Monday Skull Session

By Jason Priestas on January 14, 2013 at 6:00 am
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There may not be anything better than waking up after a day of pillaging the Mitten State.

Thad Matta's team got things going with a 56-53 win over No. 2 and previously unbeaten Michigan. The win was huge for several reasons, not least of which was keeping the hated Wolverines from taking advantage of Duke's loss to North Carolina State Saturday and ascending to the top of the basketball polls for the first time in over 20 years.

The win also gave the Buckeyes – and their fans – still smarting from a blowout in Champaign, cause for optimism as the Big Ten race heats up. This is a very good, but not great Ohio State team that will ride stingy defense and the scoring of Deshaun Thomas. How far that takes them is anyone's guess, but the dozen or so remaining Big Ten games is perfect for forging young players and a team identity.

Once again, Aaron Craft's defense of Trey Burke proved the difference Sunday. Craft held Burke to 4 of 13 shooting, far below his season average of 53 percent and forced Burke into four turnovers, one off his season high. If you have an adding machine handy, Burke is shooting 5 for 24 from the floor with 12 turnovers against Craft in their last two matchups.

Burke readily acknowledges Craft's thorn in his side. "He makes me better, he makes me work," he said in postgame interviews.

Luckily, for fans of both teams, we'll get a chance to see these two battle again in a few weeks.

MICHIGAN'S PIPELINE HAS A BURST. Matta struck the first blow, but Urban Meyer delivered a body shot when he snagged a commitment from Detroit Cass Tech cornerback Damon Webb in the minutes following the basketball game.

Webb is considered one of the top corner prospects in the '14 class and one of the best prospects in the state of Michigan at any position. Here Webb is locking up five-star class of 2013 receiver Laquon Treadwell in 7-on-7 drills. He good.

Better yet, Webb plays for Cass Tech, which is to the Michigan program what Cleveland Glenville is to the Ohio State program. If the name sounds familiar, that's because Vernon Gholston was a Cass Tech product. I wouldn't count on Ohio State flipping the pipeline to Scarlet and Gray, but we'll gladly take an elite prospect every now and then.

Some Michigan fans think the Wolverines will ultimately flip Webb, but he put that talk to rest, telling Miles that he will not be taking any further visits to schools other than Ohio State.

THE RAISE GAME. Brian Kelly is the latest college coach to flirt briefly with the NFL before returning to his program for a raise and/or contract extension.

Oregon's Chip Kelly did it. So did UCLA's Jim Mora. Alabama's Nick Saban is so tired about being asked about the NFL that the Sabanbot 800 malfunctioned, saying, "I closed the door. The damn hinges are wore off, Dawg."

While some college coaches will invariably be drawn to the unique challenges the NFL offers, the smart ones are realizing that there's no place like college ranks. The game offers more strategic diversity, the salaries are competitive for top tier coaches, it's easier to maintain program strength and let's face it, if you could spend your days working on a college campus, you'd probably choose to do so as well.

MIAMI'S JUDGMENT DAY IS NIGH. A full 17 months after Charles Robinson gave Miami the black angel's kiss of death with his expose on Nevin Shapiro, a rogue booster linked to tales of cash, clothing, clubs and yes, abortions, the NCAA is finally moving on the Hurricanes.

According to a source close to the University of Miami’s NCAA investigation, the University is expected to receive the Notice of Allegations (NOA) from the NCAA within the next 72 hours. Upon receiving the NOA the University will have up to three months to respond at which time they will go before NCAA infractions committee . According to the source, whom spoke under the condition of anonymity, the University can elect which of the allegations in the NOA to release publicly due to being a private institution. It is not likely the University will release the entire NOA to the general public and will elect to release certain aspects of the NOA that are believed to have already been a known allegation.

Ah, the joys of being a private institution.

The last three years have brought big and dirty NCAA investigations into USC, Ohio State, Penn State and now Miami. USC, another private school, dodged wave after wave of bad press, thanks to limited releases of information related its case. Penn State, though it received plenty of bad press related to the Jerry Sandusky scandal, was largely shielded prior to the publication of Freeh Report thanks to unusual FOI laws enacted to conceal Joe Paterno's salary.

Thanks to a brigade of reporters armed with an email address and spare change to cover paperwork costs, Ohio State was not able to hide its dirty laundry and you suffered through one of the worst years of your life. These news cycles, with new bits emerging daily were part of what made Ohio State's case seem larger than it really turned out to be. This cannot be stressed enough.

THREE WEEKS UNTIL SIGNING DAY. Let this GIF lead the Buckeyes to great success.

So alpha.

MISC. Get well soon, DeVier... Santonio Holmes had a good time at Sunday's game, handing out tickets and hanging with fans... Look, it's Hoverdad Te'o... Jaamal Berry highlights from Murray State... No, really. What happened to Rick Astley in 1989?

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