Apparently, the world is coming to an end today and I'm not sure I can think of a greater honor than writing the last Skull Session you'll ever read. I'd ask what you're even doing spending your last day reading this, but, hey, you're already here, so you might as well finish what you started. Nobody likes a Todd Graham, anyway.
Just keep in mind that most of the things you're about to read about may never end up happening. And we don't offer refunds. Sorry.
So what to do when you're done reading? The New York Times has some suggestions for you to prepare for the Mayan Apocalypse. Personally, I think you should just eat bacon, have a stiff drink, and find someone to make love to. I'm pretty sure those things are much more enjoyable than searching for Mylar thermal blankets. And nobody on their death bed ever thought, "I regret all the bacon I ate and all the sex I had." At least, nobody worth knowing.
Cheers!
THIRD TIME'S A CHARM. The Ohio State Buckeyes take on the visiting Kansas Jayhawks tomorrow at 4 p.m. ET for the third time in just over a year. The first of the recent matchups was in Lawrence last December, where the Jayhawks beat a Sully-less Buckeye team, 78-67. The teams met again in New Orleans, in the Final Four, and Kansas came out on top again in a heartbreaking comeback win over the Buckeyes, 64-62.
Saturday, the Buckeyes have another chance at redemption, as they host the ninth ranked Jayhawks who also boast a 9-1 record, with their sole loss coming at the hands of Michigan State. Both teams have yet to beat a ranked team this season.
While Ohio State still has five other ranked teams remaining on their schedule, for a total of ten games against ranked opponents, Kansas only has one, in Oklahoma State, whom they'll face twice this season. Given that, it's no surprise that Rustin Dodd of the Kansas City Star thinks that the Jayhawks will face some of their toughest tests of the year in Columbus tomorrow. Namely, Ohio State forward Deshaun Thomas, who Dodd thinks might just be the best scorer Kansas will play all year.
Bill Self talked about Thomas' abilities on Thursday as well, calling him a "shot maker" and a "professional scorer." He also said that "Maybe the biggest key in beating [Ohio State] in New Orleans, was [Thomas] going to the bench for about 10 minutes the second half with foul trouble, because then we could trap the post."
CENTERCOURT. While we're on the topic of basketball, Ohio State's associate athletic director of communications, Dan Wallenberg, tweeted out several photos of the future Ohio State basketball court, which will be installed in Value City Arena sometime next week.
You can see the delivery of the court here. See what the new center court, featuring the state of Ohio, looks like here. And check out a rendering of the full design here.
Deshaun Thomas and the Buckeyes take on Kansas.EAUX NEAUX. Add LSU's Brad Wing to the (very short) list of punters suspended for bowl games, following the suspension of Michigan's Will Hagerup for the Outback Bowl. Redshirt sophomore Wing's suspension is supposedly due to a second failed drug test, according to TigerRag.com.
Tiger Rag's source, apparently someone within the athletic department, also claims that Wing's absence from the North Texas game earlier this year was also due to a failed drug test. Not sure how reliable their source is, but assuming it's true, the question must be asked: is there anyone in Baton Rouge not smoking or eating some kind of grass?
Some may say that the suspension of a punter isn't a big deal, and perhaps I don't have to need to explain this to anyone who watched Ohio State football during the Tressel era, but that's not always the case. Wing is a pretty valuable player for the Tigers, and his impact will be missed in the Chick-fil-A Bowl. Some are also speculating that he may declare for the NFL Draft now, as he is eligible to do so.
Also, I hate this rule. How can you flag a lil swag?
BOOTY CALL. Typically if you get a phone call past 2 a.m. and someone's not dying, they're only after one thing. And that's to tell you that they took the head coaching job at Wisconsin. Wait... what were you thinking? Gosh, guys, don't be so cynical!
Though rumors were reported earlier in the week, Wisconsin made their hire of former Utah State head coach Gary Andersen official on Thursday, and will formerly introduce him at a press conference this morning. Tom Mulhern of the Wisconsin State Journal reported that Andersen called every single one of his players, all 106 of them, so that they could hear the news from him personally. This took until about 2:30 a.m. When asked for comment, Todd Graham said, "LOL!"
Many of Andersen's players went to Twitter to express both disbelief that Andersen was leaving Utah State and glowing reviews of him as a man, but it's hard to not recognize the classiness of a such a gesture. It's rare these days that coaches show their soon-to-be former players that kind of respect.
Utah State defensive lineman BJ Larsen had this to say about Andersen, via Twitter:
Coach A had been an important person in my life. His leadership and love for the game and players is unparalleled. The decision was his to make and he had his own reasons for his family and himself. I will miss him. The relationship and time I have had with him has been priceless, an amazing leader. U state will continue to climb regardless, the foundation for greatness has been set! Aggies all the way!
Andersen appears to be the type of guy that will be much tougher to hate than Bret Bielema, so... sorry Buckeye fans! And, it appears that one of his glowing recommendations to Barry Alvarez came from our very own Urban Meyer, who had Andersen on his staff when he led the Utes to a 12-0 season in 2004.
"(Meyer has) had some very good assistants," Alvarez said on UWBadgers.com. "Urban told me that Gary is in the top five of all of them; he's the real deal. I said, 'Would he fit here? Would he fit in the Big Ten?' He said, 'Absolutely.'"
FROM OH-IO TO HAWAII FIVE-0. On Thursday, the University of Hawaii announced their new Athletic Director, Ben Jay. Jay previously served as the senior associate athletics director for finance and operations at Ohio State since 2006, and was an extremely integral part of running one of the biggest athletic programs in the country. He oversaw a $131 million annual operating budget and 35 teams, and was actively involved in any athletics related construction project you've seen on campus during his time at Ohio State.
Often introduced by Gene Smith as "the money guy", Jay has a great ability to oversee on campus projects, spend money wisely, and just make things work. His skillset was built up through a career path that has taken him through, among other stops, the Cleveland Indians, the Pac-10, and Bloomingdales. His influence will be missed by all teams at Ohio State, as he devoted a lot of time to projects for the oft-forgotten teams as well. He's made it no easy task to find his replacement.
LINKS. LINKS. LINKS. You shouldn't listen to this with kids around, but Arnold loves pumping... Time to party like it's 1999, with Blake Griffin... Steve Kerr no likey the SEC... Don't get too jealous, TP... Things that make you go swooooooon... How the Ohio State Buckeye stacks up in the mascot edibility rankings... In case you were wondering what you get the guy that already has everything... Apparently the world isn't coming to an end this year, so I'll see you next week!
