Hoops action ahoy:
- The No. 7 women's basketball team, winners in 15 of its last 16 games, plays Iowa in Iowa City at 8:30 on BTN. Head coach Kevin McGuff is searching for his first Carver-Hawkeye Center win in his third try.
ALL HAIL KING URBAN. Ohio State lapping conference competition in recruiting has been a meme since Urban Meyer's arrival in Columbus. That in and of itself isn't news, but sometimes statics trundle across my timeline that put Meyer's dominance into perspective.
This was such a statistic:
Recruiting: The gap between Ohio State....and everyone else in the Big Ten. pic.twitter.com/XiYOBgJBnI
— Samuel McKewon (@swmckewonOWH) February 10, 2016
This basically means nobody outside of Ohio State has a shot at the national title anytime soon.
Sure, it's possible Sparty DISRESPEKTS his way into the occasional upset bid against divisional foes he plays every year, but it's still an Alabama away from a national title.
Jim Harbaugh might have Michigan on the upswing, but he's already three years and 29 points behind Meyer. He has yet to prove he's in Meyer's league, and I doubt he ever will.
As for the rest of the Big Ten? Yikes. Nebraska has aged as well in the 21st century as a pager.
Neither of them are coming back.
TRAINING WITH DARRON LEE. Darron Lee was a high school QB that wanted to play wide receiver when he arrived in Columbus proper. He left as a potential first-round linebacker.
Lee is spending his days in Arizona at the moment, preparing for the 2016 NFL Draft and upcoming combine. Given these NBC4 clips, that 5,000-calories-a-day diet seems to be treating his body right.
From nbc4i.com:
“At Ohio State, it was obviously more team building,” he said. “These guys I’m training with now, I’m probably not going to see them after I get drafted. At Ohio State it was more rigorous. I was up a lot earlier. It was harder at Ohio State for sure.”
It's a good thing the loyalty runs deep between Mickey Marotti and Urban Meyer. Otherwise I don't know how an NFL team or business tycoon hasn't pried him away for their own machinations. That dude is a meat wizard.
GREG ODEN COLD CHILLIN'. Greg Oden made an appearance at Tuesday's men's basketball game vs. Northwestern. Such are the luxuries afforded to unemployed millionaires.
The Jiangsu Dragons cut Oden in late January, and for once it didn't have to do with an injury.
From cleveland.com:
Oden believes it was a money move. Multiple reports in August had him signing a one-year deal for $1.2 million, but Oden said his deal was month-to-month, so letting him go on Jan. 31 saved the Dragons a month of salary as they played out the string.
[...]
"I mean, if the opportunity [to play again] is there, and it's the right opportunity, of course," Oden said when asked if he'll play again. "I've just got to look at the opportunities. I haven't heard about anything yet. I'll take what I can."
Not a bad way for a 28(!)-year-old to travel the world. If you want to watch Oden hoop, here's high CBA highlight reel:
NOAH SPENCE ISN'T FAIR. Hate your job? Distill that self-loathing with thankfulness your reviews aren't based on blocking Noah Spence one-on-one:
He didn't even spare the coach!
THE ENEMY OF MY ENEMY IS ALSO MY ENEMY. Jim Harbaugh's latest (genius) way to tweak the SEC is taking his team to Florida for spring break practice.
This doesn't sit well with the SEC, who is just thinking about the kids and doesn't want to see their precious spring break used to practice football, a sport the SEC doesn't even care about.
Yesterday, Harbaugh's football fingers turned to Twitter fingers:
Question of the day: Does anyone find whining to be attractive? Just curious.
— Coach Harbaugh (@CoachJim4UM) February 10, 2016
To be fair, he could've been subtweeting himself, but the more likely target is the SEC.
Greg Sankey, the SEC commissioner, only needed a few hours to strike back.
From al.com:
"What's unfortunate is people try to reduce this to simply a competitive issue, which it is not," Sankey said.
[...]
Sankey does not want to dive into a war of words with Michigan's coach.
"I'm not going to reduce what is an important conversation to some childhood use of Twitter," he said. "This is an important issue."
Too bad this isn't high school. We could just start a "Fight! Fight! Fight!" chant and put the ensuing knockout video on WorldStar under the headline "Great Ohio State victory!!!!"
THOSE WMDs. Hatin' Ass Spurrier claims diplomatic immunity... The ugly, sexist aftermath of appearing on Jeopardy!... The American math revolution... Ex-priest arrested in 1960 murder of Texas beauty queen... Hundreds of galaxies found behind the Milky Way.
