Is Isiah coming to town? According to Bob Baptist, via Jeff Goodman of FoxSports, Ohio State hoops might open up their season against Florida International, the team Isiah Thomas recently took over...for free. It is still part of the Coaches v. Cancer tournament opening round games, but it was previously reported OSU would open up against James Madison.
While I think it is hilarious FIU gave Zeke another chance to destroy something else, Isiah picked the best place and time to start his college coaching stint, Snoozer City Arena in early November. There might be more ESPN camera's in the building than students and you know all the blue hairs down front still love Isiah, because he played for Bobby Knight. Regardless of the outcomes in the opening round games, the Buckeyes will move on to MSG, where they will face off against Syracuse, UNC and California.
Ranking the Big Ten Players This was originally in Good Shizzy the other day, but I thought it was worth bringing over to the big time, because it is an interesting follow. Adam Rittenberg, the tireless Big Ten blogger over at ESPN is ranking the top 30 B10 players for the upcoming football season.
Only 10 players return from the top 3 offensive All-Conference teams of 2008, while 15 return on the defensive side, making this a wide open season and an almost unpredictable list by Rittenberg. He listed Thaddeus Maximus as his 26th best the other day and it will be interesting to see how many Buckeyes end up making the list. Ohio State still has some holes to fill and it is unproven who is going to step up and become that elite talent, there are many candidates, but they are still green. Who do you think makes the list? Coleman? Pryor? Wilson or Heyward? Boom?
Pro Careers Starting I was on a vacation from blogging during the NFL draft, so we haven't hit on that too much around these parts, but after looking at it further, I think all the Buckeyes, minus Brian Hartline, ended up in great situations. The NFL teams have had their rookie mini-camps, but the Buckeyes draftees can't attend another OTA until mid-June when school is out.
- Malcolm will wear #27 for the Saints and has been used at corner thus far in his workouts.
- Beanie choose #26 and is a perfect fit for Arizona, if he can consistently blitz protect.
- The Rams released their leading tackler from last year, Pisa Tinoisamoa, after drafting Little Animal, who will wear #55 to start his career.
- Robo gets to keep his #80 up in Cleveland, but may be looked at as a #3 or #4 receiver, after the Browns recently signed Hilliard native Mike Furrey to a contract.
- The surprise pick for me was Hartline, who heads to nice weather, but also a team that had 3 somewhat proven receivers last year and drafted Patrick Turner from USC this year. Hartline will don #82 for Miami and will probably see most of his work on special teams.
- D-Wash turned his combine performance into a 4th round pick and will also get to keep his #20, as he battles for a nickle position with the Chiefs.
- My new favorite NFL player, Marcus Freeman of Da' Bears will wear #58, while battling for playing time opposite Lance Briggs and Brian Urlacher.
- The Buckeye feel good story of the year, Nader Abdallah will be #68 as he fights for a roster spot with Jacksonville.
Word to the Wise If you are anything like me, September 12th has been circled on the calendar for a year now, as the Buckeyes will be looking for revenge, when the mighty Trojans invade Columbus. However, OSU can't afford to look past their first opponent, pesky Navy, who has had 6 straight years of 8+ wins and has lead the nation in rushing 3 straight, including 292 yards/game in 2008, which was lower than their 327 and 348 in the previous 2 seasons.
The Midshipmen did lose most of their offensive attack, but according to Phil Steele, over the last 6 years they have won more BCS games (13) than any other non-BCS team. They also have a winning record (27-17) on the road over that same time span. With the unproven talent of Ohio State in key areas and the disciplined running style of Navy, I have a felling this game could be reminiscent of past early season scares.
Comments
Wow! I'm liking the pace of the new posts recently =)
I was just checking out that top 30 actually, i find it hard to believe that in the first 9 picks or whatever, not a single school has repeated. i think he's trying to keep it pretty even, so my guess is we'll have 3 players in the top 30
Will be kinda weird seeing beanie in anything other than 28
Why do the gimmick offense always seem to give OSU fits? I agree, we go in napping versus Navy and the USC point spread could jump 5 points overnight.
What scares the heck out of me is the fact that the USC passing attack pretty much roasted our secondary last year (granted, moving picks and what not) and though they lose Dirty Sanchez, the receivers are back and we're breaking in some new cover guys against a Navy team that might throw the ball five times that Saturday.
Good point Jason, hopefully TP and the receivers can do well enough in practice to get that young secondary ready. I don't see Navy surprising the hell out of us and passing it 20+ times, but they do have the entire summer to work on it.
think the navy game is a classic trap game. looking ahead to next week, unusual offense, they are playing for everything... don't like it at all... besides, who can cheer AGAINST our service men?
Quite honestly, I would root against my OWN FAMILY if they were playing the buckeyes.
Ski, I'd chop your head off if it meant a national championship. Sorry!
If I got to at least watch the game and see TP and Tress holding up the crystal trohpy, I'd let that happen kid. Make it a clean cut tho.....
I made a deal with Lucifer about 5 years ago regarding a certain team we love to hate....get ready for 5 more wins according to this contract we drew up for my soul LOL
I like the fact that Navy will probably gain a lot of yards on our defense, but in the classic Bend and not Break manner will often end up punting and not getting points to go along with all of those yards Although the box score might look ugly, it will give the new silver bullets plenty of practice at making solid tackles in the open field, which will be absolutely critical to preventing big plays when USC tosses to their stud receivers. I'm glad we have Navy on the schedule first, to give us a real test (read: non-mac and non-cupcake) before USC comes to town.
LIC is hungry just like King James is this year. Cavs win it all along with the Buckeyes mark it down. Pryor is on a mission this year.
He can't do it by himself tho. We need offensive production and our stout D to make big stops
LiC HAS to have a line that gives him time to throw. If he has to scramble to save his life, the season will reflect last year in many ways.
I can't see how our line could be worse than last year. Maybe I'm being naive, but I really can't see it (I know, I know...we say that every year...)
I also think that the improved play from Pryor is only going to make things easier for the line. Pryor was without a doubt the most valuable lineman we had with his ability to extend the play with his feet. Going into this year and adding the fact that Pryor will/should be able to think quicker and get the ball out of his hand quicker it's only going to make Pryor better under center and an even better QB for this line to have... His freakish size that he continues to build up, isn't a bad thing either.
As for the line itself, we didn't lose anyone that I don't think can't be replaced by anyone and have only added kids I feel better about (Not thinking about potential... Boren alone makes me feel better about the talent on this like)
I'm not worried about Navy running it up the gut on us with our D-line, but if they can get around the corners then we might get a scare. Throw in a few play-actions and it could be close. Our challenge is to stop them cold and not show USCum much on offense.
It's not a trap game, it's a statement game. It's where we come out with fire in our bellies and put the opponent away early. It's the kind of game that will put fear in the hearts of the USC guys. At least that's what it should be.
Cool pic. Maxell UD 90's. I must have about 200 albums taped on those from the late 60's and early 70's. Thanks for the memory.
LIC is the type of player to carry an entire team. When he masters the playbook, there will be no stopping him. Dont know if this is the year though. I think we can go 12-0, but we obviously have a major hurdle in week 2. LIC's development will determine the course of the season?
If you had to pick the one thing that lost the USC game last year, what would it be??
The last sentence in the first paragraph wasn't intended to be a question, im just an idiot.
Not putting up 32 points
Winner.
Maybe if Bollman reads these comments the OL will be better. Well, hopefully.
Its Friday, no work for me....grab a beer and toast.....to LiC having about 30 buckeyes on his helmet the sunday morning after the USC game.
happy day off ski!!!! Im off too!! heres to the recession! heres to Mitch Mustain taking over as starter after the silver bullets do work on september 12!
The Mustain family will NO DOUBT be buckeye fans that night. If they ever want their son to play again that is.....LOL
Todd 'CementCleats' Boeckman
Really? I actually don't think we got to see enough of him wearing #28 as it was.
It's so wierd how I haven't been able to get USC off of my mind for several months now, and it's reassuring that it's the pulse driving Buckeye nation right now. My God, this game is going to be huge. The Scarlet and Gray HAVE to win that game. Losing is not an option anymore - it's time to turn the corner, get over the hump, get the monkey off the back - whatever you want to call it. Like Notre Dame in 1995, just effing beat the tar out of them! Go Buckeyes, dammit! RUIN THEM!
I dont know if OSU's national reputation can get any worse, but if we let a rebuilding USC team come and beat us in our house, then outside of winning the conference we may not even be invited to a BCS bowl.
Losing is not an option, I think Pryor will put the team on his back and will us to a victory.