SEREbuckeye said:

Interesting.

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What an abomination.

‘Ball Hell Broke Loose: Championship Week chaos abounded
JamiJurich via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here


Photo by Ron Jenkins/Getty Images

The conference championships have been decided, and the Buckeyes aren’t out yet

The Buckeyes’ playoff fate hung in the balance heading into this weekend coming off last week’s loss to Michigan. But as it turns out, enough chaos unfolded in the last 72 hours that not only did our beloved Bucks make the playoffs as the No. 4 seed, but there is the possibility of vengeance against TTUN in the biggest game of the year.

Stop to consider – what if The Game were the National Championship game? (I think I personally deserve this as the Natty is on my birthday mere blocks from my apartment, so I will need OSU to do me a favor and beat Georgia in the first round).

How did we go from outside looking in to back on the inside without setting foot on the field? Let’s unpack this week’s conference championships.


Utah v. USC — Pac-12 Championship Game

Buckeye fans like myself were face first in a bowl of guac thinking our playoff hopes were all but over. There was no way USC would lose to Utah AGAIN right? RIGHT?

Utah decided to throw us a bone and curb stomp the Trojans, 47-24, to become the Pac-12 Champs. USC took an early 17-3 lead, and then Utah’s defense found its groove, rattling the Trojans and tying it up before heading into the half. By the end of the game, Caleb Williams was basically hobbling around after being smacked around for two quarters. He’s not a Heisman contender for nothing though – he was still in it to win it. But USC as a whole never really got its mojo back after the half, and Utah’s hunger proved too much.

I do still think Williams will win the Heisman, but maybe take my predictions with a grain of salt, because I would have predicted that USC would be out for blood on Friday, both to avenge their Oct. 15 loss to the Utes and to seal a playoff berth. Instead, they cracked the door for the Buckeyes.


Kansas State v. TCU — Big-12 Championship Game

The chaos continued, and the Buckeyes’ playoff door opened wider when the Horned Frogs – who went into this game undefeated – lost in overtime to Kansas State, 31-28. That’s right, the three-loss Wildcats handed the Horned Frogs their only loss of the season.

It came down to inches — six to be exact. That’s how short TCU fell in its attempt to punch in an overtime touchdown. To be honest, it’s remarkable that such a small margin made the difference when TCU had been basically tossed down a well earlier in the game. Even with the loss, these Horned Frogs proved they deserve to be in the playoffs if for no other reason than they clawed their way out of that well to tie it up. Max Duggan rallied his team when it wasn’t looking good, and even though they didn’t come away with the win, it made it hard to ignore this team.

And knowing what we know now, that this TCU team is Michigan’s next opponent, aren’t we all Horned Frogs fans at the moment?


Clemson v. North Carolina — ACC Championship

This game was boring. As expected, Clemson won, 39-10. They are still not a playoff-caliber team, especially after losing to South Carolina to pick up their second loss of the year. Next.


LSU v. Georgia – SEC Championship

Oh sweet LSU. I was rooting for you. We were all rooting for you. And you really did try. But this game was pretty much all Georgia all the time, with Stetson Bennett leading the undefeated Dawgs to a 50-30 victory with a season-high four touchdown passes. LSU didn’t do itself any favors. There was a messy missed field goal that Georgia returned for a touchdown because the Tigers didn’t realize the ball was live.

Then Christopher Smith, who had already returned that missed field goal for a 96-yard Bulldog touchdown, deflected an LSU pass off the helmet of an LSU receiver, leading to an interception.

By the time LSU quarterback Jayden Daniels re-injured his ankle late in the second quarter, Georgia had already established dominance. Backup quarterback Garrett Nussmeier did everything he could to keep the Tigers in the game, but it wasn’t enough, with the Dawgs proving why they hold the No. 1-seed going into the playoffs.

The bad news for them? The Buckeyes are hungry for a rematch against TTUN, and they have to go through Georgia to get it.


Purdue v. Michigan – Big 10 Championship

When TTUN wins, we don’t acknowledge it here in Buckeye Country, except for how it pertains to us. This time, their 43-22 win over the Boilermakers means that with one more win apiece, the Buckeyes could potentially rematch the Wolverines for THE most important game: The Natty.

Beyond that, we don’t discuss Wolverine wins, so I won’t be adding anything further.


Honorable Chaotic Mention:

This insane post from ESPN that drags Alabama in the pettiest way, and FOR WHAT? Made my whole day. Still laughing. Hope you are too.


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Hangout in the Holy Land Podcast: Ohio State set to take on Georgia in the College Football Playoff
Gene Ross 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

Welp, Buckeyes are back...

The latest episode of Land-Grant Holy Land’s flagship podcast ‘Hangout in the Holy Land’ is here! Join LGHL’s co-managing editor Gene Ross alongside his co-host Josh Dooley as they cover everything from football to basketball to recruiting and more!

Listen to the episode and subscribe:

Subscribe: RSS | Apple | Spotify | Stitcher | Google Podcasts | iHeart Radio


Despite appearing like Ohio State’s season came to an end last weekend against Michigan, the Buckeyes got some much-needed help and have actually snuck into the College Football Playoff as the No. 4 seed, where they are set to take on Georgia in the Peach Bowl on New Years Eve. With Clemson and Tennessee both suffering loses to South Carolina and USC getting blown out by Utah in the Pac-12 title game, it opened the door for the Buckeyes to make the CFP as the only remaining one-loss team with a good enough resume. Ryan Day and his team now have a chance at redemption.

“Hangout in the Holy Land” will be posting two episodes per week during the regular season, with an episode before and after each Ohio State game to give you all the preview and recap content you may need. Be sure to download and listen in wherever you get your podcasts, and leave us a review on Apple to let us know your thoughts and how we can make things even better!

You can also follow us on Twitter @HolyLandPod, where we will want to hear from you guys even more! If there’s anything you’d like us to talk about on the show, @ us and let us know!

As always, Go Bucks.


Connect with the Podcast:
Twitter: @HolyLandPod

Connect with Gene:
Twitter: @Gene_Ross23

Connect with Josh
Twitter: @jdooleybuckeye

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No. 4 Ohio State women’s basketball holds on to beat Rutgers 82-70
1ThomasCostello via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here


Ohio State University athletic department

In a game that looked like a blowout, Rutgers battled back but two Buckeyes came up big

Sunday, the Big Ten calendar began for the No. 4 Ohio State women’s basketball team. On the schedule was the lone regular season match-up against the Rutgers Scarlet Knights. It was a momentous day for Rutgers off the court, celebrating legendary coach C. Vivian Stringer, who led the Knights from 1995-2022.

On the court, Ohio State went ahead big early, but Rutgers fought back to make it interesting. In the end, Buckeyes still pull out the 82-70 win.

Before any of the ceremony began, Ohio State had a storyline of their own develop when news broke that senior guard Jacy Sheldon was not in the starting lineup this afternoon. She was out with a lower leg injury, the same one that kept Sheldon out for the two games leading into her start against No. 18 Louisville Cardinals. In her place was junior guard Madison Greene.

It was Greene who started the scoring for Ohio State too. After a slow few minutes for both sides, Greene hit a layup that was the cornerstone of the Buckeyes first quarter offense. Of the Scarlet & Gray’s 20 first-quarter points, eight came inside the paint. Ohio State adjusted to Rutger’s zone defense and began to throw passes under the basket for higher-percentage looks.

Just over halfway into the first quarter, forward Cotie McMahon grabbed an impressive assist. Attacking the basket herself, McMahon found a wide open Taylor Thierry who easily put in one of her two shots made in the first 10 minutes of today’s game.

On Rutger’s end of the court, they did what they could to slow the game down and limit turnovers. The home side went deep into their shot clock and their roster, playing all eight players in the first quarter alone. While the game slowed, the Buckeyes still forced turnovers, grabbing six in the first quarter.

Ohio State didn’t take their time scoring in the second quarter. Within two minutes, the Buckeyes scored 10, shooting their lead up to 20 points thanks to guard Taylor Mikesell and forward Rebeka Mikulášiková. Both hit two shots apiece, with both shots from Mikesell were from distance.

To the home team’s credit, their game lifted in the second quarter in front of Stringer. Rutgers didn’t let the Ohio State lead increase after the early push. The Scarlet Knights started moving the pace a bit faster, and found quick passes to break out of Ohio State’s full-court pressure.

The Buckeyes’ defense stayed strong, and the defensive play of the quarter came at the hands of McMahon and Greene. Rutgers forced a turnover and they went on a two-player break. McMahon used her court-shortening speed to catch up and force a pass. On that pass, Greene was waiting, stopping guard Abby Streeter from getting a layup off.

Leading the scoring in the second quarter was Mikesell. Of her 19 first half points, 12 came in the second where she put the Buckeyes offense on her back. Mikesell was perfect in her three three-point attempts, going 5-for-6 overall in the quarter. Ohio State entered halftime up 43-28.

At the end of the second quarter, Rutgers guard Kaylene Smikle hit a buzzer-beating three and the Scarlet Knights kept that momentum moving into the second half. Head coach Coquese Washington’s side extended that three into a 14-7 run into the second half of the third quarter, bringing Ohio State's lead down to nine, their first single-digit lead since the first quarter.

Although Rutgers stifled the Buckeyes a bit in the third quarter, Mikesell and Mikulášiková kept Ohio State in the game. The two accounted for all 18 of OSU’s points in the third quarter, with the rest of the team shooting a combined 0-for-7. Mikesell and Mikulášiková split the points down the middle with nine each in the 11:16-minute stretch of game minutes where only the two scored.

Part of that third quarter was a potential injury concern three minutes into the quarter. Thierry went up for a rebound and Smikle was fouled by the Buckeyes forward, going to the ground. Smikle landed on Thierry’s arm, and she didn’t react negatively to Smikle landing on her, but left the court soon after the fall for precautionary reasons. Fortunately for Ohio State, Thierry returned and so did their double-digit lead, entering the final quarter up 61-49.

The Mikulášiková and Mikesell show continued into the fourth, scoring nine of Ohio State’s first 10 points of the quarter.

Maybe it was the the emotions of the day, but Rutgers didn’t look like the team they’ve been entering Sunday. The home side kept up the scoring with the Buckeyes and never allowed Ohio State to put their foot slightly off the gas like they did against the Cardinals.

With 2:22 left in the game, center Kossandra Brown hit her second three of the game. This time, in the fourth quarter, it put Rutgers back within eight points.

Ohio State needed a response, and going into the timeout Greene did that, hitting a layup running through defenders in the lane to put the lead back up over 10 points.

The Buckeyes were able to hold on, and it was with forcing turnovers. After attacking the basket and hitting free throws, Ohio State held on to win, 82-70.

Taylor Mikesell Rises Above


Each game this season, a different Buckeye’s had their chance to make a lasting impact on a game. Mikesell is always in the conversation, and each game seems to create moments that push Ohio State forward. On Sunday, Mikesell didn’t have moments — instead, the whole game was her moment.

Mikesell’s stats were above her season averages, but off the stat sheet her play lifted teammates. Not only was Mikesell scoring and hitting shots from deep but creating space for teammates, increasing the defensive pressure, grabbing the ball away from Rutgers under the basket and leading Ohio State on the court in leadership and scoring.

Mikulášiková Keeps Up with Mikesell


It’s difficult to keep up with Mikesell when she’s firing on all cylinders, but on Sunday Rebeka Mikulášiková did just that.

The forward was hitting her shots within the paint, making moves under the basket to score 31 points, a new career high after scoring 23 against North Alabama a week ago. Even eclipsing Mikesell who scored 30 on the day.

Honoring C. Vivian Stringer


Although she wore a different scarlet than the Buckeyes, legendary NCAA coach Stringer was the focal point before the game Sunday. On a day they named the court after the famous coach, the first black coach to achieve the illustrious 1000-win mark, the three-time coach of the year and member of the Basketball Hall of Fame, received an ovation from home fans and Ohio State on Sunday.

It was an ovation for someone worthy of such recognition. Rutgers University honored her with a court design replica using a piece of the actual court before the tip.

In an emotional halftime speech, Stringer began talking but couldn’t find the words, overcome with emotion:

“I think my team always knows that when I’m overwhelmed, I just cry,” said Stringer. “I love you.”

What’s Next


No. 4 Ohio State (8-0) plays two games in the next week, both at home. Up first is the University of New Hampshire in an early 11:00 a.m. ET game on Thursday. After the brief break from conference play, the Buckeyes welcome the Michigan State Spartans on Sunday at 4:00 p.m. ET. Ohio State’s game against MSU will be broadcast on Big Ten Network.

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Begrudgingly hailing the Big Ten champions
David M Wheeler via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here


Grace Hollars/IndyStar / USA TODAY NETWORK

Reflections of a Buckeye fan on championship weekend while the Bucks sit idly by.

Championship weekend


I must say that I wasn’t really looking forward to this weekend. After the second half of last week’s game, about the only thing that I was looking forward to was next season. But then, on Friday night, the Trojans couldn’t hold their playoff spot, getting stomped by Utah 47-24, and it appeared that the College Football Playoffs selection might be chaotic enough to give Ohio State one more chance.

I had been traveling all week, so it was good to sit in front of the tube and take in a full day’s worth of sports, starting with the World Cup. Defensive lapses cost the U.S. that one, and it was on to the Big 12 championship. It was a game that left me wondering why TCU head coach Sonny Dykes would choose to try for the touchdown on fourth down of his overtime possession, rather than take the field goal. And, given that decision, why he didn’t run a play for quarterback Max Duggan, who had brought the Frogs back into the game. Bad decisions. Kansas State 31, TCU 28.

I live in Savannah, smothered by UGa flags, bulldogs, and obnoxious zealots. But we all know that Georgia is good – really good – and has been for several years now. LSU played a decent game, but this one belonged to the Dawgs all the way. During the matchup, I texted my brother in Columbus, asking him if he’d like to see the Buckeyes taking on Kirby Smart’s boys. His silence was all the answer I needed.

At last, the Big Ten Championship game


Dinner was over. The dishes washed and put away. A couple of ACC teams were playing on another channel, and I was hoping against hope that Jim Harbaugh would take a loss. As TTUN scored on its first possession, I realized that I didn’t care all that much. If OSU didn’t win the B1G, then it didn’t matter who did. But I was committed to watching it. Eighteenth-century Irish philosopher Bishop George Berkeley argued that the only way we know something, with “certitude” (his word), is to perceive it with our senses. (Yes, yes, the tree falling in the woods.) I figured I’d better keep the game on, or it wouldn’t exist.

When I woke up, it was halftime, and the sound had been thoughtfully muted. Michigan led, but only by a point, 14-13. For a brief time, I was rejuvenated.

The second half


Then came the second half, a half that we had seen before against the Buckeyes. Michigan has been a second-half team all season. I’m not sure why. Maybe it’s the halftime adjustments of the coaching staff, and that might be the case, especially with their defense. The offense, on the other hand, seems simply to wear down opposing defensive lines as the game progresses, gaining more and more yards on the ground, exploding for big plays, breaking the foes’ wills.

The Wolverines put up 29 points in the second half, including a two-point conversion on the third TD. The Boilermakers managed three scores of their own – all field goals. Final score: 43-22. Very much a replay of their win at The Shoe.

Purdue’s Aiden O’Connell, a very good passing quarterback, had a pretty big night. Despite being sacked four times, he hit 32 of his 47 passes (68%) for 366 yards. But there were no touchdown tosses, and he was picked off twice. The Boilermakers, in fact, had more total yards than UM – 456-386 – and more first downs. They had the ball longer, by more than seven minutes. But they lost the game. And it wasn’t close.

Michigan’s formula for victory was the same as the week before. Prevent big plays from the opponent. Hold them to field goal attempts, rather than touchdowns. And create some big plays of their own. Purdue had six drives that resulted in points. But there was only one touchdown, to go with the five field goals. While the Boilermakers did have a number of plays for longer than 20 yards, the longest being a 32-yard pass play, they didn’t go all the way. There was always a blue-clad safety, and he always made the play.

On the other side of the ball, there was Donovan Edwards carrying the ball. He didn’t break the 200-yard mark, as he did against the Buckeyes, but he racked up 185 yards on his 27 carries. Quick through big holes, then turn on the jets. Quarterback J.J. McCarthy again was solid, without being spectacular. As a passer, he’s no C.J. Stroud. Nor is he an Aiden O’Connell. But he reeled off a 9.5-yard average for his 17 passing attempts, threw three TD passes, and had only one interception. This balanced offensive attack moved the ball down the field and put it over the goal line. Michigan, too, had six scores. But, in their case, they were all touchdowns.

The playoff picture on Selection Sunday


So now we know. With USC’s devasting loss, the Buckeyes are in the playoffs, facing Georgia on New Year’s Eve. The team deserves the slot, and I relish the opportunity for the Bucks. Beating the Bulldogs in Atlanta won’t be easy, by any means. But remember 2014? The Buckeyes seemingly “stole” a spot to get into the playoffs, got seeded No. 4, and beat No. 1 Alabama on the way to the national championship. It could happen again.

And, of course, we get to see C.J. Stroud for at least one more game. Maybe TreVeyon Henderson and even Jaxon Smith-Njigba. We haven’t really witnessed a full-strength OSU team all year. LSU moved the ball through the air fairly easily yesterday. And the Buckeyes have far more firepower. New Year’s Eve offers an opportunity for redemption and for achievement. Let’s get it done. Go Bucks!

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Ohio State sneaks into the College Football Playoff at No. 4
Gene Ross via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here


Photo by Frank Jansky/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

The Buckeyes aren’t dead after all...

Well, well, well...

After Ohio State fans spent the last week picking up the pieces from the Buckeyes’ loss to Michigan and trying to figure out what comes next, it turns out there is still meaningful football left to be played. On Friday night, USC suffered its second loss of the season in a beatdown at the hands of Utah in the Pac-12 title game, opening the door for C.J. Stroud and company to get another shot at redemption and backdoor their way into the College Football Playoff. With two losses, few real signature wins and one of the worst statistical defensive units in the country, the Trojans have been superseded by the Buckeyes in the season’s final rankings.

As a result, the College Football Playoff will officially look as follows:

1. Georgia
2. Michigan
3. TCU
4. Ohio State

Ohio State now has a chance to set up the biggest edition of The Game in the storied history of the rivalry if the two teams meet in the national title, but they will first have to get past the defending champion Georgia Bulldogs. Despite losing a ton of talent to the NFL Draft after last year, Georgia once again features the nation’s top defense, allowing just 11.3 points per game to lead all of FBS. The Buckeyes will be hoping to get healthy over the next month in the lead up to the game, and getting guys like Miyan Williams, TreVeyon Henderson and maybe even Jaxon Smith-Njigba back on the field could go a long way in beginning Ryan Day’s redemption arc.

The other game will pit Big Ten Champion Michigan against Big 12 runner-up TCU. The Horned Frogs were undefeated heading into their conference title game against Kansas State, and despite the best efforts of Heisman candidate QB Max Duggan, fell just short to the Wildcats in overtime by a score of 31-28. The Wolverines, now officially without star RB Blake Corum the rest of the way, defeated Purdue in Indianapolis to secure their second-straight B1G title after knocking off the Buckeyes in consecutive seasons for the first time since 1999-2000. J.J. McCarthy and Donovan Edwards will look to lead UM to its first national title since 1997.

As of Sunday morning, here were the betting odds for the College Football Playoff, courtesy of the DraftKings Sportsbook:

To win the National Title

• Georgia -130
• Michigan +300
• Ohio State +330
• TCU +1500

Odds/lines subject to change. T&Cs apply. See draftkings.com/sportsbook for details.

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We’ll talk about this later: The Fyre Festival of basketball tournaments
Meredith Hein via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here


Rich Janzaruk/Herald-Times / USA TODAY NETWORK

Your dose of lighthearted takes from last week.

Each week, we’ll break down something that happened during the Ohio State game (and occasionally other games) that we’ll be talking about for a while—you know, the silly sideline interactions, the awful announcing and the weird storylines that stick with us for years to come. We’ll also compare each of these happenings to memorable moments in pop culture, because who doesn’t love a good Office reference?

If your favorite basketball team went to something called the “Las Vegas Invitational” featuring elite women’s hoops programs from across the country, you might expect a little glitz and glamour that comes with hosting an event in such a city. You might even envision, in this era of sports betting and NIL, some sort of promotions around the players present at the tournament. In a year when the Las Vegas Aces won their first WNBA title, you’d also expect that there would be some pageantry associated with this historic event.


At a minimum, you would expect the barebones required to play a basketball game: a court, a scorer’s table, a scoreboard and a ball. And probably that it would take place in a room built for a sporting event.

Well, they had a court, a scorer’s table, a scoreboard and a ball at the Las Vegas Invitational, a women’s basketball tournament featuring nine Division I women’s hoops teams over Thanksgiving weekend. But that was about it.

And it took place in a ballroom.


The photos are absurd. It looks like the organizers rapidly shifted from an orthopaedic surgery conference to a basketball tournament, complete with the never-show-dirt carpet and tray ceilings. It’s certainly not the arrangement one might expect for a team like Indiana, a top-5 ranked undefeated team which traveled across the country for this.

Organized by Bryce McKee, this was sold as a high-end event. McKee is a former women’s basketball assistant coach who was accused of making sexual advances toward multiple players. For a horrifying example of an assault on women in action, check out this article. It is terrible and beyond the scope of this piece, but had to be mentioned.

However, the event was poorly organized, had limited attendance for fans (because, again, it was a ballroom with two rows of folding chairs for seating) and even required players to bring their own towels.

With all the promises and absolute underwhelming results, the Las Vegas Invitational was the Fyre Festival of basketball tournaments. A classic example of over promise, under deliver.


As Thomas Costello and I discussed on the Play Like a Girl podcast last week, the tournament was a failure for other reasons that impacted player safety. At one point, Auburn Tigers forward Kharyssa Richardson was injured. The organizers took nearly 40 minutes to get her medical attention.

Indiana head coach Teri Moren did not mince words on what she thought of the tournament, so we’ll end with her thoughts:


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LGHL Uncut Podcast: Holtmann, Okpara, Holden discuss Ohio State’s win over St. Francis
Connor Lemons via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here


Joseph Maiorana-USA TODAY Sports

The Buckeyes beat the brakes off of St. Francis during the second half of Saturday’s route.

Throughout the season, 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 | Stitcher | Google Podcasts | iHeart Radio


If you missed Saturday’s game between the No. 25 Ohio State Buckeyes and the St. Francis Red Flash, that’s okay, we don’t blame you. Not even 72 hours after the Duke game and amidst all kind of college football hysteria, even I nearly forgot the Buckeyes had a noon tipoff against one of the statistically worst teams in the nation.

The Buckeyes didn’t light the world on fire during the first half, carrying just an eight-point lead into halftime. But they outscored St. Francis 52-23 in the second half en route to a 96-59 win Saturday afternoon in Columbus.

Felix Okpara, who set career highs in points, rebounds, and steals, as well as scoring his first career double-double, spoke with the media about knocking down his first career three-pointer as well as what he thinks he brings to the team coming off the bench behind Zed Key. Tanner Holden discussed the team’s defensive ceiling, as well as his adjustment from the Horizon League to the Big Ten.

Holtmann discussed the stark turnaround between halves, crediting the change to better effort on the defensive end. He also spoke about Okpara’s big day, and how important it will be for Brice Sensabaugh to not let struggles on the offensive end carry over to the defensive end and vice versa.


Connect with Connor:
Twitter: @lemons_connor

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Game Preview: No. 4 Ohio State women’s basketball at Rutgers
1ThomasCostello via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here


Barbara J. Perenic/Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK

The Buckeyes open up the Big Ten calendar with a lunch-time away game against the Scarlet Knights

It’s been an exciting week for the Ohio State women’s basketball team. Guard Jacy Sheldon returned from an injury, fellow guard Rikki Harris played her best game of the season and Ohio State traveled to Louisville and overcame a 14-point deficit to beat the No. 18 Louisville Cardinals 97-77. To ice the cake, Big Ten play begins against a team that’s at the start of a rebuild in the Rutgers Scarlet Knights.

It has the makings of another double-digit Ohio State win, but conference play has a way of motivating teams.

Preview


Ohio State and Rutgers are on two vastly different trajectories to their season. The Buckeyes sit comfortably at 7-0, while the Scarlet Knights have a tough 4-5 record. Rutgers is a team going under extreme renovations.

It starts within the coaching staff. Legendary head coach C. Vivian Stringer, who’s being honored at Sunday’s game, led Rutgers since 1995 before retiring in March of this season. Now at the helm is former Big Ten championship-winning coach Coquese Washington.

Washington, formerly at the helm of the Penn State Nittany Lions for three conference regular season titles between 2007-2019, rejoined the head coaching ranks after being an assistant since 2019. The former Notre Dame graduate and WNBA player inherited a team with only three returners, and a lot of work to do in rebuilding the program.

An interesting thing to note about the Scarlet Knights roster is its size. Not talking about heights and wing-spans. No, the number of players. Rutgers touts an eight-player roster. Of those eight, two are freshman and three transferred into the program this season. That means there’s a lot of chemistry to build.

All three returners began the season starting all nine games. So far, the Scarlet Knights sit last in the conference in points per game (63.2), second to last in points allowed (70.8) and a statistic that’ll be most concerning for Rutgers on Sunday: turnovers.

Ohio State’s 29 average forced turnovers per game is No. 1 in the entire country. For Rutgers, with its team make-up and adjusting to the first year of a new coach, their 20.9 turnovers given up per game has the potential to add a couple points in the Buckeyes’ favor.

Even so, there’s talent on the Rutgers roster, especially at guard. Senior Awa Sidibe, a former NJCAA athlete, and freshman Kaylene Smikle are the two to watch offensively. Smikle joined Rutgers after winning Pennsylvania’s Gatorade Girls Basketball Player of the Year award in 2021-22, and so far she hasn’t started, but she’s produced.

Photo by Erica Denhoff/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
Kaylene Smikle takes a lot of shots and covers a lot of the court.

Smikle leads the Knights with 13.3 points per game, all off the bench. For Sidibe, she’s a threat in scoring and grabbing boards. Sidibe’s started the season scoring 10.8 points and securing 6.3 rebounds per game.

Projected Lineups

Lineup Notes:

• Forward Cotie McMahon’s six minutes on Wednesday is the lowest of her young freshman NCAA career for a single game.
• Five players on the Buckeyes average double figures in points per game.
• Forward Rebeka Mikulášiková, who won two Big Ten Honor Rolls this season, leads the Buckeyes with 18.1 points per game.

Lineup Notes

• Kassondra Brown began the year on the bench, but’s started the last three games for Rutgers.
• Antonia Bates is Rutgers other freshman guard who isn’t as prolific of a scorer as Smikle, but leads the team with 13 blocks.

Prediction


On paper, this looks like a game that the Buckeyes can control from the jump. Ohio State has the experience, and both times they faced teams with heavy transfers and new looks — Tennessee and Louisville — the Buckeyes came out on top.

Rutgers won’t have an answer for the Scarlet & Gray’s intense press on defense. The team who forces the most turnovers against the side who gives up the most is a recipe the Buckeye defense should enjoy.

The only way that the Buckeyes fall is if their shooting goes cold. So far this season though, Ohio State hasn’t let the opponent get in the way of the motivation to win and win big.

Forward Cotie McMahon, who sat most of the game against Louisville with head coach Kevin McGuff wanting experience on the court, could see this game as an example of what she can bring to the table. Playing only six minutes against the ranked Cardinals side is a good motivator in that department.

How to Watch


Date: Wednesday, Nov. 30, 2022
Time: 12:00 p.m. ET
Where: Jersey Mikes Arena - Piscataway, New Jersey
Television: B1G Network
Stream: FOX Sports with a B1G Network subscription

LGHL Prediction: 98-63 Ohio State Buckeyes

Beats for the Unbeaten


The Buckeyes had an added bonus following their win against Louisville. Ohio’s own NBA superstar LeBron James rewarded the entire women’s basketball team this week.

James gave everyone a pair XX James shoes and scarlet and gray custome Beats by Dre headphones, with a shiny Burger King-esque crown for good measure. The future Hall of Famer also gave the team a note:


It’s say to say the ladies were excited.


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In Conversation Podcast: Ohio State is in! Previewing the playoff selections, seedings
Matt Tamanini via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here


Joseph Maiorana-USA TODAY Sports

The four teams are practically guaranteed at this point, but the order is not.

On Land-Grant Holy Land In Conversation, we talk to people in and around Ohio State athletics, and the sporting world at large, to bring you a different insight and perspective to the teams, athletes, and university that you love.

Listen to the episode and subscribe:

Subscribe: RSS | Apple | Spotify | Stitcher | Google Podcasts | iHeart Radio


Even before the Big Ten Championship Game kicked off last night, the four teams were essentially confirmed for the College Football Playoff. Matt Tamanini and Jordan Williams agreed that it will be Georgia at No. 1, Michigan at No. 2, and then Ohio State and TCU will jostle for the No. 3 spot.

In this special episode, the guys talk about what might come into play for the CFP committee when they decide which order the Frogs and Buckeyes will be seeded. Does avoiding a rematch put the Buckeyes in fourth? Or does giving the Dawgs the best possible draw put TCU at No. 4?

In addition, Matt and Jordan also discuss what Ryan Day, his staff, and his squad need to do in order to win their semifinal matchup — against whichever opponent they draw — and move on to the championship game. How much do the elements of revenge and surprise play into things for the Buckeyes if they match up with the Wolverines first?

After UGA beat up on LSU, why does Jordan feel so confident about Ohio State’s chances against the defending national champs? Get answers to all of these questions and more in the podcast.


Connect with Jordan Williams
Twitter: @JordanW330

Connect with Matt Tamanini
Twitter: @BWWMatt

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enjoy

No. 25 Ohio State men use explosive second half to beat St. Francis 96-59
Connor Lemons via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here


Joseph Maiorana-USA TODAY Sports

The first half was underwhelming for OSU, but after halftime, the Buckeyes poured it on.

After a brief foray into power-five competition over the past two weeks, the No. 25 Ohio State Buckeyes (6-2) returned home Saturday afternoon to face off with the St. Francis (PA) Red Flash (2-7) at the Schottenstein Center. St. Francis struggled last season to the tune of a 9-21 record and hasn’t exactly set the world on fire this season either, winning just two games over the first month of the season. KenPom has them as the No. 331 team in the nation (out of 363).

Ohio State, on the other hand, is coming off of a 2-2 stretch against four teams all inside KemPom’s top 75, including three teams who were ranked in the AP Poll at the time of the game. The Buckeyes secured wins over Cincinnati and Texas Tech in Maui, while losing to San Diego State on the island and falling to the Duke Blue Devils at Cameron Indoor just three days ago.

To the surprise of very few, Ohio State bounced back with a win over an extremely overmatched Red Flash squad in front of a sparse, sleepy crowd at the Schottenstein Center this afternoon. In all actuality this game was over as soon as the ball was tipped, but after some first-half frustrations, the Buckeyes turned it on down the stretch and walked away victorious, 96-59. Ohio State outscored their opponent 52-23 after the break.

Ohio State went with the same lineup they’ve been rolling with all season: Bruce Thornton, Sean McNeil, Justice Sueing, Isaac Likekele, and Zed Key. Rob Krimmel’s St. Francis squad started Marlon Hargis, Cam Gregory, Maxwell Land, Landon Moore, and Josh Cohen.

The Buckeyes overwhelmed St. Francis from the jump, blitzing the Red Flash and going up 13-4 by the first media timeout just 4:29 into the game. The Buckeyes hit six of their first eight shots, including three layups from Likekele, who hasn’t been quite the offensive force in Columbus as he was when he played for Oklahoma State. Likekele finished with eight points, five rebounds, and three assists over 25 minutes.


However, while it looked like the Buckeyes may be on their way to an all-time blowout, St. Francis did not let it get there early on. Ohio State pushed the lead to 16 points early on, but the Red Flash went on a 9-3 run from the 11:42 mark to 8:41, getting back within 10 points, 30-20. The Ohio State offense was doing its job, but the Buckeyes’ defense was letting them down on the other end against one of the worst teams in the country.

What looked like a potential blowout didn’t play out that way at all in the first half, with Ohio State taking a 44-36 lead into the break. The Buckeyes dominated the first 10 minutes or so, but St. Francis was the better team for the rest of the opening stanza. Thornton led eight Ohio State scorers with 10 points in the first half and dished out two assists with no turnovers. Cohen and Land each had 12 points in the first half for the Red Flash.

The Buckeyes extended their lead to 19 points by the under-12 media timeout of the second half, 66-47. It’s safe to assume that Holtmann had some choice words with his men in the locker room at halftime about defense, as the Red Flash came out of the halftime break and shot 38.5 (5-13) over the first eight or so minutes — as opposed to the 55% they hit during the first half.

Things really got messy over the next five minutes between the second and third media timeouts, with the Buckeyes blowing the doors off the Red Flash (finally) and making it a 24-point game by the eight-minute mark. With seven-plus minutes remaining, Holtmann was running a lineup of Sensabaugh, Roddy Gayle, Likekele, Okpara, and Kalen Etzler in mop-up minutes.


By the time the final buzzer sounded, the Buckeyes had completed a bounce-back win over St. Francis. If you weren’t around to watch Ohio State’s sixth win of the season — or forgot they played a nooner today — here are some of the key moments that led to a big Buckeye victory:

How do you break a zone?


At the first media timeout about four minutes into the game, St. Francis head coach Rob Krimmel switched his team defense to a 2-3 zone after Ohio State began the game by knocking down six of their first eight shots. As the saying goes, you can either break a zone by shooting over it or getting to the middle of it. The Buckeyes went with the former, as Brice Sensabaugh — who had just checked in for Sueing — and Bruce Thornton immediately knocked down triples for the Buckeyes right over the top of SFU’s zone defense, making it 19-9 Ohio State just over five minutes into the game.

Red Flash makes a run, cuts it to eight


Ohio State opened up a 27-11 lead after eight minutes of play and it looked like the Buckeyes were on their way to running St. Francis off the floor before halftime. But that did not happen, as St. Francis outscored Ohio State 16-8 over the next 6:18, cutting the deficit in half from 16 points to just eight.

Sensabaugh’s tough stretch


There’s been some griping and questioning from some fans early on this season as to why Sensabaugh — the team’s second-leading scorer, is not starting and instead is playing just 18 minutes per game off the bench thus far. Well, a 17-second stretch late in the first half of today’s game shined a light on why Holtmann has yet to plug the talented freshman into the starting lineup.

With Ohio State leading 38-29 and just under five minutes remaining in the first half, Sensabaugh went for an open dunk along the baseline and completely whiffed. The ball slammed on the front of the rim and St. Francis’ Brad McCabe grabbed the rebound. Sensabaugh then fouled McCabe as he turned to run up the court — his first foul.

On the ensuring SFU possession, Sensabaugh found himself guarding the 6-foot-10 Cohen — St. Francis’ leading scorer — below the basket. The junior big man turned Sensabaugh into swiss cheese, mixing him up with two pivots and easily scoring over the top of the freshman.

A tough 17-second stretch all around for Sensabaugh, who still finished with a team-high 15 points on 4-10 shooting and was 4-4 at the free throw line.

Thornton’s hot hand


The freshman point guard established himself as a steady floor general over the first few games of the season, looking like he’d been in college much longer than he actually has been. However, Thornton rarely forced shots and averaged just four shot attempts over the first three games of the season. However, since Maui, Thornton has been more aggressively hunting his own shot and making teams pay for leaving him open.

After knocking down three three-pointers against Texas Tech two games ago, Thornton matched that against the Red Flash today in just 23 minutes on the floor. His three-pointer at the 18:28 mark of the second half was his third of the day, which gave him 13 points and the Buckeyes a 49-38 lead. Thornton entered the game shooting 47.6% from distance. He finished the game with 13 points on 5-10 shooting and 3-5 from 3-point range. He also dished out those two assists and had two rebounds.

Felix wants you to hit the weight room, respectfully


Freshman center Felix Okpara — the main backup to Key — has played more than some thought he would, considering how raw his offensive game is. However, in those 13 minutes per game, Okpara has shown flashes that he can be a real difference-maker and bring some juice to the Buckeyes, especially on the defensive end.

But today Okpara did it on both ends, stealing two passes and also scoring on a possession where he missed the shot, grabbed his own rebound, missed that layup, grabbed his own rebound again, and finally scored through contact. The 6-foot-11, 220-pound freshman’s three-point play gave Ohio State a 69-47 lead with 10:37 remaining in the game.

Okpara would later connect on his first career three-pointer with 3:31 remaining in the game to give Ohio State a 91-55 lead and also gave Okpara his first career double-double. Okpara finished with 12 points, 11 rebounds, two steals, and a block over 16 minutes. The points, rebounds, and steals were all career-highs for the freshman from Lagos, Nigeria.

Up Next:


No. 25 Ohio State (6-2) opens Big Ten play on Thursday, Dec. 8, welcoming the Rutgers Scarlet Knights (5-2) to Columbus for the first time in two seasons. Rutgers recently lost to Miami in the Big Ten-ACC Challenge, and will tangle with No. 10 Indiana later this afternoon. The game will tip off at 7 p.m. E.T. and will be broadcast on ESPN2.

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Fungo Squiggly said:

Scrawny white dudes missing layups…..are they showing the game going down at the Y right now??

Click to expand...

Yep. Padding the rebound stats.

enjoy.thank utah

Ohio State has likely made the College Football Playoff, and the internet is mad about it
Gene Ross via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here


Photo by Ben Jackson/Getty Images

Don’t be like Dan.


Ohio State was given an early Christmas present on Friday night when the Utah Utes trounced USC in the Pac-12 Championship Game by a final of 47-24. Lincoln Riley’s Trojans led 17-3 early in the second quarter and looked to be en route to a dominant victory that would easily lock up their spot in the College Football Playoff. Instead, Caleb Williams got banged up, and Utah would go on to outscore USC 44-7 the rest of the way. Now with two losses and no conference title to show for it, the Trojans will almost certainly be booted from the top four in favor of the Buckeyes in Sunday’s final rankings.

Of course, the timeline was immediately flooded with Ohio State fans thrilled that their team would now get a chance for redemption. On the flip side, there were also more than a fair share of Grinches upset that the Buckeyes will backdoor their way into the CFP after their showing against Michigan their last time out. While I understand the frustrations there, I am here to tell those people that they are mad at the wrong things.

The biggest complaint I've seen by annoying national media folk like Dan Wolken is that USC is being punished for playing an addition game against a highly-ranked opponent while Ohio State got to take the week off. On paper, this may seem true, but in this specific case there is more than meets the eye.

A quick look at USC’s resume and you will find that the Trojans were lucky to even be here in the first place. Their regular season schedule — one which saw them avoid both Oregon and Washington in-conference — doesn’t have a single ranked win until the last two weeks of the regular season, where they scored a three-point victory over UCLA (17th in the latest CFP rankings) and an 11-point win over Notre Dame (21st). They also had a previous loss to Utah (at the time 20th, now 11th) on the road, and several wins by one score to lesser opponents (Oregon State, Arizona and Cal) — although the Beavers went on to finish the season ranked as well (15th).

Let’s compare that to Ohio State. The Buckeyes feature an identical 11-point win over Notre Dame as the Trojans do, but add a 13-point victory over a Penn State team that is currently ranked No. 8 in the country. While the rest of their schedule isn’t exactly a murderers row, they took care of business in beating every team in their path by double-digits leading into the Michigan game. Their only loss, albeit a bad one, was to the current No. 2 team in the nation in the final contest of the regular season.

What about how these two teams actually stacked up on the field? Well, for all the hype about Lincoln Riley’s high-flying offense led by Caleb Williams, USC sits just one spot ahead of Ohio State nationally with the 5th-ranked total offense (499.8 YPG) to the Buckeyes’ 6th (492.7). OSU, in fact, is better in scoring offense, ranking 2nd in the country (44.5 PPG) ahead of USC two spots behind (41.1). Defensively, there is no competition. The Trojans were one of the worst defensive units in all of FBS, ranking 102nd overall allowing 415.1 yards per game. Ohio State, conversely, ranks 12th, allowing 303.9 yards per game.

So, it was arguably Ohio State who had the better resume heading into championship weekend. If USC had avenged their loss over Utah and won the Pac-12, they would be unequivocally ahead of the Buckeyes on Sunday. Instead, the Trojans failed to add that final bullet point to surpass OSU. This is not them being punished for playing an additional tough game, and those that are looking at it that way are seeing it from the wrong angle. This was USC’s chance to prove that they belonged in the CFP and that they weren’t just turnover luck merchants with a flashy QB. They didn’t get the job done.

Now, is there a chance that Ohio State gets blown out by Georgia in the first round if everything else goes according to plan? Absolutely! I still have zero faith in Ryan Day to adequately prepare his team for a big game and not shit his pants with awful play calls when times get tough. That being said, you should be mad at the system, not at the Buckeyes. There is simply no other team that has put itself in position to take that No. 4 spot, unless you want to reward a two-loss Alabama team without a single impressive win on the year. If roles were reversed, I bet you wouldn’t see as many people pining against the Tide to make the College Football Playoff.

At the end of the day, we won’t have to worry about any of this stuff once the College Football Playoff field expands to 12 teams in the not-so-distant future, so there’s really no use in getting worked up about it. Ohio State will either get a chance to knock off the defending national champion Georgia Bulldogs or a shot to avenge its loss against Michigan — or perhaps both, if things break the right way! What they do with this opportunity remains to be seen, but as things stand the Buckeyes are the only team in the country with a real argument for that final spot.

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LGHL Asks: Do Ohio State fans want the Buckeyes in the College Football Playoff?
Matt Tamanini 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

I imagine some of these answers would be different following USC’s loss last night.

Well, well, well. My how the tables have turned thanks to the result of one game... no, not The Game. I’m talking about last night’s result in the Pac-12 Championship that saw the Utah Utes demolish the USC Trojans 47-24 in a game that essentially secures the Ohio State Buckeyes a slot in the College Football Playoff.

For the first time since the opening drive of last Saturday’s game, it felt as if all of Buckeye Nation was happy and celebrating their good fortune. While there are certainly those who (at least earlier in the week) do not want to see their favorite team in the playoff, as you will see below, it felt as though the fandom was the collective loved one of a condemned man who had just been given a reprieve.

While just five days ago, we were consumed with gloom and despair, we are all now optimistic about the future and quickly convincing ourselves that every single one of the complaints we had earlier this week will be magically resolved by New Year’s Eve.

So, although circumstances have clearly changed since this survey went out into the field, we asked Ohio State fans three burning questions about how they were feeling about things mid-week, so let’s take a look at the responses.

Question 1: If you could magically change one aspect of OSU’s on-field performance, what would it be?



I’m not going to lie, I thought that the offensive line answer would be a much more popular choice. I’m not surprised that lockdown corners won — because I think that is clearly the most glaring need for this team — I thought that given the affection for a traditional power running game amongst our fanbase that it would be much higher than 16%.

Nonetheless, after the loss to Michigan last weekend, I wrote that fixing the cornerback position through high school recruiting and the transfer portal was one of the most important jobs that Ryan Day and his staff had to address.


There were not enough scholarship cornerbacks on the roster when the season began and that was only exacerbated by a seemingly never-ending litany of injuries to the guys who were in that room.

But that third option is the one that I think will be the easiest to turn around quickly. While some of the injuries likely won’t be 100% by the time the CFP semis roll around, I do think that some of the key contributors will be closer to full strength. If OSU can get TreVeyon Henderson, Miyan Williams, and maybe even Jaxon Smith-Njigba, back healthy that will be an absolutely huge addition to their chances of winning it all.

Question 2: Do you still want Ohio State to make the College Football Playoff?



One-third of respondents to this question said that they did not want the Buckeyes to make the playoff, and I don’t think that I can fault them. I never want to tell anyone how to be a fan, but I, for one, am really excited about the Buckeyes’ opportunity to not only compete for a national title, but to redeem themselves in the eyes of the fans, national media, and even themselves.


Very few things are as dangerous as a talented team that has been written off and left for dead. I still think that there is a lot that Day and his coaches need to remedy before the semifinal matchup, but I think that this team is clearly talented enough to beat anyone that they line up against.

Question 3: How much more or less optimistic about the future of the Ohio State football program are you now than last week?



I imagine that this would be a bit different if we asked this question today instead of Wednesday, but clearly, coming off of the loss to Michigan, there was reason to be less optimistic than you were before. However, new life can be a rejuvenating thing. What once felt like a desperate, demoralizing situation can feel like an unbelievable opportunity when circumstances change.

Ohio State will be in the College Football Playoff, and I certainly am not going to bet against them.

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Big Ten conference basketball returns! Women’s basketball power rankings for the first week of B1G action
1ThomasCostello via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here


Twitter | @OhioStateWBB

With almost four weeks of the season done and conference play at the forefront, how do the teams rank?

Standings are great. They crown champions and separate the most successful teams from the cellar dwellers. Power rankings are different. They try to find which team is the best, which is something game-in and game-out schedules can hide with upsets and slip-ups.

After over three weeks of the season, its time to decide which Big Ten women’s basketball team is the best. Unlike polls that start from the preseason, these rankings start after teams have already taken the court and start to show what they’re all about, to avoid any No. 5 Tennessee Volunteers preseason situations as they now sit outside of the top 25.

Without further ado, here’s how the teams rank so far.

1 - Indiana Hoosiers

Last Week: N/A
Upcoming B1G Games: Dec. 4 at Illinois


The Indiana Hoosiers are one of three teams in the conference heading into Big Ten play with a perfect record. It’s not only the perfection of their 8-0 start, but who they’ve beaten.

While beating the Tennessee Volunteers doesn’t look like as big of a feat in hindsight, their ACC/B1G win against No. 6 North Carolina — a start-to-finish dominating 87-63 result — is made even more impressive with guard Grace Berger watching the win on crutches from the bench.

2 - Ohio State Buckeyes

Last Week: N/A
Upcoming B1G Games: Dec. 4 at Rutgers


It’s undeniable that the Ohio State Buckeyes are off to a fantastic start to the season. If there could be a 1A and 1B in the power rankings, the Scarlet & Gray would be up there too, but the tiebreaker is the ranked wins.

Sure, Ohio State has great wins against Tennessee and No. 18 Louisville Cardinals, but both of those teams are not at the same levels as they’ve been in recent history. They’re both loaded with talent, but the experience of the Buckeyes have put both teams with relatively new chemistry forming into a chokehold in 40-minute games.

3 - Michigan Wolverines

Last Week: N/A
Upcoming B1G Games: Dec. 4 vs. Northwestern


It seems like an easy pick to put the Michigan Wolverines in at three because they’re the third team with no losses on their record, but a reason they’re up here is because of slip-ups from some other conference powers and one big win.

The Wolverines haven’t had a tough non-conference schedule, starting a bit lighter than usual with center Haz Hillmon now in the WNBA with the Atlanta Dream. However, their win against No. 21 Baylor Bears gives them an edge. Forward Emily Kiser’s point average shot up to 20.1 this season after last year’s career high of 9.3 points per game, making the Hillmon departure not nearly as big of a storyline.

4 - Maryland Terrapins

Last Week: N/A
Upcoming B1G Games: Dec. 4 vs. Nebraska


Outstanding guard Diamond Miller is the reason the Maryland Terrapins are competing this season, and why they’re at four on the list.

Matt Cashore-USA TODAY Sports

After some stumbles, although losing to the No. 1 South Carolina Gamecocks is hardly a shock, Miller is healthy again and leading the Terrapins into a surprisingly good season with two stars transferring out in the offseason.

Thursday, Miller hit the game-winning buzzer-beater to defeat the No. 7 Notre Dame Fighting Irish, 74-72. They’re a scary team for anyone in the Big Ten to face, as long as Miller stays healthy.

5 - Iowa Hawkeyes

Last Week: N/A
Upcoming B1G Games: Dec. 4 at Wisconsin


A lot about what’s said of Miller above could apply to Naismith Player of the Year finalist Caitlin Clark. In the Iowa Hawkeyes game against the NC State Wolfpack, Clark scored 45 points — a season-high for an individual scoring performance so far in the early NCAA season. The difference between the two? Iowa lost, and it wasn’t close.

NC State came to Iowa and handed the Clarkeyes a 94-81 defeat. Iowa started the year as a No. 4 seed, but the challenges they’ve placed in front of them this year have all gone against them. Losing to No. 3 UConn in a close game isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but losing to Kansas State isn’t great.

Their best win this year is an away game against the Drake Bulldogs, where it took overtime to beat the unranked side.

6 - Purdue Boilermakers

Last Week: N/A
Upcoming B1G Games: Dec. 5 at Michigan State


The only tarnish on the Purdue Boilermakers schedule this season is a loss to Florida State, which isn’t much of a tarnish at all. They also haven’t exactly challenged themselves.

Their win against the Syracuse Orange on Wednesday was convincing, but games against the Michigan State Spartans and No. 20 Maryland Terrapins will show a lot more of what this year’s team is about.

7 - Illinois Fighting Illini

Last Week: N/A
Upcoming B1G Games: Dec. 4 at No. 5 Indiana


Illinois has created an extra favorable schedule for themselves, including a 100-point win against the same McNeese Cowgirls the Buckeyes put up 99 points on. Until the ACC/B1G Challenge, there wasn’t a sign that this team was going to compete once bigger names arrived on the schedule, especially after losing to the University of Delaware at the Daytona Beach Invitational.

Then, on Wednesday, the Illini put up a 21-point win over the Pitt Panthers. Pitt isn’t the stiffest competition in the ACC, but the win shows that maybe Illinois is better than expected?

8 - Minnesota Golden Gophers

Last Week: N/A
Upcoming B1G Games: Dec. 3 vs. Penn State


The beginning of the season was exciting for the Minnesota Golden Gophers. They had a last-second win against Lehigh University, and came within three points of beating the Virginia Cavaliers on the ACC side’s home court.

One reason is their two freshman standouts in Mara Braun and forward Mallory Heyer. Braun hit a buzzer-beating three against Lehigh and leads the team in scoring with 19.7 points per game. Hayer won B1G Freshman of the Week, averaging nine points and six rebounds per game.

Twitter | @GopherWBB
Guard Mara Braun (10) during her 26-point performance against Wake Forest.

If those two stay consistent in their first years, they’ll be a fun and interesting team to watch.

9 - Penn State Nittany Lions

Last Week: N/A
Upcoming B1G Games: Dec. 3 at Minnesota


The Penn State Nittany Lions are in an opposite situation from Illinois in the first power rankings. Guard Makenna Marisa and the Lions would be higher up this list if not for the ACC/B1G Challenge.

On Nov. 21, Penn State came back for the second largest comeback win in conference history, and largest in program history, when they beat Syracuse after being down by 21 points.

Wednesday, they faced an unranked but undefeated Virginia Cavaliers side in Happy Valley. The Nittany Lions were beaten comfortably, and only scored seven points in the first quarter. A single loss doesn’t ruin a season, but it looked a lot like Penn State games over the last couple seasons.

10 - Michigan State Spartans

Last Week: N/A
Upcoming B1G Games: Dec. 5 vs. Purdue


The Michigan State Spartans had a lot they had to make up this season, highlighted by someone on the Spartans’ beat prior to the season’s tip. The Spartans had six comfortable wins against some smaller teams, but once ranked sides showed up its been a different story.

Sparty is on a three-game losing streak, falling comfortably to the Iowa Cyclones and getting edged by the Oregon Ducks. At the last ACC/B1G Challenge, they fell to Georgia Tech. Losing guard Nia Clouden and forward Tamara Farquhar in the offseason has created a big hole that will take time to fill.

11 - Nebraska Cornhuskers

Last Week: N/A
Upcoming B1G Games: Dec. 4 at Maryland


Last season, the Nebraska Cornhuskers were the surprise team in the conference. That let them not surprise many people this season, entering ranked No. 22 in the preseason AP poll.

This season, Nebraska’s struggled. A no good, very bad week saw the Cornhuskers on the wrong side of a 77-51 defeat to the No. 20 Creighton Bluejays, and then losing to the Drake Bulldogs by 18 points four days later.

The duo of center Alexis Markowski and guard Jaz Shelley hasn’t been enough to compete against top sides. Against the No. 9-ranked Virginia Tech Hokies, Shelley had six assists but only four points in a lopsided 85-54 defeat.

12 - Northwestern Wildcats

Last Week: N/A
Upcoming B1G Games: Dec. 4 at No. 17 Michigan


Nearing the end of the rankings are the Northwestern Wildcats. Northwestern lost their two lone ranked games by 53 and 34 points against the Oregon Ducks and Notre Dame, respectively.

Forward Veronica Burton, a three-time B1G Defensive Player of the Year, isn’t replaceable, and its showing this season.

13 - Wisconsin Badgers

Last Week: N/A
Upcoming B1G Games: Dec. 4 vs. No. 10 Iowa


Sitting near the bottom of the power rankings — and last in the standings — this season in the Big Ten are the Wisconsin Badgers. At 3-6 thus far, the Badgers are scoring more than years past, but are also allowing more scoring from opponents.

They might not be last for long, with a possible momentum-building five-point defeat against Florida State in the ACC/B1G Challenge.

14 - Rutgers Scarlet Knights

Last Week: N/A
Upcoming B1G Games: Dec. 4 vs. No. 4 Ohio State


When Rutgers announced they’d have an eight-player team this season, it brought up a lot of questions and intrigue. The answers haven’t gone the Scarlet Knight’s way.

To be fair, they’ve packed nine games into their early season schedule, including the Tennessee Volunteers and Texas Longhorns, but they lost both of them handedly. Against Boston College this week, they lost by 14 points and now have to face the Buckeyes, who beat the same BC Eagles by 18.

Twitter | @RutgersWBB
Can Rutgers turn their season around in conference play?

Things get easier for Rutgers from there, not playing another ranked team after the Buckeyes until Jan. 2 against Maryland, but they’re currently at a -5 turnover margin and giving up 20.9 possessions a game. Not a great time to welcome the team with the highest turnover margin in the NCAA to New Jersey this weekend.

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Ohio State men’s basketball vs St. Francis: Game preview and prediction
Meredith Hein via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here


Photo by Zach Bolinger/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

The Buckeyes look to bounce back after a narrow loss to Duke before their first conference game of the season.

After stumbling on the road earlier this week, the No. 25 Ohio State Buckeyes men’s basketball team looks to bounce back today against St. Francis PA before moving on to their first conference game of the season.

The Buckeyes return home after falling to No. 17 Duke in Durham 81-72 Wednesday in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge. After being up early and keeping things close in the first half, Ohio State fell behind shortly after the break by as many as 13 points.

But then came the comeback late in the game, with the Buckeyes showing gritty effort to pull within five with just minutes left in the second half. In fact, the Buckeyes outscored Duke 43-42 in the second half. Unfortunately, Chris Holtmann’s squad couldn’t quite pull off the magic of last season when the Buckeyes beat the top-ranked Blue Devils.

Ohio State shot 47% from the field, but an abysmal 23% from range. Junior forward Zed Key led the Buckeyes in scoring with 21 points on the night, most of which came in the second half with Key sitting some in the first half with foul trouble. Key added a team-high eight rebounds on the evening.

Seniors Sean McNeil and Justice Sueing had 14 and 12 points, respectively, while freshman guard Bruce Thornton continued his strong early season run with 11 points on the night. Ohio State had just nine points from the bench. In particular, freshman forward Brice Sensabaugh struggled, really, for the first time this season, putting up just four points after averaging double figures in his first six games.

Fouls were also an issue for the Buckeyes against Duke. Ohio State gave up 25 personal fouls and Duke was most unfortunately quite reliable from the free throw line, connecting on 26-of-30 attempts. However, the physical play also meant a fairly even match on rebounds, with Duke pulling in 34 to the Buckeyes’ 31.

Turnovers, however, were an issue that couldn’t be explained away. Ohio State had 16 turnovers (the season high was 17 against Eastern Illinois). It was a disappointing performance in that area considering the Buckeyes had averaged eight over the preceding three-game stretch.

While no losses are good, this loss looks less bad than others and shouldn’t break Ohio State’s momentum moving into the December schedule. The Buckeyes posted impressive wins over Cincinnati and a ranked Texas Tech after losing to No. 17 San Diego State in Maui over Thanksgiving week.

Now, Ohio State looks to bounce back and work out the kinks in its final matchup before conference play begins against Rutgers next week. Fortunately, the Buckeyes will have a shot against a 2-6 St. Francis team.

Preview


The Buckeyes’ opponent for this afternoon comes from the Northeast Conference and has had a notable history on the hardcourt, including alumni Norm Van Lier, a Chicago Bulls great from the 1970s.

More recently (this season), the St. Francis Red Flash are 2-6 with wins over Hartford and Franciscan. However, the Red Flash have hung around in many of their games. Against Butler, St. Francis was within two late in the first half before the Bulldogs pulled away for a 95-67 win.

The Red Flash are losers of their last two games. In their last outing, the squad fell to Bucknell in similar fashion. After pulling within three points in the second half, Bucknell outpaced St. Francis for an 89-65 win.

Despite shooting just 39% from the field against Bucknell, the Red Flash were respectable from range, connecting on 11-of-29 three-point attempts (38%). However, they missed two-thirds of their free-throw attempts and had 13 turnovers. Bucknell also out-rebounded St. Francis by a 43-28 margin.

In that game, junior forward Josh Cohen led the Red Flash in scoring with 18 points on the night. Junior guard Brad McCabe was the only other St. Francis player in double figures, adding a dozen points off the bench.

For the second-straight year, Cohen leads the Red Flash in scoring on the season, averaging more than 20 points per game. He’s also had a team-high 6.8 rebounds per game. Shooting 67% from the field, Cohen has scored in double figures every game this season. Though not an outside threat at all (he hasn’t attempted a three-pointer since the opening game of St. Francis’ 2020-21 campaign), the 6-foot-10 forward has made himself a consistent threat in the paint.

Beyond Cohen, the Red Flash lost their second and third-leading scorers from their 2021-22 campaign. However, junior guard Maxwell Land, who averaged 11 points per game last season, is putting up 13 points and six rebounds per game this year. Freshman guard Landon Moore has also been a bright newcomer for the squad, putting up 12 points per game.

The Red Flash are led by Robby Krimmel, an alumni of St. Francis who played point guard for the Red Flash from 1996-2000. He’s amassed a 136-176 record at St. Francis since taking the helm in 2012, though his in-conference record is close to 0.500. While the Red Flash have never made the NCAA Tournament under Krimmel (or generally since 1991), they did win a regular season title in 2019 which also earned Krimmel conference coach of the year honors.

Prediction


The Buckeyes have had an edge since leaving Columbus for Maui, playing exciting basketball despite their most recent loss to Duke on the road. Ohio State hasn’t played in Columbus since November 16, when the Buckeyes defeated Eastern Illinois 65-43. Overall, Ohio State is 3-0 this season. Ohio State has also not entertained the non-elite schedule the way it has in the past, putting opponents away early during its homestand. This afternoon’s matchup would seem to fall in a similar vein.

Still, this game is an opportunity for the Buckeyes. While the loss to Duke was not a devastating blowout, it did expose some areas Ohio State must fine tune ahead of what’s always a brutal conference schedule. That schedule happens to start next week against Rutgers before taking a hiatus until January.

In particular, turnovers remain an issue in the early going of the season. Ohio State is averaging 12 per game, good for 95th in the NCAA. Worse, the Buckeyes’ assist-to-turnover ratio is an abysmal 0.94, which is 231st in the NCAA. With a lot of new faces and roles on the team, it makes sense that it could take a minute to gel and boost the assist game, but that has to get solved by conference play.

Fortunately for the Buckeyes, St. Francis is in a similar boat with turnovers, coughing the ball up 13 times per game (though with 15 assists).

Ohio State will also need to get its fouls in check. As mentioned, fouls were also a problem against Duke, with three players fouling out and 25 total team fouls that sent a very good free throw shooting team to the line in a narrow game. Most notably, Sensabaugh fouled out having played just 14 minutes Wednesday. Holtmann will likely try to reincorporate Sensabaugh, who is the second-leading scorer on Ohio State behind Sueing, after he was stymied with just four points against the Blue Devils.

This afternoon, Ohio State will also face an opponent who has some sticking ability and a veteran leader who can score down low. It’ll be a good test for Chris Holtmann’s defense.

Still, things are looking up for the Buckeyes with a team that’s come together really well through seven games. Ohio State will need to shake off the loss to Duke and channel that energy into building on its early season momentum this afternoon.

ESPN BPI: Ohio State 97.9%
Time: 12 p.m. ET
TV: BTN

LGHL score prediction: Ohio State 81, St. Francis 62

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Ask LGHL: Should Ohio State fans want the Buckeyes to make the College Football Playoff?
Matt Tamanini 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

Unlike 2018, I really want to see the Buckeyes make the playoff, despite a disappointing regular season finale.

Based just on our Twitter mentions, I know that this is a question that folks have very differing opinions on, and honestly, I think that there are all wholly valid. Even though the No. 5 Ohio State Buckeyes came into their regular season finale undefeated, the road getting there was still incredibly fraught, and the fraughtness only escalated to 11 after getting beat by Michigan for the second year in a row.

However, despite a maddening loss to their rivals, the Buckeyes are still very much alive for a berth into the College Football Playoff. Their easiest path would be for the Utah Utes to beat the USC Trojans in the Pac-12 Championship Game tonight on FOX at 8 p.m. ET. If the Men of Troy do win, the Buckeyes will still have a chance if the Kansas State Wildcats can beat the TCU Horned Frogs in Saturday’s Big 12 title game at 12 noon ET.

But the question for many Buckeye fans is, do you want to see Ohio State make the playoff after obviously being a less-than-complete team with glaring issues that we have covered ad nauseam over the course of the past week?

Thinking about this reminds me of a somewhat similar situation four years ago. In 2018, the final season under former head coach Urban Meyer, the Buckeyes were a pretty poor defensive team that lost to an unranked Purdue squad 49-20 and needed to avoid a two-point conversion in overtime to survive at Maryland 52-51.

Following OSU’s 45-24 win over Northwestern in the Big Ten Championship Game, I wrote — much to the consternation of many OSU fans — about the fact that I would prefer not to see the Buckeyes make the CFP because I thought that the Buckeyes were significantly behind the top teams in the country — Alabama and Clemson — and I was worried that having a repeat of OSU’s 2016 semifinal, Fiesta Bowl beatdown to Clemson could have a significantly negative impact on the program.


Now, I believe wholeheartedly in not trying to tell other people how to be a fan, but for me, I am in a completely different mindset heading into Championship Weekend. With all of my heart (and maybe 50% of my brain), I want Ryan Day and his team to have a go at the title this season.

There are some cynical arguments that I imagine some folks could have about another loss — especially to Jim Harbaugh — could hasten a move to replace the OSU head coach, but that is absolutely no part of my rationale here. Instead, I look at the landscape in college football and I do not believe that there is a dominant team in the bunch, and every team capable of making the CFP is substantially flawed. The Buckeyes might be amongst the most flawed, but there is no team that I am terrified for them to play, especially if you remove the names from the jerseys.

Obviously, there are emotional reasons to be worried about a rematch with the Wolverines, but I did not come out of that game thinking that they were an unbeatable team. It was essentially neck-and-neck through three quarters and in the final frame, the home team lost the plot and the coaches essentially forgot what their team was actually good at.

Do I feel confident that the coaches could turn around a better performance in the playoffs against Michigan, Georgia, USC, or TCU? Absolutely not, but I think it is certainly possible.

I still believe that the Buckeyes are the most talented team in contention for a CFP berth, and most of their issues this season, in my opinion, have been due to injuries and borderline coaching malfeasance. Of course, the players aren’t without blame, as they are the ones on the field, but you expect college players to make mistakes — sometimes major ones — that’s part of the sport. But, in my humble blogger-brain opinion, it has been the coaching staff, especially Day, who has been the biggest disappointment of the season.

I have written extensively about my belief that the head coach is long overdue to give up playcalling, but I also think that his insistence on proving the 2021 postgame comments from Harbaugh and former Michigan offensive coordinator wrong was just as damaging.


Day wanted to make his team into a “tough” power-running team, despite the fact that he had constructed it so it shared more DNA with an air-raid unit than a traditional Woody Hayes three-yards-in-a-cloud-of-dust attack. I think that also trickled over to the defensive side of the ball by giving overmatched cornerbacks a chance to “man up” and play one-on-one on the outside, often to disastrous results.

However, maybe this is just wishful thinking or outright fandom foolishness, but after what we saw last weekend, given the opportunity to fix those mistakes, they have to have seen the light, right? There’s no way that Day will continue to avoid targeting the best wide receiver in the country in the second half of a game, right? There’s no way that he will favor a running back who was a linebacker at the start of November over a guy who was coming off of an impressive 100-yard performance the previous week, right? There’s no way that defensive coordinator Jim Knowles will continue to put his CBs on an island for average opposing quarterbacks to pick apart like they were high schoolers, right?

Who knows? Maybe I am giving them far too much credit, but I have to believe that given a chance at immediate redemption, this staff — especially with time to hopefully get a lineup as close to 100% healthy as possible — will do something different to put the team in a better chance to win the game, and a title.

Even if the coaches put together a perfect game plan and the injured players are all back healthy, that obviously doesn’t guarantee that the Buckeyes will win one game, let alone two. But, given the fact that the road through the playoffs is as open as it has been in recent memory, that is a risk that I, as a humble fan with literally zero impact on the on-field result, am willing to take.

I know that Twitter will be even more of the absolute hellscape that it already is should Ohio State lose to Michigan for the second time in the span of two or three games, but given what I think we know about this team and this season, I believe it is worth the risk. So, I am going all in on rooting for the Utes and Wildcats this weekend! Join me if you want, but I will completely understand if you’d prefer the Buckeyes on the outside looking in come Selection Sunday.

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Play Like a Girl Podcast: Update on Ohio State women’s hoops with Thomas Costello
Meredith Hein via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here


Photo by Erica Denhoff/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

Plus, previewing what could be the Big Ten’s best field of women’s basketball teams...ever?

On LGHL’s Play Like a Girl podcast, the team talks everything from Ohio State sports to advocacy for women in sports and all the happenings in between.

Check out the podcast below, and make sure to subscribe wherever you get your podcasts:


Welcome back! This week, LGHL’s women’s hoops expert, Thomas Costello, joins the pod to share his thoughts on Ohio State women’s basketball, including the tremendous start the team has had to start the season that propelled the Buckeyes to No. 4 in the latest AP Poll. The pair discuss:

• The impact of Jacy Sheldon
• Surprising newcomers (and veterans who’ve stepped up)
• How other teams in the Big Ten are looking (cough, Iowa)
• Any hope for the conference to win the NCAA Tournament next spring

Plus, Thomas and Meredith review how Team Dog and Team Cat did in the last week of the regular season and share picks for the College Football Playoff.


Contact Thomas Costello
Twitter: @1ThomasCostello

Contact Meredith Hein
Twitter: @MeredithHein

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You’re Nuts: What should replace the Big Ten/ACC challenge?
justingolba via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here


Photo by Grant Halverson/Getty Images

After 23 years, the iconic challenge has gone the way of the dinosaurs.

We are now officially a month into the college basketball season, and the Ohio State men’s team is 5-2 heading into the second month of non-conference play (although they play Rutgers next week, too).

It has been an interesting two weeks for the Buckeyes, as they have participated in the Maui Invitational and took on Duke at Cameron Indoor Stadium. The Buckeyes finished the tough four-game stretch at 2-2, and looked incredibly promising at times.

The Duke game was part of the iconic Big Ten/ACC challenge, an event in which the Buckeyes defeated the top ranked Blue Devils in Columbus last season. The ACC won the challenge 8-6 this season.


To recap last week, in honor of the Michigan game (pain), we debated our favorite Ohio State-Michigan moments on the hardwood. In a landslide, Justin’s pick of Evan Turner’s half court buzzer beater in the 2010 Big Ten tournament took the win, getting 76 percent of the vote. “Other” got 18 percent of the vote, and Connor’s pick of Kyle Young’s ripped jersey game in early 2020 got six percent of the vote.



Here are the updated standings.

After 77 weeks:

Connor- 33
Justin- 31
Other- 9

(There have been four ties)


This week, in honor of the end of the Big Ten/ACC challenge, we are going to be debating what we think the Big Ten should replace the challenge with. The ACC will be now doing a challenge with the SEC, and the Big Ten already has the Gavitt Games with the Big East.

Ohio State finishes 10-12 all-time in the Big Ten/ACC challenge, and went 1-1 against Duke these last two seasons. Purdue finishes as the only Big Ten team with a winning record in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge.

Today’s question: What should replace the Big Ten/ACC challenge?

Connor: Regional rivalry week

Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports

It seems very unlikely that the Big Ten will create any kind of “challenge” with another conference next season, mostly because the most likely candidate — the PAC-12 — is on the other side of the country. So if the Big Ten doesn’t pick a new partner to battle it out with every season, why not ensure that every school plays a game against one of its in-state rivals?

Basketball fans all have one thing in common — they all think their team is the best in the state. Look at Ohio, where Dayton fans have laid claim to being the best program in the state ever since beating Ohio State in the 2014 NCAA Tournament. Ohio State fans, on the other hand, have a pretty strong case that it’s the Buckeyes who are the most successful college basketball team in the state of Ohio.

This rivalry isn’t unique to Ohio. There’s a good inter-state rivalry in pretty much every state. Typically, this sense of competition burns between a mid-major like Dayton and a traditional power five like OSU, but that’s not always the case. Look at New Jersey, where Rutgers and Seton Hall have grown into rivals at close proximity. Rutgers plays in the Big Ten, while Seton Hall competes in the Big East. Both are successful programs which have garnered attention on the national stage over the past decade.

Now, this wouldn’t operate like the Big Ten-ACC Challenge or the Gavitt Games or anything of the sort. There wouldn’t be a “score” kept, but each individual fanbase would have the opportunity to see their team play one of their inter-state rivals once per season. Ideally, this would be on a rolling basis so that different teams would get to take a crack at the big dog in that state. For example: Ohio State plays Dayton in 2023, Xavier in 2024, Toledo in 2025, and Wright State in 2026.

Here’s one example per school of what this could hypothetically look like for each team:

• Rutgers - Monmouth
• Ohio State - Dayton
• Michigan - Central Michigan
• Michigan State - Eastern Michigan
• Iowa - Drake
• Illinois - Loyola Chicago
• Indiana - Butler
• Minnesota - UM-Duluth (there are no other D-I programs in Minnesota)
• Penn State - Temple
• Maryland - Towson
• Nebraska - Creighton
• Wisconsin - Marquette
• Northwestern - DePaul
• Purdue - Notre Dame

Justin: Big Ten/MAC challenge

Photo by Emilee Chinn/Getty Images

I said this on the podcast this week as a joke, and then I started to think about it and I actually think it could be an incredible slate. The one caveat I will give to that is I don’t know if there are any TV rights or anything that could impact this, so I am just throwing this out there as an idea and nothing more.

We all know that the MAC is competitive in basketball against some of the top teams and programs in the country. Michigan has already struggled with Ohio and Eastern Michigan, Kent State had Houston on the ropes and last season, it took a last second bucket for the Buckeyes to take down the Akron Zips in their opening game of the season, who ended up playing UCLA tough in the NCAA Tournament.

Buffalo and Toledo have been incredibly strong programs over the past four and five seasons, and Ohio has beat Virginia recently.

Some people might ask, why would the Big Ten do this? What is the benefit to them? Well the simple answer is most of the Big Ten schools play MAC schools through the season anyway, so might as well make it a challenge.

I like and its entertaining. That is my argument.

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