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Buckeyes Approaching March Madness with Strong Play

With March Madness approaching quickly, teams are positioning themselves for the best seeds. Big Ten teams, like Ohio State, are looking to peak here at the end of the season to enter the NCAA tournament in the best frame of mind, the most experienced, confident, and healthy. This should be a very exciting year for sports betting sites and fans of the teams in all the major conferences.

By Steve Patterson

Big Ten teams projected to be selected for the Big Dance include Purdue, Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan State, and Ohio State. Of course the conference tournament winner has an automatic bid into the NCAA tournament, which could add a sixth team into the mix. Purdue is in position to be a #1 seed with a 24-3 record, although the recent injury to Robbie Hummel and an upcoming Michigan State match up might cause them to stumble.

Ohio State is looking like a #3 seed with a 22-7 record. The Buckeyes biggest concern is their lack of bench depth. Evan Turner is the team’s leader and has been remarkable all year long. He leads the team in points per game with 19.3, rebounds with 9.3 per game, assists with 5.8 a game, and steals with 1.9 a game. Yet the team is reluctant to play it’s bench which could ware on the starters in a long tournament run. Head Coach Thad Matta has 8 players that have played significant games with only the 5 starters getting large minutes.

The tournament will be exciting once again and everyone should be set to enjoy a good solid month of college basketball as March approaches.

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Ohio Cornerback Doran Grant, No College Leaders Yet

When you see film of Doran Grant dominating offenses from the cornerback position at St Mary St Vincent in Akron Ohio, you think he is a senior who has started for 3 years. Then you realize the video is from 2007 when Grant was new to the  high school game. With already two hands full of scholarship offers, Grant is an early 2011 Rivals Top 250 Watch list member.

By Steve Patterson

Doran Grant is still wide open in his recruitment with teams from Georgia to Ohio State in pursuit. The 5’10” 171 lbs corner back will have his selection of college programs when he his ready to make a choice. An early decision for one of the best players nationwide for 2011 is weather to play in the Army All American Bowl in San Antonio or going to Orlando to play in ESPN’s Under Armour Bowl.

We asked Grant recently what were his best skills on the field that set him apart from other players. “My best attributes are my speed, quickness, savvy playmaking and strength.” he explained to us. Grant has a recorded 4.59 sec 40 yard dash according to one recruiting service and 4.37 seconds according to Scout.com.

Coming into his sophomore year of high school, teams were already aware of him on the field. “The highlight of my career is having teams throw away from me as a sophomore.” he explained. As a junior he put up decent numbers for not having the ball thrown his way very often on defense. “Stats last year were 33 receptions for 688 yards, 40 tackles, 1 interception, 3 blocked field goals, and 3 pass deflections.”

College Visits

Some of his early visits have been to two of his favorites. “I’ve visited Ohio State and Michigan State so far THIS winter. I enjoyed both and grew relationships with the coaches.” There are rumors that Grant is a heavy Ohio State lean, but he states that this is not true. He also likes Georgia, Georgia Tech, Michigan and Notre Dame. He has future visits planned for Michigan, Georgia Tech and Cincinnati.

“In a college program I’m looking for a great coaching staff, great people, and a chance to play early (freshman year).” he told us about what he looks for when he visits campuses. With cornerback depth an issue at some of his favorites, getting on the field as a freshman shouldn’t be a problem.

Scholarships

The list of colleges showing interest continues to grow as Grant tried to list the major programs that have offered him a scholarship. “A lot of schools are showing interest, all the Big Ten, Georgia, Georgia Tech, USC, CAL,West Virginia, Cincinnati, PITT, LSU , and a lot others.” he said. And he continues to maintain that there are no leaders this early in the process.  “I don’t have any legit favorites as of now.”

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This video highlight from Diamonds in the Rough starts out with one hard hit that takes the helmet off the ball carrier by 2011 strong safety prospect Wayne Lyons. Also shown is Lyons speed in the open field, his kick return ability, many of the 21 tackles for loss that he had last season, his sure tackling, his make up speed, and pass rushing skill. As a junior, Lyons had 87 tackles, 2 interceptions, and 8 break ups. This followed a sophomore year when he had 95 tackles, 15 tackles for loss, 2 sacks, and a fumble recovery.

The 2011 strong safety prospect from Dillard High School in Fort Lauderdale, Wayne Lyons, shows off his run stopping ability from the safety position, his ability to close on the ball, block kicks, blow up plays in the backfield, and finish tackles. Lyons has 30 offers early in the recruiting season from teams like Alabama, Florida State, Miami, Michigan, Notre Dame and Ohio State.

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One theory of management is “the level of competence.” That theory says that an organization will promote people based on their ability to do their current job. But at some point they become no longer “promotable” because they are no longer doing an outstanding job. They are in a job one level above their level of competence. Those people should be demoted back to a job that they do well but they almost never are.

I see the Cav’s coach Brown as just such a case. From all reports Brown was a more than competent as associate head coach of the Indiana Pacers and as an assistant coach for the San Antonio Spurs. But he is in my opinion not even close to being competent as head coach.

Science tells us that nature abhors a vacuum. Because Brown is incompetent as head coach there is a power vacuum that out of necessity LeBron James has been forced to fill. As good as James is, it is very difficult to get an overview of the game from the court. He is so focused on doing his job that he is not able to see that the offensive flow of the team is sporadic at best and nonexistent at times.

The lack of competence of Brown has been highlighted by his inability to deal with the changes in the roster from the trades and returning players from injury. In a recent interview he admitted he was struggling to re-integrate Williams into the offense. He seems to have no clue how to integrate Jamison into the offense and what is worse, has not even tried to do it. Brown puts guys on the floor and lets James figure out how to use them.

Mike, here are a few things you might try to see in the tapes of recent games.

1. The offense runs very smoothly when it goes through LeBron and a big man. It doesn’t seem to matter if that is Shaq or Jamison because both are more than capable of scoring or dishing the ball to an open player. That will also save James’ energy and make him more effective later in the game.

2. The Brown O seems to be 4 guys watching LeBron take on the 5 opponents. Both he and Brown need to trust the other guys on the team. This is not the 04-05 team with guys like Drew Gooden, Jeff McInnis, Ira Newble and Robert Traylor around James. We have a team that has veteran starting quality scorers. Both James and Brown need to trust them particularly in the last few minutes of a game. In the 3 game losing streak the Cavs O in the last few minutes was 1 on 5 LeBron against the world.

3. It was nice to see Jamison starting. He has to start with Varejao being the 1st off the bench at PF. Hickson is a great kid but he has to be the 3rd option at that position. It will reduce his minutes but that is the way it needs to be to have this team be competitive against the top teams in the league.

There should be no doubt that this team is the most prepared to compete for a championship that the Cavs have ever had. Mike, get your head out of your hind quarters and start coaching. If you can’t figure out how to get all these stars into the O, find someone that can and let them do it. LeBron has enough on his plate.

That’s what I think. Tell me what you think.

Your fantasy football doesn’t have to be over. Run a pro football franchise all year long for free at http://sportsims.net/. Tell them Coach Smith sent you.

Bill Smith is a former coach of several semi-pro teams, has officiated both football and basketball, done color on radio for college football and basketball and has scouted talent. He is a senior writer for http://NFLDraftDog.com and edits http://fryingpansports.com. He is a regular contributor on Cleveland Sports Radio http://www.sportstalkcleveland.com/ Monday morningS at 11 EST. He has also published several novels on

http://www.eBooks-Library/Contemporary/Author.cfm?AuthorID=1003 and edits http://fryingpanpolitics.blog.com.

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In general, I am not an Olympic guy. I usually don’t watch the Winter Olympics because I get cold looking at all that snow even on TV. The only thing that is white and should be on the ground is nice warm sand.

Given the severity of the winter in Ohio this year, I WANT MY GLOBAL WARMING AND I WANT IT NOW!

I am also a believer that the Olympics should be all amateurs and not professionals across the board. In the 1980 games, the gaggle of US college hockey players beat the best professional team in the world–the USSR Army team. The fact that the USSR team was allowed in the games was a joke. Would the Olympic committee have allowed World Heavy Weight Champion Mike Tyson to enter the boxing tournament? I don’t think so. Then why did they allow the USSR to bring in a professional team?

Now we have the NHL and NBA players involved along with the professionals in some sports but not others. I would prefer all amateurs. The problem is that in basketball and some other team sports, most nations do not have amateur organizations.

Hockey

The hockey has been outstanding. US vs. Canada was a great game. Some wonder why the Peacock put it on MSNBC. The answer is simple. They wanted the American public to have at least 1 reason to try to find it on the cable menu. From the prospective of the NHL, it should have been on the broadcast channel. The NHL needs all the exposure it can get and should have put pressure on NBC to get it a better channel.

Curling

With apologies to Harry Potter, I am sorry but anything that involves the use of a broom is not a sport. It is a cleaning activity.

X games sports

I will be first to admit I am an old fart when it comes to the X games stuff. The only advantage I have found to being over 60 is that I get discounts at the buffet restaurants. If I had any idea how painful old age would be I never would have signed up for it. But the X games should be on ESPN 7 and not in the Olympics. How do you include those things and eliminate baseball from the summer games?

That’s what I think. Tell me what you think.

Your fantasy football doesn’t have to be over. Run a pro football franchise all year long for free at http://sportsims.net/. Tell them Coach Smith sent you.

Bill Smith is a former coach of several semi-pro teams, has officiated both football and basketball, done color on radio for college football and basketball and has scouted talent. He is a senior writer for http://NFLDraftDog.com and edits http://fryingpansports.com. He is a regular contributor on Cleveland Sports Radio http://www.sportstalkcleveland.com/ Monday mornings at 11 EST. He has also published several novels on

http://www.eBooks-Library/Contemporary/Author.cfm?AuthorID=1003 and edits http://fryingpanpolitics.blog.com.

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• Some Christmas wishes in the Sports world.
• As usual, the drive bye media misses the point about the FSU scandal.
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• What did we learn this weekend?

I have up to now written just once about the Woods’ issue. That was concerning his asking to be left alone about the issue of his infidelity. I don’t care about that because frankly I don’t think it is any of my business. Whatever happened is between Woods, his clients, his family and the women involved. Frankly I don’t care and have zero interest in any of it.

Woods is a public figure both because he is a professional athlete and because he is a spokesman for a number of public and private companies. He must accept the public scrutiny because he has received millions of dollars for hawking products. There is no question that he and his handlers had carefully crafted an image that was too perfect for any reasonable human to believe. That image was also damaged badly perhaps irreparably by what he did.

The media has made it worse by a factor of 100 by giving his statement coverage on every network then dissecting each syllable of his statement for hours on end. For those that had no opinion about Woods good or bad, this drum beat gives us a headache that Tylenol 45 could not possibly cure. That coverage will end up hurting him far more than the actions themselves including the bizarre events of Thanksgiving morning. His clients clearly insisted that he make the public apology. However, they should have known what affect the medial frenzy would have on him. He was smart not to answer questions because they would have involved the most lurid aspects of his sexual encounters.

P.T. Barnum once said that no one ever went broke under estimating the intelligence of the American public. I am not sure if that is true. Based on some of the people we elect to public office, I tend to believe it. I am sure however, that Tiger will live to regret the statement almost as much as he regrets his actions.

Your fantasy football doesn’t have to be over. Run a pro football franchise all year long for free at http://sportsims.net/. Tell them Coach Smith sent you.

That’s what I think. Tell me what you think.

Bill Smith is a former coach of several semi-pro teams, has officiated both football and basketball, done color on radio for college football and basketball and has scouted talent. He is a senior writer for http://NFLDraftDog.com and edits http://fryingpansports.com. He is a regular contributor on Cleveland Sports Radio http://www.sportstalkcleveland.com/ Monday morning at 11. He has also published several novels on

http://www.eBooks-Library/Contemporary/Author.cfm?AuthorID=1003 and edits http://fryingpanpolitics.blog.com.

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• Major League Baseball shoots itself in the foot again.
• Editorial: ESPN Blows coverage of the East West Shrine game
• Some Christmas wishes in the Sports world.
• As usual, the drive bye media misses the point about the FSU scandal.
• Tiger Woods can’t have it both ways.

Ohio State Buckeyes at The NFL Combine

The NFL Combine runs from February 24, 2010 to March 2nd in Indianapolis and four OSU Buckeyes have been invited to attend. Senior Safety Kurt Coleman, Junior Defensive End Thaddeus Gibson, Senior Kicker Aaron Pettrey, and Senior Defensive Tackle Doug Worthington. 18 graduating Buckeyes have been preparing for the OSU Pro Day in addition to the NFL Combine since their season ended with a Rose Bowl victory on January 1st.

By Steve Patterson

When NFL scouts attend the NFL Combine or travel to Columbus for Ohio State’s Pro Day, they are looking to measure many things in the athletes available, including speed, strength, agility, reasoning and character. The tests aren’t necessarily testing abilities needed to play well on the football field. For many it’s like returning to high school track practice where speed and reaction time are most important. But it’s a good chance to prove what they have learned and trained for while at the university overall.

The intense workouts the football players endure to prepare for the pro events become a full-time job leading up to the days. The staff continues to work with the players and fine tune their abilities to test well in all necessary aspects. Eric Litcher, Ohio State’s training and conditioning coach, puts in the most effort working individually with each football player who is leaving.

Thaddeus Gibson is one of the standouts that is expected to be drafted in the first round. He is leaving the program a year early but should be rewarded if the 6’3” 240 lbs defensive end is selected as high as anticipated. Unlike some in the past that left Columbus for workout facilities, Gibson stayed in town and has been training at the Woody Hayes facility. He has looked at the Wunderlich test and is considered of good character by everyone in the system in addition to being a great athlete. He feels that he will remain a part of the Buckeye family even after he has left for his next occupation.

Expanding Big 10 Reaching Out to Texas and Other Big 12 Teams

The Big Ten is in talks with a number of schools with Texas being the biggest program being rumored. The poor television deal the Big 12 has currently compared to the better Big Ten television deal makes all Big 12 teams in play. Texas might be a reach but the Longhorns switching conferences would be significant.

By Steve Patterson

Fans of the Big 12 are hoping the conferences stay the way they are, more regional than anything else. Other Big 12 and non-Big 12 teams rumored for a move include Nebraska, Missouri, Rutgers, Notre Dame, Syracuse and Pittsburg. The number of new Big Ten teams could range from one up to five. A 16 team conference would make divisions easy and a championship game ideal.

Current rivalries in the Big 12 is an issue that might stop Texas from making the switch. Oklahoma, Texas Tech, and Texas A&M are important games in the Longhorn’s history. Switching them to non-conference would make the Longhorn’s schedule one of the most difficult in the country. To not have these games would be a major change for a traditional team. The Big Ten likes the athletic programs in addition to the academic standards at Texas. Plus expanding the Big Ten network and Big Ten recruiting into Texas is something all programs in the conference would love to see.

Missouri is a popular Big 12 target in rumors for the Big Ten and might happen before a powerhouse like Texas moves. Rutgers is a Big-East program that would allow the Big Ten to expand into New York which is almost as financially attractive as expanding into Texas.

Adam Griffin Gets Late Ohio State Offer

Adam Griffin was considering walking-on with the Ohio State Buckeyes this coming fall but received a late offer from the coaching staff and committed. Griffin is the son of legendary Buckeye tailback Archie Griffin and prepped at Columbus DeSales. The 5’9” 185lbs running back, defensive back, and return specialist had offers from Air Force, Army, Navy and Eastern Illinois.

By Steve Patterson

Griffin helped his high school to the state championship this past year and was considering attending one of the service academies or walking-on at Ohio State. He is reportedly quite excited to be on scholarship with OSU this coming fall.

The scholarship became available when Ohio State lost out on Seantrel Henderson, Matt James, and Morgan Moses on signing day. The Buckeyes still have room for one additional recruit in their 2010 class if Seantrel Henderson reverses his decision to attend USC or Latwan Anderson wants to play college football with his high school teammate Christian Bryant.

It’s bad enough if you shoot your friend in the foot. When you intentionally shoot yourself in the foot, you deserve whatever pain results. That is exactly what the pinhead owners of MLB did in signing a new contract with the Umpire’s union without mandating more use of technology for calling balls and strikes.

Until a couple of years ago, the fans were convinced that the umps were blind but recent developments in TV coverage have removed all doubt. Fox and other networks provide a pitch by pitch analysis of the missed calls using computer technology. We can clearly see a ball that is way low being called a strike and a ball just below the letters being called a ball. The union has run the game for years. They have prevented any use of instant replay or other technology that has even been instituted in college football. The reason is simple. The union does not want to allow their dues paying members to look as bad as they are.

The problem is that it doesn’t matter how good the players are, it will be the umpires and their bad calls that will determine as many games in 2010 as they have in the past. Some say that Congress is deaf about what the people want or in the case of the Health Care debacle don’t want. MLB leadership is just as deaf.

By signing a new deal without forcing balls and strikes to be called by technology, MLB has told the fans that it doesn’t care about them or about the game. At some point, the fans are going to have to show the owners that we don’t care about them or their game. That is the only way that things are ever going to get any better.

Your fantasy football doesn’t have to be over. Run a pro football franchise all year long for free at http://sportsims.net/. Tell them Coach Smith sent you.

That’s what I think. Tell me what you think.

Bill Smith is a former coach of several semi-pro teams, has officiated both football and basketball, done color on radio for college football and basketball and has scouted talent. He is a senior writer for http://NFLDraftDog.com and edits http://fryingpansports.com. He is a regular contributor on Cleveland Sports Radio http://www.sportstalkcleveland.com/ Monday morning at 11. He has also published several novels on

http://www.eBooks-Library/Contemporary/Author.cfm?AuthorID=1003 and edits http://fryingpanpolitics.blog.com.

Related Posts:

• Editorial: ESPN Blows coverage of the East West Shrine game
• Some Christmas wishes in the Sports world.
• As usual, the drive bye media misses the point about the FSU scandal.
• What did we learn from college football this week? Who is going where.
• Around the NFL for 11/7/09

The Saint D

The early success that the Colts had throwing to TE Clark was the Saints failure to cover the TE. They were trying to cover Clark with a LB and S Harper over the top. When QB Manning looked Harper off, the S couldn’t get back to help out on Clark fast enough. That success passing to the TE

By the 2nd quarter, the Saint D Coordinator Williams made a change. He gave Clark man to man to Harper and let the linebacker give a little help underneath. The looks of Manning had no effect on Harper and the Saints shut Clark down the rest of the game.

The Saints D played tight coverage and changed up their D calls frequently. The combination of varied Ds and bad field position the Colts had in the second quarter kept Manning to just 6 snaps until the last series of the half.

The Saint D also made the big play of the game with the interception that resulted in a TD and took the Saint lead to 14. There were 2 keys to the play. First, CB Porter read the play and knew the ball was coming to his guy–WR Wayne. Porter played the ball perfectly. But there was another factor in the play as well. Wayne was not able to get out of his break fast enough to make the play or at least prevent the pick. As the game wore on, Wayne has lost speed I believe in part due to his injury. On the critical play his timing was off. He was only partially turned out of his break when the ball arrived.

The Saint Special teams and coaching calls.

Another major cause of the win was the aggressive calls of the coaching staff. They were taking risks to win the game. The call for the 4th down run at the goal line was gutsy. I would have tried another pass on one of the 3 attempts but Coach Payton gave the a chance to win by scoring. The onside kick showed guts as well. The bottom line was that the Saints made calls to win while the Colts tried not to lose.

The Colts

When the Colts got up by 10 points early, they changed to a zone D. The Saints QB Brees picked the zone apart like a Thanksgiving leftovers. The Colts D could not get off the field. The Saints kept Manning and Co. off the field. They never made the adjustments to tighten up the coverage or pick up the pace of the D. The entire Colt team played without urgency. That is the best way to lose there is. The team never got the fire in their belly that it takes to win the big game. They played well but just not well enough to win.

Your fantasy football doesn’t have to be over. Run a pro football franchise all year long for free at http://sportsims.net/. Tell them Coach Smith sent you.

That’s what I think. Tell me what you think.

Bill Smith is a former coach of several semi-pro teams, has officiated both football and basketball, done color on radio for college football and basketball and has scouted talent. He is a senior writer for http://NFLDraftDog.com and edits http://fryingpansports.com. He is a regular contributor on Cleveland Sports Radio http://www.sportstalkcleveland.com/ Monday morning at 11. He has also published several novels on

http://www.eBooks-Library/Contemporary/Author.cfm?AuthorID=1003 and edits http://fryingpanpolitics.blog.com.

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• What to look for in week 15 of the NFL.