Eleven Warriors

Evidently bad enough that Brian Cook of MGoBlog has started writing for Bucknuts of all places. Cut That Hippie Up North some slack, though. The cost of herb isn't getting cheaper and Phish is touring again. Man's gotta do what a man's gotta do...

The Palestra was on hand when Tressel stopped by to visit the airmen at Wright Patterson AFB, ahead of his visit to the Middle East next month. Though I'm having a hard time envisioning Maverick in the head coach, Marcus Freeman is dead-on Louis Gossett Jr when he's sitting in an F-16.

Thad would like one of Roy's rings

While Buckeye basketball has been resurrected and had a tremendous amount of success under Thad Matta, there is certainly a lot our humble leader can learn about building an elite program. Looking around the country, there are some great coaches who have made their mark on the game, but when you talk about building greatness at a school over long periods of time there is nobody better to take notes from than college basketball's newest national champion, UNC coach Roy Williams.

While Williams has been blessed with recruiting the nation's best talent at prestigious universities like Kansas and North Carolina, there is something to be said about what he has done with that talent and his strategies in obtaining the talent that plays for him. When you look at Williams' programs and other successful programs across college hoops there are some common factors that go into building a program with a winning tradition. There are many factors to success at the college level, but five characteristics stand out more to me than the others. These common factors are senior leadership, depth, recruiting pieces that fit the system, ability to dictate the style of the game, and, simply, defense. Let's take a look at each one of these areas of a championship caliber program, how they apply to OSU, and what Thad Matta can do to reach these in the future.

Senior Leadership

It is important to have senior leadership on any team for many reasons, but most importantly seniors are the smartest players on the court, have the most in-game experience, and are looked up to in times of hardship and struggle. A coach needs to be able to groom leadership amongst his players so that when the said player is ready to take the reigns of the team as a senior leader he is fully prepared for all responsibilities. Roy Williams has done an excellent job of that, but part of the job he has done has to do with the fact that he continually has players who stay four years so that they may become seniors. Thad Matta has had the unfortunate experience of having Greg Oden, Mike Conley, Daequan Cook, Kosta Koufos, Eric Wallace, BJ Mullens, and Anthony Crater all depart Columbus early to either enter the NBA or because of transfers. Thad's most successful year in Columbus is when he had a mix of star recruits and veteran leaders in 2006-2007, and while he's had star recruits continue to come in, he hasn't been able to add the senior leadership to those classes because there are no seniors (or mature seniors in the case of Jamar Butler) around anymore to lead the younger guys. This will be imperative in the coming years with guys like Diebler, Lauderdale, and Lighty expected to stay for their full tenures at OSU, but is even more important in our next category, recruiting.

Recruiting Players Who Fit The System

While I will never turn down a recruit with the talent or potential of those we have had come through Columbus, you have to recruit players who fit your system and want to grow at the college level within that system to better themselves on and off the court. Look at North Carolina once again, and you see great players like Danny Green, Marcus Ginyard, Deon Thompson, and others who were not of the same caliber of guys like Greg Oden, but were recruited because they fit well in Roy Williams' system and could grow into very solid players in Chapel Hill. David Lighty is an example of one of those types of players, but instead of trying to hook the big fish like BJ Mullens, it wouldn't be so bad for Thad to go after guys that may be the next level down as recruits, but are willing to put in the work to be excellent basketball players for Ohio State (like Cameron Wright of 2010). With the strategy of recruiting the players who best fit your system, rather than recruiting the best players and trying to fit them into your system, you build a successful program, which is much better than building one successful team.

Depth

While recruiting and senior leadership are important, depth could be one of the biggest on-court keys to a national championship season. Look at the successful teams in the nation right now-UNC, Michigan State, UCONN, Villanova, Louisville-and one common factor among all of them is that they have depth. The ability to avoid injury problems, foul trouble within games, fatigue issues, and other problems that occur throughout a basketball season are invaluable and can only be done by having a ton of depth. Look at this year's OSU team for example and although the season may not have been that much different, I can guarantee you it would have been a lot easier (at least to watch) if the Bucks had David Lighty playing on the court and teaching the younger players about what it takes to win at the college level. Depth is a result of being able to recruit solid players across the board and one-and-done's don't help either, but with the class Thad has coming in a few years, depth should not be a problem for the 2010-2011 OSU team, but I'm not sure I can say the same for next year's squad.

Dictating The Style Of Basketball Played

Both championship teams, Michigan State and North Carolina, were able to dictate the style of basketball played during their games. Although you didn't see it last night, MSU generally slowed the game down, played excellent defense, and took advantage of their ability to play inside-outside and take high percentage shots. UNC was able to speed the game up and beat their opponents every time down the court in transition. The problem with Ohio State basketball this year was that there was no distinguishable consistent game plan on the offensive side of the floor and the team continually played down and into the game of its competition. While Evan Turner is a great player, he can't do everything himself and letting him try to do everything on his own is no way to be a successful basketball team. Thad Matta must be able to establish a style of basketball he wants to play and find a way to execute that game plan every game of the season. If you're playing the game the way you want to play it, it is much easier to win basketball games compared to trying to win at somebody else's game.

Defense

Finally, but definitely not the least important, is defense. Every championship caliber team plays great defense, and not only that, but they can throw different defensive strategies at you so that it is harder to adjust. The Buckeyes certainly did not execute the latter this season, and even their base zone defense was not too stifling. UNC had an explosive offense this season and while some criticized their defensive efforts at times, you may be surprised to learn that they had a top 20 ranked defense in the nation. Their ability to force turnovers and move the ball in transition was key to their championship run and if you can get the ball from your opponent to limit their opportunities, and more importantly create your own points off of these turnovers, the formula for a win is at your fingertips. The Buckeyes need to be more creative and aggressive on the defensive side of the ball next season if they want to be a winner and will need to change things drastically fro the past season.

With these characteristics built into the philosophy of the Ohio State basketball program, Thad Matta is guaranteed to have continued success during his time in Columbus. The state of Ohio State basketball is in good shape now, but excellence could be on the horizon and the blueprint for the next national championship run in Columbus can be laid if these practices are added to what is currently in place. Hey, it worked for Roy Williams, why can't it work for Thad Matta too?

Remember kids, Izzo doesn't get to Final Fours, three teams get to Izzo.

On a related note, the 11W Tournament Challenge is down to two. If UNC wins, bucksfanxc captures the loot, while if Michigan State pulls the upset, Dan Isaacs is your winner. (Gentlemen, please be so kind as to contact us with your mailing address when this is settled.)

It's... it's so... beautiful.

Friday brought the arrival of the Buckeye spring media guide and with that came tidbits that were delightful and at other times excruciating to the point you're questioning the existence of God. Take, for instance, the fact that Steve Rehring left Columbus after playing nearly twice as many minutes as Beanie Wells (891 to 504).

The release also brought 2009's first depth chart and while Alex noted some highlights Saturday, we cannot stress the joy of seeing a healthy Andre Amos in the mix. That and did anyone else catch Cameron Heyward listed as DE after spending most of last season listed at tackle? It's early and the opening roster could very well be different at a handful of spots, but it's nice to envision the roster currently in place.

Beyond that, perhaps the staff is learning a thing or two from USC. Sunday's practice was open to the press (photos here), startling Ken Gordon of the Dispatch. He did return with some nuggets, including:

• Andrew Miller was the starting left tackle, ahead of Mike Adams (who's listed as a one on the depth chart). Consider that some early season motivation for Mike and one more hallelujah for position battles.
• Taurian Washington and Jake Stoneburner stood out on offense, while Ohrian Johnson saw plenty of snaps at nickel with the first team defense.
• Posey short-armed a 50-yard bomb from Pryor that was a sure six.

The quote of the session came out of QB coach Joe Daniels when he turned to Pryor and said: "You know what? You're not as bad as you used to be."

Pryor for his part, looked crisp, though Gordon still sees some weirdness in his mechanics.

For tonight, we dine in Detroit

"As I've watched Big Ten basketball this year I don't think they're anywhere close to the Big East or the Atlantic Coast Conference. I think they're a long way from both of those conferences."

Those were the words of Bob Knight on Selection Sunday shortly after the Big Ten earned seven NCAA tournament bids. And he wasn’t the only one thinking that. Billy Packer mentioned the “tremendous disparity between the value” of the Big Ten and the Big East and ACC. A few days earlier, Digger Phelps went out of his way to point out how poor and low-scoring the conference was as he dismissed talk of the Spartans earning a one seed.

So it’s with such great pleasure that we turn to tonight’s matchup between the ACC’s best in North Carolina, and the Big Ten champ that just finished thumping two consecutive one seeds to get here. It’s only of minor importance that the aforementioned top seeds to get dispatched by the Spartans hailed from the mighty Big East, of course, or that Izzo's squad knocked off three of the top 13 teams in the nation per the final coaches poll.

Nor is it important that despite getting shafted with lower seeds (four teams ranked eighth or lower compared to one combined out of the Big East and ACC) and thus facing tougher roads, the conference saw its teams knock off two higher seeded ACC foes in the opening round, knock out the Pac-10 regular season and tournament champions and crush the Big 12 and Big East champs. And don't forget, the conference's 8th-best team knocked off Florida and Notre Dame on the way to the NIT championship. Scoffable, perhaps, but surely an indicator of depth.

No, all that is important is to watch a little basketball, observe the combination of hard, physical defense and manic officiating put on in the Midwest and declare the league overrated. Hey, it worked for ESPN and college football, didn't it? It's nothing short of lazy analysis by guys that should know better -- forgetting the fact that solid defense and rebounding can still win a game here and there.

This isn't to say that the conference is packed with teams as talented as the Spartans because it clearly isn't. And it's true, Wisconsin games are capable of permanently damaging your eyes. But unlike football, where you saw the warning signs building from the disastrous end of the 2006 campaign through the Appalachian State stunner to where we are today, the Big Ten has more than held it's own in college hoops this entire decade.

Big Ten commissioner Jim Delaney has noticed, and although the last time he went to bat for the Big Ten, he earned some deserved criticism, he's 100% correct this time.

He even dresses like Tressel

Ahhh...This warms my heart.

As a Buckeye and Yankee fan I'm used to taking non-stop flak from opposing fan bases for differing reasons. For OSU, it's constant chatter about a weak conference and big game failures. For the Yanks, it's about not being able to successfully buy a championship.

To me, both arguments can go float in the toilet next to a thick steamer but I have to admit the hate only makes the love for my teams even stronger and now there's a nice link between the two on field generals.

Talking today about the two helmets behind his Yankee Stadium desk - a Northwestern helmet (his alma mater), and an OSU helmet signed by Tressel - Girardi offered up some love for the Vested One:

"I really admire what he does," Girardi says, "And I'm a Northwestern guy."

Maybe it's just me but I think that's good stuff. I wonder how many Rich Rod signed helmets are out there for similar reasons?

So the first depth chart for Spring Practice has been released and this is what it looks like.

Some interesting things to note here are that the Cordle-to-tackle experiment seems to be pretty solid as he is listed as the starting right tackle, Bryant Browning is listed as the starting left guard, Dexter Larimore gets the starting nod over Todd Denlinger at DT, and Tyler Moeller is the listed starter at the OLB slot opposite Ross Homan. It's also kind of interesting/funny that Dane Sanzenbacher is the back-up holder and that one of the back-up QBs or P/Ks couldn't hold down that job.

Other than the aforementioned things of note, there are not many surprises to this depth chart. I really like how the staff goes about making changes and trying to find the best places for the puzzle pieces to fit in Spring Practice so that when fall camp comes around the team is ready to roll at game speed. There are of course some injuries preventing players from competing this spring (Shugarts, Lawrence Wilson, Keith Wells, Zach Boren), but this first depth chart and the ensuing practices that will take place from now until April 25 should give us a good idea of which Buckeyes get the starting nod when they take on Navy on September 5.

Stay tuned for more as Spring Practice picks up in the coming weeks and we're able to find out more of what to expect from the 2009 edition of The Ohio State Buckeyes.

Cushing got his swoll-on. But was it legit?

NFL Draft Bible and other non-MSM sources are reporting that USC's Brian Cushing and Clay Matthews tested positive for steroids at the NFL combine last month in Indianapolis.

There's been quiet speculation for some time that Trojan football players were maybe taking advantage of performance-enhancing elements (besides the free lodging for family members) and this report seems to confirm that could be true -- at least in Cushing and Matthews' cases.

Any idea how this might affect their draft stock? Sapp, Merriman, Castillo and others have been busted for the same in the past and in the case of Castillo it didn't really kill his stock, and for whatever reason, steroid allegations and offenses aren't frowned upon in the NFL to the extent they are in MLB.

UPDATE: Carroll claims the rumors are false.

UPDATE 2: So pretty much everyone and their brother is calling the report into question. Not much on the site's about page and the contact page is now 404'n (cached version). The proprietor of the site is a former producer at ESPN and when contacted by the NFL Network, stood by the report, so he's either going to burn every bridge he'll ever need in life or have something huge.

Now, we're bracing for the inevitable assault on the voracity of interweb sites. I get the argument that there's no accountability, because, hey, there really isn't. I could put out a post saying Laurinaitis eats babies and there'd be nobody to stop me, but all the hard work we've put into the site would be worthless after that. NFL Draft Bible may not have any accountability in the workflow sense, but you can bet that if they're wrong, they can say goodbye to any relevance going forward.

We'll get to some more spring football news and discussions next week, but in the meantime here is another great Woody photo. Give the above your cleverest caption and the winner gets to attend the Brian Hartline draft party. Not really.