Ohio State Basketball Ranks As 2nd Best Coaching Job In The Big Ten

Matta is in an enviable position at OSU

Over at ESPN, it's "Coaches Week" and during this week, the writers go through each conference to rank the best and worst coaching jobs, as voted on by 14 of their writers and television analysts.

For a little more on how it works, here's the explanation:

"A few important notes: This is not an attempt to rank the programs or their histories. A school's tradition was taken into account of course, but more emphasis was given to recent years and how hard or easy it is for a new coach to win there. Current recruits don't remember much beyond, what, 2008?

When voting, our 14 panelists were asked to take into consideration facilities, expectation level, athletic budget, wins and losses, recruiting base, fan support/pressure and all of the other factors that go into determining the "best" jobs in the ever-crazy profession of college basketball coaching.

In short: If you were an agent and every single job was open in a particular conference, where would you direct your client? Where would you tell him to avoid if there are better options?"

The Top 5

1. Indiana

2. Ohio State

3. Michigan State

4. Michigan

5. Wisconsin

Join us after the jump to look at the breakdown of each of these jobs.

Former Buckeye Evan Turner Lifts 76ers Over Celtics In Playoffs

Back to doing what he does best

After letting another fourth-quarter lead slip away in Boston, Philadelphia took it right back and held on to it, fighting off every run the Celtics made down the stretch for an 82-81 victory Monday night to even the Eastern Conference second-round series at one game apiece.

"We knew to expect the same type of game," said Evan Turner, whose layup with 40.4 seconds to play put Philadelphia ahead to stay. "We did what we needed to do to win this game, just like we didn't the first time around."

Turner's layup gave the Sixers a 76-75 lead and Philadelphia clinched it by going 6 for 6 from the free throw line over the final 12 seconds.

Turner finished with 10 points, 6 rebounds and 1 assist. Congratulations to Turner, we wish him the best of luck in the rest of the NBA playoffs.

Video after the jump

Buckeyes Fall At Home To Wisconsin

Buford's last home game was a loss

Jordan Taylor netted 19 points, grabbed five rebounds and dished out four assists, and No. 16 Wisconsin edged No. 8 Ohio State, 63-60, in a thriller on Sunday.

Jared Berggren scored 18 points and Ryan Evans had a double-double with 10 points to go with 10 boards for the Badgers (21-8, 10-6 Big Ten), who bounced back from a one-point loss at Iowa on Thursday.

Deshaun Thomas led all scorers with 23 points and William Buford contributed 15 points and nine rebounds for the Buckeyes (23-6, 11-5), who have lost two of three. Aaron Craft added 13 points in defeat. Jared Sullinger, Ohio State's leading scorer averaging 17.2 points per game, was held to eight points.

In a scintillating game that featured 22 lead changes, none was more important than Berrgen's three-pointer, giving the Badgers a 61-59 edge. It was a lead that they did not relinquish. Down 59-58, Berggren accepted a pass from Taylor just beyond the arc on the left wing and drained his decisive three.

Friday's Buckeye Bits

Good Friday morning, everybody! It's been a heck of a first week with Buckeye Bits, and the first week of the off-season comes to a close today as well. Football may be over, but there is still plenty of Ohio State sports to watch.

Sunday, the men's basketball team tips at 4:30 against the Hoosiers at the corner of Lane and Olentangy. Vengeance shall be the word of the day, as the Buckeyes lost in Bloomington, as well as earlier this week in Champaign. Of course, last night the Hoosiers were shocked by Minnesota, 77-74. If you aren't going to the game, watch it on CBS.

If you like your Buckeye sports a bit colder and bloodier, the Puckeyes will face off against Michigan at 7:30 Friday at the Schott, and again Sunday at 5:05. The Sunday matchup is in Cleveland, in the Frozen Diamond Faceoff in the Indians' Progressive Field. Friday's game will be shown on the Big Ten Network, and the big game Sunday will be on Fox Sports Ohio. Jeff Svoboda has an excellent writeup on Buckeye Sports Bulletin. No word if Ricky "Wild Thing" Vaughn will be in attendance.

This Year In Basketball Is Going To Be Good

The 2011 Ohio State Men's basketball team is going to be fantastic this year, and with less than 2 months away from games being played, we have some studs returning to this Sweet Sixteen team. We have Jared Sullinger, Aaron Craft, William Buford, DeShaun Thomas and so many more pieces that are essential to this team. Based off of Big Ten Network's Brent Yarina, here's the best Ohio State has to offer.

Player Rankings (Only Ohio State players included) :

1. Jared Sullinger - The Big Ten's best player on the Big Ten's best team, Sullinger has shed weight and expects to spend more time with his face to the basket. As if he wasn't hard enough to guard already.
2010-2011 Stats: 54%, 17.2 PPG, 10.2 RPG, 1.2 APG, 1 SPG, 0.5 BPG

5. Aaron Craft - The Big Ten's best on-the-ball defender, Craft dazzled as a freshman and impacts the game in ways that don't always show up in the box score, but his control on the game at hand usually helps swing the W/L column in Ohio State's favor at the end.
2010-2011 Stats: 6.9 PPG, 2.9 RPG, 4.8 APG, 2SPG,.

6. William Buford - We've yet to see Buford's best, and if he lives up to his high potential and continues to improve on defense, we could be looking at this year's E'Twaun Moore. We've already seen what he can do when he's hot, and now the challenge is to get him consistent.
2010-2011 Stats: 14.4 PPG, 3.9 RPG, 2.9 APG, 0.8 SPG, 0.3 BPG

Preview: #1 Ohio State vs. Northwestern

Since their last win against Purdue, in which they steamrolled the Boilermakers, the Buckeyes have "earned" the #1 spot and respect from all or most of the country's pollers. Before that, they would win close games against not great teams, but still win against decent opponents. The Purdue game might just keep the ball rollling, as the Buckeyes take on the Northwestern Wildcats (13-7, 3-6).


In the all-time series between the teams, Ohio State holds a commanding 107-45 lead, although last season ended in a last second shot, losing 72-69. Northwestern runs the "Princeton Offense" meaning the Wildcats will be spreading the ball around with moving players in and out. It usually ends in an open shot for them, providing plenty of pressure for the Buckeye defense.

Ohio State Overcomes Sloppy Play, Wins Big

David Lighty scored 18 points and Ohio State wasn't tested in its first game as No. 1, rolling over Iowa 70-48 on Wednesday night. The Buckeyes (19-0, 6-0 Big Ten) improved to 60-4 when ranked first in The Associated Press poll.

William Buford had 15 points and Jared Sullinger added 13 for the Buckeyes, topping the polls for the first time since the final three weeks of the 2006-07 regular season. That season's team went to the national championship game, losing to defending champion Florida and finishing with a 35-4 record.

Iowa has fallen to 0-6 in Big Ten play, and Ohio State continues to get better.

Preview: #1 Ohio State vs. Iowa

The Ohio State Buckeyes (18-0, 5-0) enter this game in Value City Arena coming off a big win against Talor Battle and the Nittany Lions. After taking the #1 spot for the first time since the 2006 season, they bring in the Hawkeyes of Iowa. They've been anything but dominant of late in staying unbeaten, however, with their last four wins, all against unranked opponents, coming by a total of 15 points.

Those four teams shot a combined 47.7 percent, and Ohio State allowed Penn State to hit 55.6 percent from the floor -- the second highest mark against the Buckeyes this season -- in a 69-66 win Saturday. Thad Matta said he would rather have a better defense then the #1 ranking, and I would agree with him. For right now, rankings don't mean too much. March Madness seedings are usually dependent on RPI (which, for the Buckeyes, looks pretty decent right now).

The stretch of close results began with a 73-68 victory at Iowa on Jan. 4. The Hawkeyes led 35-29 at halftime, but freshman Jared Sullinger had 24 points and 12 rebounds to help the Buckeyes hold on.

Sullinger, Craft Powers OSU Over Penn State

With less than a minute left, you saw why this team is the new soon to be #1 team in the country.

Freshman Jared Sullinger scored 19 points and hit a three-point play with 13.2 seconds left to lift the second-ranked Buckeyes to a 69-66 victory over Penn State on Saturday. Fellow freshman Aaron Craft also had 19 points, a career-high, to go with seven assists and brilliant defense against Penn State (10-7, 3-3) star Talor Battle. Battle's 3-pointer with 2 seconds left came up well short of extending the game, but before that he was held to just 15 points, which came up to be second best for the Nittany Lions tonight.


David Jackson had 19 for Penn State and the Buckeyes also held Jeff Brooks under 17 points, keeping him at 11. All game the defensive plan was to keep Battle at bay, and it worked for the most part. Towards the end Talor got a couple of calls that continued to make the game exciting at the finish.


On offense, it seemed early on that the Buckeyes focused on the perimeter shooting and passing. Not a lot of action went on in the paint, which may be why Sullinger was quieter in the first half, having to shoot mostly outside jump shots and free throws.

Live Blog: #2 Ohio State vs. Penn State

Join us at 5:15 PM EST for the live chat! If the Buckeyes win, they get the #1 spot, and the best start for a basketball team at Ohio State in 50 years!

Brady Hoke Hired at Michigan

Michigan fans got their “Michigan Man” but apparently some of them are not happy about it.



Did Michigan finally get their "Michigan Man"?

Brady Hoke has been hired as the next head football coach at Michigan. Hoke comes to Michigan after stints at Ball State and San Diego State.

Hoke rebuilt the programs at Ball State and San Diego State but had a record of just 47-50 before accepting the position in Ann Arbor.  Hoke had been an assistant coach at Michigan prior to accepting the Ball State job.

Some of the concern about Hoke is that his teams have had just three winning seasons in his eight as a head coach.  If it wasn’t for his 12-1 mark that he put up at Ball State in 2008 before jetting to the west coast, his win-loss record would be even worse.  Perhaps Hoke leaving the Cardinals was just him knowing that he would be losing most of the talent that led to the record-breaking 2008 squad.  With Hoke’s offensive coordinator and former “Michigan Man” himself Stan Parrish as head coach in 2009-2010, Ball State was a meager 6-19, bad even for the Cardinals standards.  Parrish’s struggles led to him being fired after the 2010 season.



Hoke led Ball State to a 12-1 record in 2008 before leaving for San Diego State

Some Michigan fans are not pleased with his under-.500 record as a head coach, but this is something Michigan had to overlook after their top two candidates, Jim Harbaugh and Les Miles, “thanks, but no thanks”-ed the Wolverines.

It’s this simple: Michigan is no longer a destination job.  Do you think Ohio State, Florida, USC, etc. would hire a coach from the MAC or the Mountain West? No. They would find a big name.  Hoke may bring respectability back to the mediocre program that is Michigan at the moment. However, Michigan is supposed to contend, year-in and year-out, for Big Ten titles and national championships.

The last year of the Lloyd Carr era and the entire Rich Rodriguez era took the program from competing for national championships to celebrating when they became bowl-eligible.

Utah, TCU and BYU have brought some respect to the Mountain West Conference in recent years so maybe it isn’t so much of a step up in class for Hoke. But can you imagine the uproar of Michigan fans if Hoke had stayed at Ball State instead of leaving for San Diego State? Michigan doesn’t hire MAC coaches. It’s not what Michigan does.

The hire of Hoke comes one day before the Buckeyes basketball team takes on Michigan in Ann Arbor.  Could they be planning to introduce him at halftime? That did not go so well when they introduced Rodriguez.  Buckeye fans who made the trip up north chanted “Tress-el! Tress-el!” when Rodriguez was introduced.  They also had a sign counting the number of days since Michigan had beaten Ohio State.



Buckeye fans welcome Rich Rod to the rivalry

If any Buckeye fans are making the trip to Crisler Arena for this edition, here’s an update for gamenight: 2,608 days.

Ohio State vs. Minnesota Preview

I am just now starting to come down from the euphoric high that was a Sugar Bowl win over an SEC team. So to all of you who are joining my back in reality, let's get ready for some Buckeye basketball. Sunday at 2:00 PM Eastern Time, Ohio State takes the floor at Value City Arena for the (home) Big Ten opener against the Minnesota Golden Gophers. So let's take a look at Tubby Smith's squad, shall we?

NCAA Basketball Power Poll: Elite Eight

Giving the Top 8 Teams in the country.

Welcome, faithful readers, to Inside The Shoe's first basketball power poll of this young season. Fair warning: This is not a compilation of all ITS's writers, it is solely my opinion. I will try to be as objective as possible, but college basketball is vastly different from college football.

There are hundreds of more basketball games per week in the season than there are football games, and regular season losses don't mean nearly as much. It is great to go undefeated, but realistically all you have to do is make the tournament and you have a chance. While reading through these rankings, you will notice there are some really big games this week,

Enough talk, here are, as of December 6th, the top eight teams in the country:

1. Duke: Any surprise here? No, there is no surprise here. Duke won the championship last year, brought back some big pieces from that team, namely Nolan Smith and Kyle Singler. They have already knocked off two top six (at the time) teams, plus perennial mid-major powerhouse and last year's national runner-up Butler. They are #1 until they lose, and possibly even after that.

2. Ohio State: The Buckeyes have looked very impressive so far this year. They ran away from a ranked Florida team on the road, and took care of business against a very good defensive team in Florida State. OSU has blown out the cupcakes on their schedule, as expected, and is ready to make a run at the Big Ten (national?) Championship.

3. Connecticut: I might be drinking the UConn kool-aid a little bit, but they beat two top ten teams on a neutral court, and have the early season favorite for Player of the Year in Kemba Walker. How many other teams can say they have those things? None.

4. Kansas: Unlike the first three teams, I haven't had a chance to see the Jayhawks play yet. But they are a team led by juniors and seniors, and have one of the top coaches in the country in Bill Self. Their signature wins include Arizona and UCLA, which don't mean quite what they would used to, but at 7-0 there is no reason this team shouldn't be in the top four. Big Upcoming Game: December 7th vs. #14 Memphis

Buckeye Basketball Live Blog: #2 Ohio State vs. Florida State

Join us at 7:15 to cheer on Jared Sullinger and the Buckeyes as they face their first opponent in the Big Ten-ACC Challenge.

Ohio State - Florida State Preview

Seminoles are up next

I hope you all enjoyed your Thanksgiving, but it is back to business now for the basketball Buckeyes. And it is everybody's favorite time of year, the ACC/Big Ten Challenge! What's that, you are an Ohio State fan, don't really care about basketball, and haven't followed the team much, but since football season just ended you figured you would watch a couple of games? Well, lucky for you I have decided to take a break from my usual after-work routine (Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood and sleep) to give you an idea of what to expect.

The Big Ten won the ACC/Big Ten Challenge for the very first time last season, after a decade of futility. This year's Challenge looks to be very competitive as well, with games like Michigan State vs. Duke, North Carolina @ Illinois, and our very own Buckeyes playing on the road at Florida State. The Seminoles are a respectable 5-1 in this young season, but have only really played one quality opponent. That opponent was the Florida Gators, and that game also happens to be FSU's only loss.

Let's look at some starting lineups:

Buckeye Basketball: Live Blog: #5 Ohio State vs. #9 Florida

The game tips off at 6:00, so join us here at Inside The Shoe at 5:45 to cheer on the Buckeyes with other fans.

Buckeye Basketball: Weekly Preview

Sullinger looks to man-handle teams
AP/Terry Gilliam

Big week for the basketball Buckeyes, as they travel to Gainesville on Tuesday to take on Billy Donovan's Gators, followed by a home game against UNC-Wilmington on Saturday. Tuesday night's contest will be televised on ESPN, and tips off at 6:00 p.m., instead of the usual 7:00. The game Saturday will be at 8:00 p.m. Tickets are available for Saturday, and with high quality games coming up in Big Ten play, this might be one of your few chances to see the Bucks in person.

Also, we will be running a live chat here at Inside The Shoe during the Florida game, for those who don't have the luxury of watching the games with other Buckeye fans. Now let's take a closer look at the games:

Basketball Recruiting Update - Lenzelle Smith, Jr. + Robbie Hummel's Injury

Time to see what he can do

Lenzelle Smith, Jr.

Lucky player #4 in our adventure through player profiles of all newcomers to the basketball team is Lenzelle Smith, Jr. Lenzelle is the third highest ranked recruit in this class, according to ESPN, along with having the coolest first name in the class (according to me). In my last player preview, I gushed over Aaron Craft because he is what many pundits would call a "true" point guard, in that he is a great distributor of the ball, and also he is a great defender, thus making him exactly the type of player I want running my team. Lenzelle Smith, Jr. is essentially the exact opposite type of point guard that Aaron Craft is.

Basketball Recruiting Update

Instead of the ITS Top 25, we look at some basketball recruiting. Hopefully the poll will be up tomorrow.

 It has been awhile, but the next installment of our series detailing Ohio State's new additions to the basketball team is finally up. Before I get into this article, I do want to mention that Ohio State already has three commits for the 2011. Since these guys are just beginning their senior seasons in high school, I won't go into their stats. But I will say this: All three players (LaQuinton Ross, Shannon Scott, and Sam Thompson) are 4 Star, ESPNU 100 recruits.

Thad Matta is burning up the recruiting trails again, and legally (looking at you, Calipari). The guy is simply one of the top coaches in the country, and I don't think I would take anybody over him right now. I know what argument some fans will make..."John Calipari has vacated more Final Fours than most coaches will ever get to." This is true, and call me old fashioned, but I love a guy who runs a clean program and does nothing but win. It wasn't long ago that Jim O'brien ran this program into the ground, committed some violations himself, and then sued the school. So appreciate Coach Matta while he is here.

Fresh Faces

Fierce

Depending on how closely you follow Ohio State basketball, you may or may not be away that the 2010-11 version of the squad will look drastically different from last year's Sweet 16 team. Gone is arguably the most talented player from the team and the reigning National Player of the Year. However, Thad Matta once again brought in one of the top recruiting classes in the country (#2 on ESPN), including 4 players in the ESPN Top 100, and 2 McDonald's All Americans. We have just a little over two months until the basketball season gets under way, and as the title of this post suggests I would like to introduce the new members of the basketball Buckeyes to the general public. Let us start with the figurative and literal biggest player coming to campus; Jared Sullinger