Guys, I’m officially a resident of Columbus.
My only request is that God please turn up the heat and sun outside. I’m definitely not in Georgia anymore.
Word of the day: Hold on.
TWO SPORT STARS. Ohio State Hoops added a bit of reinforcements this week when Wright State guard/wing Tanner Holden announced plans to join the roster. As it turns out, this is actually his *second* chance at becoming a Buckeye; his first was on the football field.
At Wheelersburg High School in Southeast Ohio, he caught the winning touchdown pass in overtime in the 2017 Division V title game, was named the state’s Division V Offensive Co-Player of the Year, and was a finalist while still a junior. for Mr. Football from Ohio.
Urban Meyer, then-OSU coach, even sat him down before the Buckeyes’ game against UNLV and asked him to imagine playing for the Scarlets and Grays.
“Oh, I definitely watched it,” Holden recalled Thursday night after scoring a team-high 16 points and grabbing nine rebounds to lead Wright State to a 75-62 win over Cleveland State at the Nutter Center to lead.
…
Referring to Ohio State’s courtship, Holden said, “It was just a huge opportunity that you can’t ignore. Not many get that chance.
“But I looked at longevity and felt like if I played basketball anywhere, I could impact my freshman year. And at Ohio State or some other big school, I’d have to do a few years and kind of just waste time.
“I didn’t want to regret my decision and walk away from basketball just to chase a big name or try to get verified on Instagram or Twitter.”
After averaging more than 20 points this season and losing 37 points in an NCAA tournament game, I’m pretty confident in saying he made the right career choice.
I think it’s also safe to say that Ohio State has done well without him in the receiver position. So, no damage, no foul all around.
FULL HOUSE. Hey, it looks like people are excited to see Buckeye football in the shoe again.
Season ticket sales in Ohio state have returned to pre-pandemic levels, according to The Dispatch on Friday.
The school has sold 53,606 season tickets to the general public, as well as faculty and staff, for the upcoming 2022 season, athletic assistant director of ticketing and premium seating Brett Scarbrough said in an email.
It’s the first time Ohio state has sold more than 50,000 non-student season tickets since COVID-19 began affecting attendance two years ago, and it’s the best-selling since selling 53,926 in 2017.
I’m sure it helps that there are five home games this season against opponents who could realistically be ranked in the top-25, including both Notre Dame and Michigan. I’m not sure you could possibly put together a better and more marketable home list outside of a video game.
But whatever the reason, it will be nice to see how this concrete cathedral rocks this season.
THE OTHER TERADJA. You’d think that a returning team captain who was once a top-50 recruit and is now returning with the team for his super senior season would be fairly easy for fans to identify, all things considered.
It turns out you would be very wrong!
Then someone told me they remembered me from the national championship team
— Teradja Mitchell (@teeraaw__) April 2, 2022
I feel your pain, Teradja. People confuse me with Jacob Elordi all the damn time. It gets so tiring having to correct them.
AND THE WINNER IS… Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad Duke was fired and Coach K is ending his career with a Final Four loss to his biggest rival. It couldn’t have been written better. Victory in North Carolina, however, brought a hugely disappointing end to the 11W Bracket Challenge.
With none of the 1,092 entries picking North Carolina to win the national title, and our first and second place entries both picking Kansas, we’ve closed the competition before tonight’s title game even tipps.
Boring as hell, but here are our top 10 for tonight:
We’ll wait for it to be official, but congratulations to Jimijmac and TheJarzenski for having the two least bad groups in our entire pool. Expect an email from me in the next few days.
SONG OF THE DAY. “Perfect” by One Direction.
DON’T STAY IN SPORT. In the lavish, top-secret world of private gigs… A grandma sets “funeral rules” that insist her guests get drunk and shoot shots… A mafia hitman escapes from federal custody… A Chinese lives in 14 years at the Beijing Airport because he doesn’t want to give up smoking and drinking… Why did female animals develop such wild genitals?…