Friday, October 29, 2010

College Football - T.V. Schedule - Top 50 ESPN Recruits - Heisman Watch



Heisman Watch
1. Cam Newton, QB, Auburn: Anybody who saw Cam Newton juke, jive and accelerate on what is quickly becoming his season-defining play last week against LSU knows why he is atop our latest Heisman standings. Newton bull-rushed up the middle like a cannon, kept his balance when a would-be tackler swatted for his ankles, avoided several other tacklers and turned on the turbo jets for the final 20 yards of his incredible 49-yard touchdown run in a 24-17 win. Newton has proved to be the best player in the country on a consistent basis, not only because he is averaging 305 yards of total offense a game, but because he is leading his team to wins in close games with his arms and his legs. Auburn has five wins this season by eight points or less, and the difference maker has been Newton. If that is not enough to win a trophy as the "most outstanding" player in the country, then what is?

2. LaMichael James, RB, Oregon: James is leading the nation in rushing, averaging 162 yards per game and a sick 7.3 yards a carry. James has failed to go over 100 yards just once this season, and even then he barely missed, gaining 94 yards against Arizona State. There is no better running back in college football right now. We saw that again last week in a 60-13 win over UCLA. Even though he got banged up early, he returned to the game and ended with 123 yards and two touchdowns. He needs just 29 more yards to hit 1,000. In seven games.

3. Kellen Moore, QB, Boise State: You won't find his name atop the passing charts, but that's because he's played only two full games all season. The Broncos have blown out their most recent opponents, and Moore is a big reason. His efficiency has been stunning once again. Moore has 16 touchdown passes to one interception and is completing a career-high 69.5 percent of his passes. His quarterback rating of 190 ought to tell you that Moore rarely makes mistakes. He is a master of this offense and he knows how to win. That's the combination you want at quarterback.

4. Andrew Luck, QB, Stanford: Here we have another quarterback who rarely makes mistakes. Luck has 19 touchdown passes to five interceptions this year and already has 1,728 yards passing. He didn't have the best second half in a loss to Oregon, but that can be forgiven. He is a major reason Stanford is where it is this season and that deserves recognition.

5. Denard Robinson, QB, Michigan: Many people have cooled on Robinson because he has struggled during Big Ten play. But he is still one of the most exciting players to watch in college football because you never know when he is going to turn a boring play into an jaw-dropping one. He has had only one game this season when he ran for less than 100 yards and three when he passed for less than 200 (he was hurt in two of those). Despite the two straight losses, he is still averaging 345 yards a game and ranks second in the country in total offense. He needs a big game at Penn State on Saturday to stay in the race.


College Football Recruting Top 50
ESPNU 150 Class of 2011
RK NAME GRADE COLLEGE POS HT WT SCHOOL
1 Jadeveon Clowney 91 None DE 6'6" 240 South Pointe H.S. (SC)
2 Anthony Johnson 87 LSU DT 6'3" 300 O. Perry Walker H.S. (LA)
3 Ray Drew 87 None DE 6'5" 253 Thomas County Central H.S. (GA)
4 Christian Westerman 86 Texas OT 6'5" 290 Hamilton H.S. (AZ)
5 Isaiah Crowell 86 None RB 5'11" 210 Carver H.S. (GA)
6 Cyrus Kouandjio 86 None OT 6'7" 325 DeMatha Catholic H.S. (MD)
7 Malcolm Brown 86 Texas RB 6'0" 215 Byron M. Steele H.S. (TX)
8 La'El Collins 85 LSU OT 6'5" 281 Redemptorist H.S. (LA)
9 Tony Steward 85 None ILB 6'1" 225 Pedro Menendez H.S. (FL)
10 Aaron Green 85 Nebraska RB 5'11" 180 James Madison H.S. (TX)
11 Charone Peake 85 Clemson WR 6'3" 191 Dorman H.S. (SC)
12 Jeff Driskel 85 Florida QB 6'4" 224 Paul J. Hagerty H.S. (FL)
13 George Farmer 85 None WR 6'2" 205 Junipero Serra H.S. (CA)
14 Karlos Williams 84 Florida State S 6'2" 210 Ridge Community H.S. (FL)
15 DeAnthony Thomas 84 USC ATH 5'9" 160 Crenshaw H.S. (CA)
16 Nick O'Leary 84 None TE 6'4" 230 Dwyer H.S. (FL)
17 Steve Miller 84 Ohio State DE 6'3" 226 McKinley H.S. (OH)
18 Jay Rome 84 None TE 6'5" 230 Valdosta H.S. (GA)
19 Jeoffrey Pagan 84 Florida DE 6'3" 260 Asheville H.S. (NC)
20 Hasean Clinton-Dix 83 Alabama S 6'2" 194 Dr. Phillips H.S. (FL)
21 Quandre Diggs 83 Texas CB 5'10" 190 Angleton H.S. (TX)
22 Xzavier Dickson 83 None DE 6'4" 242 Griffin H.S. (GA)
23 Quan Bray 83 None ATH 5'11" 180 Troup County Comprehensive High Sch (GA)
24 Matthew Hegarty 83 Notre Dame OT 6'5" 265 Aztec H.S. (NM)
25 Braxton Miller 82 Ohio State QB 6'2" 190 Wayne H.S. (OH) 26 Desmond Jackson 82 Texas DT 6'1" 273 Westfield H.S. (TX)
27 Mike Bellamy 82 Clemson RB 5'10" 176 Charlotte H.S. (FL)
28 James Wilder Jr. 82 Florida State ATH 6'2" 219 Plant Senior H.S. (FL)
29 Ishaq Williams 82 None DE 6'5" 225 Lincoln H.S. (NY)
30 Stephone Anthony 82 None OLB 6'2" 220 Anson Senior H.S. (NC)
31 Todd Barr 82 None DT 6'1" 251 Lakewood H.S. (CA)
32 Tim Jernigan 82 None DT 6'2" 275 Columbia H.S. (FL)
33 Cyrus Hobbi 82 None OG 6'4" 285 Saguaro H.S. (AZ)
34 Savon Huggins 82 None RB 5'11" 190 Saint Peter's H.S. (NJ)
35 Antonio Richardson 82 None OT 6'6" 310 Pearl-Cohn H.S. (TN)
36 Trey DePriest 82 Alabama OLB 6'1" 225 Springfield H.S. (OH)
37 Bobby Hart 82 Florida State OT 6'5" 298 Saint Thomas Aquinas School (FL)
38 Bradley Sylve 82 Alabama WR 5'11" 175 South Plaquemines H.S. (LA)
39 Devon Blackmon 82 None ATH 6'0" 180 Summit H.S. (CA)
40 Sammy Watkins 82 None WR 6'1" 185 South Fort Myers H.S. (FL)
41 Brey Cook 81 Arkansas OT 6'6" 295 Har-Ber (AR)
42 Ja'Juan Story 81 Florida WR 6'3" 190 Nature Coast Technical (FL)
43 James Vaughters 81 Stanford ILB 6'2" 230 Tucker H.S. (GA)
44 Malcolm Mitchell 81 None WR 6'0" 185 Valdosta H.S. (GA)
45 Curtis Grant 81 None ILB 6'3" 220 Hermitage H.S. (VA)
46 Antwaun Woods 81 USC DT 6'1" 315 Woodland Hills-Taft H.S. (CA)
47 Gerrod Holliman 81 Mississippi S 6'0" 188 Miami Southridge Senior H.S. (FL)
48 Jamal Turner 81 Nebraska ATH 6'1" 175 Sam Houston H.S. (TX)
49 Tacoi Sumler 81 Oregon WR 5'8" 157 Christopher Columbus H.S. (FL)
50 Erique Florence 81 None S 6'2" 185 Valley H.S. (AL)




Friday, Oct. 29 Network Time (ET)
West Virginia at Connecticut ESPN2 8 p.m.
Saturday, Oct. 30 Network Time (ET)
Oklahoma State at Kansas State FSN Noon
Miami (Fla.) at Virginia ESPN Noon
Clemson at Boston College ESPN3 Noon
Louisville at Pittsburgh ESPN3 Noon
Purdue at Illinois ESPN2 Noon
Syracuse at Cincinnati ESPNU Noon
Northern Illinois at Western Michigan ESPN3 Noon
Tennessee at South Carolina ESPN3 Noon
Tulsa at Notre Dame NBC 2:30 p.m.
Michigan State at Iowa ABC/ESPN 3:30 p.m.
Missouri at Nebraska ABC/ESPN 3:30 p.m.
Arizona at UCLA FSN 3:30 p.m.
Florida vs. Georgia* CBS 3:30 p.m.
Wake Forest at Maryland ESPNU 3:30 p.m.
William & Mary at North Carolina ESPN3 3:30 p.m.
Miami (Ohio) at Buffalo ESPN3 3:30 p.m.
Ball State at Kent State ESPN3 3:30 p.m.
Troy at Louisiana-Monroe ESPN3 3:30 p.m.
San Jose State at New Mexico State ESPN3 4 p.m.
Toledo at Eastern Michigan ESPN3 4 p.m.
Auburn at Mississippi ESPN2 6 p.m.
Stanford at Washington Versus 7 p.m.
Vanderbilt at Arkansas ESPN3 7 p.m.
Kentucky at Mississippi State ESPNU 7 p.m.
Baylor at Texas FSN 7 p.m.
Utah at Air Force CBS CS 7:30 p.m.
Oregon at USC ABC 8 p.m.
Ohio State at Minnesota ABC 8 p.m.
Michigan at Penn State ESPN 8 p.m.
Colorado at Oklahoma ESPN2 9 p.m.
Utah State at Nevada ESPNU 10:30 p.m.
TCU at UNLV CBS CS 11 p.m.

Thursday, October 28, 2010

Cavs Win - Dan Gilbert Speaks - Lakers Championship RIng Photos



The Los Angeles Lakers are commemorating their 16th NBA Championship with a ring that has a few touches that have never before been seen in a sports ring.

Each and every ring is adorned with a piece of the actual ball used in game seven of the 2010 NBA Finals.

The two Larry O'Brien trophies representing the back to back titles are made from a custom batch of 16kt gold.

16 oversized round brillant white diamonds indicate the 16 championships the franchise has won.

Each player is immortalized with a three dimensional sculpture of their face on their respective rings.

The final score of the Lakers 83-79 game seven victory over the Boston Celtics is represented on the side of the ring in scoreboard fashion.






Gilbert does not regret ripping LeBron
si.com
CLEVELAND (AP) -- Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert isn't taking back one word about LeBron James - or as he called him, "the player that left."
Gilbert, who harshly criticized James after the two-time MVP announced he was leaving as a free agent this summer, said Wednesday night before Cleveland's season opener that he doesn't regret calling out the superstar, now with the Miami Heat.
Shortly after James announced he was leaving, Gilbert fired off an angry letter to Cleveland's fans vilifying James. He called him "narcissistic" and accused him of "cowardly behavior."
"I don't regret it," said Gilbert, who made similar comments earlier in the day on WKNR radio. "That letter was to the fans and the supporters of the Cavaliers and it wasn't to the player that left, it wasn't to the rest of the world. It wasn't to anybody but them. I wanted them to understand not only how I felt but how everyone felt in the entire organization."
Not long after posting the infamous letter on the Cavs' team website, Gilbert told The Associated Press that he felt James quit during last season's playoffs against Boston.
Gilbert - whose comments drew a $100,000 fine from Commissioner David Stern - didn't take back those remarks, either.
"There are some of the things everybody has to make their own personal judgment on," Gilbert said. "It's a subjective judgment when you watch a game or watch a tape. You make those kinds of judgments. I'd rather not answer directly. I'd really rather not comment what my feelings are any more, but everybody has to make their own decisions on that."
Gilbert has taken a low profile since July, when James left the Cavs after seven seasons. James' decision caught Gilbert by surprise because in the days leading up to his announcement, the 25-year-old maintained re-signing with Cleveland was still a possibility.
Gilbert felt betrayed by James and was upset that the All-Star forward did not communicate his intentions to the team until an hour-long TV special to announce his decision was already on the air.
In his letter to Cleveland fans, Gilbert not only ripped James but he guaranteed his team would win a championship before his former player.
He still believes that's possible.
"You never know," he said. "Look, these things will play themselves out and we'll see what happens. It was certainly something that put more emphasis on the future and put more pressure on everyone here to say, 'Hey, let's deliver as smart and efficiently as we possibly can.' We'll see what happens."
In the days after James' departure, Gilbert was accused of coddling and enabling the star. Critics said the preferential treatment given to James and his inner circle of friends empowered them into thinking they could get away with anything.
Gilbert said there are many misconceptions about what went on.
"There's a lot of nonsense that LeBron was asking for all these things and doing all these things and having all these privileges," said Gilbert, who acknowledged watching James' debut with the Heat on Tuesday night. "It's simply not true. None of that stuff happened, none of his friends flew on the plane. It's simply not true.
"In respect to him, he didn't ask for huge material things. There's some people that had some tickets before we got here, which we honored the five years we were here, but there really wasn't that much stuff. People write about this in the big-picture sense, but you never hear what the details are because there aren't any."
Among his many accomplishments with Cleveland, James became the leading scorer in franchise history and carried the Cavs to their only NBA finals appearance in 2007. It's assumed that some day James will have his jersey retired by the team and hung from the rafters of Quicken Loans Arena along with those of Austin Carr, Mark Price, Larry Nance, Brad Daugherty and others.
Gilbert sidestepped a question as to whether he would ever honor James by retiring his No. 23.
"We haven't even had that discussion on any player," Gilbert said. "I would assume that it's something you would do when a player retires. It's something that we haven't addressed. I'm sure it will come up and as it comes up, we'll address it."



Tressel was worried about high winds Tuesday
Posted by John Taylor
As you have no doubt heard or read by now, a 20-year-old videographer for the Notre Dame football team died earlier today after the scissors lift on which he was perched collapsed/was felled by high winds.
The high winds that buttressed much of the Midwest Wednesday were remnants from a significant storm system that stretched 1,200 miles Tuesday and wreaked havoc across a huge cross-section of the country, from the upper Midwest all the way down through portions of the South.
Before Ohio State was set to practice yesterday, and in an eerie foreshadowing of today's tragedy, Ohio State head coach Jim Tressel was asked whether his team would practice inside or outside due to the weather conditions.
"I don't know if we'll be inside or out," Tressel said according to the Lake County News-Herald. "It looks a little nasty. I worry about our cameramen, their well-being up there 50 feet in the air."
The scissor lift used to videotape Irish football practices could stretch 50 feet or higher. Wind gusts exceeded 50 mph in the Columbus area Tuesday as the storm blew through; according to multiple reports, gusts in the South Bend area topped out at 51 mph around the time of today's accident.
The Buckeyes ultimately practiced indoors yesterday.

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

2010 World Series - Schedule - Facts - etc

Incase you missed it. Prince James got beat last night!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!





Don't tune out this World Series
Great article by Gene Wojciechowski

SAN FRANCISCO -- Watch. Don't watch. It's not like Joe Buck will send me a commission check if you do.
But this World Series has yee-haw thrill ride written all over it. In fact, when the Texas Rangers and San Francisco Giants advanced to the Fall/Early Winter Classic, I sprayed myself with ginger ale.
Nothing against the New York Yankees, but I needed a baseball blood transfusion. I'm A-Rod'd and Derek Jeter'd out.
Another appearance by the pinstripers would have meant at least two games at Yankee Stadium and countless shots of really rich people on cell phones sitting behind home plate in those cushioned chairs the size of Murphy beds. And you don't even want to know how many times we would have had to watch the chalupa commercial where Joe Girardi slaps another man's bum.
Meanwhile, the Philadelphia Phillies have gone to the last two World Series. So it's somebody else's turn, OK? Plus, who wants to see good guy Ryan Howard go through the division, league and possibly the World Series without driving in a run?
I love this Series and this matchup because absolutely no one on the planet predicted it last March. (And if you did, I want to see documentation.) Its come-out-of-nowhere quality makes it the Boise State vs. Missouri of World Series.
As late as Aug. 28, the Giants were jock-strap deep in trouble. They were six games out of the NL West lead and trailed Atlanta in the wild-card race, too. They had just lost their third game in a row, this time 11-3 to last-place Arizona. The Giants weren't out of it, but their traveling secretary wasn't exactly calling around for postseason hotel rates.
Of course, that's nothing compared to the Rangers. As late as Aug. 5, the franchise was auctioned off like a foreclosed house on eBay. Think about it (I guarantee you Mark Cuban does; his investment group was the losing bidder): One of your World Series teams was a custodian of bankruptcy court less than three months ago. Now the team is overseen by the legendary Nolan Ryan, who still looks like he could beat the sani socks off Robin Ventura.
How strangely cool is that? This whole Series is cool.
In honor of Giants closer Brian Wilson, I'm dyeing my goatee Just-For-Men jet black. Hockey players grow playoff beards, Wilson grows facial hair from Mars. Meanwhile, I can't look at Giants starter Tim Lincecum without thinking, Jeff Spicoli and "Fast Times at Ridgemont High." What Jefferson was saying was, Hey! You know, we left this England place 'cause it was bogus; so if we don't get some cool rules ourselves -- pronto -- we'll just be bogus too! Get it?
The Freak is your Game 1 starter. He'll face the Rangers' pitching freak, Cliff Lee, who has not lost any of his eight postseason starts (7-0, 1.26 ERA). Lee is more automatic than a gas station car wash.
The Rangers are managed by Ron Washington. No biggie, except that he tested positive for cocaine use in 2009, publicly apologized in March and rewarded the Rangers' faith in him by leading the team to its first Series appearance.
Their best everyday player is outfielder Josh Hamilton, who was a walking drug and
alcohol lab until 2005. If Hamilton's ongoing story of demon fighting doesn't cause a lump in your throat, then you're the world's only living heart donor.
Then there's the ultra-private Vlad Guerrero, deemed expendable by the Los Angeles Angels. So he comes to Texas and makes his first Series appearance in a glorious 15-year career. I like watching Guerrero because he swings at anything and usually hits those things very hard and very far. You know when the plate umpire tosses a scuffed ball toward the dugout? Vlad will swing at those, too.
The Rangers' catcher, Bengie Molina, was the Giants' catcher until he was traded in July. He's holding a winning baseball Lotto ticket. That's because he's likely to get voted a full Series share by each team, meaning an estimated $1.2 million postseason payday.
And it's hard not to have a soft spot for Rangers president Ryan. I covered one of the Von Ryan Express' no-hitters when he pitched for Texas. Afterward, he kept us reporters waiting -- not because he was being a jerk, but because he first wanted to work out! The man pitches a no-hitter and then does a workout that buckled my knees. That Old School mentality has rubbed off on the Rangers like pine tar on a bat handle.
Again, cool.
I love that the Rangers got here on a $55 million payroll, while the Yankees and their $206 million roster are being treated for playoff withdrawal. I love that Jerry Jones built a football palace for his Dallas Cowboys but that Ryan and GM Jon Daniels built a team.
And how can you not go on a warm and fuzzy alert when talking about the Giants? The Giants last celebrated a World Series in 1954. They weren't even Californians back then; they were New Yorkers. Only the Cleveland Indians (62 years) and, sigh, the Chicago Cubs (102 years) have longer winless streaks.
Look at the Giants' lineup and bench. It's dotted with baseball refugees, such as outfielder Pat Burrell, who was dumped by the Tampa Bay Rays. And had you heard of Cody Ross before the postseason started? Didn't think so.
The Giants signed Barry Zito to a $126 million contract -- and left him off the playoff roster. They traded the respected Molina so they could insert a rookie catcher, Buster Posey, in the lineup. They diminished the role of pricey outfielder Aaron Rowand, all in the name of winning.
The Giants win heroically (Juan Uribe's eighth-inning dinger in Game 6 of the NLCS) and nervously (Wilson's 3-2 strikeout of Howard to end that series was on the lowest sliver of the strike zone). Six of their seven postseason wins have been by one-run margins.
I've reached a settlement agreement with my DVR. It gets the NFL games while I'm gone. I get to watch the World Series live.
For once, I got the better deal.







World Series TV Schedule
San Francisco
Texas
Game 1: Wed. Oct. 27, Rangers at Giants, 7:57 p.m., FOX
Game 2: Thur. Oct. 28, Rangers at Giants, 7:57 p.m., FOX
Game 3: Sat. Oct. 30, Giants at Rangers, 6:57 p.m., FOX
Game 4: Sun. Oct. 31, Giants at Rangers, 8:20 p.m., FOX
Game 5:* Mon. Nov. 1, Giants at Rangers, 7:57 p.m., FOX
Game 6:* Wed. Nov. 3, Rangers at Giants, 7:57 p.m., FOX
Game 7:* Thur. Nov. 4, Rangers at Giants, 7:57 p.m., FOX


The 10 best pitchers to NEVER start a World Series Game 1:
1. Randy Johnson
2. Pedro Martinez
3. Steve Carlton
4. Robin Roberts
5. Juan Marichal
6. Gaylord Perry
7. Ferguson Jenkins
8. Nolan Ryan
9. Phil Niekro
10. Roy Halladay

Most World Series Game 1 starts
1. Whitey Ford, 8
2. Red Ruffing, 6
3. Allie Reynolds, 4
(tie) Chief Bender, 4
5. Jack Morris, 3
Dave Stewart, 3
Don Gullett, 3
Ken Holtzman, 3
Paul Derringer, 3
Carl Hubbell, 3
Waite Hoyt, 3

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

NBA Preview - Cleveland Cavs



Cavaliers Roster
2010-11 Roster

NUM PLAYER POS HT WT DOB FROM YRS
8 Christian Eyenga G-F 6-5 210 06/22/1989 Kinshasa, DRC R
1 Daniel Gibson G 6-2 200 02/27/1986 Texas 4
12 Joey Graham F-G 6-7 230 06/11/1982 Oklahoma State 5
6 Manny Harris G 6-5 185 09/21/1989 Michigan R
21 J.J. Hickson F 6-9 242 09/04/1988 North Carolina State 2
5 Ryan Hollins C 7-0 240 10/10/1984 UCLA 4
4 Antawn Jamison F 6-9 235 06/12/1976 North Carolina 12
15 Jamario Moon F 6-8 205 06/13/1980 Meridian CC (MS) 3
18 Anthony Parker G-F 6-6 215 06/19/1975 Bradley 7
44 Leon Powe F 6-8 240 01/22/1984 California 4
24 Samardo Samuels F 6-9 260 01/09/1989 Louisville R
3 Ramon Sessions G 6-3 190 04/11/1986 Nevada-Reno 3
17 Anderson Varejao F-C 6-11 260 09/28/1982 Santa Teresa, Brazil 6
31 Jawad Williams F 6-9 225 02/19/1983 North Carolina 2
2 Mo Williams G 6-1 195 12/19/1982 Alabama 7

HEAD COACH
Byron Scott (College - Arizona State)

ASSISTANT COACH(ES)
Chris Jent (College - Ohio State)
Paul Pressey (College - Tulsa)
Jamahl Mosley (College - Colorado)
Joe Prunty (College - Cal Poly San Luis Obispo)

STRENGTH-AND-CONDITIONING COACH
Stan Kellers (College - Cleveland State)

ATHLETIC TRAINER
Max Benton (College - Colorado)

C - Captain
** - Unsigned Draft Pick
(FA) - Free Agent








Cleveland Cavaliers
An opposing team's scout sizes up the Cavaliers

The Cavs are the worst team in the East. Not having LeBron James means everything to them. I think Mo Williams is going to have to have a huge year, and they'll also need a lot from Antawn Jamison, who has been the best player on a bad team a number of times but may be slowing down now. Even if they get great performances from those two, I don't know how much it will help because nobody else on that team can score.
Williams should be more productive this year because the ball will be in his hands more. He'll be back to playing the same role he had in Milwaukee when he set himself up for his big contract. He'll put up big numbers, but it won't mean much. I hate using the terminology of calling him "not a true point guard" because the league has changed so much that you really can be a scorer and a point guard at the same time. But Williams is somebody who needs to score to be effective. Another description that fits him is "volume shooter." Over the last couple of years LeBron had the ball all of the time and was creating the offense, which put Williams off the ball. Williams can make a shot, he can get to the rim and he's good in the open court. I think he'd be great in a Jamal Crawford-type sixth-man role. Williams isn't as good as Crawford as a scorer, but he's better as a point guard and a defender.
One upgrade over LeBron as a ball-handler is that Williams is better as a pick-and-roll player who can find guys. He's already had two good regular seasons in Cleveland, though they were followed by two bad playoffs. Teams will try to collapse on his drive, but if they collapse too much, he can pull up and make a shot.
The question with Jamison is whether he had so much trouble over the second half of last season with Cleveland because he was declining physically or because he had a hard time fitting in with LeBron. I wonder if a lot of that stuff in Washington hit him and don't know if he ever recovered from the whole Gilbert Arenas gun incident. Guys who know Jamison say the Gilbert stuff really shook him. Then he got to Cleveland and it looked as if he felt the pressure -- he looked like he'd never played basketball before. All of those things maybe got in his head.
This won't be the first time he's been asked to put up a good year with a bad team. If Jamison doesn't respond, the Cavs will really be in trouble. I know he won't mail it in because he's a pro. If he has it, he's going to give it to them.
It's going to be interesting to see what style Byron Scott will wind up playing. I'm guessing he'll go with some of the Princeton offense. Jamison had success playing that style for Eddie Jordan in Washington. Jordan had Jamison diving and flashing inside, and maybe that's another reason why he struggled last year with Cleveland -- they couldn't have him do those things because they needed him to space the floor for LeBron.
I like both Williams and Jamison as leaders. Jamison has been a leader for a long time, and Williams has grown into that role. They have some guys who play hard and that may help them be an overachieving team. But effort can't compensate for lack of talent. None of their other guys are good enough.
Anderson Varejao is among their top three players, but offensively he won't do it for them. In that sense, he's a bit like Ben Wallace during the Pistons' championship days. Defensively, Varejao can be almost that dominant. He will block a shot, though he doesn't change everything like Wallace did, and he doesn't rebound as well. But Varejao's a great one-on-one defender. He takes charges, is a great help defender and plays with enormous effort. Plus, he has great length.
Varejao has improved offensively. He has phenomenal hands, he catches everything. You could pass it to him at his ankles and he's going to get it. But he can't shoot. Even though he's improved his jump shot, it's still ugly. He doesn't have a feel offensively, and he can get pushed off the block pretty easily. You always see guys moving him, and then he can't do anything past five to 10 feet from the basket. He's a bit like Jamison as a diver-cutter because he's pretty good at flashing and catching balls and finishing. The problem for Varejao is, though he can catch, he can't put it on the floor.
Remember last year when it was a big deal that Cleveland didn't want to give up J.J. Hickson in a trade? Now that LeBron is gone, don't expect Hickson to end up carrying the Cavs. The main thing about him is that he's their one developmental guy, which points out the big problem with their roster: They have no one else with upside. When Williams and Jamison are setting a good example, whom are they setting it for? Hickson, and it's not like there is a ton of potential in his game.
Put it this way: I'm sure everybody would like to have Hickson on their team, but he's not a game-changer. The Cavs are going to hope he turns into a guy who can score on the block. But everything else about him is questionable. He's a pretty good rebounder and not a great defender. He's a guy you're going to leave alone when he's away from the block and invite him to shoot it. I'd tell my team to leave him by himself at 15-17 feet.
I remember when Anthony Parker and Jamario Moon were playing the wings for Toronto, and that team didn't go far. Parker especially was a nice pickup when the Cavs had LeBron, but now you can't begin to count on him and Moon to carry your team on the perimeter. Parker is another guy who will come in and work hard. He's above-average defensively and he'll make a three. But he's not good at creating his own shot.
Moon has improved his shooting, but his primary asset is his athleticism. He'll burn you occasionally with the corner three, but for the most part you're going to leave him alone out there. Maybe they should play up-tempo because it fits the style of Moon and so many of their other guys. On the other hand, that's going to be a hard style to keep going because they have an older team.
Leon Powe could be a decent second-unit scorer on the block for them, though he hasn't played regularly for a long time because of his knee injury.
I liked their pickup of Ramon Sessions, who will be one of the better backup point guards in the league. He's more of a true point guard than Williams, and they'll be able to play them together some of the time. Sessions is solid at everything. He can score a little bit, he'll get you into your offense, he defends, he can run. He doesn't do anything tremendously and he makes a bit too much money, but he's reliable.
Every now and then, Daniel Gibson can get hot from the three-point line and surprise you. But he struggled with consistency when he was playing with LeBron, and now consistency is going to be an even bigger issue. He struggles handling the ball, so you can't have him bring it up the floor because everybody pressures him.
Ryan Hollins is an unbelievable athlete for his size, with great length and the ability to block a shot or catch a ball at the rim. But it's all about his athleticism. He doesn't have the skills to do anything else.
Scott is an old-school guy. If the Cavs lose a lot of games early, it's inevitable that things are going to get ugly in the locker room because that's what happens in the NBA. How Scott handles those situations will dictate the course of this season in Cleveland.




NBA Preview
Musings si.com
THE GREAT UNKNOWNS: INJURIES AND TRADES
These two things, especially injuries, make preseason predictions seem almost silly. Two of the Lakers’ five most important players are already dealing with knee injuries. One of those players (Andrew Bynum) played with significant limitations in last year’s postseason — the same postseason that saw Cleveland, Boston, Utah and others deal with season-altering injuries. And we knew that before this Jackie MacMullan piece at ESPNBoston.com this morning revealed Paul Pierce was dealing with turf toe during the playoffs after a season in which his sore knee occasionally squirted out foul “geysers” of fluid.
Injuries are a reality in the NBA. They happen all the time, and they will happen to a key player on at least one title contender in May and June. The Lakers and Celtics seem most susceptible to a potentially crippling injury (remember Kevin Garnett‘s knee in 2009?), but no team is ever immune.
As for trades, I don’t see an obvious one right now that would boost the chances of one of the core contenders. Carmelo Anthony is certainly capable of providing a Pau Gasol-like boost to someone, but no one in the contender group has the assets to get him in anything but an extraordinarily complex and risky deal.

JAMEER NELSON
Kelly Dwyer at Ball Don’t Lie has nailed this before: For all the hand-wringing over Dwight Howard‘s post game and Rashard Lewis‘ contract, Nelson might be the most important player on the Magic, in terms of his ability to swing the team’s ceiling from “possible title contender” to “deserving of co-favorite status.” This is especially so if the Magic are serious about easing Vince Carter‘s pick-and-roll responsibilities and shifting them to Nelson.
Nelson was excellent in 2008-2009, when he shot 50 percent from the floor and 45 percent from three-point range in essentially making himself the most efficient offensive point guard outside the Steve Nash-Deron Williams-Chris Paul trio. He took a step back toward the league average last season, and that won’t be good enough for the Magic to win the title. But the 2008-09 Nelson — or something close to it — is plenty good enough. It’s no coincidence that the two games Orlando won against Boston in the Eastern Conference finals last season were the two in which the Nelson-Howard screen-and-roll was at its most effective.
We know what we’re going to get from Carter and Lewis at this point, and Howard can’t get all that much better on either end. It’s Nelson who can re-raise his game — and his team’s prospects.

GREG ODEN
Oden is an obvious X-factor in some ways, but many fans would dismiss his importance by claiming the Blazers aren’t a true title contender, with or without him. But here’s the thing: Matchups matter in the playoffs, and the Blazers happen to be a team that has matched up quite well with the Lakers over the last few seasons, especially in Portland.
Plus, the Lakers showed they aren’t indestructible in the postseason. They struggled with Oklahoma City and Phoenix last season, and the Rockets took them to seven games in 2009. If Oden is healthy and playing in the spring, the Blazers will be a tough out for anyone.

LUOL DENG
You can scoff at the notion of considering any player on any Eastern team other than Boston, Orlando or Miami an X-factor, but Milwaukee or Chicago could easily scare one of those teams in the playoffs. And a scare can turn into “Holy cow, we’re playing in a decisive seventh game against the sixth seed” pretty easily. Just ask the 2008-09 Celtics.
And if Deng — still just 25, by the way — can return to the near-All-Star form he flashed in 2006-07, the Bulls have the potential to scare one of those three elite teams, either in the first or second round. Deng looked wonderful in the preseason, taking 29 threes in eight games (and hitting 15) and getting to the line a ton. We know Derrick Rose and Joakim Noah will improve. We know what Carlos Boozer is at this point, and we know Tom Thibodeau will make this a tough defensive team. Deng is the one who could transform the Bulls into something special.
Worth noting: Plus/minus stats, both raw and adjusted for quality of teammates and opponents, paint Deng as one of the league’s most productive players last season. So it’s not as if he’s far away from greatness.

A FOURTH OPTION IN SAN ANTONIO
I believe in the Spurs. I may be one of the last people outside of San Antonio to believe in the Spurs, but I still think if enough goes right for this team, it could be playing in the Finals in June. It’s not likely, but it could happen.
And for it to happen, someone outside San Antonio’s Big Three will have to step up as a legitimate offensive option. It could be George Hill. It could be DeJuan Blair. It could even be Richard Jefferson, who looked rejuvenated in the preseason. It could be Tiago Splitter, though that seems unlikely. It could even be the concept of a transition game, something Gregg Popovich is pressing for now — and something that could help Hill and Jefferson, in particular, emerge as more dangerous scoring threats.
But it has to be something, or someone. And they have to become a threat to create offense and not just stand around the perimeter waiting for open looks.

RAJON RONDO’S JUMP SHOT
Breaking news: Boston fans have found video evidence that Rondo may have improved his jump-shooting form in the offseason. Mind you, this comes a year after Rondo spent part of the summer with Mark Price in an attempt to improve his jump shot. It didn’t work, as Rondo’s shooting percentages from outside 15 feet dipped badly last season.
Rondo is probably never going to be an elite jump shooter. That’s OK. He does so many other things well, and he improved his close-range shooting last season. But if he’s not at least serviceable, teams will continue to sag off him as the Lakers did in the Finals last season, a defensive strategy for which the Celtics have never found a consistent answer.

JAMES HARDEN, SERGE IBAKA
The Thunder are receiving almost — almost – as much hype as the Heat, and many experts have OKC as the sole Western Conference team with a real chance to knock off the Lakers in a seven-gamer. To do that, the Thunder will need more interior production on both ends, and that’s where Ibaka, the team’s most athletic big man and best shot-blocker, must take a step forward. They’ll also need a shooting guard who can provide some of the defense Thabo Sefolosha brings while acting as the offensive threat Sefolosha will never be. Harden should be that guy. If he’s not playing crunch-time minutes in late April, I’ll be disappointed.

DALLAS MAVERICKS
If you’re searching for another team that might be able to rise up against the Lakers (assuming everything goes right), you could do worse than the Mavericks. But “everything goes right” encompasses many more things in Dallas than it does in most places. Outside of Dirk Nowitzki and perhaps Brendan Haywood, everyone is a question mark to some degree. Can Jason Kidd keep doing this? Can Jason Terry, at 33, make last season’s decline a temporary blip instead of the start of a downward trend? Can Tyson Chandler stay healthy? Will Caron Butler stop the ball and jack questionable 20-footers or attack and get to the line? How quickly will Roddy Beaubois recover from a broken foot, and when he does, will Rick Carlisle play him as much as he probably needs to when the games count?
That’s a ton of questions, and we haven’t even mentioned Shawn Marion. There is a load of talent here, but I have no clue how it will play out.

DENVER’S FRONTCOURTI think we all know the Carmelo Anthony issue by now, but Denver will not contend — with or without ‘Melo — if Kenyon Martin and Chris Andersen aren’t ready to play big minutes in April. If they are — and if Melo is still around — this team can play with anyone, as it proved in the 2009 Western Conference finals, when Anthony Carter was getting minutes that will now go to Ty Lawson.
If the answers to these questions go the wrong way, Carmelo could be gone and the Nuggets will be in the lottery.
We could continue this last forever. We could mention the chemistry and three-point shooting issues in Miami, the need for someone — anyone — to provide consistent scoring on the wing in Utah, the health of Andrew Bogut and lots of other stuff. Uncertainty is what makes sports fun.



1. The Jerryd Bayless trade. I like the Jerryd Bayless trade. Everybody wins, including the fans. The Hornets get a combo guard who, despite endless criticism of his game, scored nearly 18 points per 36 minutes last season and reduced his turnover rate substantially. That’s the sort of help Chris Paul needs, and Bayless will provide it better than Jannero Pargo ever did.
The Blazers get a first-round pick, with limited protection, in exchange for a player they likely weren’t going to use much this season. Portland will get the pick in 2011 if it’s outside the top seven. If that doesn’t happen, they’ll get the pick in either 2012, 2013 or 2014 if it’s outside the top eight. That’s a nice asset — if an uncertain one, given the variable production level of mid-first-round picks — and one Portland gets to add to an increasingly attractive pile of picks and young players they could use to land a star. Watch out.
And for us? We get another chance to see a player fight the tired stereotype that a “combo guard” usually won’t succeed in the NBA. Bayless is a classic combo guard, and he’s a talented, hard-working one. He should be able to find a consistent role in the NBA.

2. The Magic varying their offense. I like that the Magic are varying their offense, as detailed nicely here by Ben Q. Rock at Orlando Pinstriped Post. Rock crunches the numbers and finds that, in the preseason, we saw more of Rashard Lewis at small forward, more Dwight Howard jumpers (he was 10-of-15!), more Lewis post-ups and lots of other new goodies. Will any of this stick? You would think Stan Van Gundy will keep what works, and whatever that is will make the Magic a more diverse offensive team.

3. Tyreke Evans‘ jump shot. I don’t like Tyreke Evans’ jump shot, which is bad news, because we’re going to see a ton of it this season. Evans loves to flash the mid-range jumper (and, increasingly, the three-pointer), but his form is still inconsistent and the results are iffy. There’s too much leg-kicking and shaky balance, and his shot selection can be poor. There’s enough talent on this team that Evans must be willing to spread things around.

4. Antawn Jamison‘s situation. I don’t like Antawn Jamison’s situation. Doesn’t this story in the Akron Beacon Journal make you sad? Jamison’s championship dreams fell apart in Washington last season, and he handled everything with grace as the team’s sort-of spokesman and trusted veteran. His championship dreams in Cleveland fell apart when the Cavs collapsed against Boston — a collapse, it should be said, in which Jamison played a large role.
And now he’s stuck in a sixth-man role he’s clearly not thrilled about on a team going nowhere. No player “deserves” more than the millions he gets in salary, but it’s always nice that the good guys get a chance to win late in their careers. With more than $28 million due to him over the next two seasons, Jamison may have to wait a while to get that chance.

5. Bizarre lineups in Charlotte. I like the bizarre lineups in Charlotte. I’m with Queen City Hoops: Give me a lineup that includes Tyrus Thomas, Gerald Wallace, Stephen Jackson, Boris Diaw and anyone else (Shaun Livingston?) and let the craziness unfold. Diaw and Jackson can both take over ball-handling duties, Wallace will grab every defensive rebound and Thomas will fly around doing Thomas things. They might go entire quarters without attempting a three-point shot.






2010-11 Power Rankings: Preseason
1 (1) Lakers 57-25 The West, even with its usual array of 50-win teams, is starting to feel kinda '80s-like. Which is to say that the Lakers are a Muresan-sized favorite to go back to the Finals no matter how slowly they start because of health issues.
2 (3) Celtics 50-32 The Celts must be feeling even cockier than normal. The East's new darlings in Miami look like the fragile ones and folks leaguewide are asking whether L.A. should copy Boston's laissez-faire approach to the regular season.
3 (4) Magic 59-23 If anything gets me back on the Magic's bandwagon, it won't be those 21 straight preseason wins or that new arena everyone is (justifiably) raving about. It's the possibility they'll make a splash with their trade assets.
4 (2) Heat 47-35 Demoted before they even play a game? A two-slot dip isn't unreasonable after a preseason in which the three SuperFriends shared the court for a whopping 197 seconds and Mike Miller was lost to a major thumb injury.
5 (6) Thunder 50-32 Can the Thunder, shouldering real expectations for the first time, stay as healthy as they did last season? Seemingly impossible. Is Durant as near-perfect as a Face of the Franchise as he seems? Quite possibly.
6 (8) Mavericks 55-27 How much urgency is already bubbling in Big D? The Rangers are just four World Series wins away from leaving the Mavs -- despite those 10 straight 50-win seasons -- as the only franchise in town without a championship.
7 (9) Jazz 53-29 You can turn over much of the roster and expect little dip in the standings with a two-man core of D-Will and Jerry Sloan. And proving it might finally land Sloan that Coach of the Year trophy he insists he can live without.
8 (7) Spurs 50-32 Father Time has wiped out their margin for error, but the Spurs might still be L.A.'s biggest worry out West if A) Parker has the sort of contract year Manu had and B) Splitter and Blair join Duncan as impact players up front.
9 (5) Bulls 41-41 Have to Deng, er, ding the Bulls to some degree after they lost Boozer so early (and so bizarrely) and then took a pounding on the boards for much of the preseason. But none of that will change my Chicago-to-win-Central pick.
10 (10) Bucks 46-36 Latest example that the Bogut-and-Jennings Bucks rank among the league's new darlings now: They've received near-unanimous praise for acquiring Maggette after he was peddled for months by Golden State without success.
11 (11) Trail Blazers 50-32 Even if I ditch the pessimism about its ability to stay healthy, Portland's preseason featured more squawking from B-Roy (who wants the ball more) than Rudy F (who wants to return to Europe). Didn't see that coming.
12 (13) Rockets 42-40 Rockets GM Daryl Morey apparently wasn't too impressed with our comment in the Training Camp Edition of the rankings. Morey via Twitter last week to Bill Simmons: "We don't need a trade, we are going to surprise NBA."
13 (14) Hawks 53-29 The committee goes way back with Larry Drew, so I hope for his sake this is a premature write-off. But I still fear Josh Smith's new commercial that's getting so much run is as good as it gets after a stagnant summer.
14 (15) Nuggets 53-29 October was calmer for the Nuggets than most of us naysayers projected, but common sense says it won't last. The Melo Speculation Machine and the distractions it generates will surely power up once the games start counting.
15 (12) Suns 54-28 Really tried hard not to overreact to the Suns' unsightly preseason ... until I looked at their early schedule. Safe to say that Small Forwards Anonymous, as Professor Hollinger has dubbed them, won't be starting 14-3 again.
16 (20) Grizzlies 40-42 The Griz are about to start their 10th season in Memphis. In other hard-to-fathom Griz news that might or might not tell us a lot: They somehow just went unbeaten in the exhibition season along with Orlando and Utah.
17 (16) Knicks 29-53 The good news: Amare's presence generates playoff hope and puts the Knicks on the radar of stars on Melo's level. The bad news: Here comes another season with as much chatter about players the Knicks don't have.
18 (21) Wizards 26-56 You can revel in the presence of John Wall and the possibility that the Wiz might revert to their Bullets identity ... or you can fret over Arenas' hard-to-trade contract and his disconcerting preseason. We prefer Option 1.
19 (19) Hornets 37-45 For all the understandable interest in CP3's future, let's put the short-term focus on his present, since he can drag the Hornets back to the playoffs almost by himself when healthy but is clearly shaking off injury-related rust.
20 (23) Clippers 29-53 Pretty much everyone has the same two questions when it comes to the Clips: Do we dare believe that the Blake Griffin monster seen in the preseason can stick around all season? And which Baron Davis will we see?
21 (18) Bobcats 44-38 Totally get that MJ's boast about a 100-point game was made in conjunction with promoting the new 2K11 video game, but we still feel compelled to ask why we don't get more proclamations about his Bobcats plans.
22 (17) 76ers 27-55 When Evan Turner followed up a lackluster showing in his first NBA summer league with an equally shaky preseason, Philly said goodbye to the previously popular suggestion that this team is a playoff sleeper in the East.
23 (22) Pacers 32-50 Granger, not surprisingly, insists that the days of playing for ninth in the East are over and that Indy is playoff-bound now that Darren Collison has arrived and Roy Hibbert is blossoming. Our take: Possible but not probable.
24 (27) Cavaliers 61-21 Once more we ask: Does anyone out there dare believe what psychologists would say about Cavs fans needing only 3.5 years -- half as long as their marriage to LeBron James -- to get over LeBron's departure? Us, neither.
25 (24) Warriors 26-56 New coach. New logo. And new owners ... as you might have heard. Questions about rebounding, D and Monta Ellis' long-term future in the Bay Area persist, but I'm irrationally intrigued by the Curry/Lee combo.
26 (30) Timberwolves 15-67 Our snarky side must be kicking in again, because the fear here is that Sota's season might have peaked with that ESPN-televised exhibition victory over the Lakers in London. Hope we're wrong again.
27 (25) Nets 12-70 Coming up near-empty in Mikhail Prokhorov's first free-agent summer is one thing. It's going to be way harder to get over their near-trade for Melo unraveling just as camps were starting. (And what if they never get him?)
28 (29) Kings 25-57 My new non-Casspi-related obsession: If Cousins' big preseason launches him to the ROY trophy, this'll be the first team to field back-to-back ROYs since my Buffalo Braves did it in 1973 (Bob McAdoo) and 1974 (Ernie D).
29 (28) Raptors 40-42 Brace yourself, Canada, for a season's worth of cracks about how the Raps belong more in the Euroleague with a core headlined by Bargnani, Kleiza, Calderon and Barbosa. And many commiserations from this Canada lover.
30 (26) Pistons 27-55 Jonas Jerebko went down early. T-Mac's comeback hasn't even started yet. And the sale of the team is still pending. Add it all up and October ranks as another month that was far too Lions-like for the formerly mighty Pistons.

Monday, October 25, 2010

Cory Browns 4x4 Relay Video



Any Buckeye fan has to watch this race! Cory Brown runs the last leg of the 4x4 relay. Simply amazing!

Friday, October 22, 2010

College Football T.V. Schedule - Prince James Booed - Scary


2010 College Football TV Schedule: Week 8
Friday, Oct. 22 Network Time (ET)
South Florida at Cincinnati ESPN2 8 p.m.
Saturday, Oct. 23 Network Time (ET)
Michigan State at Northwestern ESPN Noon
Purdue at Ohio State BTN Noon
Iowa State at Texas FSN Noon
Syracuse at West Virginia ESPN2 Noon
Duke at Virginia Tech ESPN3 Noon
Penn State at Minnesota ESPNU Noon
Rutgers at Pittsburgh ESPN3 Noon
Indiana at Illinois BTN Noon
Temple at Buffalo ESPN3 Noon
Notre Dame vs. Navy CBS Noon
Mississippi at Arkansas ESPN3 12:30 p.m.
Maryland at Boston College ESPN3 1 p.m.
Florida Atlantic at Arkansas State ESPN3 1 p.m.
Wyoming at Brigham Young mtn 2 p.m.
LSU at Auburn CBS 3:30 p.m.
Wisconsin at Iowa ABC/ESPN 3:30 p.m.
Nebraska at Oklahoma State ABC 3:30 p.m.
Arizona State at California FSN 3:30 p.m.
Connecticut at Louisville ESPNU 3:30 p.m.
Georgia Tech at Clemson ABC/ESPN 3:30 p.m.
Western Michigan at Akron ESPN3 3:30 p.m.
Central Michigan at Northern Illinois ESPN3 4 p.m.
Louisiana-Monroe at Middle Tennessee ESPN3 4:30 p.m.
New Mexico State at Idaho ESPN3 5 p.m.
Hawaii at Utah State ESPN3 5 p.m.
Colorado State at Utah mtn 6 p.m.
Alabama at Tennessee ESPN 7 p.m.
South Carolina at Vanderbilt ESPN3 7 p.m.
UAB at Mississippi State ESPNU 7 p.m.
Texas A&M at Kansas FSN 7 p.m.
Georgia at Kentucky ESPN3 7:30 p.m.
North Carolina at Miami (Fla.) ESPN2 7:30 p.m.
Oklahoma at Missouri ABC 8 p.m.
Air Force at TCU CBS CS 8 p.m.
Fresno State at San Jose State ESPN3 8 p.m.
Washington at Arizona ESPN 10:15 p.m.


LeBron James understands fans' anger
ATLANTA -- If LeBron James wasn't LeBron James and instead was a Cavaliers fan living in Akron he might not like himself all that much right now.
“ If I was a fan and I was on the outside looking in, I could be upset a little bit if one of my favorite players left. ... But you have to get over it.
"-- LeBron James
James said Thursday he can relate to why many fans, especially from his home state, continue to be angry at him. But he also said people upset with his decision to sign with the Heat need to move on.
"If I was a fan and I was on the outside looking in, I could be upset a little bit if one of my favorite players left," James said. "Or if I felt like he betrayed us or whatever the case may be. But you have to get over it."
James later tweeted that he was not speaking specifically to Cavaliers' fans: "Let's clear this up! I never said to the Cavs fans to 'get over it.' I've never and will never say anything bad about them. 7 years of joy!"
James is an avid sports fan who regularly attends football games from his old high school to the NFL. As a supporter of the Yankees, Cowboys and Ohio State, he's actually having a tough week with all three having troubles lately.
That is why he says he can understand to the backlash he's received. But he is not about to apologize for it.
"Sports are very emotional and fans are very emotional," James said. "At times they really believe you may be related to them you and you sleep in their house. When you do something wrong and you leave their house they can become very emotional. I've understood that over the years. But at the same time, you have to understand you have to do what is best yourself."


Impostor reported, removed by police
This is scary!
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- A full-time National Guardsman toting two unloaded M16 assault rifles was allowed onto the Michigan Stadium field before the Michigan-Michigan State football game.
Security officials allowed the man into the stadium, where more than 113,000 people had gathered, because his weapons were empty and no ammunition was found.
A member of the color guard reported the impostor, who was escorted out by police.
Brown said the unidentified man was compliant, and told officers he used his uniform as a ruse because he wanted to attend the Oct. 9 game but could not get a ticket.
Diane Brown, a spokeswoman for the university's department of public safety, told WJBK-TV that school officials do not believe anything was done "incorrectly or improperly by police in any of the checkpoints." Brown declined immediate comment when reached on Thursday.

Thursday, October 21, 2010

Ohio State Buckeye Basketball - College Hoops Top 25



0 - Jared Sullinger 1 - Deshaun Thomas 2 - Jordan Sibert
4 - Aaron Craft 10 - Eddie Days 15 - J.D. Weatherspoon
23 - David Lighty 24 - Nikola Kecman 32 - Lenzelle Smith Jr.
33 - Jon Diebler 44 - William Buford 52 - Dallas Lauderdale
54 - Evan Ravenel




COLUMBUS — The start of the 2010-11 college basketball season is still more than three weeks away, but there was a buzz around Value City Arena Thursday as the Buckeyes gathered on the eve of practice.
Despite losing the National Player of the Year Evan Turner from last year’s Sweet 16 squad, there were will be plenty of familiar faces Friday when Ohio State takes the practice court.
It will be the seventh season in Columbus for Head Coach Thad Matta, and all but two of them have been spent with David Lighty by his side. The fifth-year senior is back for his final go-around in scarlet gray, but it has not been a pain-free career for the Cleveland native.
For the second year in a row, Lighty begins the season coming off a broken bone in his left foot.
“It’s coming a lot pretty well so far, I just have to get my explosion back and my bounce back,” Lighty said Thursday during Ohio State’s annual basketball Media Day.
“I’m pretty much doing everything, so it’s just a matter of time until I’m back to where I was before.”
Lighty originally broke the fifth metatarsal in his left foot during the nonconference portion of his junior season. He had a pin inserted into the foot in Dec. 2008 and missed the rest of the season. He was awarded a medical redshirt after playing in only seven games that year, which is the reason he is still suiting up for Matta and the Buckeyes this fall.
The 6-foot-5 wingman out of Villa Angela-St. Joseph never imagined he’d have deal with the injury all over again, but even that hasn’t been enough to shake his optimism.
“Since I went through it already, I already knew the process pretty much,” said Lighty, who re-fractured the fifth metatarsal back in May.
“It was the exact same thing, but you’re anxious to get out there and play. You see everybody playing and you want to get out there but you just can’t.”
Except now he can.
The Buckeyes are back on the court Friday for the first time since their 76-73 loss to Tennessee in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament, and Lighty will be out there along with fellow returning starters Jon Diebler, William Buford and Dallas Lauderdale.
“(There is) no pain or anything,” said Lighty, who averaged 12.6 points, 4.5 rebounds and 3.0 assists last season.
“Maybe soreness when I first got back playing, but that’s typical.”
A high-energy player with a non-stop motor, Lighty averaged over 36 minutes per game last season for the Big Ten champions. Though the injury might be healed, Lighty knows he has a ways to go before he is ready to log those kinds of minutes again.
“Just time, getting back on the court,” he said.
“Stamina has been my weakness so far, I’m getting tired kind of quick, but the more you play basketball, the more you get used to it.”
Like Turner and Diebler, Lighty was among the leaders in the Big Ten in minutes played last season, but that likely will not be the case in 2010-11. Despite losing their best player, Matta said he expects this Ohio State team could go 8-10 deep.
That would be a drastic change for the Buckeyes from the last few seasons, where they have been limited to six or seven guys in the rotation. A big part of that is the addition of six new freshman, including McDonald’s All-Americans Jared Sullinger and DeShaun Thomas.
“The class we have coming in with the freshman, that’s a big focus of everything that makes us a better team,” Lighty said.
“Everyone we have coming back as well. We lost one player, but 80 percent of the starters are coming back.”
Matta said Thursday they still don’t know who will replace Turner at the point this season, but they know who it won’t be. That leaves freshman Aaron Craft along with Buford, Diebler and Lighty as potential candidates.
Lighty has slimmed down to 215 this off-season after weighing 225 pounds last season,. He said he already feels quicker and lighter on his feet.
“I’ve noticed a little difference so far,” Lighty said.
“When I get back to game speed I'll probably notice a bigger difference. I’ll be jumping higher and moving quicker than I was last year.”
With this being his final year at Ohio State, another break would likely mean the end of Lighty’s playing career. He isn’t thinking about that, however, and said he actually feels stronger after his recovery this time around.
“I think I was stronger coming back since they pushed it back a little longer since it was my second time,” he said.
The Buckeyes will certainly be stronger with Lighty out there, especially on defense, where they must replace the length and grit Turner brought each and every night.








College Hoops Pre-Season Top 25
1. Duke: No reason to move the Blue Devils. Kyle Singler and Nolan Smith had tremendous summers working out with the USA Basketball select team. The buzz around newcomer Kyrie Irving is just as high. The karma is all good in Durham with Mike Krzyzewski winning a gold medal at the FIBA World Championship in Turkey and the Blue Devils getting a commitment from one of the best players in the 2011 class in Austin Rivers.

2. Michigan State: The Spartans did dump Chris Allen, an indication that the differences between Allen and Tom Izzo were too wide to overcome. But Izzo is feeling quite good about the continued recovery of Kalin Lucas from an Achilles injury. Lucas will be treated carefully in practice over the next month as the Spartans see how much he can push himself. But Izzo is confident Delvon Roe is as healthy as he's been at MSU and fully expects Durrell Summers to be a star and Draymond Green to be a vocal leader.

3. Pittsburgh: The Panthers don't have the star power of the aforementioned top three. But this Panthers team is like an old-school Big East team that has experienced players who have been together and found roles. The summer trip to Ireland provided more positive bonding time for Jamie Dixon's crew as it takes on the role of Big East favorite. There were no flaws this summer, making it more palatable to move the Panthers up a few spots.

4. Kansas State: The Wildcats continue to have a positive vibe from their near brush with a Final Four berth. Kansas State returns Jacob Pullen and an expectation that returnees like Curtis Kelly and Jamar Samuels will continue to blossom. Clearly the rest of the Big 12 believes in the Wildcats, as well, since they were picked to win the league for the first time.

5. Ohio State: The Buckeyes have one of the top freshmen in the country in big man Jared Sullinger. Sure, they lost Evan Turner, but the rest of the wings return and the buzz on the Buckeyes remains that this team was more than Turner a year ago. If players like William Buford, David Lighty and Jon Diebler can handle the responsibility, the Bucks should be a national contender.
6. Kansas: Moving the Jayhawks up to No. 7 is clearly predicated on Josh Selby being eligible for the majority of the season. KU is waiting for Selby to get his academic clearance from the Eligibility Center. He can practice while this is pending, but Kansas needs him out on the court during the real stuff. There is still plenty of talent in Lawrence -- led by Marcus Morris, who coach Bill Self is convinced will be a star -- but Selby is the key for the Jayhawks to be top-10 good.

7. Villanova: The Wildcats didn't rely on Scottie Reynolds in his last few games as much and they survived. Reynolds' eligibility expired and Corey Fisher is the next one to pick up the mantel. Jay Wright had another solid offseason, coaching the USA Basketball select team. There is an expectation now that Wright's teams won't dip. Like Pitt, Villanova is considered a regular near the top of the league on a yearly basis.

8. Gonzaga: The Zags had quite a summer with Elias Harris, Kelly Olynyk and Robert Sacre all playing for their respective national teams. Gonzaga put together arguably the toughest nonconference schedule in the country, too. If Demetri Goodson and Steven Gray can elevate their game as lead guards after the departure of Matt Bouldin, the Zags will be deserving of a top-10 ranking.

9. Florida: The Gators return all five starters from last season's No. 10 seed in the NCAA tournament. But the addition of Patric Young is surely going to bolster this squad. Young won gold for the USA junior national team this summer and proved to be an invaluable member of that squad. His tenacity, hustle plays and overall team focus means he could be a difference-maker for Florida this season.

10. Syracuse: The Orange move up six spots from the May poll in large part because coach Jim Boeheim is almost never wrong about evaluating and projecting his team's talent. Most of the time he hits on the major contributors and Boeheim said Kris Joseph is ready to be a star. He also expects big man Fab Melo to have a monster season, notably on the defensive end where he can block shots and grab rebounds. While it's hard to see yet where and how much C.J. Fair and Dion Waiters will play, they have already impressed, meaning the freshman class will make this team even deeper.

11. Kentucky: If Enes Kanter's eligibility was a certainty, the Wildcats would move up into the top 10. His amateurism eligibility decision is still to be determined. But what can be stated is Kentucky showed on a trip to Canada that the returning players are up for the challenge of a new role. Darius Miller and DeAndre Liggins should flourish as John Calipari plays more of his dribble-drive-motion offense. Newcomers like point guard Brandon Knight, Doron Lamb, Terrence Jones and Stacey Poole are all ready to make major contributions.

12. Missouri: The Tigers move up a notch, even without newcomer Tony Mitchell, whose eligibility is in question and in a best-case scenario wouldn't be available until the Big 12 schedule starts. But Mike Anderson can't play the role of being underappreciated anymore. Missouri returns Kim English, a healthy Justin Safford, Marcus Denmon and adds a recruiting class that needs to get more love. Anderson is pushing the significance of point guard Phil Pressey and power forward Ricardo Ratliffe. If both are as impactful as projected, Mizzou may be a league title contender.

13. Illinois: My colleague Doug Gottlieb tabbed the Illini to win the Big Ten. I'm not going that far with Purdue, Michigan State and Ohio State to contend with. But Illinois has no excuse if this is not an NCAA season at the very least. Bruce Weber can't say enough about how much incoming freshman Jereme Richmond will mean to this team. Add him to an already talented roster that includes Mike Davis, Mike Tisdale, D.J. Richardson and returning lead guard Demetri McCamey and the Illini have their best chance since 2005 to challenge for a conference title.

14. North Carolina: Losing the Wear twins and senior Will Graves, the team's top 3-point threat, meant the Tar Heels had to drop a few slots. The talent is in place up front with the return of John Henson and Tyler Zeller and the addition of the top freshman in the country in Harrison Barnes. But the guard play is still a work in progress and an unknown with erratic Larry Drew II and the still-inexperienced Dexter Strickland and Leslie McDonald being joined by newcomers Reggie Bullock and Kendall Marshall.

15. Memphis: The Tigers did get Will Barton eligible after there were questions earlier in the summer once he missed the team's trip to the Bahamas. But all is good now. The Tigers certainly have the talent to be projected higher, but remember they didn't make the NCAAs last season and are leaning heavily on newcomers like Barton, Joe Jackson and Tarik Black. If the Tigers are to be worthy of the top 10, then returnees like Wesley Witherspoon and Will Coleman will have to continue their improvement.

16. Baylor: This is by far the biggest drop in my poll from May to October. The Bears were probably too high in that original poll. Losing Ekpe Udoh and Tweety Carter was significant and maybe I was putting too much emphasis on newcomer Perry Jones. But the reason for this drop is LaceDarius Dunn. He is currently suspended from game competition, but was just reinstated to the team to practice and attend class after allegations that he broke his girlfriend's jaw. But the uncertainty of Dunn's availability casts major doubt on whether the Bears can be a serious contender in the Big 12.

17. Washington: Like Jay Wright, there was positive karma with Lorenzo Romar sharing the coaching duties in Las Vegas for the USA Basketball select team. And the guard play is extremely solid with the return of Isaiah Thomas, Venoy Overton and Abdul Gaddy, wings Justin Holiday and newcomers led by Terrence Ross. Losing Quincy Pondexter shouldn't be underplayed, though. We'll know early enough about the Huskies when they go to the Maui Invitational with a possible semifinal matchup against Kentucky.

18. Butler: Shelvin Mack had a sensational summer and the buzz continues to build that he's one of the top guards in the country. Mack played on the USA select team and the more confident he becomes, the better chance Butler has of being back in the mix for a deep March run again. Sure, losing Gordon Hayward early to the NBA is hard to take for this group, but if Ronald Nored is healthy enough to be as much of a scorer as he was a defender and Matt Howard adds even more productivity and stays out of foul trouble, the Bulldogs won't disappoint.

19. Georgetown: The Hoyas return one of the best backcourts in the Big East with Austin Freeman, Chris Wright and Jason Clark. If Julian Vaughn, Hollis Thompson and newcomers Nate Lubick and Moses Abraham can help offset the loss of Greg Monroe, Georgetown will be in the chase in the Big East. The Hoyas put themselves in position early with another tough slate of nonconference games (going to Old Dominion, Temple and Memphis, to Kansas City to play Missouri, and adding a home game against always-tough Utah State) to gauge where this team will be in January.

20. Tennessee: I probably had the Vols slightly too high in May and the NCAA investigation swirling around the program doesn't help, let alone the self-imposed sanctions against the entire coaching staff that have left a cloud over the season. It shouldn't affect the on-court performance of the players, but it will certainly be a distraction for the coaches as they have to deal with questions throughout the fall. Tennessee still has one of the top newcomers in guard Tobias Harris, and if Scotty Hopson can make shots in bunches, the Vols should still finish in the top three in the loaded SEC East.

21. San Diego State: The Aztecs have quietly gone through the summer with their roster intact, led by one of the more underrated forwards in the country in Kawhi Leonard. Malcolm Thomas is another stud for coach Steve Fisher. If the point guard situation gets settled, the Aztecs should be a top-25 squad. San Diego State challenged itself with five straight games away from home to open the season, including going to Gonzaga before heading off to three games in Oxford, Ohio, as part of the CBE Classic. If the Aztecs survive that stretch, they'll be in a solid position to enter the MWC season as the favorite, fending off BYU, New Mexico and UNLV.

22. Minnesota: The Gophers got two players back that would have certainly helped in March. Lead guard Al Nolen, who became academically ineligible in February last season, is good to go, as is forward Trevor Mbakwe, who sat out last season pending an assault case. Mbakwe is back in the good graces at the school, which stood by him during the case. The Gophers went to Canada in August and returned an even more determined lot. Don't sleep on this squad, especially in the Puerto Rico Tip-Off Classic. Nolen, Mbakwe, Devoe Joseph, Blake Hoffarber, Ralph Sampson III and Rodney Williams are all capable of leading the Gophers to a tournament win and into the top 25.

23. Purdue: On Friday, I ranked Purdue No. 2 and wrote that "the Boilermakers haven't had a single hiccup during the offseason." Less than 24 hours later, Robbie Hummel retore his right ACL during the team's first full practice. The loss can't be overstated. The Boilers still have a pair of All-Big Ten players in JaJuan Johnson and E'Twaun Moore and are still very much an NCAA tournament team, but it's hard to foresee this being a Final Four contender without Hummel.

24. Temple: The Owls got pushed down a peg by my newfound belief in Minnesota. Temple is still my pick to win the A-10 with the return of Lavoy Allen and guard Juan Fernandez. The Owls once again have a monster schedule that should tell us plenty by January, with an opener against Seton Hall, quality games in the Old Spice Classic in Orlando, playing Maryland in D.C., hosting Georgetown and going to Villanova. The Owls go to Duke, too, but that's not until late February. Oh, and of course, this team has one of the top coaches in the game in Fran Dunphy.

25. Georgia: I was bullish on the Bulldogs in May and I haven't dropped off in October with the return of Trey Thompkins and Travis Leslie, two of the top talents in the SEC. Georgia also adds Tennessee State transfer Gerald Robinson, who should open up some scoring on the perimeter. UGA will certainly be pushed in an SEC East that could produce up to five NCAA tourney teams, but the Bulldogs have some summer buzz and momentum heading into that Old Spice Classic tournament in Orlando, especially with an opener against Notre Dame.


Who got pushed out of the poll?
Virginia Tech: The Hokies were No. 22 in my May poll, but they lost one of their key rotation players in J.T. Thompson to a knee injury. Of course, the return of Malcolm Delaney means they will be in the hunt for a top-two finish in the ACC and an NCAA berth. But the Hokies weren't an NCAA team last season and losing a key player pushed them down a few spots for now.


A dozen more to watch (in alphabetical order): BYU, Florida State, New Mexico, Texas, UNLV, Utah State, Vanderbilt, Virginia Tech, West Virginia, Wichita State, Wisconsin, Xavier



No. 10 Ohio State vs Purdue
COLUMBUS, OH
Oct. 23, 12:00 PM ET
Big Ten Network

Ohio State tries to rebound after a short stay at No. 1 when the Buckeyes host Purdue. Ohio State has not suffered back-to-back losses in six seasons. Terrelle Pryor will also be looking for a little revenge after last season's two interception, two fumble game in West Lafayette. Purdue has lost 10 consecutive road games to ranked opponents.

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Ohio Football Recruits - Top College Football Recruiting Classes - NBA Shoes - Buckeye Injury Bug

Class of 2011 Team Football Recruiting Rankings
1.Texas
2.Alabama
3.Oklahoma
4.Florida State
5.Ohio State
6.LSU
7.Florida
8.Notre Dame
9.Georgia
10.Auburn
11.North Carolina
12.Clemson
13.USC
14.Stanford
15.Nebraska




Foot injury sidelines Ross Homan
Ohio State will be without standout linebacker Ross Homan for a few weeks, while another key defensive contributor will miss time with a foot injury. Buckeyes coach Jim Tressel said Homan, a senior and three-year starter, will miss several weeks with a foot injury sustained in Saturday's loss to Wisconsin. Homan leads Ohio State with 41 tackles and has recorded an interception, a forced fumble, a fumble recovery, four passes defended and a sack.
Freshman Christian Bryant, who plays the "star" position, a safety/linebacker hybrid used in Ohio State's nickel package, is being treated at Ohio State Medical Center. Bryant's father, Ronnie, told The Cleveland Plain Dealer that his son has cellulitis, a common bacterial infection that can become serious if left untreated.
"He had an infection last week and we thought we had it under control and he played a little bit in the game and then he had a not very good reaction to it on the plane ride back," Tressel said. "It doesn't look like he'll be out of [the hospital] until late this week, and [we] just want to make sure that we get that calmed down."
Bryant had been elevated to a starting role after Tyler Moeller suffered a season-ending torn pectoral muscle. Tressel said Bryant will miss Saturday's game against Purdue.
Jon Newsome will likely fill in for Homan on Saturday, while Aaron Gant and Nate Oliver will replace Bryant in the nickel package.





NBA bans super-jumping shoes
NEW YORK (AP) -- The NBA is prohibiting its players from wearing a new line of sneakers that claims to increase vertical leap.
"Under league rules, players may not wear any shoe during a game that creates an undue competitive advantage," the NBA said in a statement Tuesday.
Athletic Propulsion Labs' $300 Concept 1 shoe employs a spring-based system designed to increase lift.
The Los Angeles-based company was founded by twins Adam and Ryan Goldston, both former USC basketball walk-ons whose father worked in the shoe industry.
The brothers said Tuesday that many NBA players, including about 30 percent of the rookie class, expressed interest in the shoes but they wouldn't reveal names because the players had signed with other companies.


OHIO Football Recruits
QB 1 Braxton Miller
(Wayne HS)
Huber Heights, OH 6-2/185/4.47 Committed to Ohio State
CB 2 Doran Grant
(St. Vincent-St. Mary HS)
Akron, OH 5-10/177/4.37 Michigan State, Ohio State, Cincinnati, Georgia Tech, Michigan, North Carolina, Penn State, USC, Alabama, California, East Carolina, Illinois, LSU, Miami (Fl), Notre Dame, UCLA, West Virginia
DE 4 Steve Miller
(McKinley HS)
Canton, OH 6-4/230/4.73 Committed to Ohio State
MLB 4 Trey DePriest
(Springfield HS)
Springfield, OH 6-2/230/4.69 Committed to Alabama
C 2 Ryan Kelly
(Lakota West HS)
West Chester, OH 6-5/280 Committed to Alabama
DT 5 Michael Bennett
(Centerville HS)
Centerville, OH 6-3/275/4.90 Committed to Ohio State
DT 10 Chase Farris
(Elyria HS)
Elyria, OH 6-6/270/5.30 Committed to Ohio State
OLB 10 Jarrett Grace
(Colerain HS)
Cincinnati, OH 6-4/230/4.70 Committed to Notre Dame
OG 12 Aundrey Walker
(Glenville HS)
Cleveland, OH 6-6/355 Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Michigan State, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Penn State, Pittsburgh, Syracuse, USC, West Virginia
OG 13 Donavon Clark
(Finneytown HS)
Cincinnati, OH 6-4/300/5.45 Committed to Michigan State
DE 13 Ken Hayes
(Whitmer HS)
Toledo, OH 6-5/255/4.80 Committed to Ohio State
TE 14 Ray Hamilton
(Strongsville HS)
Strongsville, OH 6-5/230/4.70 Committed to Iowa
OLB 14 Antonio Poole
(Winton Woods HS)
Cincinnati, OH 6-1/225 Cincinnati, Kansas, Kentucky, Purdue, Bowling Green, Indiana, Louisville, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Syracuse
S 14 Ron Tanner
(Eastmoor Academy HS)
Columbus, OH 6-1/190/4.50 Committed to Ohio State
S 15 Eilar Hardy
(Pickerington HS Central)
Pickerington, OH 6-0/170/4.63 Committed to Notre Dame
TE 16 Nick Vannett
(Westerville-Central HS)
Westerville, OH 6-6/230 Committed to Ohio State
CB 19 DerJuan Gambrell
(Rogers HS)
Toledo, OH 6-2/180 Committed to Ohio State
DE 26 Joel Heath
(Mt. Healthy HS)
Cincinnati, OH 6-6/255 Committed to Michigan State
WR 27 A.J. Jordan
(Trotwood-Madison HS)
Trotwood, OH 6-2.5/170/4.59 Cincinnati, Colorado, Illinois, Louisville, Michigan State, Missouri, North Carolina, Northwestern, Syracuse, Vanderbilt, Wisconsin
WR 41 Devin Smith
(Washington HS)
Massillon, OH 6-1/175/4.55 Committed to Ohio State

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Ohio State Basketball - College Gameday Final - Heisman Watch



Jared Sullinger
6-9, PF, Ohio State
How convenient, for the Buckeyes, to have a 280-pound beast like Jared Sullinger grow up in their backyard. The Columbus product, and younger brother of former Ohio State player J.J., should be a hit as a freshman. Jared plays a no-nonsense, physical brand of basketball in the post, and could very well be the Big Ten's most imposing big man -- in any class -- in 2010-11. He, fellow elite recruit Deshaun Thomas and senior Dallas Lauderdale will form one imposing frontcourt.








Master salesman Matta keeps OSU on top despite steady NBA attrition
si.com
In 1997, Scott Robisch was an all-state high school player from Springfield, Ill., and Thad Matta was an ambitious assistant coach at Butler. Butler coach Barry Collier badly wanted Robisch, a 6-foot-11 center who would have been a big signing for the Bulldogs.
Robisch seemed out of reach. Matta had done everything within NCAA rules to woo Robisch, who was leaning toward Oklahoma State. Finally, Matta said, "Scott, my wife is pregnant. If it's a boy, I will name him Scott.''
Nice, but as Matta recalls, "I already knew we were having a girl.''
Robisch signed with Oklahoma State. Two years later, he transferred to Butler.
Matta covered the usual recruiting bases over the years as an assistant coach. He used the entire recruiter's catalog: Daily for three weeks, he got up at 4 a.m. and drove from the Butler campus in Indianapolis to East Lansing, Mich., just so a hotshot recruit would notice Matta's car in the lot when the kid got to school. As an assistant at Miami (Ohio), Matta once spent considerable time writing the number "3'' on pieces of paper, then cutting out the threes and stuffing them in an envelope. He sent hundreds of 3s, so when the sweet-shooting recruit opened the envelope, all the little 3s would sprinkle out.
Matta didn't lose his recruiting zeal when he transitioned from assistant to head coach. He has always programmed the radio presents in his BMW SUV to hip-hop stations, so when he's hauling around recruits, they can punch up the stations and think the coach is cool. In the recruitment of Greg Oden, Matta once told the coveted big man, "I will add on to my house if you come to Ohio State.''
Why would Oden care about that?
"I was doing anything I could,'' Matta said.
Matta is entering his seventh season at Ohio State. He has won 156 games and got to the national title game, even though every year the Buckeyes seem to donate an exorbitant amount of quality goods to the NBA and beyond. Since Nov. 9, 2005, the day Matta formed The Thad Five -- a recruiting class that consisted of Oden, Mike Conley Jr., Othello Hunter, Daequan Cook and David Lighty -- the wonder in Columbus always has been how good the Buckeyes could have been if all five had stayed on campus. Imagine that quintet along with Evan Turner and Kosta Koufos -- on the same team.
Matta has different wonders. Such as: How do I keep replacing these people?
Matta's top returning scorer for the upcoming season is a 6-5 guard named William Buford. As a freshman, Matta recalls, "Buford would score six of our first eight (points) and I'd find myself thinking, 'He's gone.' I'm not thinking about what defense we should be in. I'm thinking about how we're going to replace Buford.''
In 2007, Ohio State lost the national title game to Florida -- then freshmen Conley, Oden and Cook left for the NBA. In '08, Matta brought in Koufos to replace Oden, and he left after a year. Hunter stayed two years. Turner left last spring, after three seasons.
A coach could get a complex.
"It would make it easier to say, like in football, 'I've got this guy for three years,''' Matta said.
Instead, he keeps selling the program. Matta keeps working it, the way he does that single hunk of gum he chews every game. Ask him how, he says what they all say: Matta sells the school. Matta sells the program. Matta says his players "have fun'' at his urging. He recalls taking high school seniors Oden, Conley and Cook on a campus tour one especially beautiful spring day. It was warm. The coeds were out in force, looking the way coeds do on warm, spring days.
"Coach,'' Matta recalls Cook saying, "this is (bleeping) college.'' Matta agreed. He said his eyes popped, too, as much as Midwestern eyes are allowed.
Matta likes playing the folksy farm kid from the aptly named Hoopeston, Ill. He claims not to know what Twitter is. He says "gosh.'' Matta says the older he gets (he's 43 now), the less in touch he is with the culture of the players he recruits. "When I'm mad at them, I make them listen to country music,'' Matta says.
OK. But why do they come to Columbus to play basketball? Matta might be living his Big Ten dream, but he's still doing it in Woody's shadow. Hoping to lure more students to home games, the university is moving its faculty and administrators from their center-court seats to behind the baskets. Students now will get the plum perches. This is never an issue when Jim Tressel's team plays.
Despite many rival coaches telling recruits that Ohio State is a football school, Matta is able to bring in top players year after year. This year it's Jared Sullinger, a 6-9, 280-pound force of nature who was rated either the best or second-best prospect in the country last year. Sullinger wasn't a hard sell: His brother played at OSU and is from Columbus.
He'll join Buford, who didn't leave, and Lighty, the last of the Thad Five. The Buckeyes will be solid, again, even as good players come and go like the harvest. Matta knows who to sign, and how to charm them.
"I became a better coach the day I had my own children,'' Matta says. He cites Christmas as proof. He remembers Christmas Day now. Frequently, he takes an hour or two to celebrate it. "When I was a young whippersnapper, I used to think, 'Who cares about Christmas?''' Matta says
"Sometimes, you still make that mistake,'' a reporter suggests.
"Yeah,'' Matta concedes. "I do.''



Buckeyes' loss shakes up Big Ten race
By Adam Rittenberg
ESPN.com
MADISON, Wis. -- Before boarding the team bus to the airport, Ohio State players stood outside Camp Randall Stadium late Saturday, pondering a new and sobering reality.
They brainstormed who needed to lose and how it could help them reach their goals, namely another Big Ten championship. It's an exercise the Buckeyes would rather avoid, but after falling to Wisconsin, they had no choice.
Ohio State no longer controls its destiny, and as a result, the Big Ten title race just got a lot more interesting.
The consensus preseason Big Ten favorite is looking up at Michigan State, Iowa and yes, even Purdue in the Big Ten standings. Michigan State is the Big Ten's only unbeaten team, and with a favorable November schedule, the Spartans' fate likely will be determined in the next two weeks, when they visit Northwestern and Iowa.
Speaking of the Hawkeyes, they might have the most control in the league title push. Iowa will host Wisconsin, Michigan State and Ohio State in the next five weeks. Although the Hawkeyes won't play Purdue, if they defend their home turf, they should be heading to Pasadena, Calif.
Wisconsin is in a boat similar to Ohio State, but the Badgers are much happier to be there. They'll need to win out and have Michigan State lose twice to earn a trip to the Rose Bowl. It won't be easy, but after beating Ohio State, Wisconsin has earned the right to think big.
No one expected Purdue to be 2-0 in league play after it lost starting quarterback Robert Marve to a season-ending knee injury. The Boilers have a rough road ahead, beginning this week at Ohio State, but for now, they're still in the conversation.
Ohio State's stumble in Madison makes the Big Ten title chase a lot harder to size up.
And a lot more interesting.


Ohio State's streak of league titles in jeopardy: The Buckeyes now need to win out and get some help to extend their streak of Big Ten titles to six. Ohio State not only lost the No. 1 ranking on Saturday night, but also control of its own destiny in the league title race. Jim Tressel's team must win out and hope Michigan State stumbles at least once to ensure a co-championship. To get back to the Rose Bowl, Ohio State should root for Iowa to keep winning until Nov. 20, when the Buckeyes visit Iowa City. Every Saturday can change the picture in college football, and Ohio State's picture just got a lot cloudier.





Heisman Watch
Tracking the CandidatesOct. 17, 2010
1 Kellen MooreQB | Boise StateNext Game: 10/26 vs. LT
There's still a long way to go, but the dominoes are falling in Boise State's favor as far as its national title hopes are concerned. As for Moore's Heisman candidacy, he continues to do no wrong, albeit against the likes of San Jose State. Moore threw for 231 yards and two touchdowns in limited action in the Broncos' 48-0 win.
WEEK 7 AT SAN JOSE STATE
PASSING
RAT YDS TD INT CMP%
250.0 231 2 0 87.5

RUSHING
YDS TD YPC
4 0 4.0


2010 SEASON
PASSING
RAT YDS TD INT CMP%
190.3 1567 16 1 69.5

RUSHING
YDS TD YPC
-11 0 -1.4


2 Terrelle PryorQB | Ohio StateNext Game: 10/23 vs. PUR
The game got away from Ohio State early, and it wasn't able to stem the tide against Wisconsin as its stay at No. 1 proved to be short-lived. Pryor was 14-of-28 passing for 156 yards with no touchdowns and a late interception. He also rushed for only 56 yards in the Buckeyes' 31-18 loss, which takes control of the Big Ten title race out of their hands.
WEEK 7 AT WISCONSIN
PASSING
RAT YDS TD INT CMP%
89.7 156 0 1 50.0

RUSHING
YDS TD YPC
56 0 3.1


2010 SEASON
PASSING
RAT YDS TD INT CMP%
158.0 1505 15 4 65.2

RUSHING
YDS TD YPC
410 3 5.5


3 LaMichael JamesRB | OregonNext Game: 10/21 vs. UCLA
Oregon was off this weekend and will return to action Thursday night against UCLA, likely with a new No. 1 ranking. James remains the nation's No. 1 rusher with more than 169 yards per game.
WEEK 6 AT WASHINGTON STATE
RUSHING
YDS TD YPC
136 2 5.4

RECEIVING
REC YDS YPR TD
2 87 43.5 1


2010 SEASON
RUSHING
YDS TD YPC
848 9 7.4

RECEIVING
REC YDS YPR TD
3 96 32.0 1


4 Cameron NewtonQB | AuburnNext Game: 10/23 vs. LSU
Newton did it all for Auburn in a 65-43 win over Arkansas, rushing for three touchdowns and adding a touchdown pass. Any time the Tigers needed him to make a play, he obliged, sending them to 7-0 and keeping them unbeaten in SEC play ahead of their visit from LSU.
WEEK 7 VS. ARKANSAS
PASSING
RAT YDS TD INT CMP%
179.0 140 1 0 71.4

RUSHING
YDS TD YPC
188 3 7.5


2010 SEASON
PASSING
RAT YDS TD INT CMP%
180.5 1278 13 5 65.6

RUSHING
YDS TD YPC
860 12 6.7


5 Denard RobinsonQB | MichiganNext Game: 10/30 at PSU
It was another frustrating outing for Robinson, who, despite rushing for more than 100 yards against a stout Iowa defense, couldn't keep Michigan on pace with the Hawkeyes. It was only when he went to the sideline with an injury and Tate Forcier took over that the Wolverines mounted a comeback before falling short 38-28.
WEEK 7 VS. IOWA
PASSING
RAT YDS TD INT CMP%
124.2 96 1 1 72.2

RUSHING
YDS TD YPC
105 0 5.8


2010 SEASON
PASSING
RAT YDS TD INT CMP%
159.1 1319 9 5 67.8

RUSHING
YDS TD YPC
1096 9 8.0