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SG Mark "The Shark" Titus (Official Thread)

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Replacing a legend: Who will replace benchwarming blogger Mark ?The Shark? Titus?
By Nick Otte
For The Lantern
Published: Wednesday, November 3, 2010

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Andy Gottesman / Lantern photographer

How will the Ohio State men's basketball team replace its departed star? Who will take his spot? How can the team possibly succeed without him?

Those are the questions on everyone's minds after Mark Titus' departure.

It seems impossible for a program to move on after losing such an important piece to the puzzle. Senior David Lighty said it could take a while for someone to fill Titus' shoes.

"Mark is crazy," Lighty said. "It'll be a while before someone replaces him."

After four years at OSU - four years in which he transformed from a walk-on to an Internet sensation *- Titus graduated last spring, leaving a gaping hole at the end of the Buckeyes' bench. But for both Titus and OSU, life must go on.

Titus has taken a job working as a college basketball writer for ESPN.com, where he said he will write weekly articles throughout the season. And although he said he has no interest in writing as a long-term career, he is writing a book chronicling his time at OSU, which he said will be released in March 2012.

Despite plenty of work to keep himself occupied, Titus is still adapting to life without basketball, an adjustment he said takes getting used to. It'll be even more difficult, he said, once the Buckeyes' season begins next week.

"I kind of want to go to every game just because I won't know what to do with myself," Titus said in an interview with The Lantern. "It's going to be weird because I did it for four years and I was really into it and I enjoyed it.

"I'm not going to have a front row seat anymore and I think that's going to be the most disappointing part of the whole thing."
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http://www.thelantern.com/sports/re...arming-blogger-mark-the-shark-titus-1.1744408
 
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The Big Ten, via the bench
Walk-ons favor MSU, E'Twaun Moore, Minnesota cheerleaders, and, um, pillows

By Mark Titus
Special to ESPN Insider

Look, I played in the Big Ten, so I am a little biased, but as of right now, the conference is the best and deepest in college basketball -- and that is a fact. With five teams in the top 25 and two teams in the top five, the Big Ten is so competitive that Iowa felt the need to bust out the big guns and turn to Demi Moore and Michael Kelso for recruiting help. Although the reigning national player of the year in college basketball, Evan "The Villain" Turner, left the conference for the NBA, some would argue that there is actually more talent in the conference this season than there was last season. Having played in the Big Ten for four years, I already know a great deal about the inner workings of the conference, but I'm guessing that most of you reading this don't, which is why I decided to talk to walk-ons from around the conference to figure out what exactly makes the Big Ten so awesome.
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ESPN.com (Insider): The Big Ten, via the bench
 
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During two years of my walk-on career at Ohio State, I was lucky enough to be given a full-ride scholarship. I was Greg Oden's long-time friend and Coach Thad Matta wanted to do whatever it took to make Greg happy. Unfortunately, following my junior year our basketball program was sanctioned because we fell short of a few of the NCAA's academic benchmarks. Most of the problem was rooted in the fact that my teammates and predecessors at Ohio State were knuckleheads who didn't get the job done in the classroom -- but the problem was magnified after a few of my teammates went to the NBA early and withdrew from classes after the university deadline. They had to stay enrolled in classes to be eligible for our games, but our seasons never ended before the withdrawal deadline. It may be more of a flawed system than negligence on their part, still, withdrawing meant that they automatically flunked all their classes, which crippled our team's academic standing.

Because of this, our program was forced to give up two scholarships, limiting our total scholarship count to 11. I was the 12th guy on the roster. As a result, any potential of me being awarded a scholarship for my senior year was gone; all because guys who had multi-million dollar contracts waiting for them in the NBA understandably placed more emphasis on their careers than Sociology 101 lectures.
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http://insider.espn.go.com/ncb/preview2010/insider/news/story?id=5784053
 
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Titus: ?This is my story of what I did in college?
By Mike Young
[email protected]
Published: Wednesday, March 2, 2011

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Andy Gottesman / Multimedia editor
Former Buckeye Mark Titus played for the Buckeyes from 2007?10.

Senior guard Jon Diebler might have one of the purest shots in the history of the Ohio State basketball program, yet his shooting stroke can never earn him the nickname "Mr. Rainmaker."

That moniker belongs to "Club Trillion" blog founder and former Buckeye Mark Titus. The blog's popularity and Titus' writing spurred a book deal with the Doubleday Publishing Group ? an announcement Titus made Feb. 21 on Twitter.

Titus told The Lantern his intent behind penning the book was not to publish it, but to use it as a personal memento.

"As corny as it sounds, I wanted to hand it to my kids and say, ?This is my story of what I did in college,'" Titus said. "After my junior year, after about a year of the blog, I realized there would probably be an outside interest in a book."

The book, titled "Don't Put Me In, Coach," will chronicle Titus' role as a team manager turned walk-on at OSU.

"There are going to be a lot of stories about my teammates, the dumb stuff they did that I like to make fun of," he said. "The overall gist will be what I went through over the course of four years, and the funny things that went alongside playing with guys like Greg Oden, Mike Conley and Evan Turner."

The book has already spawned interest ? particularly with OSU coach Thad Matta.

"I can't wait to see what he's got coming out of there," Matta said in a press conference Feb. 21. "I don't even know what the book's about."

Matta frequently asks about the book.

"It's like he's nervous about what I'm going to write," Titus said. "I don't know if he's going to read it, but I know the other coaches will. I've been told they want to screen it before I release it."

Titus' legacy at OSU wasn't just an impending book deal. When he graduated, he held the record for most career wins with 110, a mark he shared with fellow former walk-on Danny Peters.

Unfortunately for Titus, fifth-year senior forward David Lighty broke that record against Minnesota on Jan. 9.

"With guys like me, who can't actually lay claim to anything, we search for ways you can twist it," Titus said. "I decided to put the caveat on it that he's a fifth-year player, so I have the four-year record still."

Cont...
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http://www.thelantern.com/sports/titus-this-is-my-story-of-what-i-did-in-college-1.2044374
 
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