sullinger was off to a solid NBA rookie campaign before back surgery ended his season and the NBA has seen many players on the plus side, from Charles Barkley to Shaquille O'Neal, play well while carrying a few extra pounds.
Thomas listed "Do what you do" among the bits of advice he's received from former players and coaches and that apparently means attempting to annoy the grumpiest coach in the league.
If the San Antonio Spurs choose Deshaun Thomas in next month’s NBA draft, they might have a hard time reaching him to tell him. That’s because when the Spurs asked the former Ohio State star for his phone number Wednesday night, he refused to give it to them.
Thomas said teams asked him plenty of difficult and interesting questions during his interview process at the combine. But the most interesting, he said, was the fact the Spurs’ first question was for his cell phone number and his e-mail address. He gave them the e-mail, but not the phone number.
“I can’t go around giving it out to everyone,” Thomas said Thursday with a laugh. “Now if they want to draft me, I’d be happy to give it to them.”
Umm... Yeah, Pop will love that.
Despite all that, Thomas still believes he's first round selection material.
"I believe I can be that late first-round pick,'' Thomas said at the NBA combine on Thursday morning. "I have confidence. But all I've got to do is keep working, do what I can do. As long as I can feel like when I can walk out of that gym that I worked hard, I'll leave it in God's hands and everything will take care of itself.''
In other news from the combine, Kansas' Ben McLemore and Indiana's Victor Oladipo wowed scouts with 42" verticals. That's quite the leap, but Ohio State assistant coach Jeff Boals says you haven't seen anything yet:
@slamiam12 has 46"“@nbastats: Wow... Ben McLemore matches Oladipo w/ an unofficial 42.0" max vertical leap, tops thus far #NBACombine
— Jeff Boals (@JeffBoals) May 17, 2013
Yep, sounds about right.
FAKE-ASS BUCKEYE. FAKE AS HELL. So, there's a member of the Charlotte Buckeyes alumni group that claims to have won the Rose Bowl in 1974 "with Archie, Cornelius Greene, Pete Johnson and the rest," catching an 8-yard touchdown pass in the 1976 Rose Bowl and then going on an NFL career with the Cleveland Browns after being selected in the 1977 NFL Draft. The member, Giovanni Strassini, also claims to have made the Ohio State football All-Century Team.
Oh and if that wasn't enough, Strassini also claims to have been an All-American 3rd baseman for the baseball Bucks in '76.
There's only one problem: None of this is true. The Buckeye Football Encyclopedia does not list Strassini among the many thousands of letter-winners, his name or face appears nowhere in media guides from that era – indeed, the '76 media guide jumps from Mike Strahine (QB) to Ric Volley (TB) – oh, and Ohio State scored just one touchdown in the 1976 Rose Bowl, a 3-yard Pete Johnson run.
This isn't quite as terrible as faking military accolades, but it's up there. Where's Terrelle Pryor? We have ourselves a fake Buckeye.
BALLARD'S GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY. Former Buckeye tight end Jake Ballard, now with the New England Patriots, has a bit of an opportunity at New England's minicamp with Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez out.
If you recall, Ballard sat out last season rehabbing from major knee surgery, was snatched off of waivers from the Giants, angering the perpetually grumpy Tom Coughlin. Pats coach Bill Belichick took a bit of heat himself for violating an unwritten rule that frowns upon claiming injured players.
What do the Patriots have in Ballard? The Boston Herald asked his former coach, Jim Tressel:
“In 2007, we had a huge game against Penn State, and he just kept making play after play. That’s just the way he was,” said Tressel. “If you needed him, he was going to step up. He was going to do the unglamorous stuff, too. He was going to handle the blocking, or run the routes where someone else was going to get open. He’s just one of those guys you want to have on your team. I’m sure the Patriots saw that in him. You know how they are. It’s not about ‘me,’ it’s about ‘we.’ And he fits in perfectly in that system.”
Ballard was such a surprise in the passing game for the Giants that New York tight end coach Mike Pope placed a call to Tressel after the the Giants signed Ballard to an undrafted free agent deal:
“’I’ll never forget that call. Mike Pope, the tight ends coach there for many many years, said, ‘Coach, you and I don’t know one another. I just want you to know, this young man, Jake Ballard that you sent us, is going to be a good player in the NFL. And we appreciate you sending him,’ ” Tressel said. “So out of nowhere, Pope called because they realized in preseason, they got one better than they thought he was going to be.”
Best of luck, Jake. We'll be pulling for you.
YOU KNOW THIS MAN IS 6-3, 285, AND HITS LIKE A BARGE, RIGHT? Who does this?
Sick of living in this trash alley. First my stereo and now my computer. Wish I could catch a thief in the process. I'd get a murder charge
— MIKE BENNETT (@mike63bennett) May 19, 2013
We hope you catch the thief, Mike, but please let the police handle things.
ETC. Remember when the father of Alabama's long snapper broke one of the Tide's crystal footballs... The Gophers will make a bit of coin from the Vikings... Damon Stoudamire to join Sean Miller's staff at Arizona... Entertaining Rutgers spring football documentary... Just stop, please, already, Joker Phillips... I'm just going to go ahead and permanently quit the internet after seeing this.
