The roundball Buckeyes certainly looked good early last night. The defense was clicking on all cylinders and that intensity helped the Scarlet and Gray carry an 8-point lead into the locker room.
Unfortunately the Buckeyes couldn't maintain the defensive presence (or rebounding prowess) and strangely switched to screening for Aaron Craft jumpers despite No. 4's inability to buy a shot (3-15 from the field, 1-4 from three).
Regardless, the Buckeyes showed fight until the end, and their efforts in front of a raucous Cameron Crazy crowd was commendable. The Bucks will grow from this one, and will certainly be a force in the Big 10.
In the end, it's fine because the game gave us this.
The B1G didn't fare much better, splitting the ACC-Big Ten Challenge 6-6, but will keep the trophy for another year, because, ties. That is, unless we can talk Delany and Swofford into making tonight's Rutgers/Louisville the rubberiest of matches.
CICEROLLED. Yesterday the Ohio Supreme Court handed down a one-year law license suspension to Christopher Cicero. Cicero is the infamous Columbus area attorney whose emails addressed to one Jim Tressel catalyzed the NCAA investigation and resulting penalties.
The suspension was doled out after the court ruled the emails to Tressel were a violation of a lawyer’s agreement to keep conversations between clients or prospective clients confidential.
Long story short, Cicero never should have revealed player wrongdoing to Tressel because, according to the court, he received that information via his client/prospective client Eddie Rife (the owner of the storied Fine Ink tattoo parlor).
Cicero and his attorney took the stance that Rife was never actually a client, but rather a contact who Cicero tapped to confirm Rife’s partner, Joseph Epling (a former client of Cicero), was NOT involved with drug trafficking or memorabilia sales.
Here’s how Cicero explained his meeting with Rife on April 15th:
''Eddie Rife was never going to be my client in this case at all. I saw him as an ally and resource for Mr. Epling. That's how I viewed Mr. Rife's purpose in my office."
Unfortunately for Cicero, the court didn’t buy that explanation, citing the attorney’s emails to Tressel where he mentioned Rife as a prospective client:
''If he [Rife] retains me, and he may, I will try to get these items back,'' Cicero wrote in an April 16, 2010, email.
''I have to sit tight and wait to see if he [Rife] retains me, but at least he came in last night to do a face to face with me,'' Cicero wrote later that day.
Just when you thought you heard the end of this story, it rears its ugly head. Luckily, this time around these troubles are Cicero’s and Cicero’s alone.
TRESSEL'S SWAN SONG. Bill Livingston of the Cleveland Plain Dealer had an interesting piece on Tressel’s return to the ‘Shoe.
The Senator's last rideWhile I’ve read a lot about what happened between the first and second quarters last Saturday, this piece had a few choice quotes from Tressel and former players that caught my eye.
First this from JT about his former players putting him on their shoulders:
"I know [linebacker] Cie Grant was right there and [safety] Mike Doss, too. They never listened to me when they played and they didn't listen to me when I told them, 'Put me down,'" Tressel joked.
And this when asked about his role in the scandal:
"Obviously, you feel terrible. You always feel regrets for anything that didn't go the right way, especially when you were a part of it."
And finally the most interesting quotes from Tressel’s former players defending him:
Dustin Fox:"Tressel turned that program around. He won a national championship. He beat Michigan nine times. And he was a father figure to his players."
And Mike Doss (slightly) clowning on the decision to forgo a bowl ban last season:
"It wasn't all Tress' fault that the team isn't playing in a bowl. If a bowl ban had been self-imposed last year, the NCAA might have acted differently. Why go to a bowl when you're 6-6, anyway?"
These quotes aren’t surprising; you’ve got to expect guys that went through a season like 2002 would stick together to the very end. And honestly, who can disagree with Mike Doss’ logic. What’s that? You want to disagree with Mike Doss? Maybe watch this first, then get back to me.
THE ELUSIVE COY. The Big Ten Coach of The Year, otherwise known as that award that OSU coaches never win, wasn't handed out to Coach Meyer this year by virtue of its "otherwise known as" name.
While this year’s slight is marginally easier to digest in light of Bill O’Brien’s commendable job in Happy Valley, ESPN’s Adam Rittenberg argued Meyer will never win the award.
This is the crux of his argument, and it’s valid:
In many ways, the Big Ten Coach of the Year award is about what happened the previous season or the previous offseason rather than the actual season for which the honor is presented. Recent history also shows first-year coaches who bolster programs have a good chance for the award.
Rittenberg went back and looked at the last seven coaches to win the distinction and every time the honor was awarded to a first-year coach or a coach who increased his team’s win total compared with the previous season.
So where does that put Meyer? Out of luck apparently. Meyer was able to check both boxes in his first season. He’s a first-year coach, and he increased the win total. Unfortunately, O’Brien is (rightly) viewed as overcoming larger hurdles on the path to success.
According to Rittenberg, that put Meyer out of the running this year, and certainly next year as it’s hard to improve on an undefeated season.
The only way Rittenberg sees Meyer winning the award is if OSU takes a major step back in the coming years. In that case, if Urban is able to save the team from himself, he could potentially win the honor.
In all honesty, this doesn't really bother me. Having a Big Ten Coach of the Year would be nice, but I’m of the camp that believes a crystal trophy shines a lot brighter than any COY distinction. I’m sure Meyer feels the same way.
WHAT BOWL BAN? Lately I’ve been frequenting opposing Big Ten teams' blogs to get a feel for what everyone is saying about Ohio State’s undefeated season.
I myself have not commented within these blogs but I can assure you there are plenty of Buckeye fans who have. Overwhelmingly the response from these communities regarding said behavior is something along the lines of, “have fun playing in your bowl game.”
Well opposing team blogs, you’ve got us there. The Buckeyes will not in fact be playing in a bowl game. Fortunately for us this is a reality we’ve been coping with for quite some time, so the pain of your words is slightly lessened.
While everyone has their own coping mechanisms, I would urge you to adopt this simple mantra: no bowl = more time for Urban’s recruiting machine to tout a 12-0 program.
Honestly, it’s that simple. Just thinking of Meyer and company with all of that free time on their hands makes me giddy, and you know how they’re spending it…in recruits’ living rooms.
Already we’re starting to see potential recruiting flips, particularly with Auburn’s class where a number of commitments are re-thinking their decision after a tumultuous season and Gene Chizik's firing. There’s also been talk that Michigan’s recent de-commit, Gareon Conley, one of the top CB’s in the country, is leaning toward OSU.
Something tells me these are the first of quite a few recruiting coups in the coming months.
So you keep practicing bowl-eligible teams. The OSU coaches will be sure to fluff the pillows on your commitments’ couches while you’re away.
SIR LINKS A LOT Stop spending all that time on social networks... Hey, don't be one of these people... This is the worst thing on the Internet right now... or maybe the best.
