Eleven Warriors

Sully did his thing in France

Taking his act overseas, Jared Sullinger more than held his own though his US team struggled in the World Basketball Tournament losing three of the five games played in France.

The event is considered to be one of the more legit junior tournaments in the world and the highlight of the week involved Sullinger going head to head in Team USA's second game against 7 footer Donatas Motiejunas of Lithuania. Motiejunas is projected as a top 10 pick in the 2010 NBA draft and though he led his team to a 110-107 victory over the Americans, Sullinger did his part totaling 21 points and 9 boards.

In the opening game a day earlier, Sullinger recorded 21 points and 12 boards in a loss to Puerto Rico. Team USA would lose again on Friday - this time to Australia - as Sullinger had his most lackluster effort notching just 9 points and 10 boards. Looking to right the ship, the Americans finished the tournament with back to back wins against Canada and France. Sullinger posted double-doubles in both W's going for 16 and 13 against America's Hat before capping the tournament with a 19 and 11 performance as the US dropped France 85-84.

Sullinger averaged 17.2 points and 11.0 boards in the five games and now takes his show to the NBAPA Top 100 Camp slated to begin Wednesday in Charlottesville, Virginia. Bob Baptist notes four of Matta's five 2010 recruits have been invited (Sully, DeShaun Thomas, Lenzelle Smith and Craft) as has Adreian Payne, whom Thad Matta still has designs on possibly adding to the class assuming scholly's are freed by Turner and possibly Buford turning pro.

Continuing on the prep hoops front, there's no end in sight to the growing trend of offering scholly's to freshman in hopes of locking up a projected future star that might also help attract fellow prep stars. A recent story on Bucknuts shows a couple of the top 10 Ohio freshmen, as rated by Ohio High Magazine, have already given verbals. The top rated freshman, Elijah Macon of Marion-Franklin committed to Chuggins and the Mountaineers over the weekend while UC picked up a commitment from Chane Behanan of Cincinnati Aiken.

I don't personally have a problem with this strategy considering the impact one player can have on a hoops team but I can't help but wonder (as Jeff Rapp does in the article) how many more Cameron Wright situations will arise as a result of this tactic? Not all guys dominating in the 9th grade can effectively navigate the landmines associated with possible NBA riches down the road not to mention some players may simply not improve at the same rate as others making them less desirable when it comes for the school to follow through on their commitment to take the player. What's your stance on this? Any issue with offering verbals as early as the 8th grade? If a school does this, should both they and the player be obligated to follow through years later?

Switching to the NBA, there's been a lot of noise discussing whether or not the real BJ Mullens tweeted that the Bulls guaranteed they'll take him with the 16th pick. Sam Smith says he's convinced that's not the case but it hasn't stopped Mullens from canceling workouts going forward which is a move typically reserved for guys have who nothing left to prove thanks to an assumption of their draft spot being solidified. I guess we'll find out June 25th.

And the participants will fight to the end for O-HI-O.

(Photo awesomeness courtesy of AFP/Getty Images)

Little known fact: Oz took place in Orlando and the
inmates were all busted buying marijuana

Ken Gordon caught up with Tressel to get his thoughts on Berry's arrest and it was what you'd expect out of Tressel when he's still trying to get his head around the situation:

"(I) probably won't know (if Berry will report) until early this week, when we get a little early indication as to really what we're facing, as opposed to hearsay. I don't have much information yet."

"Obviously, anytime guys get into situations that you'd rather not have them in, it's disappointing. But before you take too many opinions in your own mind, you find out what the story is and what's going to be the future of it."

Much was also made of the fact that Berry was listed at 5-8 in his arrest report, though Ohio State lists the incoming recruit at 5-11. While it's true that height numbers are routinely inflated during both recruiting and college ball, it's worth pointing out that Berry's height (and weight) information may have came from his (two year-old) driver's license and he's grown the two to three inches since then. At any rate, look to the NFL combine in three to five years before we get a true indicator of his size.

It's still uknown whether defensive back Devon Torrence will play minor league ball again this summer or stay in Columbus and work out with the team. In the above linked Gordon piece (props for being able to focus on something other than Berry right now), he has Tressel down as pretty much encouraging Torrence to do whatever is right for himself. Which is, the complete opposite of what my selfish-ass would do in the same situation. But that's why JT is trusted with the lives of young men and I am not.

A record 8,162 graduates received their diplomas at Ohio State's 388th commencement yesterday. Real, non-gridiron hero John Glenn gave the address, and Malcolm Jenkins must have had an early peak at his speech calling for dedication in the face of risk as he pulled an all-nighter studying last week before taking his final exam and boarding a plane to New Orleans for workouts with the Saints.

The proliferation of spread-like offenses means the Buckeyes have been working more nickel or star looks over the last couple of seasons and Duane Long offers up what an Ohio State 3-3-5 might look like. If you like seeing Hines and Moeller on the field at the same time, it will be music to your ears eyes.

There are more rumblings out of Gainesville concerning the migration of the Gators away from Urban's spread to a more pro-style offense. Tebow's backup is suited for it as are incoming recruits who might be scared away from all of the talk about Tebow becoming a fullback at the next level. While most of that talk is in fun and I believe he will be able to play quarterback in the NFL, there's no question as to whether you attend USC or Florida if you're a top pro-style quarterback with plans of making it past college with your game.

The Herald has more on on the Berry arrest:

Police stopped Berry around midnight for running a stoplight in a silver Nissan Altima near the intersection of Southwest 120th Street and SW 117th Avenue. Officers noticed a bag of marijuana in the prep star's backseat, according to a Miami-Dade Police Department report. The report said the bag contained about 28 grams of marijuana.

So, the kid had about an ounce on him and you can make a case that there's intent to distribute, but in reality, the intent was probably directed at nothing more than a couple of close friends looking to celebrate graduation.

For decades, American teenagers have sought out the lettuce to celebrate this occasion -- even choir boys. And while I'm probably more liberal in my beliefs here than some of you, it's still a violation of the law and Tressel has a decision to make with summer quarter just over a week away.

The linked article goes on to provide a little background:

While most first time offenders do not receive the maximum penalties in marijuana possession cases, a Florida Department of Law Enforcement report shows that Berry, 18, was also arrested and charged with ''loitering or prowling'' on Dec. 23, 2006. No further information is available regarding that case, as Berry was a juvenile at the time. It is also unknown if that case will have any impact on the prosecution of Thursday's drug charge.

Berry may still get a chance to enroll, but he'll be living large in the doghouse once he does. Eugene Clifford faced a similar situation and was still accepted into the program, though Clifford earned a misdemeanor, while Berry, living under much stiffer drug laws in Florida¹ was hit up with a felony.

Buckeye Commentary with further historical context:

The first question out of most fan's mouth is whether he will ever play for Ohio State. While these are not perfect parallels, the last two Ohio State arrest for marijuana are Jonathan Skeete's pot trafficking bust in 2005 and Eric Haw's arrest a week later for a more pedestrian grade offense for smoking a joint outside a dorm. Skeete was never heard from again. Haw played one more year in the program until his transfer to Jackson State. Berry's arrest falls somewhere in between in my perspective as Berry had less than an ounce.

Odds are, he pleads down to a misdemeanor (see Brandon James) and Tressel does the right thing and accepts Berry into the program on a tight leash with maybe a game or two suspension to start the season. What would you do in his shoes?

¹ FWIW, the 20g+ that triggers a felony in Florida would be just a minor misdemeanor in Ohio (up to 100g), which carries just a $100 fine and no mark on a criminal record. I blame Crockett and Tubbs.

Details are hard to come by right about now, but evidently incoming recruit Jaamal Berry has been arrested for marijuana possession in Miami.

College Fantasy Football Insider is linking to a CBS4 story that has a title clues in the URL, but no content?

Stay tuned...

UPDATE: Berry has a case on file with the court. You can search for it under the defendants tab by punching in his first and last name along with his sex. 20+ grams is a felony in Florida.

UPDATE 2: Mugshot.

(Via OHD)

Then again, maybe Pryor will stay all 4 years.

While I try not to think ahead to the time when TP will no longer be under center, Nick Montana's spurning of the Bucks for 0-12 Washington is a bit concerning.

I thought it was a long shot he would end up in Cbus, but remember Tressel promised not to go after another QB in the 2010 class when he first offered Montana, so it put the Buckeyes behind in the race for the nation's elite.

According to Scout's rankings, 15 of the top 20 QB prospects have already given verbal commitments and Ohio State doesn't appear on the radar until Barry Brunetti's list at #24. At 28, is Andrew Hendrix, the 6'3" 220 lbs. prospect out of Cincinnati Moeller, who received his scholarship offer from Ohio State a couple of weeks ago and was visiting the campus yesterday. It looks like it will come down to Ohio State and Notre Dame.

If OSU doesn't land Hendrix, they may be forced to take another flyer to develop and then bank on Braxton Miller of Huber Heights making his commitment to the Bucks for 2011, giving the Brew Crew a freshman signal caller in their senior season.

Who knows which one of these guys will become the better player, but as Ken Gordon pointed out yesterday, if Hendrix chooses the Irish, the Buckeyes have struggled in their attempt to snatch a top tier QB since LiC came to town.

If he spurns OSU, the Buckeyes are basically starting from scratch, and would be 0-for-4 in the past two recruiting years in landing quarterbacks they really wanted.

You want to blame this on the presence of TP, because kids want to go some where and play right away. However, The Vest keeps a tight reign on his quarterbacks and Tresselball isn't the most exciting offense to run, so one has to wonder how much this comes into play in a recruit's mind. It is highly unlikely TP stays all four years, so there is an opportunity for immediate playing time in 2011.

My guess is one of these Ohio kids will sign with the Bucks. The chance to play right away, close to home, along with the facilities and amenities is too tough to pass up. It may be a while before we know anything, but the dreams of what LiC is going to do this year should keep our minds at ease and we can let this situation play out.

What do you think? Is the future QB situation starting to make you nervous? Or are you confident one of these two in-state guys will sign? Do you think Tressel's predictability on offense hinders Ohio State's chance at the elite passing QB's or are kids scared off by LiC's presence?

Who will strike the Heisman pose in '09?

After reading multiple previews on who are the frontrunners to win next year's Heisman Trophy, I decided I would take a stab at running down the top ten candidates who I feel have the best chance to win college football's most coveted award.

While there are three frontrunners for the award in Tim Tebow, Sam Bradford, and Colt McCoy, we would certainly like to see the other seven names on this list man-up this year and protect Archie's legacy as the only two-time winner of the award. There are obviously names that will not be on this list that will emerge as viable Heisman candidates, but heading into the summer here is the list of ten players, from least likely to most likely, to bring in the golden hardware come next winter.

Honorable Mention: RB Noel Devine (WVU), RB Jacquizz Rodgers (OR ST), QB Todd Reesing (Kansas), RB C.J. Spiller (Clemson), QB Matt Grothe (USF), RB Joe McKnight (USC), QB Jimmy Clausen (ND), QB Zac Robinson (OK ST), WR Julio Jones (Alabama), WR A.J. Green (UGA), and QB Tyrod Taylor (Va. Tech)

10. Daryll Clark, QB, Penn State: I know, I know-I'm going to get shelled for this one, but I had to put a controversial sleeper in the mix. Clark came on as a pleasant surprise to Nittany Lion fans last year, throwing for 2,592 yards and 19 touchdowns and rushing for another 10 scores as Penn State earned a bid to the Rose Bowl and shared the Big Ten title with the Buckeyes. With running back Evan Royster back, the only question for Joe Pa's squad is at receiver, but with the ground game Royster and Clark can produce, the Lions should be successful through the air. I don't think Clark has the absolute "it" factor to be a Heisman Trophy winner, but his smart decision making and stats on the ground and through the air (especially a high efficiency rating) could make him a top 10 vote getter next year.

9. Jonathan Dwyer, RB, Georgia Tech: Dwyer is one of the lesser known players on this list, but with Georgia Tech picking up steam in the early rankings for next season, expect to see his name a lot next year. Dwyer rushed for 1,395 yards (7.0 averae) and 12 touchdowns in his first year under new coach Paul Johnson. He expects to go over that number this season and will get plenty of touches in the Jackets' run-heavy offense. Now that he is out of Knowshon Moreno's shadow in the Peach State, expect Dwyer to be a contender to the end, but ultimately lose out on the award to a player from a more prestigious school.

8. Jevan Snead, QB, Ole Miss: Snead's Heisman hopes can be placed on the pending boom or bust season the Rebels are bound to have in 2009. If Snead can get the Rebels through the brutal SEC schedule with 9 wins or more and put Ole Miss into a legitimate bowl game expect Snead to be a strong candidate for the Heisman. Expect the former Longhorns quarterback to improve on the 2,762 yards and 26 touchdowns he totaled last season, but the fate of the Rebels' season will ultimately tell if he is invited to New York.

7. DeMarco Murray, RB, Oklahoma: Murray is infamous for not being able to play in last year's MNC against Florida, but is looking to bounce back in 2009 with a Heisman qualifying campaign. Murray rushed for 1,002 yards and 14 scores as a sophomore last season and also caught 31 passes for 395 yards and 4 touchdowns through the air. Murray, who stands at 6-1, 205 is a strong, versatile back who could be the key offensive player for the Sooners this year. Heisman or no Heisman, Murray is likely to be a first round pick in the 2010 NFL Draft and the hardware would be a nice addition to his mantle.

6. Dez Bryant, WR, Oklahoma State: While wide receiver is not a position too common for the award the last decade, Bryant will be the best receiver in college football this year and could post stats too gauntly to be left out of consideration. Bryant caught 87 passes for 1,480 yards and 19 touchdowns for the Cowboys last season including a 13-167-1 performance in the Holiday Bowl again Oregon. Thanks to Michael Crabtree departing for the NFL, Bryant gets his turn to shine in the spotlight and make himself a Heisman contender and future top 10 pick in next year's NFL Draft.

5. Jahvid Best, RB, California: Best is a name known to college football's most ravid fans, but is not too common here on the eastern part of the country. What the average fan doesn't know is that Best racked up 1,580 yards and 15 scores on the ground while averaging 8.1 yards per carry for the Bears. His 2008 season included a 311 yard performance and two 200-yard performances. He rushed for 186 yards and 2 touchdowns against Miami in the Emerald Bowl and even put up all those statistics while missing Cal's game against Arizona State and only rushing for 30 yards against USC. Best is going to be the nation's top back this season and the best (no pun intended) part is that he will only be a junior. I would love to have this guy in Scarlet and Gray.

4. Terrelle Pryor, QB, The Ohio State University: I can't tell if I'm being a homer or if I really feel T.P. is the fourth most likely player to win the Heisman. For now, I will go with the latter, as LiC will be counted on to be the centerpiece of the Buckeyes' offense this year and his performance will be the primary factor that influences the team's success in 2009. With a year under his belt and his first spring practice in the books, Pryor should be much more effective through the air and continue to truck defenders that get in his way when he decides to get moving on the ground. It will be exciting to see Pryor's growth this season and I think there is a very strong possibility he will finish in the top 5 voting for the Heisman Trophy.

3. Sam Bradford, QB, Oklahoma: Last year's winner gets bumped down a few spots, not because he will not perform this season, but because it is so hard to win the award two year's in a row as Tim Tebow knows. Bradford also has a year of film on him now and team's will learn how to take advantage of any weaknesses the Sooner's signal caller may have. Because of this, Super Sam will have to rely on the plethora of talent surrounding him in the OU offense and he won't stand out as much as he did last season. Like Tebow in 2008, Bradford will once again get an invite to New York, but will walk away empty handed.

2. Colt McCoy, QB, Texas: McCoy loses some talent from last season's Fiesta Bowl winning squad, but his main target, Jordan Shipley, returns for another season in Austin. McCoy, like Pryor, will rack up yards on the ground as well as he showed when he amassed 561 to go along with 11 touchdowns last season. It's hard to believe Colt also threw for 3,859 yards and 34 scores through the air, but when you look at the fact that he threw only 8 interceptions and completed almost 77% of his passes, it is possible he can improve on those numbers in 2009. With Tebow and Bradford already winning one Heisman Trophy, Colt could be the guy to preserve Archie's record.

1. Tim Tebow, QB, Florida: Of course college football's "golden boy" had to come back for one more year and some can argue that he should have won the Heisman last season as well. There is no question Tebow will put up the stats and if there is another moment like this one in 2009, the voters might just have give Timmy the award. I pray every night that the Gator's drop at least two games next season so that they are denied another National Championship and Tebow is denied his second Heisman Trophy. I guess all we can do is pray.

The bad news: the Buckeyes top Phil Steele's list of teams suffering NFL draft hangovers with 32 points. Which leads to:

Over the last 12 years teams that earned more points than the previous year and accumulated.... 12 or more points - Weaker or same record 164 of 216 (75.9%) 24 or more points - Weaker or same record 47 of 55 (85.4%) 35 or more points - Weaker record 13 of 15 (86.7%)

The good news? Exceptions to the above trends sometimes manage to win MNCs:

One thing I pointed out in past years is that the National Champ does have a good shot at appearing on these lists. In the past 12 years there have been 13 National Champs (LSU and USC were co-champs in ‘03) with 11 of the 13 having earned 12 or more points in the draft the previous year.

Hopefully Aaron is "crafty like ice is cold"

With the main cogs in the AAU machine known as All-Ohio Red already in the fold for 2010, Thad Matta's recent score in the form of the squad's under the radar point guard could prove to be a crucial get for the program.

Aaron Craft, the recent decommit previously headed to Tennessee, opted to stay closer to home giving the Buckeyes a 6'2" point guard that could hopefully stabilize a position in flux since the departure of Conley Jr. (and to a lesser extent with Butler trying to play PG while being the leading scorer) while also giving Matta a recruit who will play four years of college ball. With other '10 recruits Jared Sullinger and DeShaun Thomas not likely to give Matta a full career, Craft could evolve into the next Lighty-type in his later years giving the program a selfless and experienced leader. One thing seems certain, he'll be the starter as a freshman once the end of the 2009-10 season provides cornea relief in the form of Hill and Simmons running out of eligibility.

Admittedly, I don't travel the AAU circuit so I'm relegated to reading opinions and watching tubes plus it's never guaranteed how high school success will translate to big time hoops (see Diebler's painfully slow evolution) but there are many reasons to be high on adding Craft.

For one, you have to love the fact Matta is bringing in guys who will have played one shitload of games together. It obviously fueled the '07 Final Four run with Conley, Oden, Cook and Titus creating a formidable nucleus. Purdue has also seen the benefits from that blueprint. Not only should it create a good day one chemistry but Craft is already keenly aware of the strengths and weaknesses of Sullinger and Sibert and there's still a chance Matta adds 6'10" fellow All-Ohio Red big man Adreian Payne to the mix. Payne is said to be considering OSU, Sparty and Kentucky, among others.

Secondly, even though Craft didn't vault up the recruiting rankings until Bruce Pearl gave him an offer, the consistent assessment of his game speaks of an ability to hit the open jumper, intense commitment at the defensive end and overall heady play earning him "glue guy" status. Craft is currently the 18th ranked PG in the 2010 class (Rivals) and he's also a stud quarterback who attends class to the tune of a 4.0 and 32 ACT.

In other hoops news, David Lighty met with the media yesterday and proclaimed himself 100% healthy since resuming full-go hoops activities in early April. As you'd expect, he sounds excited for the season to arrive, not only because of missing most of last season with the injury but also because the team comes back virtually intact for the first time in his OSU career:

“Ever since my freshman year, it’s been a new team every year. This is my first time with pretty much the whole team coming back. I am just looking forward to the season and seeing how things come about when we start playing and we start putting things together. Hopefully, we can make it farther than we did this past year...It’s five months to the first game, I’m just ready to get back on the court in live action. That’s what I’m getting ready for.”

So am I.

Whether you love or hate StubHub, the steady rise of our new ticketing overlord is handy for the simple fact that, armed with sufficient data, we can somewhat quantify the matchup value for each game on the Buckeye schedule.

Just looking at home games this season, it's no surprise that USC is far and away the most expensive seat of the year¹. In fact, with three months of hype ahead of us, the least-affordable ticket is going for just over $2,800 -- or double the price of the best seats to the 2005 tilt with Texas. What recession?

The average price of all USC tickets is an astounding $662, which is already 50% more than the average cost for a ticket at the Coliseum last September and about the same premium on the typical seat when an undefeated Michigan came to town in 2006.

Looking at the rest of the home schedule, there are a few compelling matchups, but with Penn State and Michigan both being road games, it's clear that Saturdays in the Shoe this fall will consist of the big bang and then varying degrees of meh. The following chart represents the cheapest, average and most expensive seat for home games not involving Song Girls.

Wisconsin is Wisconsin, which basically means there's a great chance of a scare regardless of how hard Bielema is trying to destroying that program. The Illini should feature a dangerous Juice to Benn combo and Iowa rotating onto the schedule for the first time since Gonzo got his zig-zag-on has some novelty, especially since the Hawkeyes coincidentally rose to the upper crust of the conference with the Buckeyes off the schedule again last season.

The other three home games are even less appealing. Navy is the opener, so fans will turn out (and pay to do so), New Mexico State comes to town for Halloween and the Gophers are this year's homecoming entree, but really, the three, along with the three mentioned above aren't so much the draw as it is a chance to come out and see what Terrelle the Great will do.

Though here I am yawning at more than half of the games on the schedule, it really is a testament to the fandom of Buckeye Nation that you still can't get into Ohio Stadium for a game this fall for less than $100. The average seat for the games mentioned above range from $210 for Navy to $279 for the Wisconsin game and those numbers will most certainly swell as kickoff approaches.

While Columbus has weathered the economic downturn better than other Ohio (and Midwestern) towns, people are still cutting back. And when you're substituting Jif for the Kroger brand peanut butter, it really is saying something that there are thousands of fans willing to pay $250 for a chance to see the Mighty Gophers come to town or nearly $700 for a prime seat to see the Aggies.

Ticket prices and aside, here's how I rank the home games:

1. USC - Obvs.
2. Illinois - If you conveniently forget his debacle in Champaign last season, Juice has played the Buckeyes tough. And with Benn freshly anointed as the Big Ten's best, the game will be a good early season test for the Buckeye secondary. You know, in case the Trojans don't test them out well enough in week two.
3. Iowa - Maybe it's because we've only played the Hawkeyes five times this decade. Maybe it's because we're dying to taunt the boys at BHGP. Whatever it is, we like this one early.
4. Wisconsin - Clay will be a load to handle, especially with all of the young blood at linebacker.
5. Navy - The Midshipmen won't be doing the Buckeyes any prep favors for USC considering they'll throw the ball less than a dozen times on the afternoon. At least we think.
6. New Mexico State - Don't know a lot about NMSU, but being Halloween and all, we'll finally get a chance to see Buck I Guy dress up in a silly hat and cape.
7. Minnesota - The Gophers should be better this season (doesn't it seem as if we're always saying that) and their new field will be a shot to the program, but the game is in Columbus this year. And Pryor likes to truck their linebackers.

Thoughts?

¹ Incidentally, StubHub's 10 top grossing college football games all feature Ohio State or USC.