The Eleven Warriors Web Report comes to you weekly from the Spectrum Sports studios in downtown Columbus, featuring our own Beau Bishop, Dan Hope and James Grega.
Ohio State's upset win over Michigan State and what it means for Chris Holtmann's squad was the main topic of conversation on Tuesday, as the basketball Buckeyes find themselves atop the Big Ten standings, alongside No. 5-ranked Purdue, four games into the conference slate.
Just 17 games into the season, Grega said it is surprising to see how far the Buckeyes have come in such a short amount of time.
"I thought they would make strides and I thought they would be as good, maybe a little bit better than they were last year. I didn't think they would take a step back," Grega said. "To say we saw this, 4-0 in the Big Ten with two wins on the road and a win against the No. 1 team in the country – even Holtmann said in his postgame press conference after they beat Michigan State – he is surprised how far ahead of schedule they are."
Bishop went on to say that Keita Bates-Diop, who has led the resurgence in Columbus and scored a career-high 32 points against the Spartans, is a leading candidate to win the Big Ten Player of the Year award, should his play throughout the season continue.
The discussion then turned to football and Ohio State running back Mike Weber's apparent decision to return to school, following a season in which he battled injuries and was relegated to a backup role due to the emergence of J.K. Dobbins.
Hope said he was slightly surprised at Weber's decision, and that the Detroit native will have to battle with more than just Dobbins for carries in 2018.
"I don't know how much there is for him to gain from a draft stock perspective at this point, because he is going to be behind J.K. Dobbins on the depth chart," Hope said. "If (Weber) can stay healthy all year, he could have a better year. This also gives him an opportunity to come back, get his degree and maybe, the team can do something special next year."
You can catch a more in-depth breakdown of Ohio State's basketball success and football Buckeyes moving on to the NFL on this week's Eleven Warriors Report on Spectrum Sports Mid-Ohio, which premieres at 7 p.m. Tuesday.
