Coach McGuff’s reaction was completely understandable.

After suffering back-to-back road losses at Wisconsin and Purdue, the Ohio State women’s basketball team returned home to Columbus hoping the friendlier confines of the Schott would help them get back to winning.  The Big Ten scheduling gods were not going to make that easy though as standing in the way was 9^th ranked Penn State who had already defeated OSU 66-42 in Happy Valley back in January.

Things started off well for Ohio State as a Darryce Moore layup opened the scoring and the Buckeyes got up to an early 7-4 just over two minutes into the game.  Penn State would use a 9 to 4 run to change that and take a 13-9 lead with just over fifteen minutes remaining in the half.  The Buckeyes would narrow that gap to one only to see the Nittany Lions quickly open the lead back to 5, 19-14, near the midpoint of the half.  Down 24-19 with just over eight minutes before the break, Ohio State got a spark from three points by Amy Scullion and Martina Ellerbe and used that momentum to go on a 14 to 2 run that gave the Buckeyes a 33-26 lead with just under five minutes to go in the half.  Despite all the momentum on their side, Ohio State suddenly found themselves going cold from the field and Penn State responded by chipping away at the lead and then making a layup just before the buzzer to go into the locker room leading 38-36.

OSU’s cold shooting continued at the start of the second half and the Buckeyes quickly found themselves in a double-digit hole, 47-36, just four minutes into the second period.  Five straight points by the Buckeyes pulled them back within six but they still couldn’t find their shot and the Nittany Lions used a 10 to 1 run to put themselves back up by double digits and put the game out of reach as PSU would coast the rest of the way to a 74-54 win.

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Tags: Ameryst Alston, Amy Scullion, Cait Craft, Coach Kevin McGuff, Darryce Moore, Martina Ellerbe, OSU Women's Basketball, Penn State
Categories: Basketball Analysis, College Basketball, Ohio State Basketball

Welcome to this week’s edition of Weekend Wonderings. The men’s basketball team seems to be finding its way, the women’s team is still in the wilderness and the football team had a very successful Letter of Intent Signing Day. Grab whatever beverage that you prefer, or need, and let’s proceed.

The James/Wexner

• A new study identifies the molecular pathway that enables cancer cells to grow in areas of a tumor where oxygen levels are low, a condition called hypoxia.

  The findings by researchers at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center – Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute (OSUCCC – James), might offer a new strategy for inhibiting tumor growth by developing agents that reverse this hypoxia-related pathway.

  The study focuses on how cancer cells use the amino acid glutamine, the most common amino acid found free in the bloodstream. Under normal oxygen levels, healthy cells use glutamine largely to produce energy, with a small amount diverted to make fatty acids and lipids.

•  World Health Organization declares air pollution a carcinogen. Well no surprise for me with this one. A pollutant is a pollutant. All the more reason to ‘go green’.

Commentary

So, we had a big day on Wednesday, eh? Twenty-three new members of the Buckeye Family. Honestly, I didn’t follow the entire process too closely, but did pay attention at the end. Your milage and sorting may vary, but here’s how I interpreted the signees “positions”. Read More

Tags: 2014 Class, NLOID, OSUCCC-The James, Recruiting
Categories: Analysis, Basketball Analysis, College Football, Football Analysis, Ohio State Basketball, Ohio State Football, Pay It Forward

The Ohio State Buckeyes (14-12, 4-6) host the #10 Penn State University Lady Lions (17-5, 8-2) this Sunday afternoon. Both teams are coming off losses; Ohio State to Purdue 74-58 and Penn State to Iowa 73-70. The Nits are coming off a tough 84-74 loss to Purdue on Sunday. The game is Sunday afternoon at 2:00 PM EST.

Here’s their Profile

• School: Penn State University
• Location: University Park, PA
• Founded: 1855
• Student Population: 39,192
• School Type: Public, coed
• Division: D-I
• Conference: Big Ten Conference
• Arena: Bryce Jordan Center
• Seating: 15,261
• Built: 1996
• Head Coach: Coquese Washington
• Year: 7th

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Tags: Ameryst Alston, Ariel Edwards, Ashley Adams, Coach Kevin McGuff, Maggie Lucas, ohio state women's basketball, Penn State basketball, Raven Ferguson
Categories: Analysis, Basketball Analysis, College Basketball, Ohio State Basketball

The Boilermakers visited the Buckeyes this evening in Columbus for the return match of their two game series. Despite a slow start, and a bit of back and forth play, the game was all Ohio State as the Buckeyes secured the 67-49 victory. Surprisingly, LaQuinton Ross led the Buckeyes in scoring with 17 points, closely followed by Lenzelle Smith Jr. with 16. For the Boilermakers, Kendall Stephens put together 12 points off the bench, while AJ Hammons and Rapheal Davis both earned 11 a piece. The win gave the Buckeyes their third straight in Big Ten play. If you'd of backed this on certain betting sites you'd of been in for a huge win.

Things started from a defensive perspective. Both teams demonstrated good movement against the offensive motion, and forced a number of turnovers early. The first points weren’t even scored until two minutes had elapsed, and Purdue was able to net the first three buckets of the game. The Bucks simply struggled to find good shots on the offensive end, and weren’t able to score until the fifth minute of the game on a Sam Thompson ally-oop.

The momentum changed in a hurry following the first TV timeout. The Buckeyes went on an 8 point unanswered tear to put together a 10-0 run and claim their first lead of the game. It was only ended by a Kendall Stevens three pointer after four minutes had ellapsed. Things had changed as the Buckeyes settled down in their attack, focused on getting the ball low against Purdue’s man defense. OSU also worked harder on the boards and began to balance the rebounding numbers.

With both teams locked into the game, they settled down into a steady back and forth battle. For the most part, it seemed that when one team was locked in defensively, so was the opponent. If one them started to pick up on the offensive end, it was reciprocated on the other end. That said, there wasn’t much in the way of offense through the first twelve minutes. The Boilermakers shot 5-20, while the Bucks hit only 7-18 by the third TV timeout.
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Tags: Aaron Craft, Amir Williams, Boilermakers, buckeyes, LaQuinton Ross, Lenzelle Smith Jr., Matt Painter, Ohio State, Purdue, Sam "Slam" Thompson, Thad Matta
Categories: Analysis, Basketball Analysis, College Basketball, Ohio State Basketball

Purdue returns the favor this evening, joining the Buckeyes in Columbus for a little Shooty Hoops action.

The game is scheduled to tip off at 6:00 PM Eastern Time on the Big Ten Network. Come chat with all of your favorite Buckeye bloggers and friends! Go Bucks!
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Tags: 2014 LiveBlogs, Boilermakers, buckeyes, Ohio State, Purdue
Categories: Basketball Live Chats, College Basketball, Ohio State Basketball

The Buckeyes had a pretty big day this past Wednesday on National Signing Day and we wanted to get everyone’s thoughts about the class. Jeremiah joins us from MOTSAG this week with his two-cents, as well as the gang from 95.5 The GAME, Matt Finkes, Arch Madness, and Adam Sabie.

Which recruit the Buckeyes got signed was the biggest surprise to you and why? 

Concensus great get on NSD

• Jeremiah MOTSAG – For me it is Malik Hooker- no one knew who he was or had even predicted him to OSU when he committed. He was an under the radar player that Coach Meyer swooped in and stole.
• Archie - Slade because it’s so crazy the fact that he never had an official visit. That’s unheard of.
• Matt Finkes - Slade because he signed at last minute
• Adam Sabie - I would have to say that Slade is the biggest surprise.  I mean, the guy didn’t even visit Columbus and spurned MSU! Love that!
• Ken – Probably Darius Slade. He’d seemed to have had trouble figuring where he wanted to land, but I think that McDowell’s signing(?) with MSU channeled him to OSU. It was a mild surprise to me, but once McDowell went North, it all made sense.
• Patrick – Darius Slade. Much like last year, and Vonn Bell, there wasn’t much talk of Slade coming here. Good get.  
• Scott – Darius Slade. Seemed to waffle quite a bit.  
• Mali- Slade is the obvious choice here (and I’m certain to call him “Jim” at some point), but I’ll go with Jamarco Jones. Sure he was committed to the Buckeyes for a long while, but historically we don’t have good things happen when recruits take last minute visits to other schools.
• WVaBuckeye -  This should be a tie between Slade/Jones but for me its an easy choice to go with Jamarco Jones. A solid commit for a good while I really am not sure what kept him in Columbus. All real talk had him going to East Lansing, and as you heard what Coach Meyer said, JJ was a must have for this class.

Which recruit do you have a feeling will come in and have an immediate impact? Read More

Tags: 2014 Class, 2014 Recruiting, Curtis Samuel, Damon Webb, Darius Slade, Jamarco Jones, Malik Hooker, MOTSAG, NCAA Football National Playoff, NLOID, NSD, Ohio State Football, Raekwon McMillan, Urban Meyer
Categories: Analysis, College Football, Football Analysis, Ohio State Football, Recruiting

Everyone one of us sports fans likes to place a bet, and were always looking for the most convenient way of doing so. There are plenty of betting sites online that it becomes quite trivial to test them all out and sometimes you won't even know which is offering you the best free bets for your money. You've got to keep in mind that the bookies are actually the enemy and will try their hardest to prevent you form being able to cash out your bonus money especially if you start winning big. This is why its vitally important to know the T&Cs of free bets before you go about signing up as the last thing any of us want is to have $500 in a betting account and be stuck having to wager through some ridiculous wagering requirements. 

The major problem with online betting sites in the UK is that there is so much choice, it can some times be incredibly difficult to sign up to one that is reliable, pays out on time and has a great range of promotional offers for after that initial betting offer has been claimed and spent. Its always nice for us to see a bookmaker that actually respects their existing customers and will provide a fun betting environment no matter how much they're spending.  

The need that betting sites need to find a more exciting and reliable means of bringing in new customers and keeping them is something which is certainly coming to light over the past few years. Back in the early days of online betting a lot of bookies just used to offer a welcome bonus and that was it. You'd never hear from them again and you were just expected to stay. However with so much variety on offer its become easier for us punters to stray and go to new sites so easily. We definitely do value certain betting promotions over others, free bets are always a good one or price boosts on popular sporting events like premier league football games or big boxing fights. 

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Tags: Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, It's All Academic, Ohio State, Paul Berger
Categories: Miscellaneous

You’re either reading this from home on a “ice day”, or from work after having dug yourself out of yet another mid-week snow storm.  Stupid freaking groundhog…  At any rate, here’s today’s soundtrack… for reasons that will hopefully soon be evident.

In addition to Gold Pants…

Buckeye 411

• Thank You, CB2- Sad news this week for Buckeye Senior and site favorite Christian Bryant, who had his appeal for a medical redshirt denied by the NCAA. Bryant, who missed parts of one whole season due to injury during his tenure in Columbus, had already had his case denied by the B1G Office… this means that his playing career in the Scarlet and Gray is officially over.  Godspeed, Christian… Glad you were a Buckeye, Bro.
• Going Pro In Pro Football- In spite of what the NCAA will tell you, a good portion of D1 Athletes who choose football are looking at careers in that field. Today, we found out which Buckeyes were invited to explore the next step, as Carlos Hyde, Ryan Shazier, Bradley Roby, Jack Mewhort, Philly Brown, and Corey Linsley will be part of the 350+ member NFL combine in Indianapolis later this month. Hyde, Roby, and Shazier are expected to be the highest rated of those six, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see Linsley and Mewhort with lengthy professional careers.  Best of luck, gentlemen!
• This Week In “Journalism”- Not going to point fingers, but rumors of an unfortunate incident between Coach Meyer and former Coach Vrabel swirled across the internet after being published on another Ohio State website.  These were shot down from a pretty solid source; but it makes you wonder why some sites continue to get press access while the rest of us merely toil from our basement.
• Some Things, You Just Can’t Run From- Amazing article today about Eddie George’s struggle with depression following his football career, and what he’s done to address it.  If it encourages people to get help, then that’s one more amazing score that number 27 can be credited with.
• Another Former Buckeye Struggles With Past Issues- Linebacker Jamal Muhammed (who left OSU to play at Bethune Cookman) is a part of a class action suit against the NCAA regarding head injuries/concussions.
• Taking Her Talents Closer To South Beach- Our BFF Janelle had some amazing news this week… hope she doesn’t forget us little people when she’s getting her mojito on in Florida.
• Archie Griffin Is Awesome. In case you forgot… I’ve personally declared tomorrow Archie Griffin day.
• RE:Crootin’- When you want the best, you send the best… and Ohio State’s top 3 national class was shaped by amazing coaches, including Scout.com’s top recruiter in the conference, Zach Smith. Smith, who was instrumental in Jalyn Holmes, Noah Brown, Johnnie Dixon, and Terry McLaurin’s joining the Buckeyes talked this week about his relationships with high school coaches in Florida.  The other top guns in the conference are indicative of the power programs, with Michigan’s Greg Mattison and Penn State’s James Franklin also being acknowledged by Scout. You read that correctly- most of the conference was out recruited by a guy who spent three weeks bringing in players that were previously going to Vanderbilt.  Proud.
• Also? Flags Planted- Visualized by Sammy Silverman: Read More

Tags: 2014 Class, Archie Griffin, Bo Pelini, Bradley Roby, Carlos Hyde, Christian Bryant, Corey Linsley, Eddie George, Jack Mewhort, LSUFreek, Malik McDowell, Mike Vrabel, Oversigning, Philly Brown, Ryan Shazier, Sammy Silverman, SBP, SEC, Zach Smith
Categories: College Football, Humor, Ohio State Football, Recruiting