Over at the Big Ten Network, they’ve put together this highlight package from the 2013-14 football and basketball seasons, as a prep for the Big 10K race in Chicago.

Even if you’re not running in the event, this should get you ready to run through a wall or two:

Tags: Aaaron Craft, Big Ten Network, Braxton Miller, BTN, Carlos Hyde, highlights, Sam Thompson, Thad Matta, Urban Meyer
Categories: Ohio State Basketball, Ohio State Football

American Hero

It’s Independence Day, and there’s no better way to celebrate than with some stars… of the recruiting variety.

Four star big man Daniel Giddens has become the most recent member of the Buckeye hoops class of 2015, after giving his verbal to the staff this afternoon and continuing the Buckeye recruiting roll for the week.

That’s 14 “stars” this week alone… as Mark Pantoni would say- “Booooom!”

The 6′ 10″, 230 pound young man from Marietta Georgia held offers from the home Bulldogs, Florida, Indiana, Louisville, Arizona, and the Kansas Jayhawks. He’d been considered an Ohio State “lock” for a while now, but brings a much needed interior presence to Thad Matta’s squad.

According to scouts, he’s still raw in terms of his offensive tools- mostly a big dunker, but he thrives on the defensive side of the court. His quickness and size make him an excellent rebounder and shot blocker.

After the jump, you can see highlights from his time at the NBA Top 100 event and another mix tape of his greatest hits (thus far), and can get a bit of a look at what has the Buckeye coaching staff excited. Read More

Tags: 2015 Class, 2015 Recruiting, Daniel Giddens
Categories: Basketball Recruiting, Ohio State Basketball

Look, I know that today’s SBP is the girl that you’re dancing with while you’re looking around the club for that special someone else.  I can live with that, and assure you that the news you’re refreshing your computer for will be here around… say… 10:00 or so. In the meantime this is stuck in my head (thanks Jason), so let it wash over you until you find your next dance partner.

Oooo! Shiny!!!

Buckeye 411

• Hoops News- Well, after getting shut out in the NBA Draft, it’s great to hear that Craft and Ross have found great landing spots. Senor Swoon will start the summer playing for the 76er franchise in Orlando’s Summer league, and will have pretty good company. “Q” is headed my direction to play with the Lakers during the summer season, and we’ve even heard that DeShaun will be getting another look with the Spurs program during this evaluation time.
• Recruiting News- Later today we’ll find out the futures of Justin Hilliard and Jashon Cornell, with Benedictine’s Jerome Baker to announce next week.  If that weren’t big enough, the Buckeyes could grab a verbal of the shooty hoops variety as well… stay tuned.
• Boys Will Be Boys- Wherever Cornell and Hilliard end up, they’ll probably spend a lot of time talking about where they are now.  Because… sure.
• Women’s News- The B1G will be kicking off it’s first women’s lacross season this coming year, and the Buckeyes are expected to be in the thick of things from day one.
• Ticket News- Ohio State actually has some extra seats this year, and will be selling them starting next week.  If you’d like to gift those to any of your favorite tBBC writers, you know, with airfare and so forth…. that might be awesome. You know where they won’t be selling? Groupon.
• B1G Air- With the newbies a part of the conference now, the mascots have taken over the DC Area and the Big Apple.  While it will be a minute or two until the basketball tournament will make it to Madison Square Garden, Brutus decided to show the rest of the folks what to eventually expect:

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Tags: Aaron Craft, Big Ten Network, Deshaun Thomas, LaQuinton Ross, Maryland, NCAA, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Rutgers, Stephen Collier, Tickets, Uniforms, Women's Lacrosse
Categories: Humor, Ohio State Basketball, Ohio State Football

Welp, there’s only so much Midwest my family can handle.  Wait… that’s not right. There’s only so much of my family that the Midwest can handle. That’s more accurate.  Since I’m flying back to LaLa land as we speak, here’s some traveling music for your morning interlude.

If Only They Went To LAX

Buckeye 411

• We’ve Got A New Shiny Hoopster! After some concern about grades and qualifying scores, the jewel of the Ohio State basketball recruiting class has finally been admitted into the University.  I’ll withhold my thoughts regarding academic readiness at premier institutions for later; like most Buckeye fans, I’m also excited about all of the hoops being shooty-ed.
• Crafty Drafty? The big day is coming up for LaQuinton and Aaron, and there is some speculation that Monsieur Swoon may actually end up taking the DeShaun/Diebler path and playing in Europe rather than hearing his name called. Personally, I’d love to have him end up in Toronto, if only for the continual trolling that would commence.
• Band Together- I’m sure that Charles will have more on this on Friday, but while you’re waiting for tBBC Radio Hour to return to your Apple device you should check out the awesome new app from The Best Damn Band In the Land.
• Steele Yourselves- Monday was Phil Steele day, and the guru of college football predictions has Ohio State winning the B1g and making the first College Football Championship Playoff; although the Seminoles are predicted to repeat. As a part of the festivities, he names Miller, Heuerman, and Bosa to his All-American teams, a designation they also received from Athlon.
• At Your Service- Congrats to Buckeye Blaz Rola, who won his first match at Wimbledon and now will face the defending champion.  We believe in Blaz!
• Buncha’ Sellouts- Ohio State is expanding it’s stadium this summer, adding 13% more seating to the south end zone.  They also announced this week that they’ve completely sold out of the student seating allotment for this area… just one more area where Ohio State destroys that school up north.

Read More

Tags: Aaron Craft, Academics, B1G Presidents, Blaz Rola, Braxton Miller, D'Angelo Russell, Finances, Jeff Heuerman, Joey Bosa, NCAA, Phil Steele, SBP, TBDBITL
Categories: Basketball Recruiting, College Football, Humor, Ohio State Basketball, Ohio State Football

As you’re reading this, I’m headed from the left coast with the whole Mali family on our summer vacation. First stop is guaranteed to be really awkward, since my daughters aren’t allowed to say the name of the state we’re visiting.  At any rate, here’s a couple of tunes that‘ll be running through the ol’ brainpan today.

Like This, In Reverse

Buckeye 411

• Maybe They’ll Have A Slumber Party! When I read about an Aaron Craft Camp, that’s the first thing I think of… I’m sure it’ll be all “hoops and Rubik’s Cubes” and stuff, but a feller can dream, can’t he?  Instead of a camp t-shirt, maybe everyone gets complementary tacos and rosy cheeks.
• Get Yo’ Run On- If “dry heaves for fun” are more your thing, the Ohio State Four Miler is upcoming… you can get a great view of the stadium expansion!
• Men Of Steele- Buckeyes are a part of Phil Steele’s preseason all-universe team; Bennett first team, Bosa second, XBrax360 third team, Heuerman is a fourth teamer.
• Redemption Song- As a part of CPD’s “Tat-gate Retrospective”, Ray Small talks about the decisions that he made that landed him in prison. John Infante weighs in as well, and says that Tress’ departure may have helped him out, but the program’s punishments would have been the same. So much for Uncle Gene’s Good Time No Bowl Ban Show, huh?
• Get Paid, Son! B-Rad, making that money in Denver.
• I Like Turtles- Look, it’s just a great trophy, m’kay?
• Get Ready To Get Paid- And Q getting a look from Detroit’s pro franchise… written by a sexy journalist.
• Troll Game XLVI- Jake Ballard, we love you.
• Next Up- Brady Taylor, already full of wisdom and not yet enrolled in Columbus.
• Unfortunately- I’ll be in the area, but won’t be able to catch this weekend’s “Stomping Of The Mitten State“.
• Cure For The Summertime Blues- You know what sounds like fun? Burgers, steaks, dodgeball, cornhole, softball… the Spring Champion’s Dinner:

Read More

Tags: Aaaron Craft, Bradley Roby, Brady Taylor, Braxton Miller, Ed O'Bannon, IlliBuck, Jake Ballard, Jim Tressel, Joey Bosa, LaQuinton Ross, Mark Emmert, Michael Bennett, NCAA failures, North Carolina, Phil Steele, Ray Small, SBP, Southern Cal, Tostitos
Categories: Humor, NCAA Investigations, Ohio State Basketball, Ohio State Football

With our lead story today being what it is, of course there’ll be the obvious tie-ins for the soundtrack of today’s SBP.  If 70′s rock ain’t your thing… here’s some 80′s pop and some country instead.

Buckeye 411

• Pucker Up- Oh man, oh man, oh man… Kenny G is coming to LA! Sure it’s a long way from The ‘Shoe to here, but we’re really really REALLY excited to see him don the black and whatever the hell else is on their uniforms.
• Paying It Forward- The gang over at Eleven Warriors had a great story this week about Josh Perry’s relationship with Josh Chambers, an amazingly brave young man who’s undergoing treatment for leukemia.
• Your Turn- You can get involved at the website set up here… no reason not to!
• B1G Speed- There’s a Buckeye on the list of Bryan Fisher’s list of 14 fastest college players, but what’s surprising is that there’s someone from something called a “Purdue” at the top of the list. Take it for what it’s worth.
• On Track? Well, some of Ohio State’s speed will be looking for a new leader, as the Track Program replaces Coach Beathea.
• Who’s Your Daddy? Eddie George, of course.  Notre Dame already knew this… Illinois too.
• Big ‘Shoe To Fill- The University put out photos today of the expansion work being done on the endzones. Still looks like a Horseshoe, but I think it’s possible to get too big. Wouldn’t want look stupid with ticket sales, right?
• We’re On A Boat- Ohio State, rowing school.  I guess being next to the Olentangy has some benefits.
• Gettin’ Paid- David Lighty, fresh off the league championship, has renewed his contract with ASVEL, a team owned by Tony Parker, who’s going up against Greg Oden in the NBA finals.
• Academic Investments: Lori Schmidt did some great work in compiling Buckeye majors; because they are students, right?
• Speaking Numerically- MotSaG’s Sylvester Yon Rambo reminds the world why the SEC has an advantage over even the best B1G teams.
• Never Too Early- to start looking at the upcoming season, and Patrick will help us out with his preview of the Buckeye foes starting tomorrow.  In the meantime, though, here’s Bill Connelly’s early season look at “the B1g Ten Standard”.
• If That Weren’t Enough- Here’s the official “gameday experience” video to help you run through any walls that you might encounter this morning. I may have linked to this before… but I just don’t care:

Read More

Tags: Bert Bielema, Curtis Samuel, David Lighty, Ed O'Bannon, Eddie George, Josh Perry, Kenny Guiton, Men's Track And Field, Nick Saban, Northwestern, Oversigning, Pay It Forward, The Horseshoe, Uniforms, Women's Crew
Categories: Humor, Michigan Football, Ohio State Basketball, Ohio State Football, Pay It Forward

Well, the first holiday weekend of the summer is soon upon us. Memorial Day reminds us of those who gave the ultimate sacrifice, and also that there are still people who savor their Constitutional right to be wrong. Words matter, people.  At any rate, today’s tune is just a little something appropriately mournful and full of the promise that fills the coming months.

Awesome. Not BBQ, though.

Buckeye 411

• It’s Thad-Tastic- Tuesday’s Heat/Pacers game was exciting to watch, but you’ve got to think it meant something a little extra to Ohio State’s Tad Matta, who was on hand in Indianapolis to watch Evan Turner and Greg Oden helped watched their teams battle to head to the NBA finals
• Somewhere, Ken Sheds A Tear- As if life in Buffalo weren’t difficult enough, the sadness increased Tuesday with the announcement that Kenny Guiton wouldn’t be tendered an offer to join the proud Bills franchise.  It’s not known what’s next for Smooth Jazz, although he’d talked about rejoining the Buckeye staff as a graduate assistant at some point.
• Well, No Spit- Should Guiton be included as a GA, his glamorous role might just include spitting on Jeff Heuerman’s hands.  Seriously.
• No Fulmer Points- At least I don’t think that you get any for having a walkon arrested for underaged consumption.
• The Good News? We’re talking about walkons with MIP issues in the offseason… sure is better than 2011 (drives north, knocks on everything)
• Woody’s Greatest Moment- Not the national titles or Heisman trophies… his being invited to speak at commencement, which was honored by National Public Radio as one of the greatest ever. But of course it was.
• Dog Days Of Summer- Live in Columbus? Seen an adorable white Husky puppy roaming around, possibly trucking people in Purdue shirts? You know what to do, Buckeye Nation:

Read More

Tags: Austin Peay, BTN, Cleveland Cavaliers, Ezekiel Elliott, Finances, Jim Delany, Kenny "Smooth Jazz" Guiton, Kenny G, SBP, Thad Matta, Tom Izzo, Woody Hayes
Categories: Humor, Ohio State Basketball, Ohio State Football

While the reviews on his performance were mixed (to be kind), you can’t count former Buckeye Aaron Craft out of the mix as the NBA Draft looms.

Here, he sits down with Seth Davis and talks a bit about his career and his hopes for the future… what better day to watch this than the 40th anniversary of the Rubic’s Cube?

Tags: Aaaron Craft, Campus Insiders, NBA Draft
Categories: College Basketball, Ohio State Basketball