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
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