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LGHL No. 2 Ohio State falls to No. 10 Iowa 83-72 for first loss of season
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No. 2 Ohio State falls to No. 10 Iowa 83-72 for first loss of season
1ThomasCostello via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
Ben Cole - Land-Grant Holy Land
In front of a sellout crowd, the Buckeyes were done in by Hawkeye stars Caitlin Clark and Monika Czinano.
There are big games and there are season-defining games. Monday night had all the makings of the latter when the No. 10 Iowa Hawkeyes came to Columbus, Ohio to face the No. 2 Ohio State Buckeyes.
For all the excitement leading up to the game, Ohio State couldn’t capitalize in front of their home crowd, losing to the Hawkeyes 83-72.
Before the sold-out crowd could be unleashed, both teams had to adjust to varying levels. For the Buckeyes, it was another game without guard Jacy Sheldon, still out with a foot injury. It was no surprise for Ohio State who has been without the guard since Nov. 30 in a trip to the Louisville Cardinals.
Iowa was down senior forward McKenna Warnock. After starting all 19 games with the same starting five, Warnock missed the game due to a rib cage injury sustained Wednesday in the Hawkeyes' 84-81 overtime win over the Michigan State Spartans.
The game got underway with the Scarlet & Gray winning the tip and getting going on offense first.
Ohio State scored the first two baskets of the game, starting with an energy play by forward Cotie McMahon. The freshman attacked the basket and missed her first layup but stuck with the play and kept the possession with the Buckeyes for their first points of the game.
The Buckeyes extended that lead to four points, but the Hawkeyes hit two early threes to keep the game within one possession. Then Iowa center Monika Czinano hit the ground running.
With the Scarlet and Gray putting McMahon and guard/forward Taylor Thierry on Iowa superstar guard Caitlin Clark, it left Czinano in single coverage and Clark has a knack for finding an open teammate.
Clark had five assists and Czinano led the Hawkeyes with 10 points in the first quarter. Even so, the Buckeyes stayed with the Hawkeyes.
Coach McGuff’s side did it by stretching the floor, shooting from deep and inside the paint, and keeping the visiting defense guessing. Forwards Mikulášiková and McMahon led the way for Ohio State with eight and seven points, but it was a three by guard Taylor Mikesell that got the crowd on their feet.
After Clark missed a shot on Iowa’s final offensive possession of the quarter, Mikesell held the ball for the final shot, nailing a three at the buzzer, putting Ohio State up 24-23.
Into the second quarter, the Buckeyes extended their small lead right away with an athletic layup by McMahon, but then Iowa went on a run, fueled by the likely Player of the Year finalist Clark.
Following a quiet shooting quarter by Clark, the Iowan heated up. Iowa went on an 11-point run, capped off by a three by Clark that was a solid seven feet back from the three-point line. Clark had seven of the 11 points in the run.
Iowa stretched the lead to nine, but Thierry and McMahon did what they could offensively to cut into the lead. Ohio State’s underclassmen starters scored all the points in the second quarter for the Scarlet & Gray, mainly through athleticism near the basket. Spinning and leaping over the visiting Hawkeyes.
Ohio State did a better job with one-on-one defending on Clark, holding her to no points for the rest of the first half, but Clark isn’t stopped. She just shifts to another part of her game.
The guard grabbed four more assists in the second quarter, pushing her stat line in the first quarter to 12 points, nine assists, and five rebounds. To end the half, it was Czinano again. With the pressure on Clark, Czinano received a pass over the head of Mikulášiková and sunk a layup at the buzzer to push the lead back up to nine, leading 43-34 with one half to go.
Coming out for the second half, the Scarlet & Gray came into the game with more intensity but it was matched by Iowa. McMahon and Thierry continued to be the only Buckeyes to score a basket, with no one else scoring since the last shot of the first quarter.
Halfway through the quarter, the Buckeyes matched their second-quarter points total with 10, with six coming from the free throw line. The Hawkeyes however kept their momentum from the first half intact.
Clark scored seven points to start the half and Iowa went ahead 12 points, requiring another needed comeback for Ohio State. However, this time came against a veteran team, unlike some of the Buckeyes’ other deficit-cutting wins.
Then, almost like clockwork, the lead was trimmed away by Ohio State.
The Buckeyes held Iowa to no points for the final 5:11 of the quarter and went on a 10-point run. It started with forward Eboni Walker who entered the game as a defensive substitute for Mikulášiková and stayed in for important second-half minutes.
Unfortunately for Ohio State, it also came with a problem: Thierry picking up fouls. McGuff kept the sophomore in the game after earning her third early in the second half, but after hitting a contested layup, Thierry picked up her fourth on the subsequent defensive press, requiring a trip to the bench.
In her place was guard Emma Shumate who made her presence known on defense. The transfer from Newark, Ohio had a big block and one free throw, plus playing part in the strong defensive run that ended the third quarter for the Buckeyes.
To start the fourth, Ohio State was down just two points, cutting their 12-point deficit down to a single possession in the third quarter. Iowa guard Molly Davis, who started for Warnock, hit a three to start the quarter, and it began another stretch for Iowa.
Within the first two and a half minutes of the final quarter, the Hawkeyes outscored the Buckeyes 8-3, including another deep three by Clark and a layup in the paint by freshman substitute forward Hannah Stuelke, assisted by Clark.
Ohio State would need to come out of the timeout that followed with the same energy that they had in the second half of the third quarter if they wanted a chance to cut away at their seven-point deficit.
Harris got it going with a three, but Clark answered back with a midrange make of her own. It seemed that the Hawkeyes had an answer for what the Buckeyes threw at them. Iowa brought Czinano back in with four fouls, the center who Ohio State had no answer for in the game, and the Hawkeyes pushed their lead up to eight with four minutes remaining.
Ohio State continued to fight, but couldn’t stop the Hawkeyes' potent offense, losing 83-72.
There’s one thing for certain, the loss won’t be blamed on Thierry and McMahon. The two underclassmen scored 20 and 21 points respectively, each within reach of a double-double. The usual scoring suspects and less than 15% shooting from three and under 40% overall did them in.
Entering the game. an individual record was in Mikesell’s sights. The Northeast Ohio native needed 14 points to hit 2,000 in her NCAA career. After hitting five in the first quarter, Mikesell went cold, going 1-for-6 in the second and third quarters.
A normal game for the guard makes the game more manageable for the Buckeyes, but the Hawkeyes didn’t give Mikesell much space to shoot or breathe in the game. The guard ended the game with 12 points.
After the first quarter, Ohio State shared a tribute video before having former All-American guard Kelsey Mitchell receive a sellout ovation from the crowd. It was the first time the now WNBA guard for the Indiana Fever came back to the Schottenstein Center.
Her visit was not only to be honored but to help bridge the gap between NCAA and WNBA fandom, encouraging Buckeye fans to share that same excitement for the game at the professional women’s level.
The road doesn’t get much easier for the Buckeyes with the Hawkeyes heading back to Iowa. On Thursday, the Scarlet and Gray play their second-straight game against a top-10 opponent. This time, it’s a trip to Bloomington, Indiana for a matchup against the No. 6 Indiana Hoosiers.
After Thursday, conference play continues back in Columbus, with the Purdue Boilermakers coming to Ohio on Sunday for a 1 p.m. ET tip.
Continue reading...
1ThomasCostello via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
Ben Cole - Land-Grant Holy Land
In front of a sellout crowd, the Buckeyes were done in by Hawkeye stars Caitlin Clark and Monika Czinano.
There are big games and there are season-defining games. Monday night had all the makings of the latter when the No. 10 Iowa Hawkeyes came to Columbus, Ohio to face the No. 2 Ohio State Buckeyes.
For all the excitement leading up to the game, Ohio State couldn’t capitalize in front of their home crowd, losing to the Hawkeyes 83-72.
Before the sold-out crowd could be unleashed, both teams had to adjust to varying levels. For the Buckeyes, it was another game without guard Jacy Sheldon, still out with a foot injury. It was no surprise for Ohio State who has been without the guard since Nov. 30 in a trip to the Louisville Cardinals.
Iowa was down senior forward McKenna Warnock. After starting all 19 games with the same starting five, Warnock missed the game due to a rib cage injury sustained Wednesday in the Hawkeyes' 84-81 overtime win over the Michigan State Spartans.
The game got underway with the Scarlet & Gray winning the tip and getting going on offense first.
Ohio State scored the first two baskets of the game, starting with an energy play by forward Cotie McMahon. The freshman attacked the basket and missed her first layup but stuck with the play and kept the possession with the Buckeyes for their first points of the game.
The Buckeyes extended that lead to four points, but the Hawkeyes hit two early threes to keep the game within one possession. Then Iowa center Monika Czinano hit the ground running.
With the Scarlet and Gray putting McMahon and guard/forward Taylor Thierry on Iowa superstar guard Caitlin Clark, it left Czinano in single coverage and Clark has a knack for finding an open teammate.
Clark had five assists and Czinano led the Hawkeyes with 10 points in the first quarter. Even so, the Buckeyes stayed with the Hawkeyes.
Coach McGuff’s side did it by stretching the floor, shooting from deep and inside the paint, and keeping the visiting defense guessing. Forwards Mikulášiková and McMahon led the way for Ohio State with eight and seven points, but it was a three by guard Taylor Mikesell that got the crowd on their feet.
After Clark missed a shot on Iowa’s final offensive possession of the quarter, Mikesell held the ball for the final shot, nailing a three at the buzzer, putting Ohio State up 24-23.
Into the second quarter, the Buckeyes extended their small lead right away with an athletic layup by McMahon, but then Iowa went on a run, fueled by the likely Player of the Year finalist Clark.
Following a quiet shooting quarter by Clark, the Iowan heated up. Iowa went on an 11-point run, capped off by a three by Clark that was a solid seven feet back from the three-point line. Clark had seven of the 11 points in the run.
Iowa stretched the lead to nine, but Thierry and McMahon did what they could offensively to cut into the lead. Ohio State’s underclassmen starters scored all the points in the second quarter for the Scarlet & Gray, mainly through athleticism near the basket. Spinning and leaping over the visiting Hawkeyes.
Ohio State did a better job with one-on-one defending on Clark, holding her to no points for the rest of the first half, but Clark isn’t stopped. She just shifts to another part of her game.
The guard grabbed four more assists in the second quarter, pushing her stat line in the first quarter to 12 points, nine assists, and five rebounds. To end the half, it was Czinano again. With the pressure on Clark, Czinano received a pass over the head of Mikulášiková and sunk a layup at the buzzer to push the lead back up to nine, leading 43-34 with one half to go.
Coming out for the second half, the Scarlet & Gray came into the game with more intensity but it was matched by Iowa. McMahon and Thierry continued to be the only Buckeyes to score a basket, with no one else scoring since the last shot of the first quarter.
Halfway through the quarter, the Buckeyes matched their second-quarter points total with 10, with six coming from the free throw line. The Hawkeyes however kept their momentum from the first half intact.
Clark scored seven points to start the half and Iowa went ahead 12 points, requiring another needed comeback for Ohio State. However, this time came against a veteran team, unlike some of the Buckeyes’ other deficit-cutting wins.
Then, almost like clockwork, the lead was trimmed away by Ohio State.
The Buckeyes held Iowa to no points for the final 5:11 of the quarter and went on a 10-point run. It started with forward Eboni Walker who entered the game as a defensive substitute for Mikulášiková and stayed in for important second-half minutes.
Unfortunately for Ohio State, it also came with a problem: Thierry picking up fouls. McGuff kept the sophomore in the game after earning her third early in the second half, but after hitting a contested layup, Thierry picked up her fourth on the subsequent defensive press, requiring a trip to the bench.
In her place was guard Emma Shumate who made her presence known on defense. The transfer from Newark, Ohio had a big block and one free throw, plus playing part in the strong defensive run that ended the third quarter for the Buckeyes.
To start the fourth, Ohio State was down just two points, cutting their 12-point deficit down to a single possession in the third quarter. Iowa guard Molly Davis, who started for Warnock, hit a three to start the quarter, and it began another stretch for Iowa.
Within the first two and a half minutes of the final quarter, the Hawkeyes outscored the Buckeyes 8-3, including another deep three by Clark and a layup in the paint by freshman substitute forward Hannah Stuelke, assisted by Clark.
Ohio State would need to come out of the timeout that followed with the same energy that they had in the second half of the third quarter if they wanted a chance to cut away at their seven-point deficit.
Harris got it going with a three, but Clark answered back with a midrange make of her own. It seemed that the Hawkeyes had an answer for what the Buckeyes threw at them. Iowa brought Czinano back in with four fouls, the center who Ohio State had no answer for in the game, and the Hawkeyes pushed their lead up to eight with four minutes remaining.
Ohio State continued to fight, but couldn’t stop the Hawkeyes' potent offense, losing 83-72.
There’s one thing for certain, the loss won’t be blamed on Thierry and McMahon. The two underclassmen scored 20 and 21 points respectively, each within reach of a double-double. The usual scoring suspects and less than 15% shooting from three and under 40% overall did them in.
Mikesell Doesn’t hit 2,000
Entering the game. an individual record was in Mikesell’s sights. The Northeast Ohio native needed 14 points to hit 2,000 in her NCAA career. After hitting five in the first quarter, Mikesell went cold, going 1-for-6 in the second and third quarters.
A normal game for the guard makes the game more manageable for the Buckeyes, but the Hawkeyes didn’t give Mikesell much space to shoot or breathe in the game. The guard ended the game with 12 points.
Honoring Kelsey Mitchell
After the first quarter, Ohio State shared a tribute video before having former All-American guard Kelsey Mitchell receive a sellout ovation from the crowd. It was the first time the now WNBA guard for the Indiana Fever came back to the Schottenstein Center.
Her visit was not only to be honored but to help bridge the gap between NCAA and WNBA fandom, encouraging Buckeye fans to share that same excitement for the game at the professional women’s level.
What’s Next
The road doesn’t get much easier for the Buckeyes with the Hawkeyes heading back to Iowa. On Thursday, the Scarlet and Gray play their second-straight game against a top-10 opponent. This time, it’s a trip to Bloomington, Indiana for a matchup against the No. 6 Indiana Hoosiers.
After Thursday, conference play continues back in Columbus, with the Purdue Boilermakers coming to Ohio on Sunday for a 1 p.m. ET tip.
Continue reading...
LGHL You’re Nuts: Creating a basketball starting five from the OSU football team
- News
- 0 Replies
You’re Nuts: Creating a basketball starting five from the OSU football team
Josh Dooley via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
Photo by Rich von Biberstein/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
As we’re in the heart of college hoops season, which five players from the football team would you want on your hardwood squad?
Everybody knows that one of the best parts of being a sports fan is debating and dissecting the most (and least) important questions in the sporting world with your friends. So, we’re bringing that to the pages of LGHL with our favorite head-to-head column: You’re Nuts.
In You’re Nuts, two LGHL staff members will take differing sides of one question and argue their opinions passionately. Then, in the end, it’s up to you to determine who’s right and who’s nuts.
This week’s topic: Creating a basketball starting five from the OSU football team.
In July of 2022, while speaking at Big Ten Media Days, C.J. Stroud proudly proclaimed that he owned the best jump shot of any player on Ohio State’s football team. The two-time Heisman finalist and projected top-5 pick in this year’s NFL Draft then doubled down on his skills – along with those of his teammates – by suggesting that a handful of OSU football players could actually defeat Chris Holtmann’s basketball team in a head-to-head matchup.
Stroud’s comments drew the (faux?) ire of Zed Key, Eugene Brown III, and others on social media, but their discourse seemed to be your average, run-of-the-mill, competitive trash talk. Stroud made his comments nearly six months ago, and they likely would have stayed in the past if January basketball ceased to exist. Buckeye basketball, to be specific.
But unfortunately, Holtmann’s squad recently went on a five-game bender, dropping all five contests and sinking toward the bottom of the Big Ten. The shine vanished from a team that was once 10-3, with nothing but close losses to really good teams. So we found ourselves asking: Could Stroud really lace ‘em up in The Schott? Does he have basketball eligibility before the draft?
The obvious answer to both questions is no. And before the Holt Hive lights their torches, I must point out that we (I think I speak for Gene) do not actually believe that Ryan Day’s football players would better represent the Scarlet and Gray on the basketball court... But what if? What would the starting five be, if players were to crossover from the gridiron to the hardwood?
Point guard: Lincoln Kienholz
Every basketball teams needs a distributor, and who fits said need better than a quarterback? I could have gone Kyle McCord or Devin Brown here, but have you seen Kienholz dunk!? This kid is electric on the court, leading me to believe that he could indeed run the show for my football starting five.
Shooting guard: Julian Fleming
If you have followed my work on LGHL, you know that I am the founding father of the Julian Fleming Fan Club. If you are not familiar with my work, allow me to introduce myself as the founding father of the Julian Fleming Fan Club. Gene had to have known this was coming.
But what he may not know – or remember – is that Fleming was also a tremendous high school hooper. The now-veteran wideout had crazy hops and was a 20 ppg scorer in the state of Pennsylvania. He will fit in quite nicely next to Kienholz.
Small forward: Sonny Styles
The soon-to-be breakout safety had a handful of D1 basketball offers and won a state title with Pickerington (OH) shortly before enrolling early at Ohio State. He was teammates with Devin Royal, a future Buckeye and member of Holtmann’s loaded 2023 recruiting class. So the ties run deep. Styles had a bit of Draymond Green in his game, contributing stats across the board. He will be my lockdown defender and rebounder, while catching the occasional lob and hyping up the crowd with a thunderous dunk.
Power forward: Cade Stover
Big, strong, tough... My team needs an enforcer, and OSU’s tight end would fit the bill. But Stover was more than just a banger on the court. He was an all-state performer and put up double-doubles with regularity. Farmer Gronk gives me a skilled frontcourt player to go with Styles, and frankly, I don’t think other teams would want this smoke if things became heated.
Center: J.T. Tuimoloau
Another player who could have pursued a different sport in Columbus, Tuimoloau was a legit basketball prospect coming out of high school. He held offers from Oregon and Washington, in addition to Ohio State (real, or Holtmann doing favors?), before choosing to focus exclusively on football. But I bet the big man can still hoop.
Although Tuimoloau played multiple positions in HS, I am sticking him at center. At 6-foot-4, 270 pounds, how could I not? He would never be the tallest player on the court, but I bet he would consistently be the strongest.
A lethal combination of skill and size, my squad is a bunch of game-wreckers. I would legitimately take them over dozens of starting fives currently playing college basketball... but not Holtmann’s. I believe the salmon-suited coach will get his guys rolling once again. So this was fun, but it will be more fun when the actual Buckeye roundballers get back to chalking up dubs.
I echo Josh’s sentiment that, while I admire C.J. Stroud’s confidence, I dont think the football team could beat the basketball in a regulation game. Could they maybe pick up a dub in a 5-on-5 pickup game if the shots are falling? Sure, anything could happen! At the end of the day these are all D1 athletes, mind you. But I maintain the thought that for as poorly as the Buckeyes’ mens hoops team has performed as of late, replacing the roster with players from the football team is likely not the best option.
Still, it’s fun to try and put a team together, so let’s do it.
Point Guard: C.J. Stroud
His quote that begin re-circulating from last year is basically the whole reason for us doing this exercise, and if Josh is going to let me have him, then I'll certainly take the two-time Heisman finalist on my team. After all, Stroud credits his approach to playing quarterback to his experience on the basketball court, as hoops was his first love. The quarterback position and the point guard position seem to go hand-in-hand, and the skills likely translate pretty well as both function as the distributors on the offensive end.
Plus, he wasn't lying — that jumper is silky.
Shooting Guard: Xavier Johnson
Your shooting guard needs to be able to do a little bit of everything, and who knows playing that style better than the X-man. Before he became a walk-on-turned-scholarship do-it-all guy for the Ohio State football team, he was tearing it up for Summit Country Day High School down in Cincinnati. A four-year starter in basketball, Johnson received D1 scholarship offers in both football and basketball. Ill gladly take the slasher at my two-guard spot.
Small Forward: Josh Proctor
I want an athletic, vocal leader right in the middle of my starting lineup, and Proctor fits that bill. When he wasn’t functioning as one of the top players on the football team Owasso High School in Oklahoma, he was one of the team’s leading scorers. As his head coach describes, Proctor is a guy that brought a lot of fire to the floor — something we’ve seen as well in his time at Ohio State with his hard-hitting style of play at the safety spot.
Power Forward: Marvin Harrison Jr.
This is a bit of a luxury pick for me. To my knowledge, Harrison Jr. didn’t play much basketball in high school. Despite loving the game, the stud receiver realized early on that football was his true calling — much like his father. Still, it is far too tantalizing to not take the guy who is 6-foot-4 and moves like a gazelle. I’m sure he can figure out a way to turn his smooth route-running skills into finding a lane to the basket. He’s a freak athlete, and so if he can shoot the ball even a little bit, he will be an incredibly valuable member of my hardwood team.
Center: Dawand Jones
Even if Dawand Jones had never picked up a basketball in his life, I still wouldn’t taken him as my center as a 6-foot-8, 359-pound hulking presence of a man. Luckily for me, that isn’t the case, as in addition to his size, Jones was a force of nature on the court. As a junior at Ben Davis High School in Indiana, Jones averaged 18.2 points and 9.2 rebounds per game. His skills as a basketball player are likely what allowed him to translate his size to the football field, as his footwork on the court carried over to his footwork as an offensive lineman.
I think overall this team would fare pretty darn well. All of them outside of Harrison Jr. have prior experience as high-end basketball players at the high school level, and this group features really good size across the board. I’m not sure my five could take down the actual starting five for the Buckeyes’ mens hoops team, but in a pickup setting with no fouls they might be able to hold their own.
They would definitely run laps around teams in intramurals at the RPAC, I know that for sure.
Continue reading...
Josh Dooley via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
Photo by Rich von Biberstein/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
As we’re in the heart of college hoops season, which five players from the football team would you want on your hardwood squad?
Everybody knows that one of the best parts of being a sports fan is debating and dissecting the most (and least) important questions in the sporting world with your friends. So, we’re bringing that to the pages of LGHL with our favorite head-to-head column: You’re Nuts.
In You’re Nuts, two LGHL staff members will take differing sides of one question and argue their opinions passionately. Then, in the end, it’s up to you to determine who’s right and who’s nuts.
This week’s topic: Creating a basketball starting five from the OSU football team.
Josh’s Take
In July of 2022, while speaking at Big Ten Media Days, C.J. Stroud proudly proclaimed that he owned the best jump shot of any player on Ohio State’s football team. The two-time Heisman finalist and projected top-5 pick in this year’s NFL Draft then doubled down on his skills – along with those of his teammates – by suggesting that a handful of OSU football players could actually defeat Chris Holtmann’s basketball team in a head-to-head matchup.
Stroud’s comments drew the (faux?) ire of Zed Key, Eugene Brown III, and others on social media, but their discourse seemed to be your average, run-of-the-mill, competitive trash talk. Stroud made his comments nearly six months ago, and they likely would have stayed in the past if January basketball ceased to exist. Buckeye basketball, to be specific.
But unfortunately, Holtmann’s squad recently went on a five-game bender, dropping all five contests and sinking toward the bottom of the Big Ten. The shine vanished from a team that was once 10-3, with nothing but close losses to really good teams. So we found ourselves asking: Could Stroud really lace ‘em up in The Schott? Does he have basketball eligibility before the draft?
The obvious answer to both questions is no. And before the Holt Hive lights their torches, I must point out that we (I think I speak for Gene) do not actually believe that Ryan Day’s football players would better represent the Scarlet and Gray on the basketball court... But what if? What would the starting five be, if players were to crossover from the gridiron to the hardwood?
Point guard: Lincoln Kienholz
Every basketball teams needs a distributor, and who fits said need better than a quarterback? I could have gone Kyle McCord or Devin Brown here, but have you seen Kienholz dunk!? This kid is electric on the court, leading me to believe that he could indeed run the show for my football starting five.
Freak athlete Lincoln Kienholz (2023) |6-3 G| Pierre @LincolnKienholz
Showing off his dunking prowess in ATLANTA, GA @hoopseen for @sdattack pic.twitter.com/m1oqR4oct2
— Prep Hoops Dakotas (@PrepHoopsDakota) July 13, 2021
Shooting guard: Julian Fleming
If you have followed my work on LGHL, you know that I am the founding father of the Julian Fleming Fan Club. If you are not familiar with my work, allow me to introduce myself as the founding father of the Julian Fleming Fan Club. Gene had to have known this was coming.
But what he may not know – or remember – is that Fleming was also a tremendous high school hooper. The now-veteran wideout had crazy hops and was a 20 ppg scorer in the state of Pennsylvania. He will fit in quite nicely next to Kienholz.
Small forward: Sonny Styles
The soon-to-be breakout safety had a handful of D1 basketball offers and won a state title with Pickerington (OH) shortly before enrolling early at Ohio State. He was teammates with Devin Royal, a future Buckeye and member of Holtmann’s loaded 2023 recruiting class. So the ties run deep. Styles had a bit of Draymond Green in his game, contributing stats across the board. He will be my lockdown defender and rebounder, while catching the occasional lob and hyping up the crowd with a thunderous dunk.
Power forward: Cade Stover
Big, strong, tough... My team needs an enforcer, and OSU’s tight end would fit the bill. But Stover was more than just a banger on the court. He was an all-state performer and put up double-doubles with regularity. Farmer Gronk gives me a skilled frontcourt player to go with Styles, and frankly, I don’t think other teams would want this smoke if things became heated.
Center: J.T. Tuimoloau
Another player who could have pursued a different sport in Columbus, Tuimoloau was a legit basketball prospect coming out of high school. He held offers from Oregon and Washington, in addition to Ohio State (real, or Holtmann doing favors?), before choosing to focus exclusively on football. But I bet the big man can still hoop.
Although Tuimoloau played multiple positions in HS, I am sticking him at center. At 6-foot-4, 270 pounds, how could I not? He would never be the tallest player on the court, but I bet he would consistently be the strongest.
A lethal combination of skill and size, my squad is a bunch of game-wreckers. I would legitimately take them over dozens of starting fives currently playing college basketball... but not Holtmann’s. I believe the salmon-suited coach will get his guys rolling once again. So this was fun, but it will be more fun when the actual Buckeye roundballers get back to chalking up dubs.
Gene’s Take
I echo Josh’s sentiment that, while I admire C.J. Stroud’s confidence, I dont think the football team could beat the basketball in a regulation game. Could they maybe pick up a dub in a 5-on-5 pickup game if the shots are falling? Sure, anything could happen! At the end of the day these are all D1 athletes, mind you. But I maintain the thought that for as poorly as the Buckeyes’ mens hoops team has performed as of late, replacing the roster with players from the football team is likely not the best option.
Still, it’s fun to try and put a team together, so let’s do it.
Point Guard: C.J. Stroud
His quote that begin re-circulating from last year is basically the whole reason for us doing this exercise, and if Josh is going to let me have him, then I'll certainly take the two-time Heisman finalist on my team. After all, Stroud credits his approach to playing quarterback to his experience on the basketball court, as hoops was his first love. The quarterback position and the point guard position seem to go hand-in-hand, and the skills likely translate pretty well as both function as the distributors on the offensive end.
Plus, he wasn't lying — that jumper is silky.
Shooting Guard: Xavier Johnson
Your shooting guard needs to be able to do a little bit of everything, and who knows playing that style better than the X-man. Before he became a walk-on-turned-scholarship do-it-all guy for the Ohio State football team, he was tearing it up for Summit Country Day High School down in Cincinnati. A four-year starter in basketball, Johnson received D1 scholarship offers in both football and basketball. Ill gladly take the slasher at my two-guard spot.
Small Forward: Josh Proctor
I want an athletic, vocal leader right in the middle of my starting lineup, and Proctor fits that bill. When he wasn’t functioning as one of the top players on the football team Owasso High School in Oklahoma, he was one of the team’s leading scorers. As his head coach describes, Proctor is a guy that brought a lot of fire to the floor — something we’ve seen as well in his time at Ohio State with his hard-hitting style of play at the safety spot.
Power Forward: Marvin Harrison Jr.
This is a bit of a luxury pick for me. To my knowledge, Harrison Jr. didn’t play much basketball in high school. Despite loving the game, the stud receiver realized early on that football was his true calling — much like his father. Still, it is far too tantalizing to not take the guy who is 6-foot-4 and moves like a gazelle. I’m sure he can figure out a way to turn his smooth route-running skills into finding a lane to the basket. He’s a freak athlete, and so if he can shoot the ball even a little bit, he will be an incredibly valuable member of my hardwood team.
Center: Dawand Jones
Even if Dawand Jones had never picked up a basketball in his life, I still wouldn’t taken him as my center as a 6-foot-8, 359-pound hulking presence of a man. Luckily for me, that isn’t the case, as in addition to his size, Jones was a force of nature on the court. As a junior at Ben Davis High School in Indiana, Jones averaged 18.2 points and 9.2 rebounds per game. His skills as a basketball player are likely what allowed him to translate his size to the football field, as his footwork on the court carried over to his footwork as an offensive lineman.
I think overall this team would fare pretty darn well. All of them outside of Harrison Jr. have prior experience as high-end basketball players at the high school level, and this group features really good size across the board. I’m not sure my five could take down the actual starting five for the Buckeyes’ mens hoops team, but in a pickup setting with no fouls they might be able to hold their own.
They would definitely run laps around teams in intramurals at the RPAC, I know that for sure.
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LGHL I-70 Football Podcast: 2022 season recap, examining Tier I teams
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I-70 Football Podcast: 2022 season recap, examining Tier I teams
JordanW330 via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
Adam Cairns/Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK
In this episode, Jordan and Dante begin their 2022 season review with the Tier I programs.
Welcome to a new episode of Land-Grant Holy Land’s I-70 podcast. On this show, we talk about all things Big Ten football and basketball. After every week of action, we will get you caught up on all the conference’s games and look ahead at the matchups, storylines, and players that you should be paying attention to in the next week. My name is Jordan Williams, and I am joined by my co-host Dante Morgan.
Listen to the episode and subscribe:
Subscribe: RSS | Apple | Spotify | Stitcher | Google Podcasts | iHeart Radio
The NFL playoffs are in full swing! Dante and Jordan take a moment to discuss this weekend’s games before getting into the Big Ten season recap. Daniel Jones and the New York Giants had a great season but they ran into the buzzsaw known as the Philadelphia Eagles. Patrick Mahomes led the Chiefs past the Jaguars and Trevor Lawerence but suffered a high ankle sprain in the process. That could have lasting effects, which could mean bad news with Joe Burrow and the Bengals coming into town next week.
It’s the offseason and we’re a couple of weeks removed from the season so now is the perfect time to review the season and re-rank teams into our tiered system. This week we start with tier one which includes Michigan, Ohio State, and Penn State. Tier one was the easiest tier to complete, there were only three teams in the conference who won more than ten games and their only losses were to each other. Michigan finished the season 9-0 in conference beating Penn State and Ohio State and winning the Big Ten for the second season in a row. Ohio State suffered another loss to Michigan but made the playoffs coming within a missed field goal of beating national champion Georgia Bulldogs.
Penn State won ten games behind a resurgent run game led by freshman running backs Nick Singleton and Kaytron Allen. In quarterback Sean Clifford’s last season of eligibility, the Nittany Lions couldn’t reach the mountaintop but they bounced back from a couple of down seasons setting the foundation for the 2023 season. These three teams were the class of the conference separating themselves from the rest of their peers. 2022 was not a banner year for the conference as a whole but between these three teams, there were two college football playoff participants and the winner of the Rose Bowl. The top of the conference is as strong as its ever been.
Connect with us on Twitter:
Jordan: @JordanW330
Dante: @DanteM10216
Continue reading...
JordanW330 via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
Adam Cairns/Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK
In this episode, Jordan and Dante begin their 2022 season review with the Tier I programs.
Welcome to a new episode of Land-Grant Holy Land’s I-70 podcast. On this show, we talk about all things Big Ten football and basketball. After every week of action, we will get you caught up on all the conference’s games and look ahead at the matchups, storylines, and players that you should be paying attention to in the next week. My name is Jordan Williams, and I am joined by my co-host Dante Morgan.
Listen to the episode and subscribe:
Subscribe: RSS | Apple | Spotify | Stitcher | Google Podcasts | iHeart Radio
The NFL playoffs are in full swing! Dante and Jordan take a moment to discuss this weekend’s games before getting into the Big Ten season recap. Daniel Jones and the New York Giants had a great season but they ran into the buzzsaw known as the Philadelphia Eagles. Patrick Mahomes led the Chiefs past the Jaguars and Trevor Lawerence but suffered a high ankle sprain in the process. That could have lasting effects, which could mean bad news with Joe Burrow and the Bengals coming into town next week.
It’s the offseason and we’re a couple of weeks removed from the season so now is the perfect time to review the season and re-rank teams into our tiered system. This week we start with tier one which includes Michigan, Ohio State, and Penn State. Tier one was the easiest tier to complete, there were only three teams in the conference who won more than ten games and their only losses were to each other. Michigan finished the season 9-0 in conference beating Penn State and Ohio State and winning the Big Ten for the second season in a row. Ohio State suffered another loss to Michigan but made the playoffs coming within a missed field goal of beating national champion Georgia Bulldogs.
Penn State won ten games behind a resurgent run game led by freshman running backs Nick Singleton and Kaytron Allen. In quarterback Sean Clifford’s last season of eligibility, the Nittany Lions couldn’t reach the mountaintop but they bounced back from a couple of down seasons setting the foundation for the 2023 season. These three teams were the class of the conference separating themselves from the rest of their peers. 2022 was not a banner year for the conference as a whole but between these three teams, there were two college football playoff participants and the winner of the Rose Bowl. The top of the conference is as strong as its ever been.
Connect with us on Twitter:
Jordan: @JordanW330
Dante: @DanteM10216
Continue reading...
