Mom's still mad at MattaSo Daequan Cook is your NBA Three Point Champion and to think, some thought he was too young or lacked the star power to even be in the event.
Overcoming his doubters is starting to become old hat for Cook. After he left Ohio State following a freshman season in which he saw less and less playing time as the season progressed -- leading his mother to publicly call out Thad Matta -- Cook surprised many (including us at 11W HQ) by going 21st in the 2007 draft and then proceeding to make the Heat (after early season NBDL rumors) and contribute to the tune of 8.8 points and 3 rebounds per game as a rookie.
This year, he's contributing solid minutes (25/per) and has bumped his average up to 10.4 points per game. Part of that boost can be attributed to the work he put into his long-range shooting as his three point percentage of .411 is good enough for 34th in the Association.
Granted, winning the three point contest doesn't typically translate to anything tangible as far as the regular season is concerned (see two-time defending champion Kapano and his career 19 minutes per game average), but consistently connecting from downtown is a great way to stay employed for a long time.
The Montana clan is in town today and though it would be beyond sweet if Nick gave a verbal before leaving, we may just have to sweat this one out. He's set to visit Texas later in the week (and the defense calls Chris Simms to testify about the treatment of the sons of famous quarterbacks) and will probably check out Alabama in the near future as well.
Still, it can't hurt for Tressel to have the DeBartolo/Youngstown connection going for him and Montana will be looking at a situation where he could assume the reigns after Pryor leaves (assuming Bauserman doesn't lay claim to them first).
Cook wasn't the only former Buckeye doing well in Phoenix this weekend as Katie Smith teamed up with Bill Laimbeer and Aaron Affalo to lead Team Detroit to a first-place finish in some newfangled competition pitting a former NBA great, a current NBA player and a WNBA player in a battle of cities.
This may not rank up there with the Olympic gold medal, WNBA title or WNBA Finals MVP she's bagged in the last few months, but...
Comments
Must. Sign. Nick Montana.
I'm not buying into the Nick Montana hype just yet.... there are plenty of first rate QB's still out there to sign and OSU must not make the same mistakes it has in the past (see recent history and Tajh Boyd)... if they focus on a couple of guys and miss then they have to go with second choices (see Antonio Henton and Kenny Guiton).... both may have/will do very well, but the perception of heavily recruiting a player and then getting a last minute no (or 2 no's) really hurts the rep.
Montana may be great, but have 2 or 3 other options and go after them as well. Other than Pryor and Justin Zwick, what other big name QB's have come to OSU?? How does USC, Notre Dame, etc... keep restocking at QB with big name recruits and OSU misses out on them..... (Rothlesberger, Quinn, etc...)
Targeting prospects, especially this early and with only 17 spots in this class is not a bad strategy at all. While I do agree that we don't want to get left with less prestigious players, this year there is a lot of talent at QB and if we don't get Nick we can move on to guys like Devin Gardner. Nick said he wants to make a decision by late spring, early summer so hopefully we'll here from him soon so we can get him or move on.
can't believe how the interwebs has changed recruiting. here we are talking about next year's class in February, and we've all seen film of these kids and know who is who. the pressure on the coaches must be incredible. 25 years ago nobody knew anything much on recruiting - maybe if a big local star signed you heard about it but most of it was under the radar. incredible.
there's a clip on youtube.com where Joe Montana ends up on the sideline coaching his kid. the hs football coach says "we don't want parents coaching their kids but the new rule is 'if you're a three time super bowl mvp you can coach your kid.'" lol.
Early signings and recruiting news is simply a sign of the times. Kids today are much more informed on which school offers what, and alot of them have a pretty good idea where they want to end up before their junior year.
As for Nick Montana, sure ther is the novelty of him being Joe's son, but he is a good QB. Problem is I dont like the idea of switching from the mobile QB to the pocket passer. Obviously Pryor is the guy now, and you dont sign a guy like Guiton without having the idea he could be the starter one day. Heck, one of the WR's from his team went to Oklahoma, the other to Texas, so he obviously has no prob fitting in with top talent. He could be a star in the waiting.
Also, the Bucks have offered Braxton Miller for the 2011 class, Ive watched him play, the kid is a sure fire stud.
How about Purdue signing 14 players from the state of Florida? Very interesting.
i don't really have a problem with a standard pocket QB. if boeckman had ever learned to check downfield for the safeties we probably would've been a lot happier with him in the long run. as long as the dude can gun it and not throw ints, i'm fine with a relatively immobile QB (easier said than done, but i'm fine with a completion percentage of even 55-57% if the ints are low)
Off-topic, but did anyone catch Eastbound & Down last night? Stitches...
Boeckman is a great passer, but he has bad instincts. Sure the O-line hung him out to dry WAY too many times, but he threw into double and triple coverage in critical times. LSU had a field day with him as he tended to panick and throw into coverage.... I personally like a QB with some mobility who can escape from trouble and make a play on the run.
I dont have a problem with pocket passers, its just the other guys on the offense having to learn a new system in the middle of their OSU careers that I dont like.
Ideally, you want a guy like Colt McCoy, who really is a drop back qb, but can escape the pocket if needed.
I thought Boeckman had a terrible arm, but it could of been uneasiness in the pocket that forced some throws to fall short, I dont know.
At any rate, there is no arguing that our O-line fucked us time and time again over the last 3 years. You have to have the blocking to run an effective offense no matter who is taking snaps. Who knows, at least an average line might have made Boeckman into a legit Heisman candidate.
You're fuckin out!
But, yeah. I did. Danny McBride ftw.
Roethlisberger and Quinn were not big recruits and as far as Quinn is concerned, he was the same class as Smtih AND Zwick (and IIRC Smith turned out to be pretty decent)
I think it's just very difficult to predict success at the QB position because even though HS systems are becomming more dynamic, they still are simplistic compared to a D1 offense (or at least a lot slower).
quinn was a big time recruit and ohio state did want him. do some research before you make comments
Happy Birthday to Herb Williams, who turned 50 today!
Let me be the first to comment on Cooks victory. Congrats to him and I truly hope that he continues to improve in every area of his game.
No doubt. It was great to see him bring home the hardware and I hope he can keep it rolling in the second half.
Yes definitely congrats to him. Wish he would have stayed another year, but once a Buckeye always a Buckeye, unless you're name rhymes with Doufus.
Ya just imagine how good he would have been had he stayed one more year...imagine a 3 year rule...Oden, Koufos, Cook, Turner, Conley with Mullens, Lighty, Buford, Lauderdale, and Diebler off the bench----Championship
And imagine if LeBron had gone to college... And stayed for four years.
think about this though, even if greg would have stayed for his sophomore year he still would have needed knee surgery so he would have probably been here junior year with kofous and mullins on the bench...lauderdale would have probably transferred.
why when you will correct me without me having to?
Cook still did very little to help the Buckeye's championship run. A few of those 3 pointers vs Florida would've helped.
blame Matta for that...
we had harris and butler bricking instead.
No doubt an all star cast, but theres alot of other good teams with a 3 year rule.