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

[NFBuck]

1. Until further notice, Aaron Craft is the best point guard in the country. There is no obvious designee for this honorific, nor is there any shortage of worthy candidates. But nobody has better overall command of the game on both ends of the floor than Ohio State's 6-foot-2 sophomore. Tuesday was the third time in five games that Craft had eight assists. (He also had a season-high four turnovers.) He also had his best shooting night of the season, making seven of his 11 attempts overall, and three for four from three-point range. One of those makes was accidentally banked in from the top of the key. They say it's better to be lucky than good, but on this night Craft was both -- and it didn't seem fair.
Craft is certainly lucky to be surrounded by so much talent. As Krzyzewski put it, "part of being a good point guard is having good players you can point-guard for." But Craft also thinks the game at a very high level. Buckeyes coach Thad Matta said that at one point, when he warned Craft he had three fouls, Craft corrected him and said he only had two. (Matta had to check with his assistants to see if Craft was right. He was.) Last Friday against Valparaiso, Craft told Matta that he should stop the game because a teammate had just made a three but the refs only credited him for a two. (Matta asked the refs to check the monitor to see if Craft was right. He was.) Matta also said he lets Craft pretty much decide how many minutes he's capable of playing each game. He played a season-high 38 on Tuesday night and didn't seem the least bit tired.
There may be other point guards who will have a brighter NBA future. But if I could pick one point guard to win a college basketball game tomorrow night, I would pick Craft. I have a feeling I'm not alone.


Read more: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/writers/seth_davis/11/30/duke.ohiost/index.html#ixzz1fB5FL0x6
​

Yes sir.​

 

[ImFrigginFly]

This kid is the best point guard in the country. He makes one boneheaded play every game. Just one, usually. The rest of the time, he is PHENOMENAL.

 

[matcar]

[/COLOR]
Yes sir.[/LEFT]

From the article....

There may be other point guards who will have a brighter NBA future. But if I could pick one point guard to win a college basketball game tomorrow night, I would pick Craft. I have a feeling I'm not alone.

....you are not alone....


This kid is relentless on the floor. Every game we watch, I tell my son to watch Craft...just watch him and you'll learn not only how to play the position, but to play a sport...tireless, relentless.

 

[Bill Lucas]

He routinely makes spectacular plays defensively. His average play on defense is another players best effort.

 

[Brutus1]

FYI, Bob Gibbons lists him as a combo guard (he also lists Smith, #93, as a combo guard). Note that Gibbons lists some players as PG, and Aaron (#96) isn't one of them:
Bob Gibbons All Star Report

Great call, Bob Gibbons.

 

[matcar]

Craft is a great defender at the point guard position, possibly the best in college basketball at guarding the point, and plays the point guard position really well. He could be one of the top-10 point guards in college basketball this year. Jay Williams on ESPN's preview show put guys like Josiah Turner on his list of top-10 PGs this year and did not include Craft - that is a mistake.

I did overestimate how big of a role Scott would have this year. Although I still really like Scott and think he is a purer point than Craft, Craft is clearly a better player right now, and when you combine that with Smith's emergence at the 2, you have eliminated the need for Scott to start. However, you could say the team doesn't have enough guys who can hurt defenses with the dribble drive with the starting lineup as is, because really Craft is the only guy they have that is driving the lane. There will be times where Craft plays the 2 while Scott is at the point this year, although it will not be one of the primary lineups, it can give them more dribble penetration ... perhaps it will be a more prominent combination in future years.

So yes, I was wrong about projecting Craft to start at the 2 with Scott starting at PG this year. Craft deserves to start at PG this year.

Pretty obvious after last night that Craft will be the PG here all 4 years. While he doesn't always penetrate the lane like Kenny Anderson did 20 years ago, Craft does SO MANY things as a PG so well, that there is simply no way that anyone will take that position from him while at tOSU.

While Sully will always be the best player on this team for as long as he stays at tOSU, Craft will always be the heartbeat of this team.

 

[CentralMOBuck]

1. Until further notice, Aaron Craft is the best point guard in the country. There is no obvious designee for this honorific, nor is there any shortage of worthy candidates. But nobody has better overall command of the game on both ends of the floor than Ohio State's 6-foot-2 sophomore. Tuesday was the third time in five games that Craft had eight assists. (He also had a season-high four turnovers.) He also had his best shooting night of the season, making seven of his 11 attempts overall, and three for four from three-point range. One of those makes was accidentally banked in from the top of the key. They say it's better to be lucky than good, but on this night Craft was both -- and it didn't seem fair.
Craft is certainly lucky to be surrounded by so much talent. As Krzyzewski put it, "part of being a good point guard is having good players you can point-guard for." But Craft also thinks the game at a very high level. Buckeyes coach Thad Matta said that at one point, when he warned Craft he had three fouls, Craft corrected him and said he only had two. (Matta had to check with his assistants to see if Craft was right. He was.) Last Friday against Valparaiso, Craft told Matta that he should stop the game because a teammate had just made a three but the refs only credited him for a two. (Matta asked the refs to check the monitor to see if Craft was right. He was.) Matta also said he lets Craft pretty much decide how many minutes he's capable of playing each game. He played a season-high 38 on Tuesday night and didn't seem the least bit tired.
There may be other point guards who will have a brighter NBA future. But if I could pick one point guard to win a college basketball game tomorrow night, I would pick Craft. I have a feeling I'm not alone.


Read more: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/201...#ixzz1fB5FL0x6

Yes sir.

The one thing missing from this is Craft's ability to shut down anyone he guards. Curry was MIA last night and that had to do with Craft guarding him. I thought Matta would have put Craft on Rivers, but assumed he'd rather trade River's two point shots for Curry's three point shots.

There may be other point guards who will have a brighter NBA future. But if I could pick one point guard to win a college basketball game tomorrow night, I would pick Craft. I have a feeling I'm not alone.

Throw me in this group to. Craft gets it done on both ends of the floor better than anyone else in the country.

 

[LitlBuck]

Matta credited point guard Aaron Craft in particular for having "a great command of the game. We were getting the shots we wanted every time down. We kept saying only take great shots, and the guys did that."

Ohio State shot 59.3 percent from the field, their second-best percentage of the season and third straight game over 50. They shot better than 50 percent from behind the arc for the first time this season, made a season-high eight threes, and had nearly a 2-1 assist-turnover ratio (18-10) as a team.

"We executed really well," Craft said. "That?s been one of our stresses the past couple of weeks. We didn?t start off the season shooting the ball as well as we wanted to, and I think we came out today and took good shots and that helped us get in a rhythm. Everyone was able to knock down shots today."

http://www.buckeyextra.com/content/blogs/hoops-and-scoops/2011/11/postgame-duke.html

 

[jlb1705]

Luke Winn of SI.com looks beyond the box score for Aaron Craft's defensive impact as part of his Power Rankings for this week:

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/20...r.rankings/index.html?eref=sihp&sct=hp_t11_a2

For Tuesday's rout of Duke, an enterprising Ohio State student (shown at right, credit US Presswire) dressed up as an Aaron Craft/Kraft box, complete with a side panel of stats. The box did not appear to include the Turnometer, which is unfortunate, as it measures the most vital CraftStat: turnovers forced.

The Power Rankings' thorough film review has Craft with 20 standard, box-score steals* through seven games, but a total of 32 turnovers forced, which means he's forcing 8.84 turnovers per 100 possessions played. Against Duke, he had just one box-score steal -- his biggest impact was taking Seth Curry off the ball and out of the game, as he only attempted eight shots, making three -- but Craft forced a total of 4.5 turnovers. The updated Turnometer looks like this:

* Craft's official season stat line has him with 22 steals, but one should be William Buford's, and another should be Jared Sullinger's, if we're being fair. Which we are.

 

[Buckskin86]

Jim Ingraham: Ohio State's Aaron Craft is not concerned with 'the magnitude of me'
Published: Sunday, December 04, 2011
By Jim Ingraham
[email protected]
@jitribeinsider

This was a few years ago, when Milton Bradley was with the Indians. The Indians were playing the Dodgers, and Bradley hit a home run. You could tell it was a home run as soon as it left the bat.

Before starting his trot around the bases, Bradley stood at home plate, admiring his blast, and dramatically undoing the Velcro straps on each batting glove. Only then did he slowly start his jog to first base.

The players in the Dodgers' dugout went nuts. They hooted and screamed at Bradley for his showboating, and it continued as he made his way around the bases.

Following the game, Bradley was incredulous at the reaction of the Dodgers' players to his batting gloves routine after hitting a home run.

"Everybody's got their thing," he said with a shrug. "That's my thing."

In our current culture of sports, that's the problem. Not exclusively with Bradley. With everyone. Or almost everyone.

It's not a problem with Aaron Craft.

Aaron Craft doesn't have a "thing." Doesn't want one. Doesn't need one.

That's why Aaron Craft matters. A lot.

If you love sports, the essence of sports, the spirit of competition without the cartoonish posturing, posing and hey-look-at-me horn honking by all the self-absorbed posse-pulling strutters and swaggerers, Ohio State point guard Aaron Craft is your guy.

If I'm a basketball coach anywhere from youth leagues through high school, I get my team together and watch an Ohio State game on television, paying particular attention to Craft.

That's how rare, how refreshing, Craft is. There's a phrase in sports, "He's a winning player."

cont...

http://news-herald.com/articles/2011/12/04/sports/nh4814914.txt?viewmode=fullstory

 

[Buckskin86]

Aaron Craft unquestionable key element for Ohio State
By Marlen Garcia, USA TODAY

COLUMBUS, Ohio ? An inquisitive nature took Aaron Craft to an operating room late last summer.

The Ohio State point guard shadowed OSU team physician Grant Jones during a day of surgeries. Craft is on a pre-med track and has peppered Jones with questions about his job since meeting the doctor as a recruit.

Craft's day in surgery included observing an arthroscopic shoulder procedure and a full-blown knee reconstruction.

"The coolest part for me was having someone off to the side that could explain the anatomy ? some things that I had already learned and could understand," says Craft, from Findlay, Ohio.

Craft grew faint during the knee surgery and left the operating room briefly, which is common for first-time observers, Jones says.

"He came right back as though he were getting up from taking a charge," the doctor says.

cont...

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/coll...n-Craft-key-element-for-Ohio-State/51684046/1

 

[Fungo Squiggly]

Wow. I initially read that as "Aaron Craft Questionable...." Scared the shit out of me.

 

[dav713]

Great effort by Craft today. His play was very Craftlike. All heart. Without him, Kansas puts the game out of reach in the first half. Kid means so much to this team.

 

[OhioState001]

Craft is just as important to the team as Sully he should be an All-American candidate

 

[MaxBuck]

Great hard work by Craft, but I thought he was a bit of a liability on the offensive end today. Seemed to force the issue in non-productive ways, making a number of careless passes. I actually thought we were a little better team today with Scott at the point. But I could be wrong.

Looking forward to having Sully back, and to having Q available as another outside weapon.