There are many, many, many beloved players and coaches in the history of Ohio State that are cult like heroes to Buckeye fans. The list is long and will never be finished as long as college athletics exist and Ohio State fields a team of any sport. There is a hierarchy though and most fans have an order for their personal top 5 players. Most probably will start with a heisman trophy winner or the only two time winner ever or possibly a coach who won a National Championship or a few of them. Suffice it to say the reasoning behind how most make their lists almost always includes the player or coach doing something memorable for Ohio State during their career.
Then though you have the curious case of Aaron Craft. He is the rosy-cheeked, rubiks cube solving, taco making, opponent angering, intellectually advanced, engaged to be married, and non-twitter using annomaly known as Aaron Craft. He is a basketball player that has averages 9 points a game and 4.6 assists per game over his four year career. He is a defensive juggernaut and the all time leader in steals for the B1G. He is a guy who will hustle on every play and give you 110% effort every minute he is on the floor. He however is not what many would consider a very good basketball player. He is an awful scorer/shooter. He is avg at best at free throw shooting. He is awful at 3 point shooting. His assist to turnover ratio is pedestrian at best.
Another impressive individual accomplishment by Aaron Craft: All-time steals leader @B1GMBBall with this steal vs MSU pic.twitter.com/nBfNe4Lwhf
— Jeff Boals (@JeffBoals) March 10, 2014
Yet there may not be a single more beloved person in Ohio State history in the eyes of many fans. There are very few people who when it was announced he was engaged to his longtime girlfriend would have caused the amount of tears by female fans and many straight male fans.
There are few guys who can make solving a Rubiks Cube cool instead of something a nerd would do to impress his dweeb friends. To some this ability is weird and not deserving of being a skill. So I put it to the test recently and I printed out a cheet sheet of the actual moves it takes to solve a rubiks cube and then asked 6 people between the ages of 18-22 to solve it using the exact sequence of moves it takes to solve. 1 of the 6 could do so on the first try. A total of 2 could do it within 30 mins. The other 4 ripped up the paper and acused me of giving them bad directions (I had not for what its worth). Even with directions most people couldn’t solve the tricky puzzle. Yet Craft can do it in record time and then autograph it and give it to a fan.
He turned what to many of us is simply a dinner into a cult phenomenon and a fund raiser for a charity with his Taco Tuesday with his craft roommates. It became so big that the school used it as a way to welcome new freshman students and made shirts and sold tacos at a home game to support a well deserving charity. Taco Tuesday will forever be associated with Aaron Craft.
Craft is an the exception to every rule. He is a guy that former and current coaches said they would build a team around. Take Tom Izzo for example the future Hall of Fame HC of the MSU team who just lost to OSU in Aaron Crafts last home game. This is his response to a question about his feelings about Aaron Craft…
Tom Izzo on Aaron Craft: "it was an honor to coach against him for 4 years. He's everything that's right about college basketball"
— Matt McCoy (@MattMcCoyWTVN) March 9, 2014
The you have Dan Dakich for example a guy I can’t stand who loves him some Indiana Hoosiers like no other yet still he has an affinity for Craft that is stalkerish at best. Many say Dan loves Craft more than his own son who happens to be a bench player for OSUs main rival Michigan. His thoughts on Crafts final game…
Coaches and players know about Craft..all that matters
— Dan Dakich (@dandakich) March 9, 2014
There is no more polarizing player in CBB. Fans love to hate him and would love if he was on their team and any real fan will admit that. He is pesky and annoying and if he had the ability and size of some of the great Bball players ever to go with his work ethic and energy would be a certain 1st round NBA pick.
Here is how some on Twitter remembers Aaron Crafts 4 years at Ohio State…
@dandakich Craft is the player that every coach wants, you love as teammate, and hate to play against. Smart, unselfish, and determined.
— Matt Todd (@mtodd1233) March 9, 2014
Buckeyes win, but it's Aaron Craft's last home game for Ohio State. We have the female Buckeye fans reaction: pic.twitter.com/FxD5qp9c9s
— Buckeye Humor (@BuckeyeHumor) March 9, 2014
Aaron Craft is actually better than LeBron
— Brendon (@McLovin1654) March 10, 2014
This one quote from Craft sums up why he is so beloved…
"It's not about me. It's about this university and the things we've been able to do as a team." -Aaron Craft http://t.co/aeoon9eeJC #GoBucks
— Ohio State Buckeyes (@OhioStAthletics) March 10, 2014
I could go on and on showing tweets from people who love and hate Aaron Craft. The thing that will always stick out to me is how much he has meant to the team and how successful he has helped OSU be in his 4 years.
Freshman year- He helped the team to a 34-3 record B1G regular and tourney titles and Sweet 16 birth.
Sophomore year- He helped them to a 31-8 record and B1G reg season title and Final Four.
Junior year- He helped them to a 29-8 record and a B1G tourney title and Elite 8.
Senior year- Right now they are 23-8 heading into the B1G tourney and NCAA tourney. So even in the worst year of his career team wise they will still most likely win 25+ games possibly a title and go deep in the NCAA tourney. To be determined.
He has 117 and counting wins as a player for OSU and has a real chance to avg 30 wins a year in his 4 year career. He is simply a winner on and off the court. He is a model student athlete and the kind of guy every OSU fan should be proud to say he represents our University. He is loved and beloved and will have hero status as one of the top people to ever don the Scarlet and Gray. Aaron Craft will be missed for many reasons but he will always be a Buckeye and for that I am extremely grateful. When I make my top 5 OSU people of all time Aaron Craft will be on it and he very well may be the top spot for a long time to come.
[…] today I wrote a piece dedicated to Aaron Craft and tonight he was given some love by the B1G Coaches and Media voters. While this is the first […]