A wise man once said, "Road wins in the Big Ten should be celebrated like they're a national holiday."
So go ahead and take off work. You've earned it.
Singing the song #Team121 #GoBucks pic.twitter.com/OA9ZSwpEPr
— Ohio State Hoops (@OhioStateHoops) February 28, 2020
Song of the Day: "The Alien" Manchester Orchestra
Word of the Day: Quiescence.
DOING IT SINCE HIGH SCHOOL. Ohio State is a damn assembly line of NFL talent that routinely turns kids into superstars, but it certainly helps when some of those kids are already freaks in high school.
Who's about to blowup the testing at the #NFLCombine ?
— Brian Stumpf (@Stumpf_Brian) February 27, 2020
Here are the top 10 athletic ratings of combine attendees who tested at our events while in high school. (Note: @TheTerry_25 & @MecoleHardman4 topped this list a year ago) pic.twitter.com/Yl21mjjNyK
Four of the guys mentioned in that Tweet are Buckeyes, and no other school even had two. That means Ohio State is both bringing in the freaks and making them freakier once they get to Columbus.
LARRY LEGEND. Chase Young's about to become the third top-three pick Larry Johnson's cranked out in the past five years, so it ain't exactly shocking that he's one of 247Sports' top assistant coaches in America.
LARRY JOHNSON, ASSOCIATE HC/DL, OHIO STATE
Age: 68
Salary: $900,000
Instead of stats, let’s just list off the names: Chase Young, Nick Bosa, Tyquan Lews, Joey Bosa, Devon Still, Jared Odrick, Aaron Maybin, Jimmy Kennedy, Michael Haynes, Anthony Adams, Courtney Brown. That’s just a list of the first and second rounders that Johnson has produced out of Penn State and Ohio State over the past two decades and the list speaks for itself.
This is obviously a well-deserved nod, but based on that criteria, where's Kerry Coombs?
Coombs has produced first-round picks Bradley Roby, Eli Apple, Marshon Lattimore, Gareon Conley, and Denzel Ward with Jeff Okudah a virtual lock and Shaun Wade looking promising.
If producing seven first rounders ain't enough to make you among the best at what you do, I'm glad I never got into coaching.
THE HARD WAY. Playing in the Big Ten is like running a gauntlet of eight-year-olds freely swinging a collection of rubber mallets, souvenir baseball bats and airbake cookie sheets – the strong will certainly survive, but it ain't gonna look pretty.
Case in point, eight of the top-11 strongest schedules in college basketball belong to Big Ten teams.
Hmm what do most of these teams with the hardest SOS have in common? pic.twitter.com/uGc4CD5vpF
— Paul Sabin (@SabinAnalytics) February 27, 2020
To quote the modern poet Kaleb Wesson: “They're not going to look pretty in the Ten. They're not going to look pretty. A win is a win in the Ten.”
Now, I do think the Strength of Schedule arguments can get a little incestuous and circular (like every SEC football team claiming a quality win over Texas A&M this year), but I actually think it works in this case.
Most of these Big Ten teams played insane non-conference schedules and then went on to play a 20-game conference slate instead of a few additional cupcake games. So yeah, I'm gonna claim it. It's a grind.
GREAT WAVES ON THE GREAT LAKES. It looks like the Midwest briefly became Surfin' USA yesterday, so hoping some of you were able to take advantage.
Towering waves were forming Thursday on the Great Lakes, with swells that could reach 20 feet, CNN meteorologists said.
Huge waves have been spotted over southern Lake Michigan, following a mass of cold air that pushed a north wind over the region, CNN meteorologist Michael Guy said.
Lake Ontario could get waves of up to 20 feet near its center, Guy said. Waves as tall as 10 feet could form on Lakes Huron and Erie, peaking on their southern shores.
The water might be a bit nipply in late February, but you wouldn't be a midwesterner if you let a little cold ruin your ill-advised fun.
NOT STICKING TO SPORTS. Invasive crazy worms are snaking their way across Maine... A hearse was stolen in Pasedena with a woman's body inside... ‘Astounding new finds’ suggest an ancient empire may be hiding in plain sight...
