Party in the Horseshoe today starting at 11 a.m. It's free, so if you're in the area and conscious, there's no reason not to head up to the stadium and take in the first undisputed college football championship in America. For those not #blessed enough to reside close enough to make the hajj to Columbus: BTN's coverage of the event starts at 10:30 a.m.
Last night, however, the team put on a pre-celebration #banger at the student union:
Special THANK YOU to @OSUCoachMeyer @Brutus_Buckeye @OSUBlockO @ohiounion @TBDBITL and the football players! pic.twitter.com/NyBofUhdKU
— OhioStateStudentLife (@StudentLifeOSU) January 23, 2015
Awesome night @StudentLifeOSU @TBDBITL @ohiounion @OSUCoachMeyer #GoBucks #NationalChampions pic.twitter.com/ZYhqhBmJdZ
— Brutus Buckeye (@Brutus_Buckeye) January 24, 2015
But it wasn't for ALL PLAYERS:
Awkward moment when you walk in union and they're celebrating football team but only certain players got invited haha
— Joe Burger (@jburgs37) January 23, 2015
Makes you think for sure, Mr. Burger. Makes you think for sure.
PATIENT 0: CBB'S SMOOTHEST ASSASSIN. I was gushing yesterday about D'Angelo Russell, my favorite basketball player since Willie Buckets. Tom Ley of Deadspin.com wrote the love letter I should've:
The 6-foot-5 freshman has been dazzling, averaging 19 points, five rebounds, and nearly five assists per game while shooting 47 percent from the field. In his first season, he's already become Ohio State's alpha dog. Ken Pomeroy's numbers have him soaking up a team-high 29 percent of offensive possessions and accounting for more shots (29.5 percent) than any other player on the team.
Putting the ball in Russell's hands is a good idea, simply because there are so many ways he can break down a defense. His court vision and size allow him to key the offense as a point guard whenever he feels like it, his length makes it easy for him to finish in the lane, and he's an absolute killer from beyond the arc. He's firing up 6.4 threes per game, and connecting on 45 percent of them. He's a great spot-up shooter from deep, but he can also knock down pull-up, quick-trigger threes with an ease that evokes visions of Steph Curry. According to Synergy Sports, Russell is shooting 49 percent on jumpers off the dribble, and producing an excellent 1.2 points per possession on those shots.
[...]
Russell also represents a nice antidote to the Ohio State teams of the recent past, the ones that featured a backcourt combination of Aaron Craft and Lenzelle Smith, two perfectly decent players whose offensive games were about as explosive as an old YMCA veteran's. Ken Pomeroy's offensive rating has this year's team as the 23rd most efficient team in the country, a decent step up from last year's team, which was ranked 128th. This year, Ohio State won't be the cloying, defensive-minded team that everyone wants to see get bounced from the tournament as soon as possible. They'll be the team with the one player you can't take your eyes off of.
I'm telling you: Every Ohio State men's basketball game is worth watching if Russell is healthy. And if my team goes down in March with Russell blasting with both barrels... then so be it. It will be a glorious death.
EASIER TO TANGLE WITH A MORTAL THAN A WARLOCK. As ESPN's Bomani Jones pointed out yesterday, this article from Bill Landis of cleveland.com makes Georgia's extension of Mark Richt somewhat perplexing. It also explains why Urban Meyer would rather tussle with Richt than Les Miles:
That much is illustrated in the photo [four-star OL Tennessee commit Venzell] Boulware posted on his Twitter account two days ago. It shows him, clad in an orange Tennessee sweatshirt and matching Nike shoes, standing inches away from Richt, who's wearing khakis and a red Georgia pull-over. Richt is flashing an awkward smile and Boulware appears to be looking in the opposite direction.
Imagine Urban Meyer in a similar photo with an Ohio prospect wearing a sweatshirt from another Big Ten school. You can't.
It's hard to pick which aspect is more telling: The fact that Boulware is in Tennessee colors, or that he and Richt look like two strangers meeting for the first time? Both speak to the reason the Bulldogs aren't always able to keep the state's top talent at home, and why schools like Tennessee, Ohio State and others feel they can come in and poach Georgia's best players.
Interesting enough, Boulware is now on Ohio State's campus this weekend. In the end, nobody wants to tangle with Urban F. Meyer.
THE LAST WORDS OF TYVIS POWELL. Tyvis Powell and Darron Lee dropped their Twitter mics for the foreseeable future, but before that happened, he dropped an insightful interview.
From Joey Elchert of theBuckeyes.net:
Q: How does it feel to be a national champion and not only that, the defensive MVP of the title game?!
A: The MVP really doesn’t excite me. It’s nice to have but winning it all and sending our seniors out as National Champions means way more to me then the MVP trophy. I describe winning the National Championship like this, when you go to bed at night and have a dream, when you wake up you’re upset because it was just a dream. Imagine having a dream and when you wake up it’s still going. That’s what it feels like.
[...]
Q: Let’s rewind things for a minute though, September 6th 2014, Ohio State had a shocking loss to Virginia Tech. Was there any doubt in your mind that you guys couldn’t recover from that? How did that loss affect the team?
A: Honestly I had some doubt, but the loss motivated us and really helped us become a better team.
Loved Tyvis' first answer; that's 100% bring-your-lunch-pail thinking.
I was surprised to see him admit even he doubted Ohio State's championship pedigree after the Virginia Tech loss, but that's only because, try as I might, I can't seem to remember a loss to Virginia Tech.
B1G STILL DOING IT B1G IN RECRUITING. Ohio State's recruiting is always on swoll. And while the Big Ten's image received a nice boost this last bowl cycle, its teams seem content with the "developing talent" route.
via Jeff Svoboda of BuckeyeSports.com:
Shoutout to Jim Harbaugh:
send rations RT @zone_left: Michigan is basically at the point where we need on commit per day to fill out the class. Have fun @AceAnbender
— Ace Anbender (@AceAnbender) January 23, 2015
Everyone heading to the celebration at Columbus' beautiful concrete lady, be safe; these Columbus streets are always frosty.
THOSE WMDs. Spyware is for sale and the worst dictatorships are buying... Discovered: 31 rolls of film shot by an unknown WW2 soldier... Kobe's great reason for why he's out for the season... Sports Illustrated fires photography staff... Rolling from this story about a guy playing in his dad's 40+ basketball league.
