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PG Aaron Craft (B1G 6th MOY '11, Def POY '12, Acad AA, Dolomiti En. TR - Italy)

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Craft not caught up in athletic fame
By Whitney Kindell
[email protected]
Published: Sunday, April 10, 2011

Coming from a small town where cows are more populous than people, anyone featured on TV for more than 13 seconds is an instant celebrity.

Here at Ohio State in old Columbus town, we are surrounded with these "hometown heros." On trek to MarketPlace we collide with athletes featured on ESPN and all over our nation. It's easy to find our very own "OSU celebs" sitting in the same lecture hall, taking the same midterm.

Most schools do not have these close encounters with "fame," but on our campus we have our own equivalent to royalty.

When I had the opportunity to interview Aaron Craft, men's basketball point guard and Big Ten Sixth Man of the Year, I'm not going to lie, I was slightly intimidated.

OK, slightly is an understatement.

Four hits of the inhaler later and I was good to go for chatting with one of these "celebrities."

Craft is a first-year, Ohio native hailing from a small town much like where I am from. I figured the exercise-science major would have countless stories of being starstruck and having ridiculous fan encounters, but I was pleasantly surprised with how humble and easy-to-talk-to Craft was.

"I used to joke with Jared (Sullinger) and the other guys because they always got the spotlight and I just slid by. I enjoyed that," Craft said. "It wasn't until we took team pictures in the fall and I got to put on the Ohio State jersey with my name on it for the first time until I realized this was real."

In my mind, I envisioned screaming girls chasing Craft to the Union and countless demands for photos. However, Craft said he wasn't recognized until "after the Florida game since it was the first on ESPN, but I think people mostly recognize my red cheeks, not really me."

The red cheeks have become a trademark of the Findlay, Ohio, native who claims his most awkward fan experience was signing someone's forehead.

"I didn't enjoy that because that was skin," he said.

Cont..
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http://www.thelantern.com/opinion/craft-not-caught-up-in-athletic-fame-1.2156247
 
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BB73;1841842; said:
Another early prediction: Craft will break the career steals record at tOSU, which is currently 204 by Jay Burson.

The single-season record is 87 (by Mike Conley, Jr. in 2006-07), I'm not sure that he'll get that one.
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OSU_Buckguy;1841845; said:
agreed. i made the same prediction elsewhere. heck, as long as craft stays healthy, i think he'll obliterate the career steals record. i also agree that conley's single season record likely won't be broken.
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just looking at some stats.

conley's steal percentage: 4.3% (2nd in conference, 31st in nation)
craft's steal percentage: 4.1% (2nd in conference, 36th in nation)
 
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I just spent 3 hours reading this thread from the beginning..............Good stuff fellas..............Craft is a 'true PG'.............OSU Buck_guy had it nailed all the way back from Craft's highschool/AAU days...............does this DZ cat still exist around here or was he so embarrassed that he had to leave?..............I too think that Craft will break the career steals record at OSU but where I disagree is I think that he will also break Conley's single season mark of 87...............We should be playing deep into the tourney throughout Crafts tenure at PG which will give him close to 40 games to accomplish the record...............as a frosh, he averaged 2/game and I believe that atleast once in the next 3 seasons he can get to 88 steals..............if we play 40 games in a particular season, Craft would need to avg. 2.2/game...............I realize that that would be a 10% increase from his freshman production but keep in mind that he avg. 2/game while playing 29 mins/game..............with more experience, more minutes (I think about 34/game), and some 'Craft Hustle' I think that he will leave OSU as not only the all-time steals leader and single season steals leader, but he'll also have a very good shot at becoming OSU's all-time assists leader by the time he departs from the program...............not too bad for a guy that's not a 'true PG'..............
 
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Buckskin86;1956167; said:
‪Aaron Craft Interveiw with Adam Neft on 97.1 The Fan‬‏ - YouTube
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That was a good interveiw. It's always good to hear from your favorite player in the off-season. I just wish that Neft would've asked him about Shannon Scott since they are the only two PGs on the team and are both similar players. He should've asked Craft if any of the freshmen are standing out. As quick as Scott is I bet that's a helluva 1on1 match-up in practice.
 
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NINJA BUCK13;1962267; said:
That's ok, Craft is the type of player that will always prove people wrong and he will over-achieve. They can rank players where they want, but you can't put the value if Aaron Craft on paper.
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i'd probably put craft on my preseason third team, too. taylor is the natural selection for the first team. given morris' departure, hardaway jr. makes sense for the second-team selection. also, craft will have the ball in his hands less this season because scott will likely run a lot of point. when playing together, though, i think the line between point and off-guard will be blurred. i expect that it will be kick-and-run for whoever is the natural outlet (scott or craft). i doubt we wait for scott/craft when the other is right there.
 
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http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basket...ege_hoops_players_could_excel_football_082911

Aaron Craft, Ohio State, sophomore – As the starting point guard, Craft is the Buckeyes’ team leader on the basketball court. But he’s also shown he’s adept at directing the show on the football field. Craft was a three-year starter at quarterback at Liberty-Benton High School near Findlay, Ohio. He passed for 7,824 yards and rushed for 3,318 yards while leading his team to a combined record of 38-4. The 6-2 Craft quit football prior to his senior season to focus on basketball.
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