Skull Session: Penn State Sweeps Ohio State, Wrestling Goes for Crown in East Lansing, and Thad Matta in Mississippi

By D.J. Byrnes on March 3, 2018 at 4:59 am
Chris Holtmann applauds the March 3 2017 Skull Session
Trevor Ruszkowski-USA TODAY Sports
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Ah hell, the first Saturday in March? Stay down, Jack Frost. We endured like six total inches of snow this winter, and I'm fed up. I'll take rainy 40-degree days until the Miami River levees are filled to capacity.

Programming note: The women's basketball team faces Minnesota in the Big Ten Tournament at 6 p.m. on BTN.

ICYMI:

Word of the Day: Scintilla.

 LUCKY THAT WASN'T FOOTBALL. Basketball is a game of match ups, and unfortunately the results are in: Penn State was the kryptonite to Ohio State's magical season.

From James Grega of Eleven Warriors:

Behind 25 points from Tony Carr and one huge assist, Penn State eliminated Ohio State from the Big Ten tournament, 69-68, tonight in Madison Square Garden. 

With Ohio State leading 68-67 and the clock winding down, Carr found Josh Reaves for a dunk with five seconds left in regulation capping a 5-0 Penn State run over the game's final 93 seconds. 

C.J. Jackson's desperation three came nowhere close to drawing iron as Ohio State fell to Penn State for the third time this season. 

Props to Pat Chambers for not calling a timeout on Penn State's last possession. That was an NBA move. And while I expected Tony Carr to eviscerate Andrew Dakich as soon as I saw the fateful matchup, Dakich did well. And Carr did even better seeing the cutter.

When the dust settles on the season, I demand a federal investigation into how a player of Carr's caliber landed at Penn State:

My lizard brain spins losing three times in a row to an NCAA Tournament bubble team as being good, actually. Ohio State is not a deep team. It will need all the rest before embarking on what those in the industry call "THE BIG DANCE."

 SNYDER'S REVENGE. Ohio State athletics under Gene Smith are hydra. When one championship hope dies, another rises in its place. Buckeye heavyweight Kyle Snyder begins his John Wick-like quest for revenge later today in East Lansing.

From Kevin Harrish of Eleven Warriors sets the stakes:

This weekend is about revenge for the wrestling Buckeyes.

As a team, Ohio State is looking to take another crack at toppling Penn State after the Buckeyes narrowly fell to the Nittany Lions in the regular-season dual. Individually, Kyle Snyder is looking for revenge after suffering his first loss at any level of wrestling since 2015 to Michigan's Adam Coon.

Session I matches begin on Saturday morning at 10 a.m. followed by Session II at 6 p.m. The even continues on Sunday with Session III matches beginning at 12 p.m. followed by Session IV – the Championship rounds – at 3 p.m.

Matches will be broadcast on BTN2Go.

True alpha move by the Big Ten in scheduling conference tournaments for seemingly every sport on the same weekend. You know who watches BTN2Go? No more than 3,000 people.

For up-to-the-minute coverage, be sure to follow the renowned Andy Vance on Twitter.

 IMATTA IN MISSISSIPPI. Mississippi currently needs a head basketball coach. Thad Matta doesn't need a job, but he's available to take one. 

Matta appeared in Oxford on Thursday. Is he there for a job or taking a holiday in Stark Vegas? WHO'S TO SAY.

From 247sports.com:

As first confirmed and reported by the Ole Miss Spirit, former Ohio State head coach Thad Matta is in Oxford today. As of this writing, we are unable to confirm if Matta is in town in connection with the men's basketball head coaching vacancy at Ole Miss, but that certainly seems like a plausible explanation.

I expected Matta to take his deserved millions and ride into the sunset with an unregistered pistol in one hand and a mojito in another. Maybe a Camel unfiltered dangling from his lips, too.

It would pain me to watch Matta rise Mississippi from the muck. I'd much rather watch the Rebels Losers pay him millions of dollars to lead them to four wins over the course of three seasons.

 THE FUTURE BELONGS TO THE NBA. A lot of people don't like the NBA. They all cheat on their taxes and while whining about the lack of traveling calls. 

I contend the NBA will one day replace the NFL as America's top sports league. You might disagree, which is fine. But there's no denying, in terms of characters, the NBA is to the NFL as Marvel is to DC.

From espn.com:

CLEVELAND -- Cavaliers guard JR Smith earned his one-game suspension from the team Thursday by throwing a bowl of soup at assistant coach Damon Jones, multiple sources with knowledge of the incident told ESPN.

Jones, a former Cavs player, has been back with the organization since 2014. He worked his way up from an assistant coach with the Canton Charge -- the Cavs' G League affiliate -- to Cleveland, where he is a trusted voice for head coach Tyronn Lue.

Smith returned to the team Friday, and according to Lue, will resume his role as the starting shooting guard when the Cavs host the Denver Nuggets on Saturday. Smith opted to not speak to the media on Friday.

Is this story true? Maybe not. My friends mentally ill enough to listen to Cleveland Sports Radio (yes, I'm working on an intervention) say there was significant pushback on the veracity of this story. 

Yet the imagery has already been seared into my mind. Thus it is cannon.

Sharing a state with J.R. Smith and LarBon Jim is one of the greatest honors of being an Ohioan. I don't care if this story is exaggerated. I don't care about Damon Jones' coat.

He is henceforth banished from the Buckeye State. He can decide if he wants his belongings left in Indiana, Kentucky, West Virginia, or Pennsylvania. 

 THOSE WMDs. Man sentenced for ordering his son to shoot him in the legs to delay prison... Michigan man shows up in Chicago ER after getting wounded 6,200 miles away in Syria... These couples only meet up on the road... Is Bitcoin a waste of electricity, or something worse?

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