The Buckeye Blog

(Well, there’s always X-box)

So far, this year’s Buckeye basketball team has been anything but exciting. One minute they look good the next, their struggling against Michigan. Personally, I thought last year’s recruiting class looked like they had the potential to bring the Buckeyes deep into the Madness. Unfortunately, half the time, they just look like their not even there.

At this point, a little dancing time in March is still up in the air. They still have some big games to wind out the season but according to the Columbus Dispatch, the Buckeyes are 0-7 against teams rated in the top 40.

So what do you think? If not this year, will this team mature into a team that can bring us back to the big game?

So with baited breath we all waited yesterday for the big announcement. Just after the crack of noon, we were going to find out if once again, we had defeated Michigan by signing the long sought after Terrell Pryor. But before anyone could break out the new Ohio State hat and sing a round of Hang on Sloopy, Pryor announces that he wasn’t going to announce.

Apparently, while Pryor was dreaming sweet visions of scarlet and gray, his father had been kidnapped by an aging coach with a bladder problem. Before you know it, dad is in love with his captors and suddenly Penn State is in the running. Or was that Oregon.

Ok, so Oregon is out and Penn State is back in but Ohio State and Michigan are still top contenders. Before I go any further, we need to realize that this could go on until sometime in April. And again, while it would be great to see the Buckeyes with a quarterback the likes of Vince Young at the helm, it won’t be the end of the world. The Buckeyes picked up three good offensive linemen in Micheal Brewster, Mike Adams (a homegrown boy out of Dublin Coffman…and the school where I did my student teaching) and J.B. Shugarts. Add to that a couple of good linebackers and a very strong returning defense and I don’t care what they rest of the world says — the Buckeyes will come into the season ranked high and if they get past USC at USC, good luck keeping them out of a fourth national championship game.

Terrell Pryor would just be icing on the cake.

So here’s his choices at this point:

1) Penn State

Sure, he’ll get to play and he’ll be welcomed as a saving grace for a program that wants way more than it can produce these days. The biggest problem with going to Penn State — Sure, you may play for Joe Paterno today but who do you think will be coaching the team when he really comes of age during his junior or senior year. It’s anybody’s guess.

As for going pro, he has a pretty good chance of going pro early with Penn State. I mean really, it’s not like he would be sticking around for a national championship shot or anything.

2) Michigan

Would you want to walk into that mess? At UM, he’ll have a coach wrapped up in a whole world of legal troubles, an entirely new coaching staff that is trying to make sense of a brand new program, an offensive style completely unproven in the Big Ten and the absolutely unrealistic expectations of the entire Michigan fan base.

Sure, Michigan sounds like a good choice.

3) Ohio State

With Ohio State he gets a team that will enter the year high on the national rankings. And while yes, they will need to overcome the BCS losses of the past two years, he will have the chance to play on a team that will be in the national championship hunt his freshmen year (and probably again in the years to follow). He’ll play for one of the best coaches in college football in some of the nicest facilities and finally, he will be walking into what is basically a pro football training ground. Ohio State produces professional football players and if he is looking for a NFL career, he can’t do much better then Ohio State.

In the end, I’ll be happy as long as Pryor doesn’t go to Michigan. Oh, the joy of seeing Michigan struggle next year without a quarterback…it just make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

Terell Pryor must resist the temptation to go to the dark side

For Ohio State, Terrel Pryor is a good recruit — a recruit that could grow into a the quarterback position and fill out an already strong Buckeye program.

For the University of Michigan, Terrel Pryor is will make the difference between another season with a lot of potential and an embarrassing loss to Miami University second game of the season. Without Pryor, Michigan Coach Rich Rodriguez will have nothing short of a gaping void in the anchor position of his beloved spread offense. (don’t believe me, if you’ve got about 10 minutes to kill, check this out).

Ohio State is really in a win/win situation here. If Pryor comes to Ohio State, we get a great quarterback that can grow into the position behind Todd Beockman — maybe even sharing the role in a two quarterback scheme. With the majority of this year’s class returning, Ohio State would have a lock on a very high preseason ranking and another national title hunt.

If Pryor goes to Michigan, the Wolverines once again start the season full of soon to be dashed hopes as they realize that a spread offense needs an actual offense to go with it. No matter how good your quarterback, if you don’t have somebody to pass to or to set the block allowing a speedy quarterback to break free, it really doesn’t mean much does it.

But more than anything, I want Pryor to go to the Buckeyes for no other reason than to put Michigan through yet another humiliating loss. A loss into which their fans have poured everything and leaves their spirits broken and sprawled on the pavement once again.

Back in the old days, Woody would give a kid a scholarship and bench him recruiting the player not because he needed him but because it kept Michigan from filling an important position (and what better reason could their be).

So Terell, make your choice and make it well. It isn’t so much our future that depends on it, it’s yours.

Well, that seems about right. Texas Tech coach Bobby Knight, unable to turn Texas Tech into a basketball powerhouse, has resigned from coaching mid season. He claims he wants to turn the coaching responsibilities over to his son Pat Knight who will take over the coaching responsibilities at Texas Tech.

Espn’s Pat Ford pretty much summed up my feelings on Coach Knight when he said:

It would be nice if Robert Montgomery Knight could simply be remembered and revered for three national titles, for 32-0, for the Olympic gold medal, for being the maestro of motion offense and the non-negotiable believer in man-to-man defense. It would be nice if the career highlight reel stopped after testimonials from Buckner and May and Benson and Isiah and Alford and Cheaney. It would be nice if Assembly Hall’s court bore the name of Indiana’s greatest coach.

But nice was never part of the package with Knight. Which is why he’ll also be remembered for the thrown chair and the choked player and the grabbed student at the end in Bloomington. It’s why the player testimonials will be interspersed with tape of bellowed profanities, head-butted players and more burned bridges than a brigade of pyromaniacs could produce. It’s why the divorce from IU became so bitter, and why his name probably will never adorn that Assembly Hall hardwood.

Read the rest of Pat Forde’s tirade here.

While some school’s hang their entire season on one recruit, the Buckeyes have added recruit number 18 to the class. Defensive end Keith Wells out of Gainsville, GA, weighing in at 6′5″ and 250 some pounds, has announced his intentions to sign with the Buckeyes on Wed.

Aside from the fact that the name Wells is become somewhat popular around Columbus the past couple of years, Wells the freshmen should add a nice piece to an impressive defensive lineup. And although Wells has only played football for a couple of seasons, he has racked up some impressive numbers scoring 52 tackles and 12 sacks during his junior season. According to Scout.com, Wells has a lot of potential as he shows a lot of speed and has changed physically during the past year.

Meanwhile, it looks like the suspense will end Wednesday as Terrell Pryor claims he will make his big announcement on signing day. While it would be nice to get a quarterback like Pryor, the future on the Buckeyes doesn’t depend on it. I want to see the Buckeyes get Pryor to keep him out of Michigan who’s future, unlike Ohio State’s, does depend on it.

The Columbus Dispatch had an interesting story today on the frustrations of Jamar Butler and this year’s Buckeye basketball team. According to the Dispatch, Butler is threw being the nice guy. It’s time to lay it on the line and tell it like it is. After Saturday’s loss to Iowa, Butler told the press that this year’s team lacks the passion of past years. The Dispatch’s Bob Baptist’s blog adds to the story with quote’s like this:

“Last year’s team, this never would have happened, I can tell you that. Guys were mentally ready to go night in and night out. I guess it was just more important to us last year.”

Yeah, I can see that. Last year’s basketball season had an energy that I haven’t felt this year. And with the conference half over, they had better step it up and they had better step it up now. We need to show that world that last year’s team wasn’t just a one man flash in the pan.