This past weekend in Buckeye sports:
- Kelsey Mitchell dropped 45 points as the women's team held off West Virginia in Round 2 of the NCAA Tournament. No. 3 Ohio State plays No. 7 Tennessee (who beat No. 2 Arizona State last night) on Friday.
- The men's basketball season mercifully came to an end against Florida in Round 2 of the N.I.T. Somehow this season was more fun than last season.
- Kyle Snyder and Myles Martin captured individual wrestling championships. The wrestling team finished third nationally.
NO DICE ON FLORIDA MOVE? Urban Meyer created headlines last Tuesday when he mentioned Ohio State is "looking into" moving spring practice to Florida à la Jim Harbaugh and Michigan.
For some reason, Rivals decided to clickbait six-day old information in a three-day old article on Sunday night:
Is Urban Meyer taking his #Buckeyes to #Florida for spring break? https://t.co/hw0CVrT6WJ pic.twitter.com/bV90iMpCVP
— Rivals.com (@Rivals) March 18, 2016
Allow Raekwon McMillan and Johnnie Dixon to save you that click.
No sir https://t.co/N9PbaP1VOu
— Raekwon McMillan (@Kwon_daTRUTH) March 18, 2016
Not a chance yo..! https://t.co/2jZzR5mnd3
— Johnnie L. Dixon III (@YoungKing_JD5) March 20, 2016
A commenter theorized this could be a master ploy from Urban Meyer to solidify the SEC's desire to see their satellite-camp ban enacted nationwide. Meyer is ruthless, so I wouldn't be surprised in the least if it were true.
I've also issued a #djbyrnesflipflop on the idea of spring practice in Florida. At first I liked it, but I switched! It's bad now, because spring break (which I never went on, should anybody ever ask...) is a Top 1 reason to go to college in the first place and the football calendar is already bloated.
How much is to be gained in the end, really? Jim Harbaugh lost by four touchdowns to his arch-rival. They need the circus as the Michigan #brand is only one-year removed from literally giving away tickets with shitty Coke products.
Ohio State doesn't need the circus. Let the players spend spring break with their families or somewhere cooler than Florida (which, again, is a state to which I've never visited...)
TOO MANY CATS? D'Angelo Russell made headlines last Tuesday when he questioned the work ethic of basically every former Ohio State teammate not named Kam Williams.
D'Angelo Russell didn't play with JaQuan Lyle, but Lyle hinted at some of the same problems after yesterday's home loss to Florida:
JaQuan Lyle put a nice little bow on today's postgame press conference at Ohio State pic.twitter.com/upr07fG28D
— Ryan Ginn (@RyanGinnBSB) March 21, 2016
MAKES. U. THINK.
But in all seriousness, it looks like the Thad Matta needs to look at the culture of his team this summer. If it's a "can't make a mule drink" situation, then perhaps an audit of the mule recruiting department is in order.
Or maybe he should just show them this classic rant from Coastal Carolina head football coach David Bennett:
OFFSEASON #CONTENT KING NATE EBNER SPEAKS. You can tell Nate Ebner's crossover appeal has hit the big time because he's now doing NPR interviews.
From npr.org:
EBNER: Well, like I said, I didn't play football in high school - I almost did my senior year - and played a couple more years of Junior World Cups in college. Had a couple years left of college till I was going to graduate, and I didn't want to leave to play professional rugby, so I just was going to finish my degree. And I spoke with my father and my family about playing football because it was something I was passionate about. I was already at Ohio State. I kind of wanted to give it a shot, so I walked on in one of the winter walk-on tryouts. And here we are.
MARTIN: What do you love about rugby? Why's it - I mean, there are a lot of similarities with football. Just at a basic level, the only big difference that you spot right away - you don't wear pads, so it feels - it seems more dangerous. But what's - what do you love about that's different from football?
EBNER: I don't know. It's, like, I grew up with the sport at a young age. I gravitated towards it at a young age. I was pretty decent at it. So, you know, it's like anything else in your life you grow up and you're good at (laughter). You kind of like it. So - not only that, but just, like, the way the game is - it's a free-flow game. Everybody has to do everything. You have to tackle. You have to run. You have to rush. You have to pass - all those things. And it's not just one person does, you know, some skill work and somebody does the grunt work. Everybody's kind of - has to do it together.
Maybe I will get around to finally learning rugby this summer. The only things I know are it's "kinda like football without pads" and you have to be cool with losing teeth to play. I suppose it makes more sense than cricket, which is basically a cooler version of baseball?
Either way, I'm hoping Ebner can bless me with a few Vines of him truck-sticking some British lad en route to American glory. Most Americans may not understand rugby, but we all have a healthy appreciation for a man legally truck-sticking another man in an athletic competition.
Doubt me? Check back at the end of June when "Video: Nate Ebner Disintegrates British Rugby Lad" is our top-viewed article of the month.
CARDALE STOCK RISING? The always affable Cardale Jones stopped by the studios of the NFL Network and talked his stock, his 2015 decision to stay at Ohio State, Urban Meyer's decision to bench him, and his attraction to Rhonda Rousey.
Via 97.1 The Fan's Lori Schmidt:
Most notably, former NFL scout and current network analyst Daniel Jeremiah said Jones impressed multiple teams with board work during private visits. ("People underestimate how cerebral I am," Cardale said.) That was a big question surrounding him.
Combine that with his physical abilities—Jeremiah said Jones has the strongest arm in the draft—and he should be moving up some boards heading into next month's Ohio State recruiting pamphlet at the NFL draft.
BUCKEYES MAKE LUIJI VILAIN'S LIST. I stay out of recruiting—there's a Lord of Whispers for that, after all—but please believe I'll track Luiji Vilain's recruitment every top schools list of the way:
After strong consideration, the schools with which I will be furthering my recruitment are the following pic.twitter.com/vqi63EMu5F
— Luiji Vilain (@luiji_v) March 19, 2016
If Ohio State signed him, would he instantly become the best-named Buckeye of all time? The graybeards among us could probably remember some classics, but I say yes. Luiji Vilain is almost impossible beat considering Pencilman Jefferies got pinched selling drugs and is thus unfit for recruitment.
THOSE WMDs. Nike and Adidas turning to celebrities in 2016... The tallest cowboy... Video: Swedish store runs on honor system and an app... Cartographers mapping Syria's exodus thanks to social media... What happens when #Millennials run the workplace?
