Hello everyone, and welcome to the Skull Session.
Shootyhoops is really fun when everyone's good at it! The Big Ten Tournament is underway, and today's quarterfinal action promises to be great TV. Hopefully, Brandon Paul's winning shot against #9 Minnesota yesterday was an appetizer.
In other first round action, #5 Michigan beat #12 Penn State soundly — way to win the season series! — setting up a game with #4 Wisconsin. #1 Indiana/#8 Illinois is a second matchup between NCAA-bound teams, and #6 Iowa makes its bubble push against #3 Michigan State following an easy win over #11 Northwestern.
Finally, after holding off #7 Purdue late, #10 Nebraska gets to face #2 Ohio State in what is on paper a big mismatch. OSU has won both previous matchups, and is on a roll; to be blunt it would take something strange for Nebraska to win. Andre Almeida has surprised people with his athletic play and Nebraska is looking far livelier under Tim Miles than in previous years, but the pieces just aren't there for substantial success yet.
Should Ohio State win, it's Sparty or Iowa next. Win that and it's probably Indiana in the final, and then a high seed in the NCAA Tournament. But first things first: in Risk you can't conquer the world without taking Kamchatka, and likewise OSU can't win the Big Ten without beating Nebraska.
TOURNEY CHILLAXING. Today is a good day to commemorate the tenth anniversary of "Charles Bass Off the Glass", the banked-in prayer that A) helped OSU to beat Michigan State, B) capped off an underrated and often forgotten madcap game, C) propelled Ohio State to the 2003 Big Ten Tournament final, and D) served as the last great basketball moment under Jim O'Brien.
While moments like that are special, Thad Matta has been far and away more successful; his teams have made the tournament finals six times in eight years and this one is likely to do so again. The always stellar Doug Lesmerises wrote about the success of Matta's teams, in which Matta expressed a low-key attitude on this tournament in particular:
“These tournaments are more for fans, so our thing is always let's just go play basketball,” Matta said on Wednesday in Columbus. “There's no magic speech or anything that I'll give going to Chicago. We've kind of honestly been very laid-back going into this tournament in terms of, 'Hey, let's go have some fun.'”
In some tournament situations like the Evan Turner shot that laid-back attitude has been absent, but this year it might actually be there. Ohio State isn't playing for a one seed; even the most optimistic projection has it as the last two seed. It can't hurt its seeding much, and it wouldn't face a rival (Michigan, Indiana, or Wisconsin) until the final. Without a share of the Big Ten title in hand, will the team be less focused in the quarterfinal and/or semifinal? This is uncommon ground for Matta's teams; we'll see.
A RECRUITING MISS. In an unusual turn, Ohio State has lost out on a top prospect it was targeting in a quiet period. Jalen Hurd, a 5-star running back, committed to Tennessee yesterday. According to our own Alex, Urban Meyer wanted him pretty badly, and though it isn't clear what led Hurd to commit, this isn't the end of it. It's nice consolation for Tennessee after losing out on Vonn Bell last month, and may be a sign that Butch Jones's territory will be harder to mine in the future.
In other brief recruiting news, offensive tackle Demetrius Knox, a Texas commit, will be visiting Ohio State this April. And that's all the recruiting news there is in the world for now. In NFL news, would Beanie Wells having a physical with the Steelers or Brian Hartline working at a convenience store pique your interest?
THE LARCENY STRIPE. Some basketball games are decided by questionable calls leading to a couple free throws. Fewer are decided by questionable calls leading to eleven free throws, as Charlotte/Richmond was when Richmond was called for three technical fouls in the last five seconds.
It all started when the Spiders chose to foul the 49ers to prevent Charlotte from attempting a tying 3-pointer. As Henry's free throw swished through the net on the front end of a one-and-one, Richmond's Derrick Williams and the 49ers' Willie Clayton became entangled setting up for a potential rebound.
Here's how it played out: Richmond was called for a dead ball technical foul and Charlotte got to shoot the back end of a one-and-one and two more and keep the ball. Then when Richmond fouled on the next possession, the Charlotte player managed to jack up a three-pointer while being fouled, so that's three more. This drove Richmond coach Chris Mooney onto the floor and into excoriating the referees, upon which they T'd him up; two more. Finally, a player came onto the court to restrain the coach, upon which the referees T'd the player up for leaving the bench.
All in all, Charlotte shot eleven free throws in the end segment, making eight and winning, 68-63. On any other day, successfully completing a full court pass only to miss a bunny at the buzzer like Xavier did would be the most excruciating loss of the day, but no. How would you like for your basketball team to be up three points with six seconds to go and lose by five?
HOCKEY TOWN. Though the Big Ten men's basketball tournament has taken up most of the spotlight, the final CCHA playoffs are underway and Ohio State has a solid chance of winning them. Ohio State hockey plays tonight in the first game of a best-of-three series against 5 seed Ferris State. Ohio State is red hot and favored to win the series; if that happens, it will go on to the semifinals.
In that case, it will #1 seed Miami or #11 seed Michigan State and be only a couple games away from an improbable NCAA tournament bid. Unfortunately, the hockey team will not be playing at Schottenstein Center like it has for much of the season but at the OSU Ice Rink at 7:05. Nevertheless, tickets are available for the public, and if you haven't attended a hockey game this year, why not Zoidberg this one?
LINK SAUSAGE. RIP Google Reader... A kind gesture by Josh Cribbs... Bill Walton doesn't care... Manager meltdowns: consistent fun... Magnitudem I... A supercut of Fourth Wall breakages... Jim Mora: Idol fan.
