Greetings. I hope you all enjoy a marvelous March morning.
Word of the Day: Accost.
“HIS CONSISTENCY IS A CONCERN.” Based on the variety I'm seeing across these various mock drafts, I have no idea whether I should expect Justin Fields to be selected with pick No. 3 or pick No. 24. So frankly, I've stopped caring about those projections.
What I do care about, though, is what people smarter than I have to say about his game. And they've got some takes!
The Coaching Intel
“His consistency is a concern for me, because there are times he looks like he should be the first pick of the draft and other times where he looks like he should stay in school another year. I think he’s really, really talented. I don’t know what his 40 time is, but I’ve seen him run away from some pretty good athletes. I think people may not realize just what a special athlete he is — or how big this kid is.”
“He’s confident and poised and he’s never rattled. I think he has a good arm, not a great arm, and he benefits because Ohio State’s skill talent is so much better than the DBs they face in the Big Ten. J.T. Barrett could barely throw, but he put up big numbers because of that talent gap. This kid is a lot more gifted than that, but you still have that in the back of your mind because the talent gap is so big for them.”
That's all pretty fair, especially the part where the first coach reminds us how good of an athlete he is – he's built like a damn running back.
But what the hell did J.T. Barrett ever do to get dragged into this? Let him and his various passing records live in peace!
NOT JUST THE PLAYERS. The senior players aren't the only students who've had their last season of college radically changed by a global pandemic.
Chris Holtmann understood that, and as Keaton Maisano of The Lantern details, he played a big part in giving some seniors one last chance to see the Buckeyes play from the student section.
The focus of the senior day ceremony was on senior forward Kyle Young and redshirt senior guard CJ Walker, who potentially played their final game in the Schottenstein Center, but a few sections up in the stands, a group of seven seniors from the NutHouse — Ohio State’s basketball student section subsect of Block “O” — also had the opportunity to say goodbye thanks to head coach Chris Holtmann.
The fourth-year Ohio State head coach said the students’ absence was felt, and he thought it was important to provide the seniors on the student section’s committee an opportunity to attend a game in the 2020-21 season.
“The NutHouse, we’ve desperately missed them, particularly in these last three home games,” Holtmann said. “I loved seeing them there, I know our players did too. We’re so grateful that they took the initiative to get over here.”
,,,
“Coach Holtmann loves us and he’s the nicest guy ever,” Pitts said. “From what I heard, he did everything he possibly could to get us in here and he got the seniors in here.”
As someone who's not that far removed from camping out in front of the Schott to get first-row tickets, I appreciate the hell out of this.
It was always so clear how much Thad Matta cared about the students. From giving tours of the facilities (led by the players), to buying us food when we camped out, to occasionally waiting in the corridor to greet us before we went to our seats, the dude always did what he could to appreciate the student section.
It's great to see Holtmann carry the torch.
MARCH MEMORIES. I'm not going to pretend Ohio State isn't limping into the postseason the way I limped into graduation after five years of college a few springs ago.
But that's not going to stop me from getting juiced for March. And you shouldn't let it, either.
@OhioStateHoops #Team122 #GoBuckeyes pic.twitter.com/4D8Fu5tFrB
— OSU BBall Managers (@OSUManagers) March 8, 2021
Give me a Duane Washington Jr. buzzer-beater at some point in the next month and I'll end the season a happy blogger.
VASECTOMY MAYHEM. If y'all thought Ohio State's trademark department was petty, I've got some news...
The NCAA is petitioning to cancel a urology center's registered trademark for VASECTOMY MAYHEM, claiming that it's confusingly similar to NCAA marks like MARCH MAYHEM.
— Darren Heitner (@DarrenHeitner) March 9, 2021
You have to be a pretty cocky lawyer to attach your name to something like this.
(h/t @Bill__Donahue) pic.twitter.com/GFby7pY2BM
"I thought I was there to watch basketball, next thing I know, I'm sterilized."
You know what, I can see it! Better to be safe than sorry.
SONG OF THE DAY. "Feel the Pain" by Dinosaur Jr.
NOT STICKING TO SPORTS. The rich vs the very, very rich: the Wentworth golf club rebellion... Who was behind the mysterious attacks in the California wilderness?... 100 are charged in the ‘Prison Empire;’ South Carolina’s largest drug ring... Why channel 37 doesn't exist on your television and what it has to do with aliens...
