Happy Halloween! I regret to inform you that any and all costume contests have been won by my sheriff son.
Theres a snake in my boot. - my son pic.twitter.com/vC8I1xALRC
— Kevin Harrish (@Kevinish) October 31, 2019
ICYMI
- The BasketBucks look pretty good in their exhibition win.
- The Bosas sweep the NFL's defensive player of the week awards.
- Last week proved Larry Johnson is a wizard.
- Jordan Fuller is a Campbell Award finalist.
- J.K Dobbins racks up another award.
- Real Pod Wednesdays.
- The Situational.
Word of the Day: Affright.
DJ CARTON SPOOKS THE BIG TEN. It might have been a fake game against a team with players only slightly better than you'd find in a pickup game at JO South, but damn, DJ Carton can ball.
From Griffin Strom of The Lantern:
The Buckeyes were the fourth-worst scoring team in the Big Ten’s regular season a year ago, and getting out to run in transition was not a pillar of their offense.
Carton showed why that’s likely to change this year, with a stretch in the second half that saw him hit five of Ohio State’s six made shots in a three-minute span –– three of them being fast break dunks.
Catching the Yellow Jacket defense off guard with breakaway speed, Carton jammed home a left-handed dunk that ignited a mostly dormant Columbus crowd, but that was just the warmup.
Two minutes later, Carton stole the ball from the Cedarville point guard to streak to the hoop for an uncontested slam, and in 13 more seconds, he’d thrown down what he called his favorite dunk of the night on an alley-oop from freshman forward E.J. Liddell.
He played 19 minutes last night – the longest of any of the four freshmen – and finished with 15 points and five assists, leading the team in assists and finishing behind only Kaleb Wesson in points.
He was the highest-rated guard the Buckeyes have signed since D'Angelo Russell, and he sure looks the part.
It's crazy that Ohio State's going to win the football and basketball natty in the same season.
SCARILY BAD TAKE! "Chase Young is overrated, actually!" is not a take I thought I would be hearing from, well, anyone, but here we are.
I'm sure at least half of this is an act and the other half is hyperbole, so I'm not really here to take Colin Cowherd seriously today or ever in the future.
However, Joel Klatt is an absolute hero for how prepared he was for that conversation and how quickly he buried Cowherd into the ground.
FRIGHTENINGLY GOOD! Like any sports blogger worth his online words, I love me a good hypothetical – especially one that adds LeBron James to probably the most talented Ohio State basketball team of all time.
John Gasaway of ESPN wrote out some alternate histories about players who never went to college and what their college teams would have looked like if they did.
Well, uh, behold:
Key players:
- LeBron James (would have been a senior in the 2006-07 season)
- Greg Oden (was a freshman in 2006-07)
- Mike Conley (was a freshman in 2006-07)
- Daequan Cook (was a freshman in 2006-07)
- Ron Lewis (was a senior in 2006-07)
- Othello Hunter (was a junior in 2006-07)
Why it didn't happen: Akron native James suggested as recently as last month that he may have gone to Ohio State if it had come to that. Of course, it never did come to that because, well, he was LeBron James. Anyway, Thad Matta didn't have enough spots on the floor for the talent at his disposal without James. In addition to the NBA-bound standouts Oden, Conley, Cook and Hunter, Matta had an entire shelf of great college players like Lewis, Jamar Butler, Ivan Harris and David Lighty. Who knows, maybe a senior-year James in Columbus would have shooed some of the younger talent away to commit elsewhere. If not, the Buckeyes surely would have been a sight to see.
I honestly respect the audacity here. I mean, if we're already changing one layer of reality to put LeBron James in a Buckeye uniform, let's just go all out and make him a four-year player. After all, this would be an absolutely gas roster to defend Ohio State's third-straight national title.
My personal favorite Ohio State basketball alternate history (which is, for the record, infinitely more plausible than four-year college student LeBron James): What if Evan Turner stayed for his senior season to join Aaron Craft, Lenzelle Smith, Deshaun Thomas and Jared Sullinger? I'm not sure they would have lost a game.
UNNERVING FAVORITE ARTISTS. I didn't think I needed to know 130 FBS coaches' favorite musical artists, but then I learned that Joe Moorhead of Mississippi State loves The Notorious B.I.G., Les Miles listens to 21 Savage, and that Lane Kiffin is a big Bon Jovi guy, and now this list is the most fascinating thing I've read in months.
All 130 FBS coaches gave their pick for their first artist. Here's what the Big Ten looks like, via Stadium:
- Commissioner Jim Delany – Bruce Springsteen
- Lovie Smith, Illinois – George Clinton
- Tom Allen, Indiana – MercyMe
- Kirk Ferentz, Iowa – Pat Green
- Mike Locksley, Maryland – Citizen Cope
- Jim Harbaugh, Michigan – Bob Marley
- Mark Dantonio, Michigan State – Eric Church
- P.J. Fleck, Minnesota – Jason Aldean
- Scott Frost, Nebraska – Casey Donahew Band
- Pat Fitzgerald, Northwestern – Kenny Chesney
- Ryan Day, Ohio State – Kenny Chesney
- James Franklin, Penn State – Jay-Z
- Jeff Brohm, Purdue – Toby Keith
- Nunzio Campanile, Rutgers – Billy Joel
- Paul Chryst, Wisconsin – Phil Vassar
This list alone is enough for me to form some permanent, unshakable opinions on some of these guys, for better or worse.
JUST PLAIN TERRIFYING. Nick Bosa ain't even halfway through his first season as a pro and he's arguably the most feared pass rusher in the NFL – and his teammates are loving it.
"Sign him to a twenty year deal now"
— San Francisco 49ers (@49ers) October 30, 2019
Go inside the 49ers Week 8 win in 49 Hours presented by @nrgenergy.
: https://t.co/MCFwob9wHp pic.twitter.com/LLL5CIc1Pa
I'm absolutely here for 42-year-old Nick Bosa sacking 62-year-old Tom Brady.
NOT STICKING TO SPORTS. Court rules that police owe nothing to a man after they blew up his house... Turns out, binge drinking is less dangerous if you smoke weed too... A man charged with stabbing a woman claims he was afraid of being eaten by zombies... A man goes to doctor with headache and discovers it's drug packet he put up nose 18 years ago... Parents decorate their son’s grave with skeleton rising from ground, but the cemetery takes it down... Scientists demonstrate direct brain-to-brain communication in humans...
