So as many of you know The top OLman on OSUs board was visiting Penn State today and did suprisingly commit to the Nittany Lions and new Head Coach James Franklin. This news caught most including myself off guard as Gonzalez has long been a big OSU lean and seemed like a lock to end up at OSU. As you know though anything can happen in recruiting but this was truly shocking.

I had a very brief conversation with Steven Gonzalez a few moments ago and asked him if he was planning on taking any other visits or shutting down his recruiting and his answer was short and not so sweet for other teams fans…

Steven said “Yes, I’m shutting down my recruiting.”

He did want Buckeye Nation to know one thing though…

Steven said- Just thank you for all the support and the opportunities you guys have given me, I really appreciate it!

Needless to say this is not good news for OSU fans who have grown to like him a lot and looked forward to rooting for him in the future and now they are tasked with hoping he does well but that his team PSU fails miserably.

It is a lot to handle for some fans and some don’t handle it well at all. Some fans were so vitriolic that Gonzalez had to take to Twitter to try and calm them down…

From Stevens private Twitter account he said the following- Instead of congratulating fans hate, like seriously guys, be mature same just be happy for a recruit. Don’t wish hate upon others its wrong

Time will tell how much Steven really means he is shutting down his recruiting but for today right now he is solely committed to PSU and like we said earlier in recruiting ANYTHING can happen. So keep calm and be kind you never know when he may be back on OSUs radar in the future.

With everything that OSU is losing from this years basketball team and the let down from how the team performed this year Coach Matta had to make a big push to transform the 2014-15 team and do so quickly. The inclong Freshman Class is STACKED it includes two 5 star players and 3 guys who are big time scorers and a project big man. What Coach Matta needs though is a big man he can use right away and that is ready to play big time CBB.

Enter the Graduate Transfer he landed today according to CBSsports.com reporter Jeff Borzello…

Temple transfer Anthony Lee is headed to Ohio State, Lee confirmed to CBSSports.com.

Lee, a 6-foot-9 power forward, was one of the most sought-after transfers on the market. His final five schools included Iowa State, Indiana, Louisville and Notre Dame, although dozens of schools came calling when he announced his transfer from Temple. Lee visited Ohio State this week, and was expected to take a trip to Iowa State and Indiana in April.

He averaged 13.6 points and 8.6 rebounds this past season for Temple, and is eligible to play immediately for Ohio State due to the graduate transfer rule. Lee will immediately provide a boost down low, at both ends of the floor. The Buckeyes are bringing in some impressive freshman reinforcements, but Lee has experience, and should be productive right off the bat.

This news is great for OSU and will likely help ease some of the pressure off of Amir Williams who needs a quality Power Forward to help him with his weaknesses down low.

One thing is for sure the 2014-2015 OSU basketball team will look nearly completely different. Aaron Craft and Lenzelle Smith Jr are graduating. Amedeo Della Valle is leaving to play in Europe as we reported over the weekend. Now news has come out that LaQuinton Ross has decided to forego his Sr. season and enter the NBA draft as first reported by CBS Basketball analyst Jeff Goodman…

LaQuinton Ross will most likely end up overseas playing in Europe and developing his game. Some NBA draft gurus still have him listed as a mid to late 2nd round pick. I hope he has a successful career and life.

***Update***

LaQuinton Ross took to twitter to say not so fast my friends…

I imagine he will eventually make this decision that is being reported. He most likely wants to do it in his own way. But this could mean good news for OSU fans if he doesn’t go Pro.

I imagine if you aren’t on Twitter right now or ever your first thought is LaQuinton Ross has announced himself for the NBA draft. You would be wrong though at least for now. Amadeo Della Valle announced just a little while ago that he was leaving OSU to play professionally in Europe. Most likely his home country of Italy.

On a personal note I think most of Buckeye Nation will miss ADV a lot. He was a good kid and enjoyed his college life to the fullest. He will most be remembered for his hair than his play on the court. He was dealt a bad hand having to try and come in and replace Jon Diebler as the air apparent to our go to guy for deep shooting. He never found his touch though hitting 35% of his shots and 32% from 3 point range in his career. He has had a lot of success in Italy and will make a lot of money playing in his home country.

From all of us here at MotSaG we wish to send the floppy haired Side Show Bob look a like in fashion. Ciao! Arrivederci! and Buongiorno!

“Not the round we wanted,” was how Buckeye Coach Tom Ryan summed up his wrestlers’ performance after around 1 of the NCAA Championships in Oklahoma City. The Buckeyes picked up maximum points from Logan Stieber with a pin at 141. Also, despite starting tentatively, No. 1 seed Nick Heflin eventually picked up maximum points for a medical default after leading his Naval Academy opponent 5-0.

All Buckeyes will be in action tonight including the four losing wrestlers who head into their first consolation bracket action. “I just didn’t feel there was much energy today and the guys who lost didn’t assert themselves or express any urgency.”

Nick Roberts was probably the biggest disappointment. “He’s a very, very good wrestler for sure but I think he just doesn’t take care of his stuff. He dominates the early parts of a match dictating the terms then stops doing that. He finds himself reacting and getting caught rather than taking care of his stuff. Men take care of their stuff. He is young and learning.” After controlling his No. 5 opponent from Northern Iowa, Nick surrendered a late takedown and gave up back points to lose a match he had been controlling.

It didn’t help Coach Ryan’s disposition that Roberts’ post-match comments to the referee cost the Buckeyes a one point team deduction. The Ryan coached Buckeyes typically are free of such behavior.

Coach Ryan was also disappointed by Mark Martin’s loss at 167. “You get put on your back, ok, you come back. He was in on a single leg takedown attempt on his opponent down 5-3 but Mark has lost more takedowns than I can count this year. But he can come back. It’s been a tough year–he’s been hurt. We need him to come back.”

The Buckeyes did pick up another nice win from Johnni DiJulius who fought for points late in the match, winning 14-5 and earning an extra team point. “Johnni has our toughest match tonight against [David] Thorn [Minn]. He’s lost 2 close battles. We need him to close the gap.”

Kenny Courts wrestled well for the Buckeyes’ other win. “Kenny has grown a lot. He is tough now. The challenge is big but he can do it.”

The Buckeyes, after the deduction are hanging at about 10 place with 8 points. They will also have Nick Tavanello and Ian Paddock going tonight after tough losses at 285 and 149 respectively. They need their two superstars Heflin and Stieber to stay on track for the finals, and get a few Cinderella marches. “All our matches are winnable tonight. We’ll meet at 4:30 and the message is ‘let’s go Buckeyes. Let’s go!'”

We are about 10 mins away from tip off. Just saw Michigan avoid getting upset by the Illini 64-63. This match with Nebraska is a rubber match game. Ohio State beat Nebraska at home by 31 points earlier this year than 2 weeks later went and lost at Nebraska by 6 points. Ohio State needs this win to advance to play Michigan tomorrow in the semi-finals. The game will come down to who shots the ball better today LaQuinton Ross for OSU or Terran Petteway for the Cornhuskers. I will do my best to give as many updates as possible as soon the game starts. Go Bucks!!!

FIRST HALF

Under 16 minute timeout- Early on the Buckeyes are playing extremely well and lead 6-3. Defensively they have held Nebraska to 1-6 shooting and have a steal that led to a Slam Thompson fast break slam dunk. Amir Williams and Trey McDonald both with awful offensive fouls on moving screens. OSU is shooting 43% early.

14:54 left in the 1st half- Tim Miles and Nebraska are forced to take a quick timeout after OSU comes out hitting. Lenzelle with a 3 and Q with a long 2. Up 11-3 now. Go Bucks!!!

Under 12 min timeout- Things are getting sloppy and chippy. Ohio State with 6 turnovers and 4 fouls right now. Nebraska with 2 TOs and 3 fouls. Ohio State is shooting 56% right now and if they could just make better passes would have a big lead. Nebraska is shooting 16% right now. OSU up 11-7 with Amedeo going to the line to shoot 2 FTs.

Under 8 min TO- It is the Amir Williams show folks it is his world and we just live in it. Amir is 4-5 for 8 points and 3 rebs and 1 block. OSU is shooting 60% and leads Nebraska 20-14.

Under 4 mins TO- LaQuinton Ross is starting to get hot now. He is 4-4 for 8 points and 4 rebounds. Nebraska is keeping themself in the game with 3 pointers galore. They are 5-13 from behind the Arc and just 4 for 15 from inside it. OSU is up 27-25 and has the ball.

Halftime- Nebraska hits a few open looks to end the half and now lead OSU 31-28. OSUs big issue is 9 turnovers in the first half and poor 3 point defense. If OSU can clean up their passes and keep shooting at 52% they will win this game. If they go cold early in the 2nd half it wont end well.

Earlier 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 time since 2005 that there are no OSU players on the First Team All-B1G teams Aaron Craft and LaQuinton Ross and Shannon Scott were all honored for their play this year.

Aaron Craft was named 2nd team by the media and 3rd team by the coaches. He was also honored as the B1G’s Defensive Player of the Year and named to the All Defensive team.

LaQuinton Ross was named 3rd team by the media and Honorable Mention by the Coaches.

Shannon Scott was named to the B1G All Defensive team.

You can see all of the selections and interviews by clicking this link from BTN.com.

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.

https://twitter.com/JeffBoals/status/443008126350934016

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…

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…

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…

https://twitter.com/McLovin1654/status/443022350783881217

This one quote from Craft sums up why he is so beloved…

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.

The season thus far for Thad Matta and his Buckeye hoops team has been a roller coaster to say the least. Plagued with inconsistent offensive play, the Buckeyes struggled again on the road losing to Penn State in their most recent outing. The road to a first round bye in the Big Ten Tournament does not get any easier with an away trip to Indiana looming in an hour.

What to Expect from Ohio State:

What to Expect from Indiana: