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BASKETBALL:
   Ohio State basketball started one week before the Ohio State/meeeshitagin game and ended one week before Spring football practice. Man, it just don't get much better than that. Unless we were still playing of course. Now that the season is over, here's my take:
   Men's. Evan Turner is my new hero. He could have bagged for the bucks but stayed. That makes him an All-American in my eyes. He is the kind of player that can take over a game at clutch time and isn't afraid to put the team on his back and ride into the sunset. He is a leader on the court, he shoots well, he rebounds well, he passes well, he dribbles, well.....okay, you got me there. But he has the next seven months to work on that.
   Dallas Lauderdale. Hey, anybody named after two cities can't be all bad. I really like to watch him muscle his way around in the paint and he has a wing span of a condor dive bombing rabbits. He blocks more shots than Bill O'Rielly on The View. Other than a slump at the end of the regular season where he appeared to be suffering from sleep depravation, he was "Da Man." But he has the next seven months to work on that sleep thing.
   Jon Diebler. Great hustle, great attitude. How anyone can play 40 minutes a game and spend most of that time running from one corner to the other trying to get open for a three is beyond me. He was the most improved player this year and if he has a similar jump next year he will have the energy of a Bernie Madoff lynch mob. And he has seven months to work on that jump.
   PJ Hill. Talk about energy? Nobody tries harder than PJ Hill. He says he is going to be the Big Ten Defensive Player of The Year next year. Okayyyyyyyy. I'll be happy if he just spends the next seven months getting a hair cut and talking his sister into coming to Ohio State.
   David Lighty. Lighty is one of the best defensive players in the Big Ten, and his offense ain't too bad either. His injury hurt us this year but it forced the rest of the team to suck it up and play like veterans. And that is why we are going to win the Big Ten next year.
   Those guys will be our starting five next year with William Bufford splitting time with Diebler and Turner and Lighty. Simmons and Offutt will share time at the point with Hill, and Sarekopoulos and Madsen will give Lauderdale breathers. And Kecman will get some time as well.
   What is going to win us the Big Ten next year is depth. Due to injuries and transfers we just didn't have any depth and guys like Diebler and Turner were playing 35 to 40 minutes. The only guy we lost was Mullens and you, as a fan, added more to the team than he did.

Women's. The women went 29-6, won their fifth straight Big Ten title and won the Big Ten Tournament. They made it to the Sweet Sixteen and hung with a very good Stanford team until the last five minutes of the game. Great season! And they have returning Jantel Lavender, two time Big Ten Player of The Year, Samantha Phrahalis, Big Ten Freshman of The Year, Shevelle Little, two time Big Ten Defensive Player of The Year, and a cast of back ups that got a ton of experience this year. They lose two seniors to graduation, Star Allen and Ashlee Trebilcock. They were both very good players with a ton of starting experience but I think Sarah Shultze and Brittany Johnson will step right in and be just as good. Lavender just needs to keep improving, Little needs to find a mid range jumper and Phrahalis needs to worry less about how good she looks making a "no-look" pass and worry more about completing the damn thing. They have seven months to work on those things and I expect them to win a sixth Big Ten title and get to the Final Four next year.
 
SPRING PRACTICE:
   There have been a lot of articles written of late about "Questions that need to be answered during Spring practice." I only have one. What the hell are we going to run for an offense? I don't care if it's the power "i" or the pro set or a five receiver spread or two tights or the run and shoot or even the goddamn wishbone, just pick one and perfect it. Okay, no wishbone. My point is that we may have the best quarterback in college football so pick the offense that fits him the best and work the team until their hands bleed for all of Spring and Summer. I am so sick of having the top talent in the country and ranking no better than 75th in offense in Division I football. Year after Tressel year we have to have one of the best defenses in the country to bail out our pathetic offenses. Wouldn't it be nice, for just one year, to crank out 40 points a game and not have the defense on the field the whole game? During the off season we sent our coaches to North Carolina to spend time with Wake Forest, NC State, North Carolina and Duke. Huh? Was the Big 12 booked? Did Tressel really think those four offensive juggernauts were going to teach us to be a better team?
   So here's my take on what we should be trying to accomplish during Spring practice by position:
   Quarterback. Terrelle Pryor didn't show up until last August and started the fourth game, September 20, and went on to a 8-2 record and a Big Ten title. They say every player improves the most between his first and second year. I believe them. Just put a yellow shirt on him, give him an offense, and let him go.
   Running Back. We only have two scholarship players in Spring practice, Boom Herron and Brandon Saine. Just keep them healthy until the Fall when three new freshmen arrive with the calvary.
   Full Back. Again, we only have two scholarship players here but that's okay, we never use them anyway.
   Receivers. We lost both starters here so spring should be simply to find out who's going to step up. We have three guys that all have some starting experience as well as three back ups that played extensively and a couple of highly rated freshmen coming in. Surely we can find a couple of starters that can get the job done.
   Tight End. Here's my plan. The tight ends should strap a plastic rod about eight feet long on their backs with a flag on top that screams in bold letters "I"M OPEN." Of course, in Tresselball, the flags would just get in the way of blocking.
   The Offensive Line. Other than picking an offensive scheme, this has to be a top priority. We haven't had a good offensive line since 2002. I thought last year was the year but it turned out to be a complete disaster. We finally have several of the top recruits in the country ready to step in and a couple more incoming freshmen to add depth. We are probably still a year away from a great line but this one HAS to be better than the last one.
   Defensive Line. Tons of size, tons of experience, tons of talent. Should be the best line we've had in four or five years and should be the best in the country. Just keep them healthy and turn them loose.
   Linebackers. We've recruited this position so well that even with Laurinatis and Freeman leaving I'm not the least bit worried. Its just which five star guys are going to get to start.
   Safety. Both starters and both back ups return.
   Corner Back. This is the position that everyone seems to be gnashing their teeth over. Not me. Someone will step up to take Jenkin's spot. There are seven guys in the hunt and one of them will be a hero by September.
   Kicker. Pettrey is back for his senior season and could be almost Nugent good.
   Punter. Senior walk on Thoma and freshman redshirt Buchanan will fight it out. I suppose they could both be busts but I doubt it.
 
NIS & NAT & NARYTANE:
   Ohio State signed a deal with a company, IMG, to allow them to take over the advertising for the university sporting events. Oh boy. I am so thrilled. This company will guarantee OSU $11 million a year in revenue. OSU was doing their own advertising but apparently that wasn't good enough so they, as they always do, sold their soul to the highest bidder. I guess raising ticket prices a dollar a ticket every damn year isn't enough. And what will this latest prostitution of our favorite sports mean to those poor sap fans that already can't afford to go to a game? Well, how about one of those nice light ribbons around the inside of the football stadium so that every time you glance up you can see a commercial? Or maybe one of those shutter boards at the basketball games with that AFLAC duck walking back and forth and Wendy's reminding you that they have a 99 cent value burger. Maybe all of the students stand and jump up and down every time the Viagra ad runs. Oh boy. And E. Gordon Gee said he was opposed to football playoffs because it might take college football closer to the professionalization of the sport? Bring your head out where the sun shines E.
   BJ Mullens, Beanie Wells, Donald Washington and Brian Hartline. A lot of people seem to be wondering where these juniors are going to go in their respective drafts. Is it just me? I mean, I could care less. If a really good junior decides to come back for his senior season, i.e.. Michael Doss, James Laurinatis, Michael Jenkins, etc. they are heroes forever in my book. But if they go out early, well, honestly, why would I care where they go or what they do? They had a chance to build a legacy for themselves and their school and choose instead to bag for the bucks. They made their decision and I made mine. Is this a great country or what? Just don't say, "Well, you can't blame them." because I can and I do. Unless he has already flunked out or has already graduated, there is not one single junior that I would recommend leaving college and going to the pros. However, I may change my mind after the new advertising starts.
   As I am writing this on Sunday the NCAA championship is yet to occur. I find it interesting that three teams from the same conference, The Big Least, were deemed good enough to get number one seeds yet none of them will appear in the national championship game. I took Michigan State to the final four but just couldn't pull the trigger beyond that and had them losing to UConn. I too drank of the ESPN/Big East Kool-Aid. A UConn win would have made my brackets look much better but I was cheering my ass off for The Big Ten. Every basketball national championship should come down to The Big Ten and The ACC. That's the way Dr. Naismith saw it when he hung the peach basket back in 1891 and that's the way it is.

The Coach

Tags: b.j. mullens, dallas lauderdale, david lighty, evan turner, jim tressel, jon diebler, ohio state basketball, ohio state football, pj hill, terrelle pryor