Are you the patriot that leaked the NCAA's Tournament bracket before the NCAA could reveal it during an hour-long commercial circle-jerk? (No, I'm not bitter about OSU's absence, why do you ask?)
If so, I hope you booked a Sunday night flight to Hong Kong before making your power play:
NCAA statement on the leaked bracket: "We take this matter seriously and we are looking into it."
— John Ourand (@Ourand_SBJ) March 14, 2016
I know I'm not the only one that read that statement in Liam Neeson's voice, which could be ominous for our friend.
GET DUMPED THEN, AKRON. Make no mistake about it: Akron is a damn fine city. People talk about what Akron isn't—sure, the rubber industry isn't coming back through customs—but I made numerous trench runs to the Rubber City in college.
While my lawyers won't allow me to pontificate in specifics, allow me to say any negative thing you've heard about this Northeastern Ohio gem is untrue. Besides, industrial decay was all part of the ultimate plan to weed out poser Midwesterners. File it under the law of "addition by subtraction."
Akron University is the second rowdiest school in Ohio (I'll leave the reader to discern who I tab at No. 1) but its men's basketball team fell into the path of an NIT death star on Sunday night.
So what do we know about the Zips? They're a MAC power thanks to a guy whose career was resurrected by a #teen LeBron James at Akron St. Vincent–St. Mary.
From sbnation.com:
That trust is why [Akron coach Keith] Dambrot is where he is today, and he knows that. Dambrot had proved that he was a good coach early in his career. But in an ego-driven business, he can now readily admit that he just got lucky. Connecting with that group of four players at that time gave him his career back.
"I'm proud of it, so it doesn't affect me," Dambrot said. "I think, obviously, (LeBron) is one of the main reasons we've been successful. I have people come up to me all the time, little kids say, ‘Hey can I get a picture with you?' because I was LeBron's coach, not because I'm Akron's coach."
LeBron went on to the NBA, but Travis and Joyce followed Dambrot to Akron, where he was an assistant with the Zips. "I just wanted to show my city, my fans, people that didn't believe in me, that I wasn't someone who was just latching on," Joyce said. "I always felt like people had this judgement about me that I only played because of my relationship to LeBron. If there was anyone I wanted to show that to, it was my own city."
Ohio State hosts Akron at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday. The victor will play whatever meth-mouthed monster emerges from the Florida–North Florida squabble.
If you're interested in attending, here's the lowdown on tickets:
Tickets for the game go on sale to the public at 1 p.m. Monday at the Athletic Ticket Office, online at ticketmaster.com or by calling 1-800-745-3000. Tickets are $20 or $10 for reserved seating and $5 for Ohio State students (service charges may apply). Ohio State men’s basketball season ticket holders and Ohio State students will receive detailed instructions regarding reserving their seats or purchasing student tickets Sunday night via e-mail to the address on record in their ticket account.
Ohio State should hold this one in St. John Arena for full N.I.T. effect. I can't think of a better way to send off a campus icon than with a least meal featuring a No. 3-seeded N.I.T. game.
WARINNER UNWORRIED. Ohio State's offense entered last season stuffed with future NFL talent.For much of the year, it operated as smoothly as a constipated trucker's intestines.
It looked good in the last two games of the season... but that was only two games.
Ezekiel Elliott, Taylor Decker, Michael Thomas, Cardale Jones, Braxton Miller, Nick Vannett, and Jalin Marshall are gone. Yet offensive coordinator Ed Warinner doesn't seem perturbed.
From dispatch.com:
“We’re a young team, a talented team that has a lot of growth and room to get better,” Warinner said. “I love the energy, love the hunger and the attitude. It’s fun to be around them.”
The Buckeyes aren’t starting totally from scratch. They have a veteran quarterback — J.T. Barrett is only a junior, folks — and a first-team all-conference lineman, Pat Elflein, who has moved from left guard to center for his senior season.
“The two things that (allow us to) sleep good at night are when Pat Elflein is your center and J.T. Barrett is your quarterback,” Warinner said.
It'd be bad form for Warinner to say he's shitting bricks in the middle of spring camp, but we saw in 2012 Meyer can work magic with a workhorse at QB. I remain unworried as long as J.T. Barrett remains healthy.
SILK FINDS WORLD PEACE. Well, this is embarrassing.
I reported last week D'Angelo Russell and the Los Angeles Lakers won the 2016 NBA championship after defeating the Golden State Warriors in trial by combat. It appears a mistake was made.
The Lakers did not win the title last Sunday and the regular season is still ongoing.
To prove I am responsible to my readers, I ritualistically sacrificed an intern to appease the old world gods.
I regret the error, but definitely not as much as the sacrificial intern.
From newyorktimes.com:
World Peace, 36, has become an unlikely mentor for Russell. (“When I first met him, I was like, ‘I’m scared of this dude,’ ” Russell said.) World Peace said Russell was less focused and less hungry early in this season. In a rapid stream of words, he categorized the directives he has been giving Russell to motivate him. Strewn with profanities, they mostly had to do with staying focused, not accepting disrespect from others, asserting his masculinity, becoming physically stronger and acting like an adult.
“You don’t want to joke to the point where you’re being ineffective,” World Peace said. “But he gets it done on the court.”
Russell has flourished in recent weeks. He has been somewhat liberated in a new offensive set that the coaches installed last month, and has felt more confident to try new things and to make mistakes. Scott’s tone has changed, for the most part, to commendation and praise.
Metta World Peace: A veteran rock and calming locker room influence. Perhaps we will see actual world peace in the year of Dankey Kang after all.
CRAFT: 110% GRIT, HEART, AND MOXY. I didn't watch it, but I'm willing to bet this was the most entertaining play from the Santa Cruz Warriors' Saturday night D-League loss to the Los Angeles D-Fenders:
Aaron Craft with the extra effort on the lazy inbound pass from LA. #Hustle #SeaDubs pic.twitter.com/OiPmS5O95q
— Sea Dubs Central (@SeaDubsCentral) March 13, 2016
You know Craft's teammate (who I'm not bothering to look up) missed the open trey because the Warriors' social media intern didn't include it in the GIF.
How is Craft supposed to make it to the Association if Santa Cruz plays him with stiffs? Even Jordan had Pippen.
IT'S TOM HERMAN, BABY, BOSS OF THE SOUTH. Here's something I didn't know: Tom Herman, the former Ohio State OC and current Houston coach, founded MENSA, the organization for geniuses. I didn't believe it but it's true.
Anyway, Herman flexed some of that MENSA muscle during the Coog's American Athletic conference championship victory over Navy. Here's Herman breaking down how the double pass came to fruition:
Tom Herman explains his favorite 2015 playPretty Cool: We had a coach, with film, break down his favorite playcall of the season (full audio in new ep)
Posted by The Solid Verbal: Living College Football on Wednesday, March 9, 2016
My favorite part? Herman being aggressive while worrying about lost momentum as his team led 14 in the fourth quarter of a title game.
I wouldn't create the online petition to replace Meyer with Herman if Urban fails to bring another championship to Ohio State this year... but I might sign it.
THOSE WMDs. #Shoutout to Jupiter... Suspected robber used hashtags to demand money from bank teller... 1971 psychedelic Greyhound bus ad... Snowmachiner says he killed Iditarod dog while driving drunk... Spanish castle spared from collapse, not criticism... From 1997: Is the dominance of Jordan's Bulls good for the NBA?
