Matt Tamanini
Guest
Taking Buckeye Nation’s pulse on the football and men’s and women’s basketball teams
Matt Tamanini via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
Fill out our Land-Grant Holy Land fan survey.
Before, during, and after the Ohio State football season, we here at Land-Grant Holy Land like to ask and answer questions about the team, college football, and anything else on our collective minds of varying degrees of importance. If you have a question that you would like to ask, you can tweet us @LandGrant33 or if you need more than 280 characters, send an email HERE.
It is an interesting time for Buckeye fans right now. The football team — always the focus of attention — is less than a week away from the start of spring practice, but there is intrigue for both the men’s and women’s basketball teams, admittedly for very different reasons.
So, we wanted to gauge your thoughts on all three programs in a special fan survey. There is one question about each team in the survey at the end of the article. We will run through each question beforehand, so make sure that you scroll all the way down to vote.
If you have a take that doesn’t fit neatly into the predetermined questions, feel free to share it in the comments at the bottom of the page, and check back on Thursday for the results.
This one is a little bit of a trick question because we won’t actually get to watch much of anything during the spring except for the Spring Game. However, OSU beat reporters should have access to about one-third of the practices, so hopefully, we will hear a little bit about each of these topics over the next few weeks.
For me, I am less concerned about the stuff on the defensive side of the ball, because of how strong that unit was last year. I am fully confident that Caleb Downs joining the safeties room can only be a positive, and while I would love to see Sonny Styles make the move to linebacker, even if he doesn’t, I am optimistic that they will find a way to utilize his freakish talents.
While James Laurinaitis is stepping up to his first real, full-time coaching position, Jim Knowles will still be there to help him, and I have full faith in Little Animal’s ability to be excellent as the linebackers coach.
But we all know that it was the offense that kept the Buckeyes from a shot at the national title last year. So, between Chip Kelly’s influence over the offense, both in terms of schemes and play-calling, and Will Howard’s adaptation to the program, that is where I am most focused during these 15 practices.
Our men’s basketball writers Connor Lemons and Justin Golba have done an excellent job in covering the firing of Chris Holtmann and subsequent transitional period that the team is currently in. The wins against Purdue and Michigan State that Jake Diebler has orchestrated have been impressive, but the team also lost to Minnesota in between, so it hasn’t been a complete 180° turnaround.
Depending on who the next head coach is, I would not be opposed to keeping him on staff as he has been the team’s leading recruiter, and talent accumulation has not be the downfall of the team.
I get it that lots of Ohio State fans aren’t exactly basketball fans, and even fewer regularly follow women’s sports, but this team is a ton of fun to watch. They are aggressive defensively, they have knock-down sharpshooters, and there is no deficit that cannot be overcome.
They made an impressive Elite 8 run last year and look to be a markedly better team in 2024 than they were in 2023. So, now is a perfect time to jump on the bandwagon, especially since they could secure an outright Big Ten title with a win tonight against Michigan.
Throughout the year we ask questions of the most plugged-in Ohio State fans and fans across the country. Sign up here to participate in the weekly emailed surveys.
Check out DraftKings Sportsbook, the official sportsbook partner of SB Nation.
Continue reading...
Matt Tamanini via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
Fill out our Land-Grant Holy Land fan survey.
Before, during, and after the Ohio State football season, we here at Land-Grant Holy Land like to ask and answer questions about the team, college football, and anything else on our collective minds of varying degrees of importance. If you have a question that you would like to ask, you can tweet us @LandGrant33 or if you need more than 280 characters, send an email HERE.
It is an interesting time for Buckeye fans right now. The football team — always the focus of attention — is less than a week away from the start of spring practice, but there is intrigue for both the men’s and women’s basketball teams, admittedly for very different reasons.
So, we wanted to gauge your thoughts on all three programs in a special fan survey. There is one question about each team in the survey at the end of the article. We will run through each question beforehand, so make sure that you scroll all the way down to vote.
If you have a take that doesn’t fit neatly into the predetermined questions, feel free to share it in the comments at the bottom of the page, and check back on Thursday for the results.
Question 1: What are you most excited to watch during spring practice?
This one is a little bit of a trick question because we won’t actually get to watch much of anything during the spring except for the Spring Game. However, OSU beat reporters should have access to about one-third of the practices, so hopefully, we will hear a little bit about each of these topics over the next few weeks.
For me, I am less concerned about the stuff on the defensive side of the ball, because of how strong that unit was last year. I am fully confident that Caleb Downs joining the safeties room can only be a positive, and while I would love to see Sonny Styles make the move to linebacker, even if he doesn’t, I am optimistic that they will find a way to utilize his freakish talents.
While James Laurinaitis is stepping up to his first real, full-time coaching position, Jim Knowles will still be there to help him, and I have full faith in Little Animal’s ability to be excellent as the linebackers coach.
But we all know that it was the offense that kept the Buckeyes from a shot at the national title last year. So, between Chip Kelly’s influence over the offense, both in terms of schemes and play-calling, and Will Howard’s adaptation to the program, that is where I am most focused during these 15 practices.
Question 2: What should Ohio State do with Jake Diebler?
Our men’s basketball writers Connor Lemons and Justin Golba have done an excellent job in covering the firing of Chris Holtmann and subsequent transitional period that the team is currently in. The wins against Purdue and Michigan State that Jake Diebler has orchestrated have been impressive, but the team also lost to Minnesota in between, so it hasn’t been a complete 180° turnaround.
Depending on who the next head coach is, I would not be opposed to keeping him on staff as he has been the team’s leading recruiter, and talent accumulation has not be the downfall of the team.
Question 3: How plugged in are you to the women’s basketball team?
I get it that lots of Ohio State fans aren’t exactly basketball fans, and even fewer regularly follow women’s sports, but this team is a ton of fun to watch. They are aggressive defensively, they have knock-down sharpshooters, and there is no deficit that cannot be overcome.
They made an impressive Elite 8 run last year and look to be a markedly better team in 2024 than they were in 2023. So, now is a perfect time to jump on the bandwagon, especially since they could secure an outright Big Ten title with a win tonight against Michigan.
Share your thoughts here:
Throughout the year we ask questions of the most plugged-in Ohio State fans and fans across the country. Sign up here to participate in the weekly emailed surveys.
Check out DraftKings Sportsbook, the official sportsbook partner of SB Nation.
Continue reading...