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LGHL Uncut: McGuff talks Buckeyes issues after overtime loss to Maryland
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Uncut: McGuff talks Buckeyes issues after overtime loss to Maryland
ThomasCostello via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
Photo by Greg Fiume/Getty Images
Plus Greene and Thierry talk comeback that fell short and expecting “horrible” officiating.
Throughout the year, Land-Grant Holy Land will be bringing you uncut audio primarily from Ohio State press conferences, but also from individual interview sessions.
Listen to the episode and subscribe:
In the final game of the Big Ten regular season, Ohio State women’s basketball traveled to College Park, Maryland and walked away with a 93-90 overtime defeat.
After the game, head coach Kevin McGuff and guards Madison Greene and Taylor Thierry spoke with the media about a range of topics. McGuff discussed the late jump ball call against Kennedy Cambridge after showing his frustration on the court in the moment.
Thierry and Greene talk about playing in a tough environment with the Terrapins riding momentum to the late victory, where the Buckeyes are at heading into the postseason, and Thierry talks about her expectations with Big Ten officiating.
Coach McGuff also discussed his post-game talk with the team, and the issues that the team can fix before the postseason, seeing his side as a program in a good spot after playing tough games against Maryland, Michigan State and more.
Hear the whole press conference from College Park on the next “Uncut.”
Connect with Thomas:
Bluesky: @ThomasCostello
Twitter: @1ThomasCostello
Theme music provided by www.bensound.com
Continue reading...
ThomasCostello via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
Photo by Greg Fiume/Getty Images
Plus Greene and Thierry talk comeback that fell short and expecting “horrible” officiating.
Throughout the year, Land-Grant Holy Land will be bringing you uncut audio primarily from Ohio State press conferences, but also from individual interview sessions.
Listen to the episode and subscribe:
Subscribe: RSS | Apple | Spotify | iHeart Radio
In the final game of the Big Ten regular season, Ohio State women’s basketball traveled to College Park, Maryland and walked away with a 93-90 overtime defeat.
After the game, head coach Kevin McGuff and guards Madison Greene and Taylor Thierry spoke with the media about a range of topics. McGuff discussed the late jump ball call against Kennedy Cambridge after showing his frustration on the court in the moment.
Thierry and Greene talk about playing in a tough environment with the Terrapins riding momentum to the late victory, where the Buckeyes are at heading into the postseason, and Thierry talks about her expectations with Big Ten officiating.
Coach McGuff also discussed his post-game talk with the team, and the issues that the team can fix before the postseason, seeing his side as a program in a good spot after playing tough games against Maryland, Michigan State and more.
Hear the whole press conference from College Park on the next “Uncut.”
Connect with Thomas:
Bluesky: @ThomasCostello
Twitter: @1ThomasCostello
Theme music provided by www.bensound.com
Continue reading...
LGHL My Big Ten women’s basketball awards ballot
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My Big Ten women’s basketball awards ballot
ThomasCostello via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
Robert Hanashiro-Imagn Images
Who I picked for end of season awards, and the thoughts behind them.
It’s easy to complain about award snubs. I’ve done my fair share of it over the years for just about any award imaginable. When it comes to Big Ten college basketball though, it goes to another level. For example, I still think about the media person who didn’t put Ohio State guard Jacy Sheldon as a first-team All-Big Ten selection last season.
Well, this season was my first year having the honor of officially choosing award winners, and it’s not easy. Each program picks two people to vote for conference awards and after three seasons, and someone leaving the beat, the honor was bestowed onto me. It truly is an honor too, and one that I don’t take likely.
To prove it, and to make up for all of my complaining in the past, here are all of my selections, with notes about the thought process behind the picks, some Big Ten award logistics and still some complaining. Also, the pick that I had the most trouble making.
You might not like them, you may call me biased (or not biased enough), but that’s the risk I’m willing to take.
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25893071/usa_today_25414034.jpg "NCAA Womens Basketball: UCLA at Southern California")
Robert Hanashiro-Imagn Images
I didn’t know who I was going to vote for in this category. It was between USC star JuJu Watkins and UCLA Bruins center Lauren Betts for me. I watch a lot of Big Ten basketball, but not every game. That’s impossible because I have a life, a spouse, three kids and a full-time job outside of writing about basketball.
So, when I made this pick, I was using the times I did watch the two stars not playing against Ohio State and also two matchups against the Buckeyes back in February. For most of the two conference games, the Scarlet and Gray did well as slowing them down. The first and third quarters against Betts featured a lot of Ajae Petty and Elsa Lemmilä cutting off passes from even getting to the 6-foot-7 center. When Ohio State didn’t do that (the second and fourth quarters), Betts went on a tear.
Against USC, guard/forward Taylor Thierry played Watkins mostly one-on-one and played great defense. Thierry held Watkins to 10 points until the Ohio State hybrid guard fouled out in the fourth quarter. Watkins scored seven in that quarter alone with Thierry out of the game.
My selection went down to the idea that the best players step up in the biggest moments. Watkins did that against UCLA on Feb. 13 with 38 points, 11 rebounds, 8 blocks and 5 assists. That game wasn’t a flash in the pan because Watkins did it against UCLA twice. On March 1, Watkins scored 30 points with five assists and three blocks.
Watkins leads the conference in scoring and also averages at least two blocks, two steals and six rebounds per game. The sophomore can do it all. The only thing keeping her at USC are WNBA age rules.
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25895108/usa_today_25447429.jpg "NCAA Womens Basketball: UCLA at Southern California")
Robert Hanashiro-Imagn Images
I went between Gottlieb and Illinois head coach Shauna Green for this award. Green took a team that struggled last year and got them close to a double-bye in the B1G Tournament without her starting point guard.
How the teams ended the year is what made me flip to Gottlieb. This is not given to her because USC won the title. I picked Gottlieb because they’re a good coach and despite having a list of stars at her disposal, she got them to play together to the point that they upset UCLA twice and the games weren’t necessarily close.
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25893072/usa_today_25436900.jpg "Syndication: The Columbus Dispatch")
Samantha Madar/Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
The freshmen of the Big Ten are insane. More on that when I talk about the All-Freshman team, but point guard Jaloni Cambridge leads the pack.
Ohio State lost second team All-American Jacy Sheldon, and with it a huge gap in talent and ability. Head coach Kevin McGuff warned the public in the regular season that it would take time for Cambridge to fill that role, but he was only trying to curb expectations.
This season, Cambridge has more rebounds and assists per game than Sheldon did in her graduate season. More surprisingly is that Cambridge also eclipsed Sheldon in steals per game, something Sheldon’s name is all over the record books for at Ohio State. There are still three years left of Cambridge in Columbus and her trajectory is straight up.
But this is a conference award, not a team award. Cambridge is better than the freshmen across the Big Ten too. She’s one of only two freshmen running team offenses, alongside Mila Hollaway at Michigan (who Cambridge outscores by eight points per game in conference play).
USC’s Kennedy Smith and Michigan’s other two standout freshmen Syla Swords and Olivia Olson are all great, but Cambridge is a better scorer than the three while also simultaneously running the Buckeye offense. A team that earned a double-bye in the Big Ten Tournament with three new players on the starting lineup.
If UConn’s Sarah Strong wasn’t the far and away National Freshman of the Year, Cambridge would have a strong case.
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25893406/2188205424.jpg "USC v Oregon")
Photo by Ali Gradischer/Getty Images
Did I mention eight blocked shots against UCLA?
Watkins is the only player in the conference averaging two blocks and two steals per game. The sophomore also leads the conference in defensive win shares (the number of games won because of a player’s defense) with 2.9, with Betts in second place at 2.2
There’s seemingly nothing Watkins can’t do.
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25893111/usa_today_25493257.jpg "NCAA Womens Basketball: Purdue At Ohio St")
Samantha Madar USA TODAY Network via IMAGN IMAGES
This award was the most difficult one to choose. In my head, there wasn’t a far and away winner of this honor. There are many players where you can make a case, but none of them are necessarily a strong one.
The way I see a sixth player is someone who only comes in off the bench. In the brain wracking, I considered players like Karoline Striplin who came in to start after being on the bench to start the season, but that isn’t the nature of the sixth player. They are someone who comes off the bench and makes an immediate impact.
With that idea in mind, I went with Lemmilä. Over the last 10 games, Lemmilä entered games and has brought defense and calm as a freshman.
Part of the reason I struggled to put Lemmilä in this slot is because I don’t have her on the All-Freshman team (a lot more on that soon) but Lemmilä has proven time and time again that she can come in and make an impact regardless of the situation.
Against Betts and the Bruins, Lemmilä played the center one-on-one and stopped passes from getting to the big who’s only an inch taller than the Finn. Against the Minnesota Golden Gophers it was shooting and defense in the fourth quarter from Lemmilä that helped secure the win.
On Wednesday, against the No. 23 Michigan State Spartans, Lemmilä had five blocks, including four on forward Grace Vanslooten, which isn’t an easy task. This season, Lemmilä has the third most blocks in the conference, behind Betts and Wisconsin Badgers’ star Serah Williams.
It might be recency bias using a 10-game span, but tell me another bench player who has had as big of an impact as Lemmilä has to Ohio State.
JuJu Watkins - USC
Taylor Thierry - Ohio State
Rayah Marshall - USC
Lauren Betts - UCLA
Destiny Adams - Rutgers
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25893146/usa_today_25412413.jpg "Syndication: Iowa City Press-Citizen")
Julia Hansen/Iowa City Press-Citizen / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
Destiny Adams (left) defending Addison O’Grady (right)
The way that the Big Ten selects Defensive Player of the Year is through the Defensive Team. The player who receives the most defensive team votes wins Defensive Player of the Year.
I already outlined Watkins’ defensive play above as fantastic. While Thierry struggled offensively down the stretch of this season, defensively the guard/forward is playing great. She’s second in steals per game and is an important piece of the Buckeyes’ full court defense.
USC’s Rayah Marshall and UCLA’s Betts are two of the best post defenders in the country, in the top three in blocks per game. For Adams, the lone piece of consistency for Rutgers, she is a powerful rebounder defensively and is up there with Thierry at the top of the Big Ten in forcing steals, leading Thierry by .1 to top the conference when I wrote this piece.
It’s unfortunate that Adams played for a struggling team, because if she was on a side like UCLA or USC, she’d be talked about as one of the best in the nation.
Jaloni Cambridge - Ohio State
Olivia Olson - Michigan
Syla Swords - Michigan
Kennedy Smith - USC
Britt Prince - Nebraska
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25893150/usa_today_25266174.jpg "Syndication: Detroit Free Press")
David Rodriguez Munoz / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
Like the Defensive Team, the freshman side also chooses the Freshman of the Year, so that’s why Cambridge is listed first.
The most notable piece of my top freshman side is the absence of Rutgers Scarlet Knights guard Kiyomi McMiller. In my head, McMiller is the second best freshman in the Big Ten. The guard scores with ease and doesn’t backdown to opponents (and here comes the “but”) but McMiller isn’t playing.
Time will tell why McMiller isn’t playing. Is she sitting out or is head coach Coquese Washington keeping her out? McMiller hasn’t played since Feb. 6 and even though Rutgers was in the hunt for a spot in the Big Ten Tournament, the situation was enough that McMiller either didn't want to play or Washington didn’t want to play the freshman.
McMiller’s played less than 75% of Rutgers’ conference games this season. So, despite scoring 18.7 points per game through the non-conference schedule and part of the Big Ten slate, the freshman is mysteriously gone.
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25893401/usa_today_25493988.jpg "NCAA Womens Basketball: UCLA at Iowa")
Jeffrey Becker-Imagn Images
Before I share the list of players, it’s important to talk about how the process works.
Everyone who votes does not pick a first team and a second team, with honorable mentions sprinkled in throughout. Voters make a list of players and rank them from 1 to 20. The No. 1 ranked person gets 20 points, No. 2 gets 19, No. 3 gets 18 and you can figure out the rest down the line.
So, here is the list of 20 players, ranked from No. 1 to No. 20. Whoever gets the most points gets onto the first team and the group with the second most points goes into the second.
JuJu Watkins - USC
Lauren Betts - UCLA
Kiki Iriafen - USC
Kiki Rice - UCLA
Cotie McMahon - Ohio State
Serah Williams - Wisconsin
Shyanne Sellers - Maryland
Kendall Bostic - Illinois
Julia Ayrault - Michigan State
Destiny Adams - Rutgers
Jaloni Cambridge - Ohio State
Rayah Marshall - USC
Lucy Olsen - Iowa
Alexis Markowski - Nebraska
Grace VanSlooten - Michigan State
Kaylene Smikle - Maryland
Elle Ladine - Washington
Sayvia Sellers - Washington
Hannah Stuelke - Iowa
Taylor Thierry - Ohio State
I will not go through my thought process on all 20 selections but here are a few finer points:
The Big Ten will announce the winners of postseason honors on Tuesday, March 4 at Noon ET on the “B1G Today” show on Big Ten Network.
Continue reading...
ThomasCostello via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
Robert Hanashiro-Imagn Images
Who I picked for end of season awards, and the thoughts behind them.
It’s easy to complain about award snubs. I’ve done my fair share of it over the years for just about any award imaginable. When it comes to Big Ten college basketball though, it goes to another level. For example, I still think about the media person who didn’t put Ohio State guard Jacy Sheldon as a first-team All-Big Ten selection last season.
Well, this season was my first year having the honor of officially choosing award winners, and it’s not easy. Each program picks two people to vote for conference awards and after three seasons, and someone leaving the beat, the honor was bestowed onto me. It truly is an honor too, and one that I don’t take likely.
To prove it, and to make up for all of my complaining in the past, here are all of my selections, with notes about the thought process behind the picks, some Big Ten award logistics and still some complaining. Also, the pick that I had the most trouble making.
You might not like them, you may call me biased (or not biased enough), but that’s the risk I’m willing to take.
Player of the Year: JuJu Watkins - USC Trojans
I didn’t know who I was going to vote for in this category. It was between USC star JuJu Watkins and UCLA Bruins center Lauren Betts for me. I watch a lot of Big Ten basketball, but not every game. That’s impossible because I have a life, a spouse, three kids and a full-time job outside of writing about basketball.
So, when I made this pick, I was using the times I did watch the two stars not playing against Ohio State and also two matchups against the Buckeyes back in February. For most of the two conference games, the Scarlet and Gray did well as slowing them down. The first and third quarters against Betts featured a lot of Ajae Petty and Elsa Lemmilä cutting off passes from even getting to the 6-foot-7 center. When Ohio State didn’t do that (the second and fourth quarters), Betts went on a tear.
Against USC, guard/forward Taylor Thierry played Watkins mostly one-on-one and played great defense. Thierry held Watkins to 10 points until the Ohio State hybrid guard fouled out in the fourth quarter. Watkins scored seven in that quarter alone with Thierry out of the game.
My selection went down to the idea that the best players step up in the biggest moments. Watkins did that against UCLA on Feb. 13 with 38 points, 11 rebounds, 8 blocks and 5 assists. That game wasn’t a flash in the pan because Watkins did it against UCLA twice. On March 1, Watkins scored 30 points with five assists and three blocks.
Watkins leads the conference in scoring and also averages at least two blocks, two steals and six rebounds per game. The sophomore can do it all. The only thing keeping her at USC are WNBA age rules.
Coach of the Year: Lindsay Gottlieb - USC Trojans
I went between Gottlieb and Illinois head coach Shauna Green for this award. Green took a team that struggled last year and got them close to a double-bye in the B1G Tournament without her starting point guard.
How the teams ended the year is what made me flip to Gottlieb. This is not given to her because USC won the title. I picked Gottlieb because they’re a good coach and despite having a list of stars at her disposal, she got them to play together to the point that they upset UCLA twice and the games weren’t necessarily close.
Freshman of the Year: Jaloni Cambridge - Ohio State
The freshmen of the Big Ten are insane. More on that when I talk about the All-Freshman team, but point guard Jaloni Cambridge leads the pack.
Ohio State lost second team All-American Jacy Sheldon, and with it a huge gap in talent and ability. Head coach Kevin McGuff warned the public in the regular season that it would take time for Cambridge to fill that role, but he was only trying to curb expectations.
This season, Cambridge has more rebounds and assists per game than Sheldon did in her graduate season. More surprisingly is that Cambridge also eclipsed Sheldon in steals per game, something Sheldon’s name is all over the record books for at Ohio State. There are still three years left of Cambridge in Columbus and her trajectory is straight up.
But this is a conference award, not a team award. Cambridge is better than the freshmen across the Big Ten too. She’s one of only two freshmen running team offenses, alongside Mila Hollaway at Michigan (who Cambridge outscores by eight points per game in conference play).
USC’s Kennedy Smith and Michigan’s other two standout freshmen Syla Swords and Olivia Olson are all great, but Cambridge is a better scorer than the three while also simultaneously running the Buckeye offense. A team that earned a double-bye in the Big Ten Tournament with three new players on the starting lineup.
If UConn’s Sarah Strong wasn’t the far and away National Freshman of the Year, Cambridge would have a strong case.
Defensive Player of the Year: JuJu Watkins - USC Trojans
Did I mention eight blocked shots against UCLA?
Watkins is the only player in the conference averaging two blocks and two steals per game. The sophomore also leads the conference in defensive win shares (the number of games won because of a player’s defense) with 2.9, with Betts in second place at 2.2
There’s seemingly nothing Watkins can’t do.
Sixth Player of the Year: Elsa Lemmilä - Ohio State
This award was the most difficult one to choose. In my head, there wasn’t a far and away winner of this honor. There are many players where you can make a case, but none of them are necessarily a strong one.
The way I see a sixth player is someone who only comes in off the bench. In the brain wracking, I considered players like Karoline Striplin who came in to start after being on the bench to start the season, but that isn’t the nature of the sixth player. They are someone who comes off the bench and makes an immediate impact.
With that idea in mind, I went with Lemmilä. Over the last 10 games, Lemmilä entered games and has brought defense and calm as a freshman.
Part of the reason I struggled to put Lemmilä in this slot is because I don’t have her on the All-Freshman team (a lot more on that soon) but Lemmilä has proven time and time again that she can come in and make an impact regardless of the situation.
Against Betts and the Bruins, Lemmilä played the center one-on-one and stopped passes from getting to the big who’s only an inch taller than the Finn. Against the Minnesota Golden Gophers it was shooting and defense in the fourth quarter from Lemmilä that helped secure the win.
On Wednesday, against the No. 23 Michigan State Spartans, Lemmilä had five blocks, including four on forward Grace Vanslooten, which isn’t an easy task. This season, Lemmilä has the third most blocks in the conference, behind Betts and Wisconsin Badgers’ star Serah Williams.
It might be recency bias using a 10-game span, but tell me another bench player who has had as big of an impact as Lemmilä has to Ohio State.
Defensive Team
JuJu Watkins - USC
Taylor Thierry - Ohio State
Rayah Marshall - USC
Lauren Betts - UCLA
Destiny Adams - Rutgers
Destiny Adams (left) defending Addison O’Grady (right)
The way that the Big Ten selects Defensive Player of the Year is through the Defensive Team. The player who receives the most defensive team votes wins Defensive Player of the Year.
I already outlined Watkins’ defensive play above as fantastic. While Thierry struggled offensively down the stretch of this season, defensively the guard/forward is playing great. She’s second in steals per game and is an important piece of the Buckeyes’ full court defense.
USC’s Rayah Marshall and UCLA’s Betts are two of the best post defenders in the country, in the top three in blocks per game. For Adams, the lone piece of consistency for Rutgers, she is a powerful rebounder defensively and is up there with Thierry at the top of the Big Ten in forcing steals, leading Thierry by .1 to top the conference when I wrote this piece.
It’s unfortunate that Adams played for a struggling team, because if she was on a side like UCLA or USC, she’d be talked about as one of the best in the nation.
Freshman Team
Jaloni Cambridge - Ohio State
Olivia Olson - Michigan
Syla Swords - Michigan
Kennedy Smith - USC
Britt Prince - Nebraska
Like the Defensive Team, the freshman side also chooses the Freshman of the Year, so that’s why Cambridge is listed first.
The most notable piece of my top freshman side is the absence of Rutgers Scarlet Knights guard Kiyomi McMiller. In my head, McMiller is the second best freshman in the Big Ten. The guard scores with ease and doesn’t backdown to opponents (and here comes the “but”) but McMiller isn’t playing.
Time will tell why McMiller isn’t playing. Is she sitting out or is head coach Coquese Washington keeping her out? McMiller hasn’t played since Feb. 6 and even though Rutgers was in the hunt for a spot in the Big Ten Tournament, the situation was enough that McMiller either didn't want to play or Washington didn’t want to play the freshman.
McMiller’s played less than 75% of Rutgers’ conference games this season. So, despite scoring 18.7 points per game through the non-conference schedule and part of the Big Ten slate, the freshman is mysteriously gone.
All-Big Ten Teams
Before I share the list of players, it’s important to talk about how the process works.
Everyone who votes does not pick a first team and a second team, with honorable mentions sprinkled in throughout. Voters make a list of players and rank them from 1 to 20. The No. 1 ranked person gets 20 points, No. 2 gets 19, No. 3 gets 18 and you can figure out the rest down the line.
So, here is the list of 20 players, ranked from No. 1 to No. 20. Whoever gets the most points gets onto the first team and the group with the second most points goes into the second.
JuJu Watkins - USC
Lauren Betts - UCLA
Kiki Iriafen - USC
Kiki Rice - UCLA
Cotie McMahon - Ohio State
Serah Williams - Wisconsin
Shyanne Sellers - Maryland
Kendall Bostic - Illinois
Julia Ayrault - Michigan State
Destiny Adams - Rutgers
Jaloni Cambridge - Ohio State
Rayah Marshall - USC
Lucy Olsen - Iowa
Alexis Markowski - Nebraska
Grace VanSlooten - Michigan State
Kaylene Smikle - Maryland
Elle Ladine - Washington
Sayvia Sellers - Washington
Hannah Stuelke - Iowa
Taylor Thierry - Ohio State
I will not go through my thought process on all 20 selections but here are a few finer points:
- USC and UCLA are good. I would have put Dugalic in the top 20 as well for UCLA but she was not in consideration for the award.
- Choosing the top 20 players is downright tough. I feel strong about my top seven selections. When I look at the remaining 13, I could change it a hundred more times than I already have, order-wise.
- Thierry’s quiet offensive season had her at the bottom of the list. Defensively, Thierry has a great season, but seems ok with her output offensively, which might limit chances outside of college basketball.
- Hannah Stuelke was also on the edge for me. Similar post players like Kendall Bostic and Alexis Markowski are out-producing the forward who spent some of the year trying to play a No. 4 role, unsuccessfully adjusting to the different role. A full season at the No. 5 and Stuelke is higher up the list.
- Serah Williams has a similar problem to Destiny Adams of not getting the notoriety because the two play for sides near the bottom of the conference. Serah Williams is All-American caliber.
The Big Ten will announce the winners of postseason honors on Tuesday, March 4 at Noon ET on the “B1G Today” show on Big Ten Network.
Continue reading...
LGHL Ohio State makes top schools for newly reclassified corner, pair of offensive linemen
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Ohio State makes top schools for newly reclassified corner, pair of offensive linemen
Gene Ross via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
2026 CB Havon Finney | via @havonfinneyjr on Twitter
The Buckeyes continue to be among the leaders for the nation’s top prospects.
We are one weekend closer to Ohio State kicking off its spring practice schedule, as the Buckeyes will soon begin their chase for a second-straight national title. Ryan Day is tasked with replacing the majority of his championship roster, but between a College Football Playoff National Championship Trophy and a stellar showing of Buckeyes at the NFL Combine, the recruiting pitch in Columbus has never been easier.
As a result, Ohio State continues to find itself listed among the top schools for virtually all of the country’s most elite talent. This past weekend was no different, as another trio of blue chip prospects have the Buckeyes under heavy consideration.
Offensive line is obviously a massive area of focus for Ohio State in the current cycle. Position coach Tyler Bowen will have little time to stretch his legs in his new role, as the Buckeyes need to really restock the cupboard in an important 2026 class. Luckily, there seems to be no shortage of opportunities to land some big fish in this loaded group.
On Friday, Ohio State made the cut for yet another top-tier offensive lineman in four-star IOL Tommy Tofi. The 6-foot-7, 335-pound California native cut his list from 30 offers down to a top eight, with the Buckeyes among that small collection of programs alongside Miami, Oregon, Tennessee, USC and others.
Tofi ranks as the No. 7 IOL and the No. 92 player overall in the 2026 class, per 247Sports’ rankings. Drawing some comparisons to former Outland Trophy winner and current Detroit Lion Penei Sewell, Tofi has played both guard and tackle at a high level. Despite his large stature, the Archbishop Riordan product moves incredibly well, also showcasing his athleticism on the basketball court as well as in the shot-put.
Keeping with the theme of offensive line, Ohio State also made the cut for four-star OT Deacon Schmitt. With more than two dozen offers to his name, the Colorado native trimmed his list down to a final eight, with the Buckeyes among that group alongside Alabama, Georgia, Oklahoma, USC and others.
Schmitt ranks as the No. 30 IOL in the country and the No. 2 player in his home state, per the 247Sports Composite. Standing at 6-foot-5, 320 pounds, the Windsor High School product was recently offered by Bowen on Feb. 25. Clearly his initial conversations with the offensive line coach as well as Ohio State’s reputation as a program have impressed Schmitt, as the Buckeyes made his short list less than a week after their official offer.
Elsewhere, it has been a busy recruitment for cornerback Havon Finney Jr. The elite defensive back announced on Saturday that he is reclassifying from the 2027 class to 2026, and dropped a list of 16 schools he is still considering out of his nearly 30 offers. Included in that group was Ohio State, in addition to Georgia, Michigan, Oregon, Penn State, Texas and others.
Standing at 6-foot, 170 pounds, Finney Jr. becomes a top-150 player overall and the No. 15 corner in the 2026 class per On3’s rankings. The California native tallied 37 tackles, four picks and a forced fumble for Sierra Canyon in his sophomore season, while also making an impact on special teams with a pair of punt return touchdowns. Finney Jr. was named the All-American National Combine Defensive MVP by 247Sports last January.
Looking beyond the current cycle, Ohio State does as good a job as any at advance scouting. The Buckeyes are already well underway in evaluating players in both the 2027 and 2028 classes, and on Friday running backs coach Carlos Locklyn extended an offer to a current freshman in Anthony Howard Jr.
The 5-foot-10, 175-pound running back hails out of Auburndale, Florida, and is already garnering the attention of some of the nation’s top programs, including now Ohio State as well as holding prior offers from Florida, Florida State and Miami. Howard Jr. participated in December’s FBU Freshman All-American Bowl, where he was named a top performer by 247Sports. He is only the second running back that Locklyn has offered in 2028.
Ohio State’s spring guest list and future official visit schedule seems to grow daily. Below is a small handful of newly announced upcoming visitors to Columbus. All rankings are 247Sports Composite.
Continue reading...
Gene Ross via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
2026 CB Havon Finney | via @havonfinneyjr on Twitter
The Buckeyes continue to be among the leaders for the nation’s top prospects.
We are one weekend closer to Ohio State kicking off its spring practice schedule, as the Buckeyes will soon begin their chase for a second-straight national title. Ryan Day is tasked with replacing the majority of his championship roster, but between a College Football Playoff National Championship Trophy and a stellar showing of Buckeyes at the NFL Combine, the recruiting pitch in Columbus has never been easier.
As a result, Ohio State continues to find itself listed among the top schools for virtually all of the country’s most elite talent. This past weekend was no different, as another trio of blue chip prospects have the Buckeyes under heavy consideration.
Offensive line is obviously a massive area of focus for Ohio State in the current cycle. Position coach Tyler Bowen will have little time to stretch his legs in his new role, as the Buckeyes need to really restock the cupboard in an important 2026 class. Luckily, there seems to be no shortage of opportunities to land some big fish in this loaded group.
On Friday, Ohio State made the cut for yet another top-tier offensive lineman in four-star IOL Tommy Tofi. The 6-foot-7, 335-pound California native cut his list from 30 offers down to a top eight, with the Buckeyes among that small collection of programs alongside Miami, Oregon, Tennessee, USC and others.
NEWS: Four-Star IOL Tommy Tofi is down toSchools, he tells me for @on3recruits
The 6’7 335 IOL from San Francisco, CA is the No. 1 IOL in California (per On3)
Where Should He Go? https://t.co/t9zAvaEapO pic.twitter.com/lExifXZk9E
— Hayes Fawcett (@Hayesfawcett3) March 1, 2025
Tofi ranks as the No. 7 IOL and the No. 92 player overall in the 2026 class, per 247Sports’ rankings. Drawing some comparisons to former Outland Trophy winner and current Detroit Lion Penei Sewell, Tofi has played both guard and tackle at a high level. Despite his large stature, the Archbishop Riordan product moves incredibly well, also showcasing his athleticism on the basketball court as well as in the shot-put.
Keeping with the theme of offensive line, Ohio State also made the cut for four-star OT Deacon Schmitt. With more than two dozen offers to his name, the Colorado native trimmed his list down to a final eight, with the Buckeyes among that group alongside Alabama, Georgia, Oklahoma, USC and others.
NEWS: Four-Star OT Deacon Schmitt is down to
The 6’5 320 OT from Windsor, CO is ranked as the No. 1 Recruit in Colorado (per On3)
Where Should He Go? https://t.co/kOUUE6v7Lq pic.twitter.com/bR2MWtUq4h
— Hayes Fawcett (@Hayesfawcett3) February 28, 2025
Schmitt ranks as the No. 30 IOL in the country and the No. 2 player in his home state, per the 247Sports Composite. Standing at 6-foot-5, 320 pounds, the Windsor High School product was recently offered by Bowen on Feb. 25. Clearly his initial conversations with the offensive line coach as well as Ohio State’s reputation as a program have impressed Schmitt, as the Buckeyes made his short list less than a week after their official offer.
Elsewhere, it has been a busy recruitment for cornerback Havon Finney Jr. The elite defensive back announced on Saturday that he is reclassifying from the 2027 class to 2026, and dropped a list of 16 schools he is still considering out of his nearly 30 offers. Included in that group was Ohio State, in addition to Georgia, Michigan, Oregon, Penn State, Texas and others.
Standing at 6-foot, 170 pounds, Finney Jr. becomes a top-150 player overall and the No. 15 corner in the 2026 class per On3’s rankings. The California native tallied 37 tackles, four picks and a forced fumble for Sierra Canyon in his sophomore season, while also making an impact on special teams with a pair of punt return touchdowns. Finney Jr. was named the All-American National Combine Defensive MVP by 247Sports last January.
Looking beyond the current cycle, Ohio State does as good a job as any at advance scouting. The Buckeyes are already well underway in evaluating players in both the 2027 and 2028 classes, and on Friday running backs coach Carlos Locklyn extended an offer to a current freshman in Anthony Howard Jr.
Beyond Blessed and Honored to receive An Offer From The Ohio State University️! #Gobucks @Locklyn33 @polk_way @dzoloty @QuinnShanbour @MichaelSel26202 @DanLaForestFB @Coachcliff904 @adamgorney @JohnGarcia_Jr @ChadSimmons_ @IMGAFootball pic.twitter.com/IYlyq9iESQ
— ANTHONY ‘“ANT” HOWARD JR (@Anthonyh_2028) February 28, 2025
The 5-foot-10, 175-pound running back hails out of Auburndale, Florida, and is already garnering the attention of some of the nation’s top programs, including now Ohio State as well as holding prior offers from Florida, Florida State and Miami. Howard Jr. participated in December’s FBU Freshman All-American Bowl, where he was named a top performer by 247Sports. He is only the second running back that Locklyn has offered in 2028.
Quick Hits
Ohio State’s spring guest list and future official visit schedule seems to grow daily. Below is a small handful of newly announced upcoming visitors to Columbus. All rankings are 247Sports Composite.
- 2026 four-star OL Sam Greer - No. 15 OT, No. 7 OH, No. 172 Natl.
Unofficial OSU Visit: March 17
- 2026 three-star DL Keysaun Eleazer - No. 39 EDGE, No. 23 NC
Official OSU visit: June 13-15
OV Locked @OhioStateFB @N_Murph @R2X_Rushmen1 @ryandaytime @BarstoolOSU @Bulldog_Recruit pic.twitter.com/JPIqfqaRE0
— Keysaun Eleazer (4️ edge) (@Keysaun11) February 27, 2025
- 2027 OT Lual Aleu
Unofficial OSU visit: March 25
Continue reading...
Assistant DL Coach Tony Washington Jr. (Official Thread)
- By ScriptOhio
- Buckeye Football
- 3 Replies
Ohio State Hires Former UCLA Defensive Line Coach Tony Washington Jr. As Assistant Defensive Line Coach
Ohio State hires former Oregon linebacker Tony Washington Jr., who was UCLA’s defensive line and outside linebackers coach last season, as its new assistant defensive line coach.
Ohio State Hires Former UCLA Defensive Line Coach Tony Washington Jr. As Assistant Defensive Line Coach
Ohio State strengthened its defensive coaching staff on Saturday with the hire of Tony Washington Jr. as its new assistant defensive line coach.
Washington, who spent last season as the defensive line and outside linebackers coach for UCLA, fills the void left by graduate assistant LaAllan Clark, who departed Ohio State to serve as the defensive ends coach for Texas.
In addition to his one-year stint at UCLA, Washington previously coached at Nebraska and Oregon — his alma mater. He worked at Nebraska as a graduate assistant from 2019-20 before returning to Oregon to serve in a variety of roles, including director of player development, assistant defensive line coach and outside linebackers coach.
Prior to his coaching career, Washington played four seasons for the Ducks from 2011-14 and appeared in 58 games while tallying 158 tackles, 25.5 tackles for a loss and 14.5 sacks across his career. He was a member of the Oregon team that lost to Ohio State in the 2015 College Football Playoff national championship game. He went on to play for the NFL’s Houston Texans and Tennessee Titans before starting his coaching career.
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The Ohio State football program may have found their Larry Johnson replacement
The Ohio State football team is still waiting to see if Larry Johnson is going to coach this year. They may have hired his replacement anyway.
scarletandgame.com
The Ohio State football team is still waiting to see if Larry Johnson is going to coach this year. They may have hired his replacement anyway.
The Ohio State football program has been waiting on Larry Johnson to decide if he is going to continue coaching. He has been the defensive line coach for the Buckeyes for over a decade. He has been a legendary coach for a long time and has been one of the best defense line coaches in the country.
Now, he is still trying to decide if he wants to coach next season after winning a national championship. Johnson is 73 years old and has been approaching his job on a year-by-year basis. It seems like if he does decide to come back, this will be his last year, regardless.
The Ohio State Buckeyes need to find a succession plan for him. It looks like they may have done that over the weekend. They brought in Tony Washington Jr. as their assistant defensive line coach. Now, the Buckeyes might have a plan that they can execute.
The Ohio State football program may have found their new defensive line coach
Washington Jr. was the defensive line coach for the Bruins before joining the Buckeyes. Now, it doesn't matter if Johnson wants to return this season or not. They have someone who can step in if Johnson decides that he wants to retire, although it seems likely he will stay one more year.
Washington Jr. was also the outside linebackers coach at UCLA, so he has multiple areas of experience. He was also the assistant defensive line coach for Oregon prior to being hired by UCLA. He is someone who is young and hungry, which Ryan Day likes.
It seems like the Buckeyes have finally found their successor to Johnson. It seems very likely that will happen next season once Johnson retires. Everything points to him being back, including the fact that Washington Jr. is only being hired as the assistant defensive line coach.
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Nebraska at Ohio State, Tuesday, March 4, 2025, 9 PM on Peacock
- By ScriptOhio
- Buckeye Basketball
- 89 Replies
Buckeyes Host Nebraska in Final Home Game Tuesday
Ohio State vs. Nebraska
Date: March 4, 2025
Time: 9 p.m.
Venue: Value City Arena – Columbus, Ohio
TV: Peacock
Ohio State enters the final week of the regular season looking to avenge of a pair of losses from earlier in the season. The first opportunity will be on Tuesday night when the Buckeyes host Nebraska on Senior Night. Tip-off is set for 9 p.m. and the game will be exclusively streamed on Peacock. Paul Burmeister and Stephen Bardo will call the action.
The game can also be heard on the Ohio State Radio Network from Learfield. Paul Keels and former Buckeye captain Ron Stokes are on the call.
- The Buckeyes are 21-8 all-time against Nebraska and 17-6 since the Cornhuskers joined the Big Ten Conference prior to the 2011-12 season. Nebraska has won three of the last four meetings in the series.
- All-time, the Buckeyes are 11-2 against the Huskers in Columbus, including a win last season.
- In the first meeting, Micah Parrish scored a career-high 30 points and John Mobley Jr. made five three-pointers but Nebraska used a second half run to build a lead and hold on for a 79-71 victory on Super Bowl Sunday in Lincoln.
- Ohio State will honor players Micah Parrish, Ques Glover and Kalen Etzler as well as managers Nick Moore and Eric Oberholtzer, equipment manager Kyle Peters, student trainer Taylor Finnerty and social media manager Enrique Cabotage prior to the game.
- The Buckeyes are currently No. 36 in the NET rankings and No. 32 in Kenpom and squarely on the bubble.
- Ohio State is coming off a 1-1 west coast trip as it fell at UCLA on Bill Walton Day and then bounced back with an 87-82 win at USC last Wednesday night. The Buckeyes shot a Big Ten best 73.1 percent in the first half against the Trojans and notched their 10th game this season with 10 or more three-point makes.
- Thornton averaged 20.5 points on the west coast trip while going 12-of-12 from the free throw line and dishing out eight assists with zero turnovers.
- Thornton will be playing and starting his 100th career game on Tuesday. The only game he missed in his career was last year at home against Nebraska when he suffered a migraine.
- John Mobley Jr. is back to tied for the most three-pointers of any Big Ten player this season with 71 makes from deep.
- Evan Mahaffey has had at least one point, one rebound, one assist, one steal and one block in each of the last two games. He has 14 such games as a Buckeye and joins a list of pretty Buckeyes that have filled a stat sheet in a similar fashion.
- Nebraska is coming off a tough final possession loss to Minnesota at home on Saturday and is in a similar position to the Buckeyes on the bubble in the final week of the regular season.
LGHL Buckeyes impress at NFL Combine, Bluejackets make history in Horseshoe
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Buckeyes impress at NFL Combine, Bluejackets make history in Horseshoe
Matt Tamanini via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
Kirby Lee-Imagn Images
All the Buckeye news thats fit to re-print.
Look, we get it. Your days are busy and you don’t have time to read all of the stories and tweets from the three dozen websites dedicated to covering Ohio State athletics, or the 237 Buckeye beat writers churning out hot takes and #content on a daily basis. But that’s ok, that’s what your friends at Land-Grant Holy Land are here for.
Monday through Friday, we’ll be collecting all of the articles, tweets, features, interviews, videos, podcasts, memes, photos, and whatever else we stumble across on the interwebz and putting them in our daily “Why is this News?” article. That way, you’ll have a one-stop shop for all of the most important Buckeye news, jokes, and analysis.
You’re welcome!
Subscribe to the Land-Grant Podcast Network for all of your Ohio State needs
Matt Tamanini, Land-Grant Holy Land
Subscribe: RSS | Apple | Spotify | iHeart Radio
Ohio State hiring Tony Washington Jr. as assistant defensive line coach to replace LaAllan Clark
Grant Hughes, 247Sports
Ohio State players measurements, testing numbers at NFL Combine
Spencer Holbrook, Lettermen Row
Ohio State Running Backs Quinshon Judkins and TreVeyon Henderson Boost Draft Stock With Prolific Showing at NFL Combine
Garrick Hodge, Eleven Warriors
James Peoples buzz continues ahead of second spring with Buckeyes
Spencer Holbrook, Lettermen Row
Caleb Downs claims Ohio State national championship run greatest in college football history
Grant Hughes, 247Sports
Ohio State falls on overtime last-second shot in regular season finale at Maryland 93-90
Thomas Costello, Land-Grant Holy Land
Ohio State women’s basketball clinch No. 3 seed in Big Ten Tournament
Thomas Costello, Land-Grant Holy Land
5 moments to remember from Blue Jackets’ historic outdoor win
Brian Hedger, The Columbus Dispatch
Blue Jackets’ outdoor debut achieves second-highest attendance in NHL history
Brian Hedger, The Columbus Dispatch
Columbus Blue Jackets Excited for Awesome Stadium Environment in Ohio Stadium Saturday: “It Just Gives You Chills”
Andy Anders, Eleven Warriors
Women’s Track & Field: Bertrand Makes Buckeye History to Wrap Up Indoor Big Tens
Ohio State Athletics
Women’s Ice Hockey: Buckeyes Advance to Final Faceoff With 4-1 Win Over St. Thomas
Ohio State Athletics
Men’s Swim & Dive: Buckeyes Place Third at Big Ten Championships
Ohio State Athletics
I knew she grew up dancing, but I didn’t know she was a dancer dancer:
Continue reading...
Matt Tamanini via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
Kirby Lee-Imagn Images
All the Buckeye news thats fit to re-print.
Look, we get it. Your days are busy and you don’t have time to read all of the stories and tweets from the three dozen websites dedicated to covering Ohio State athletics, or the 237 Buckeye beat writers churning out hot takes and #content on a daily basis. But that’s ok, that’s what your friends at Land-Grant Holy Land are here for.
Monday through Friday, we’ll be collecting all of the articles, tweets, features, interviews, videos, podcasts, memes, photos, and whatever else we stumble across on the interwebz and putting them in our daily “Why is this News?” article. That way, you’ll have a one-stop shop for all of the most important Buckeye news, jokes, and analysis.
You’re welcome!
For your Earholes...
Subscribe to the Land-Grant Podcast Network for all of your Ohio State needs
Matt Tamanini, Land-Grant Holy Land
Subscribe: RSS | Apple | Spotify | iHeart Radio
On the Gridiron
Ohio State hiring Tony Washington Jr. as assistant defensive line coach to replace LaAllan Clark
Grant Hughes, 247Sports
Ohio State players measurements, testing numbers at NFL Combine
Spencer Holbrook, Lettermen Row
Ohio State Running Backs Quinshon Judkins and TreVeyon Henderson Boost Draft Stock With Prolific Showing at NFL Combine
Garrick Hodge, Eleven Warriors
James Peoples buzz continues ahead of second spring with Buckeyes
Spencer Holbrook, Lettermen Row
Caleb Downs claims Ohio State national championship run greatest in college football history
Grant Hughes, 247Sports
On the Hardwood
Ohio State falls on overtime last-second shot in regular season finale at Maryland 93-90
Thomas Costello, Land-Grant Holy Land
Ohio State women’s basketball clinch No. 3 seed in Big Ten Tournament
Thomas Costello, Land-Grant Holy Land
Outside the Shoe and Schott
A MOMENT WE'LL NEVER FORGET#StadiumSeries | #CBJ pic.twitter.com/pgDOTNSqHx
— Columbus Blue Jackets (@BlueJacketsNHL) March 2, 2025
5 moments to remember from Blue Jackets’ historic outdoor win
Brian Hedger, The Columbus Dispatch
Blue Jackets’ outdoor debut achieves second-highest attendance in NHL history
Brian Hedger, The Columbus Dispatch
Columbus Blue Jackets Excited for Awesome Stadium Environment in Ohio Stadium Saturday: “It Just Gives You Chills”
Andy Anders, Eleven Warriors
Women’s Track & Field: Bertrand Makes Buckeye History to Wrap Up Indoor Big Tens
Ohio State Athletics
Women’s Ice Hockey: Buckeyes Advance to Final Faceoff With 4-1 Win Over St. Thomas
Ohio State Athletics
Men’s Swim & Dive: Buckeyes Place Third at Big Ten Championships
Ohio State Athletics
And now for something completely different...
I knew she grew up dancing, but I didn’t know she was a dancer dancer:
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LGHL Ohio State women’s basketball clinch No. 3 seed in Big Ten Tournament
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Ohio State women’s basketball clinch No. 3 seed in Big Ten Tournament
ThomasCostello via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
Photo by Aaron J. Thornton/Getty Images
The Buckeyes tournament road is now clear. Here are the teams they could face
That’s it, the regular season is over. Now all eyes shift towards the Big Ten Tournament and this season, the Buckeyes clinched the No. 3 seed, giving Ohio State its fourth consecutive year with a top-four conference finish. Here’s what to know about the tournament and the potential road to a first Big Ten tournament trophy since 2018.
To get there, the Buckeyes have a tough road that likely includes needing to beat either or both the UCLA Bruins and USC Trojans. Before Ohio State thinks that far ahead, they start their tournament journey in the fourth quarterfinal game of Friday’s slate of matchups. The start time is up in the air though, starting 25 minutes after the third game of the night beginning at 6:30 p.m. ET. That means a likely start time around 9:00 p.m. ET on the Big Ten Network.
There is one of three potential opponents for the Buckeyes in the quarterfinals. On Wednesday, the No. 11 Iowa Hawkeyes and No. 14 Wisconsin Badgers play in the first round, starting roughly around 8:30 p.m. ET on Peacock. Ohio State beat both of the sides in the regular season, but there’s still one more game for whoever comes out on top.
On Thursday, the winner of Wisconsin and Iowa faces off against the No. 6 Michigan State. Spartans for a chance to play the Buckeyes on Friday. The second round game starts around 9:00 p.m. ET on the Big Ten Network.
Winning in the quarterfinals is by no means a guarantee. Take last year for example. The Buckeyes came into the tournament as the No. 1 seed and Maryland humbled Ohio State 82-61. Now, this year’s program is different than last year when the 23-24 Big Ten regular season champions came into games seemingly expecting a win to come their way. A lack of grit that hurt the Buckeyes not only in the Big Ten Tournament but the second round of March Madness too.
Last season’s conference tournament upset for Ohio State was the first time a Kevin McGuff-coached Buckeyes team came into the tournament in the quarterfinals and lost. Should that trend continue on Friday, Ohio State potentially faces the UCLA Bruins in the semifinal.
Back on Feb. 5, the Scarlet and Gray tied up the Bruins 44-44 within the first minute of the fourth quarter but UCLA surged ahead to win 65-52.
Now, there is a chance of upset in the quarterfinals for the Los Angeles side, but the season showed that there’s a gap between the top two of the conference and the remaining 16 teams.
Saturday night, the Bruins and Trojans battled for the Big Ten regular season title, with Watkins leading USC in a one-sided game against UCLA. However, an unfortunate prize for the Trojans is playing Friday at noon ET, which is 9:00 a.m. PT. So, although it seems like the safe bet to put the Trojans and Bruins in the Big Ten Tournament final, anything can happen during tournament time.
Click here to see the full bracket
Continue reading...
ThomasCostello via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
Photo by Aaron J. Thornton/Getty Images
The Buckeyes tournament road is now clear. Here are the teams they could face
That’s it, the regular season is over. Now all eyes shift towards the Big Ten Tournament and this season, the Buckeyes clinched the No. 3 seed, giving Ohio State its fourth consecutive year with a top-four conference finish. Here’s what to know about the tournament and the potential road to a first Big Ten tournament trophy since 2018.
To get there, the Buckeyes have a tough road that likely includes needing to beat either or both the UCLA Bruins and USC Trojans. Before Ohio State thinks that far ahead, they start their tournament journey in the fourth quarterfinal game of Friday’s slate of matchups. The start time is up in the air though, starting 25 minutes after the third game of the night beginning at 6:30 p.m. ET. That means a likely start time around 9:00 p.m. ET on the Big Ten Network.
There is one of three potential opponents for the Buckeyes in the quarterfinals. On Wednesday, the No. 11 Iowa Hawkeyes and No. 14 Wisconsin Badgers play in the first round, starting roughly around 8:30 p.m. ET on Peacock. Ohio State beat both of the sides in the regular season, but there’s still one more game for whoever comes out on top.
On Thursday, the winner of Wisconsin and Iowa faces off against the No. 6 Michigan State. Spartans for a chance to play the Buckeyes on Friday. The second round game starts around 9:00 p.m. ET on the Big Ten Network.
Winning in the quarterfinals is by no means a guarantee. Take last year for example. The Buckeyes came into the tournament as the No. 1 seed and Maryland humbled Ohio State 82-61. Now, this year’s program is different than last year when the 23-24 Big Ten regular season champions came into games seemingly expecting a win to come their way. A lack of grit that hurt the Buckeyes not only in the Big Ten Tournament but the second round of March Madness too.
Last season’s conference tournament upset for Ohio State was the first time a Kevin McGuff-coached Buckeyes team came into the tournament in the quarterfinals and lost. Should that trend continue on Friday, Ohio State potentially faces the UCLA Bruins in the semifinal.
Back on Feb. 5, the Scarlet and Gray tied up the Bruins 44-44 within the first minute of the fourth quarter but UCLA surged ahead to win 65-52.
Now, there is a chance of upset in the quarterfinals for the Los Angeles side, but the season showed that there’s a gap between the top two of the conference and the remaining 16 teams.
Saturday night, the Bruins and Trojans battled for the Big Ten regular season title, with Watkins leading USC in a one-sided game against UCLA. However, an unfortunate prize for the Trojans is playing Friday at noon ET, which is 9:00 a.m. PT. So, although it seems like the safe bet to put the Trojans and Bruins in the Big Ten Tournament final, anything can happen during tournament time.
Click here to see the full bracket
Continue reading...
LGHL Ohio State falls on overtime last-second shot in regular season finale at Maryland 93-90
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Ohio State falls on overtime last-second shot in regular season finale at Maryland 93-90
ThomasCostello via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
Photo by Greg Fiume/Getty Images
In a barn-burner of a game, the Buckeyes came up short, but showed tons of grit.
On the final day of the Big Ten regular season, No. 12 Ohio State women’s basketball traveled to College Park, Maryland to face the No. 19 Maryland Terrapins. The Buckeyes and Terrapins showed why the Big Ten schedule makers put the two teams against each other twice this season. In a chippy, back-and-forth matchup, Ohio State had the chance to win in overtime but came up short, falling to the terrapins 93-90.
Before the game began, the Terrapins honored senior guard and Aurora, Ohio native, Shyanne Sellers. The team leader and fan favorite received a standing ovation, playing in her final game in Maryland. Then, on the court, Sellers gave Maryland fans something to cheer for again, hitting two three-point shots in the first 91 seconds of the game.
It got the Terps going, but the Buckeyes kept the game close with hot shooting from beyond the arc. The Buckeyes missed their first attempted three but hit the next three. It cut an early six-point lead for the home side into a single possession game but then shooting went cold.
The Buckeyes missed their next six shots from the field and settled for five free throws in the final half of the quarter, while Maryland attacked the basket. Maryland had 10 points in the paint and out rebounded Ohio State 12-7 in the first 10 minutes.
To make matters worse for the visiting Buckeyes, foul trouble hampered both point guard Jaloni Cambridge and forward Cotie McMahon with both picking up two in the first quarter and spending time on the bench.
Ohio State regrouped in the second quarter and got off to a hot start with 11 of the first 16 points of the period. Each time Maryland made a basket, the Buckeyes would hit two or three in response and with 3:33 remaining in the half Ohio State took the lead, 33-32. Not part of that lead was Jaloni Cambridge, who picked up her third foul but still had eight points in 14 minutes before leaving for the bench for the remainder of the half.
Head coach Kevin McGuff found the most success in the second quarter with a different lineup than usual, with guards Madison Greene, Kennedy Cambridge and Chance Gray playing with forward Taylor Thierry and center Elsa Lemmilä. The Finnish freshman Lemmilä helped Ohio State out rebound the Terps in the second quarter, 9-8, with Lemmilä grabbing three.
However, McGuff only played McMahon four minutes in the second quarter, despite having two fouls. That’s not an abnormal coaching decision, but it came when Cambridge was playing with two fouls in the quarter.
With 1:50 remaining in the second quarter, Ohio State had a three-point lead that could have been more if not for sloppy passing under the basket. The first came on a fast break, with guard Kennedy Cambridge trying to find Thierry on the other side of the paint, but it went directly to two Maryland players. Within 30 seconds, Gray did the same and Sellers made Ohio State pay the second time with a three-point shot that cut the Buckeyes lead to one point, 38-37.
That's where the game stood at halftime, with the Scarlet and Gray holding a 38-37 lead with Thierry leading the Buckeyes with 11 points. Thierry also had to play the entire 20 minutes of the first half due to foul trouble on the Buckeyes.
The two sides traded baskets to start the second half, but then both sides lost players for different reasons. For Jaloni Cambridge, the guard picked up her fourth foul in a baffling way. Maryland forward Christina Dalce got an offensive rebound and second chance basket. Jaloni Cambridge’s back was to Dalce, didn’t get wrapped up in the player and made no contact with the forward as she went to the basket. The call perplexed McGuff too, pleading for an explanation from the officiating crew.
Then, a minute later, Sellers went up for a layup, tried to get contact and went to the court. The guard needed help up off the floor and was carried to the locker room for medical attention. Sellers already came into the game working through a right knee injury suffered back on Jan. 20 against the Texas Longhorns.
With the two stars out of the game, the matchup didn't lack any excitement. If anything, it got more heated when Maryland guard Kaylene Smikle and Ohio State forward Ajae Petty went for a loose ball. Smikle got the loose ball and threw it off Petty before it went out, giving the Terps the possession. On the inbound, Petty picked up a block but Dalce got a basket and then earned a technical for getting in the face of Petty.
At the 5:08 mark in the third quarter, as Greene took foul shots for the Buckeyes, the crowd erupted to the return of Sellers. Just walking to the bench got the crowd on its feet and Sellers walked directly to the scorer’s table to enter the game.
The guard hit three free throws for the rest of the quarter, but overall the quarter looked like a game where both sides were getting caught up in the emotions of the moment. Shots were rushed, more fouls were called and the two teams kept the game within two possessions, with Maryland leading for nearly nine minutes of the period. McMahon earned a fourth foul for a push and the home side celebrated the call emphatically, with two players signaling an exaggerated push at mid court.
To start the fourth quarter, Jaloni Cambridge hit a layup to give the Buckeyes a one-point lead but then things fell apart for the visitors. Maryland responded with a five-point run and Thierry picked up two more fouls and went to the bench. Ohio State had three starters with four fouls and over eight minutes left in the game, trying to cut into a four-point deficit.
Jaloni Cambridge was the first player to succumb to fouls when the officials called a charge against the freshman. Before and after the foul, Smikle added four points to extend the home lead to six points and McGuff called a timeout to try and stop the Maryland momentum and regroup.
Out of the timeout, McMahon threw the ball away, trying to get Petty in the backcourt. That play summed up how the game was going, with Maryland holding all the momentum and Ohio State playing disjointed basketball. Smikle hit a three to put the game up nine points in the Terps’ favor. With six minutes remaining, it didn’t look like the Buckeyes had anything left, and were playing frustrated.
When it looked like the Buckeyes were without a spark, Ohio State went on a six-point run to get the game back within a possession. They did it by forcing two turnovers and grabbing three offensive rebounds. The intensity Ohio State strives to play with every game came out with the game on the line.
Ohio State tied the game with a Greene three and Thierry steal and layup seconds later. However, Kennedy Cambridge suffered a knee injury during the basket, putting a half on the game with 2:59 remaining. The redshirt sophomore was in clear pain and coach McGuff helped get the guard off the court.
Like Sellers though, Kennedy Cambridge returned for Ohio State and neither side at this point wanted to lose with both sides rarely missing in the final 3:32 of the game. Maryland went 3-of-3, with two free throws, while the Buckeyes went five-of-five. With 29.3 seconds left, the game was tied and Ohio State needed a defensive stop to have a chance.
Sellers had that final chance, but missed a turnaround jumper while trying to earn a foul call on Kennedy Cambridge who stopped the shot, sending the game to overtime.
This season, the Buckeyes already had two overtime wins and never in program history did Ohio State have three overtime wins in the same season. Despite history, the Buckeyes started by scoring the first five points of the period through Greene and Thierry.
Maryland responded with the next two baskets, making it a one-point game. McMahon responded with a layup and Smikle tried to run the court to do the same, but Greene fouled the guard in the process. It put Ohio State in a tough position because one more foul for Greene would mean no point guards available on the Buckeye roster.
McMahon kept going, hitting another basket to put the Buckeyes up three with 1:38 remaining. Maryland missed a three on their next possession but got the ball and called a timeout before a diving Greene could earn a jump ball possession. Out of the timeout, Smikle tied it at 87-87 with a three-point basket, forcing McGuff to call a timeout of his own.
Ohio State lost the ball on the inbound but a timely rebound by Petty erased the error. On the subsequent possession, McMahon went up for a basket and missed but got a second opportunity that turned into a fifth foul for Emily Fisher. McMahon hit one free throw to give Ohio State a one-point lead with 33.3 seconds remaining.
Guard Sarah Te-Biasu hit a clutch layup to put MD up one point with 26.5 seconds remaining but Ohio State had the last shot opportunity. Kennedy Cambridge took it, trying to hit a midrange shot that Smikle got a hand on but the refs called a turnover.
Ohio State had to foul and sent Kubek went to the line who missed one. The Buckeyes tied it on layup by Greene but Te-Biasu hit a three with a second remaining to come away with the Maryland upset victory.
Thierry led all Buckeyes with 18 points, while Petty added 12 points and nine rebounds. Maryland’s Smikle led all scorers with 21 points and seven rebounds, with Sellers not far behind with 17 points and seven assists.
With the regular season done, Ohio State heads to Indianapolis for a Friday quarterfinal in the Big Ten Tournament. The Buckeyes locked into the No. 3 seed and a double-bye in the tournament, meaning they’ll face either the No. 11, No. 14 or No. 6 seeded side. The 11 and 14 seeds play on Wednesday to face the six seed on Thursday. Ohio State will face the winner of that game.
The Big Ten will announce the full tournament seeding at the end of Sunday’s games but as of publishing it looks like the No. 11 Nebraska Cornhuskers will play the No. 14 Wisconsin Badgers, with the winner playing the No. 6 Michigan Wolverines.
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In a barn-burner of a game, the Buckeyes came up short, but showed tons of grit.
On the final day of the Big Ten regular season, No. 12 Ohio State women’s basketball traveled to College Park, Maryland to face the No. 19 Maryland Terrapins. The Buckeyes and Terrapins showed why the Big Ten schedule makers put the two teams against each other twice this season. In a chippy, back-and-forth matchup, Ohio State had the chance to win in overtime but came up short, falling to the terrapins 93-90.
Before the game began, the Terrapins honored senior guard and Aurora, Ohio native, Shyanne Sellers. The team leader and fan favorite received a standing ovation, playing in her final game in Maryland. Then, on the court, Sellers gave Maryland fans something to cheer for again, hitting two three-point shots in the first 91 seconds of the game.
It got the Terps going, but the Buckeyes kept the game close with hot shooting from beyond the arc. The Buckeyes missed their first attempted three but hit the next three. It cut an early six-point lead for the home side into a single possession game but then shooting went cold.
The Buckeyes missed their next six shots from the field and settled for five free throws in the final half of the quarter, while Maryland attacked the basket. Maryland had 10 points in the paint and out rebounded Ohio State 12-7 in the first 10 minutes.
To make matters worse for the visiting Buckeyes, foul trouble hampered both point guard Jaloni Cambridge and forward Cotie McMahon with both picking up two in the first quarter and spending time on the bench.
Ohio State regrouped in the second quarter and got off to a hot start with 11 of the first 16 points of the period. Each time Maryland made a basket, the Buckeyes would hit two or three in response and with 3:33 remaining in the half Ohio State took the lead, 33-32. Not part of that lead was Jaloni Cambridge, who picked up her third foul but still had eight points in 14 minutes before leaving for the bench for the remainder of the half.
Head coach Kevin McGuff found the most success in the second quarter with a different lineup than usual, with guards Madison Greene, Kennedy Cambridge and Chance Gray playing with forward Taylor Thierry and center Elsa Lemmilä. The Finnish freshman Lemmilä helped Ohio State out rebound the Terps in the second quarter, 9-8, with Lemmilä grabbing three.
However, McGuff only played McMahon four minutes in the second quarter, despite having two fouls. That’s not an abnormal coaching decision, but it came when Cambridge was playing with two fouls in the quarter.
With 1:50 remaining in the second quarter, Ohio State had a three-point lead that could have been more if not for sloppy passing under the basket. The first came on a fast break, with guard Kennedy Cambridge trying to find Thierry on the other side of the paint, but it went directly to two Maryland players. Within 30 seconds, Gray did the same and Sellers made Ohio State pay the second time with a three-point shot that cut the Buckeyes lead to one point, 38-37.
That's where the game stood at halftime, with the Scarlet and Gray holding a 38-37 lead with Thierry leading the Buckeyes with 11 points. Thierry also had to play the entire 20 minutes of the first half due to foul trouble on the Buckeyes.
The two sides traded baskets to start the second half, but then both sides lost players for different reasons. For Jaloni Cambridge, the guard picked up her fourth foul in a baffling way. Maryland forward Christina Dalce got an offensive rebound and second chance basket. Jaloni Cambridge’s back was to Dalce, didn’t get wrapped up in the player and made no contact with the forward as she went to the basket. The call perplexed McGuff too, pleading for an explanation from the officiating crew.
Then, a minute later, Sellers went up for a layup, tried to get contact and went to the court. The guard needed help up off the floor and was carried to the locker room for medical attention. Sellers already came into the game working through a right knee injury suffered back on Jan. 20 against the Texas Longhorns.
With the two stars out of the game, the matchup didn't lack any excitement. If anything, it got more heated when Maryland guard Kaylene Smikle and Ohio State forward Ajae Petty went for a loose ball. Smikle got the loose ball and threw it off Petty before it went out, giving the Terps the possession. On the inbound, Petty picked up a block but Dalce got a basket and then earned a technical for getting in the face of Petty.
At the 5:08 mark in the third quarter, as Greene took foul shots for the Buckeyes, the crowd erupted to the return of Sellers. Just walking to the bench got the crowd on its feet and Sellers walked directly to the scorer’s table to enter the game.
The guard hit three free throws for the rest of the quarter, but overall the quarter looked like a game where both sides were getting caught up in the emotions of the moment. Shots were rushed, more fouls were called and the two teams kept the game within two possessions, with Maryland leading for nearly nine minutes of the period. McMahon earned a fourth foul for a push and the home side celebrated the call emphatically, with two players signaling an exaggerated push at mid court.
To start the fourth quarter, Jaloni Cambridge hit a layup to give the Buckeyes a one-point lead but then things fell apart for the visitors. Maryland responded with a five-point run and Thierry picked up two more fouls and went to the bench. Ohio State had three starters with four fouls and over eight minutes left in the game, trying to cut into a four-point deficit.
Jaloni Cambridge was the first player to succumb to fouls when the officials called a charge against the freshman. Before and after the foul, Smikle added four points to extend the home lead to six points and McGuff called a timeout to try and stop the Maryland momentum and regroup.
Out of the timeout, McMahon threw the ball away, trying to get Petty in the backcourt. That play summed up how the game was going, with Maryland holding all the momentum and Ohio State playing disjointed basketball. Smikle hit a three to put the game up nine points in the Terps’ favor. With six minutes remaining, it didn’t look like the Buckeyes had anything left, and were playing frustrated.
When it looked like the Buckeyes were without a spark, Ohio State went on a six-point run to get the game back within a possession. They did it by forcing two turnovers and grabbing three offensive rebounds. The intensity Ohio State strives to play with every game came out with the game on the line.
Ohio State tied the game with a Greene three and Thierry steal and layup seconds later. However, Kennedy Cambridge suffered a knee injury during the basket, putting a half on the game with 2:59 remaining. The redshirt sophomore was in clear pain and coach McGuff helped get the guard off the court.
Like Sellers though, Kennedy Cambridge returned for Ohio State and neither side at this point wanted to lose with both sides rarely missing in the final 3:32 of the game. Maryland went 3-of-3, with two free throws, while the Buckeyes went five-of-five. With 29.3 seconds left, the game was tied and Ohio State needed a defensive stop to have a chance.
Sellers had that final chance, but missed a turnaround jumper while trying to earn a foul call on Kennedy Cambridge who stopped the shot, sending the game to overtime.
This season, the Buckeyes already had two overtime wins and never in program history did Ohio State have three overtime wins in the same season. Despite history, the Buckeyes started by scoring the first five points of the period through Greene and Thierry.
Maryland responded with the next two baskets, making it a one-point game. McMahon responded with a layup and Smikle tried to run the court to do the same, but Greene fouled the guard in the process. It put Ohio State in a tough position because one more foul for Greene would mean no point guards available on the Buckeye roster.
McMahon kept going, hitting another basket to put the Buckeyes up three with 1:38 remaining. Maryland missed a three on their next possession but got the ball and called a timeout before a diving Greene could earn a jump ball possession. Out of the timeout, Smikle tied it at 87-87 with a three-point basket, forcing McGuff to call a timeout of his own.
Ohio State lost the ball on the inbound but a timely rebound by Petty erased the error. On the subsequent possession, McMahon went up for a basket and missed but got a second opportunity that turned into a fifth foul for Emily Fisher. McMahon hit one free throw to give Ohio State a one-point lead with 33.3 seconds remaining.
Guard Sarah Te-Biasu hit a clutch layup to put MD up one point with 26.5 seconds remaining but Ohio State had the last shot opportunity. Kennedy Cambridge took it, trying to hit a midrange shot that Smikle got a hand on but the refs called a turnover.
Ohio State had to foul and sent Kubek went to the line who missed one. The Buckeyes tied it on layup by Greene but Te-Biasu hit a three with a second remaining to come away with the Maryland upset victory.
Thierry led all Buckeyes with 18 points, while Petty added 12 points and nine rebounds. Maryland’s Smikle led all scorers with 21 points and seven rebounds, with Sellers not far behind with 17 points and seven assists.
What’s Next
With the regular season done, Ohio State heads to Indianapolis for a Friday quarterfinal in the Big Ten Tournament. The Buckeyes locked into the No. 3 seed and a double-bye in the tournament, meaning they’ll face either the No. 11, No. 14 or No. 6 seeded side. The 11 and 14 seeds play on Wednesday to face the six seed on Thursday. Ohio State will face the winner of that game.
The Big Ten will announce the full tournament seeding at the end of Sunday’s games but as of publishing it looks like the No. 11 Nebraska Cornhuskers will play the No. 14 Wisconsin Badgers, with the winner playing the No. 6 Michigan Wolverines.
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