ICYMI: Ohio State beat Minnesota last night, 79-73. (Your photos are located over here.) Thad Matta is now the winningest coach in Ohio State history.
SPENCER GEARS UP FOR PRO DAY. Ohio State's pro day is today, which is a great chance for former Buckeyes like Evan Spencer to earn a lot of money.
From Bill Rabinowitz of Dispatch.com:
“(Invitations to) combines and things like that are based heavily on stats,” Spencer said. “My greatest attributes and the things that I do well are not in a stat book. The things I do well are the things that help win championships, and I think that’s pretty much evident with what we went through this entire season with the adversity we had to overcome.
“We put personal wants aside for the team. That’s the guy I’ve always been.”
Spencer has been training in Tampa, Fla., since a week after the Jan. 12 national championship game victory over Oregon. He played that game with an injured hamstring, but he said there was no way he would sit out that game.
Evan Spencer will be in the NFL for as long as he wants, and this plate of crow he fed me this past season was delicious.
BRAXTON MILLER REMAINS SILENT. Ohio State gave its quarterbacks the option of speaking yesterday. J.T. Barrett and King Cardale opted in. Braxton opted out.
From Tim May of Dispatch.com:
Thus Miller couldn’t answer the first major question, which was how his rehab is going, a schedule that’s not expected to have him in turn-it-loose shape, passing wise, probably until May or June. New quarterbacks coach Tim Beck, on the job for just under three months but available for interview today, deferred when asked for a physical update on Miller.
“I’m not a trainer, I don’t know, it’s hard for me to answer those questions,” said Beck, and the trainers and medical personnel are rarely made available to answer such questions, and were not today. “I’d be remiss to give you any kind of clinical advice or answer of where he’s at, or how long he’s away. I don’t know.”
As for the other major question, which was whether Miller -- already with a degree in hand -- might opt to take advantage of an NCAA rule that would allow him to transfer to another NCAA FBS school and play immediately in the coming season, Beck said a month ago he expects Miller to be at Ohio State in the fall.
Braxton prefers the quiet route, and in the end, there's nothing wrong with that.
LOGAN STIEBER, JEDI MASTER. Earlier this week, I congratulated Ohio State's wrestling team on its first share of a B1G championship since the 1950s, and somebody took me to task for not showing Logan Stieber some love. This is my atonement.
From Patrick Kalista of TheLantern.com:
“Competing one last time in St. John Arena was unbelievable,” he said. “I thought I wrestled smart and a little conservative my first two matches of the tournament, but for my last match, I wanted to go out and score lots of points and put on a show.”
Ryan, who won Big Ten Coach of the Year, put Stieber’s performance in a category by itself, but said he has come to expect that from his senior leader.
“When you master a position and your opponent has no answer to it, that’s what happens,” Ryan said. “Logan’s not good at the position, he’s not great at the position, he’s not extraordinary at the position. He’s a Jedi Master.”
Stieber, by the way, is Ohio State's first four-time Big Ten champion. I'm not an OSU history buff, but I assume he's OSU's first Jedi master.
BRUTUS TURNS 50. Brutus the Buckeye, the beloved mascot of Ohio State, turns 50 this year.
From Steve Brown and Thomas Bradley of WOSU.com:
Good to know I have Brutus to hold my hand as I approach 30.
THOSE WMDs. Here is a high schooler deadlifting 500 pounds.... Columbus taking steps to prevent rat return... Kyrie Irving needs a bath... I love you, Special One... Let's get it, Bhutan.
