Good morning, everyone. Before we hit the links, let me first tip my hat to the states of Arizona and Indiana.
For being mid-December, this past weekend was an exciting one in the college sports world, thanks mostly to teams from those two states. Indiana and Butler gave us a thrilling OT game while the Arizona football and basketball teams tried to compete with one another over who can stage a more dramatic comeback.
Hopefully, this coming weekend will provide even more excitement. I'm feeling optimistic considering the two bowl games on Saturday take place in New Orleans and Las Vegas. We'll have two more bowls before then, however. The blah blah blah-sponsored Poinsettia Bowl1 is Thursday and the Brady Hoke-sponsored St. Petersburg Bowl is Friday.
Of course, the Ohio State basketball team will also have their marquee matchup of the month on Saturday. First though, the Buckeyes will play another "who?" opponent tonight.
Sure, Winthrop upset the real Ohio over the weekend and is a pretty steady first-round loser in the NCAA Tournament, but I don't even know where the university is located. I can only assume in a city upon a hill2.
Then, Ohio State will try to avenge last season's losses to Kansas. Perhaps more importantly, we'll be able to get a better sense of how good this team is before the beginning of Big Ten season. They showed flashes against Duke and while they've been much more consistent across the board lately, it's come against relatively weak competition, so Saturday's game should be a good barometer.
ALL WE ARE IS DUST IN THE WIND, DUDE. BTN's Tom Dienhart previewed this week in B1G hoops, and although there are a few noteworthy games, such as No. 12 Missouri vs. No. 10 Illinois, it's the Ohio State-Kansas matchup between two teams ranked in the top ten that is, unsurprisingly, his game of the week.
According to Dienhart, the matchup within the matchup to pay close attention to is Deshaun Thomas vs. Ben McLemore:
They may not match up each trip up and down the court, but this dynamic duo will be fun to watch battle when they lock up. And, it’s safe to say, the winner of this matchup of stars likely will lead their team to victory. McLemore, a 6-5 redshirt freshman, paces the Jayhawks with a 16.3-point average. Thomas, a 6-7 junior, leads the Buckeyes with a Big Ten-best 20.3 scoring average.
Academic issues caused McLemore to redshirt last season, so Ohio State has not faced him yet. But we know that Deshaun will want to make up for his foul-heavy and woeful shooting day against Kansas in the Final Four.
AIN'T I TOUGH ENOUGH. Phil Steele put together his own toughest schedule rankings and (kinda) explained how he calculated them:
What makes my Toughest Opponents Faced rankings far superior to the NCAA method is that mine takes into account 9 sets of power ratings, combines them and factors in every team’s schedule this year. I also take out the team’s own record from their opponents stats so the numbers only reflect only how their opponents did against other teams.
Ohio State was almost exactly in the middle at 63rd. Michigan State, right above Michigan at 32nd, played the toughest schedule among B1G teams. Well, they both did have to go up against two teams that finished the season undefeated. Speaking of, Notre Dame was in the #10 spot while their national championship opponent was 37th.
Please don't tell Charlie Weis, but Steele figured that Kansas, who faced off against 11 bowl teams this season, played the toughest schedule in the country, and rounding out the bottom, which was pretty MAC-tacular, was America's BCS team, Northern Illinois.
Will Deshaun let them know that they're not in Kansas anymore?WHERE HE STOPS NOBODY KNOWS. Ohio State factors into the latest developments of the coaching carousel, although everyone breathe a sigh of relief because the current staff remains the same.
Instead, former assistant coach Paul Haynes will be announced as the new head coach of Kent State later today, contrary to earlier reports that former Ohio State defensive coordinator Mark Snyder was the guy.
Haynes, a Columbus native and KSU alum, coached defensive backs at Ohio State from 2005-11 and also was the co-DC his final year, the same job he held at Arkansas this past season.
Haynes has the endorsement of outgoing coach Darrell Hazell, who said, "He can relate well with the kids... He'll bring some of the same things that we do now with him."
As for Hazell, details of his contract at Purdue have been released. He'll earn just over $2 million each year, a much larger salary than Danny Hope, who brought in $950,000. He'll also have more money to work with for his staff, as Purdue's trustees undoubtedly realized they needed to open up their wallets in order to attract better coaches.
Meanwhile, Western Michigan hired 32-year-old P.J. Fleck, who will be the youngest coach in college football next season and the first born in the 1980s3. Fleck is currently the wide receivers coach for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, but he too has an Ohio State connection. Fleck was a graduate assistant for the Buckeyes in 2006.
WHERE THERE'S A HILL THERE'S A WAY. After losing to Washington State on Saturday, the Ohio State women's basketball team needed a much better performance against Gonzaga to close out their West Coast trip.
Even though the Lady Buckeyes started slowly, they led by two at halftime and ended up winning, 65-60. Still, the game got a bit nerve-racking with 30 seconds remaining when they let Gonzaga score four points in as many seconds, cutting the deficit to 1.
Luckily Tayler Hill, who was perfect on all 12 of her free throw attempts, hit four FTs to clinch the game for Ohio State. She finished with 25 points, 9 rebounds, 3 assists and a steal. Ashley Adams and Amber Stokes each added 10 points and three steals. The Buckeyes (7-3) next play on Friday night when they host Southern.
HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS. Yesterday, Tulane provided an update on safety Devon Walker, who suffered a spinal injury in the Sept. 8 game against Tulsa. For three months, the senior has been in a rehab facility, where he spent his 22nd birthday just a few weeks ago and was visited by members of the New Orleans Saints, including Malcolm Jenkins and Will Smith.
Unfortunately, Walker remains immobile, but he will be allowed to go home to spend the holidays with his family, which naturally he is very much looking forward to:
"I am so happy to be going home where I can reunite with my family and friends. My family and I are very grateful for the support we continue to receive. Some days, when I think that I just can't do this anymore, remembering my many friends and supporters (both old and new) who are praying for me gives me the strength to go on. I know that my fight is just beginning. Please continue to pray for my recovery. Thank you very much."
Hopefully the next update tells us that he has started to regain his mobility. Here's a link to his support page.
MELE KA-LINK-IMAKA. Boeheim gets his 900th win as No. 3 Syracuse edges Detroit... Another Wisconsin assistant leaves... NIU will host Nebraska at Soldier Field in 2016... Baseball power rankings because why not?... Maybe potatoes are wild gorilla Kryptonite... Breaking Bad with The Wire credits... Alternate movie endings... The xx cover "Last Christmas".
- 1 Although it's their first Poinsettia Bowl appearance, it seems like BYU always plays in that bowl. ↑
- 2 Oh, I guess that's true. ↑
- 3 For reference, Fleck was born around the same time as Raging Bull was released in theaters. ↑
