A year in review
Right: First-Team All-American and Nagurski Award recipient, James Laurinaitis, returns for his senior year. AP Photo
Two weeks ago, close to 7,900 degrees and certificates were handed out during Spring Commencement at Ohio Stadium, so let’s review the five major sports at The Ohio State University
and recap how the Buckeyes fared on the playing fields and courts.
Through the course of the 2007-08 sports calendar, there have been some highs and some lows, peaks and valleys, and a few titles along the way.
The football team captured their third straight Big Ten Conference crown before Thad Matta’s basketball team claimed the NIT Championship.
Baseball
Bob Todd’s baseball Buckeyes finished the year with an overall record of 30-26 and finsihed fifth in the Big Ten Conference splitting half their game going 15-15 during the league portion of the schedule.
Ohio State advanced to the Big Ten tournament, losing to sixth-seeded Indiana 10-8 in the in a Big Ten tournament elimination game that featured six ties and lead changes. The day before, the Buckeyes dropped a 3-2 decision to fourth-seeded Illinois in game one of the tourney.
The Buckeyes hit .318 as a team and the pitching staff finished with a 4.99 ERA. Junior Justin Miller led the team in batting average (.395), hits (79), doubles (16), home runs (4) and RBI (61).
Men’s Hockey
One wonders how head coach John Markell still has a job at Ohio State.
His men’s hockey team finished the season with a recrd of 12-25-4. The Buckeyes were an 11th-seed in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association tournament, losing to sixth-seeded Northern Michigan in the best-of-three series two games to one.
Last season, the Buckeyes compiled a 15-17-5 overall mark and finished seventh in the CCHA with a record of 12-12-4.
Senior Tommy Goebel led the Buckeyes in goals (21), points (36), and shots on goal (121), and freshman top the OSU roster with 17 assists.
Sophomore goaltender Joseph Palmer started 33 of Ohio State’s 41 games and had a 3.12 goals against average and an .888 save percentage while going 10-19-4 between the pipes.
Women’s Basketball
Jim Foster’s women’s hoops squad ended the 2007-08 campaign with a 22-9 record. The senior class of Tamarah Riley, Marscilla Packer and Alice Jamen ended their careers as the winningest class in Ohio State history with 109 victories.
The Buckeyes made their sixth-consecutive trip to the NCAA tournament and its 17th overall, but lost 60-49 to Florida State in the first round.
In Big Ten play, the Buckeyes finished tied for first with Iowa, notching a 13-5 mark in league play and claiming the top-seed, but lost to ninth-seeded Illinois in the Big Ten tournament quarterfinals 64-58 at Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.
OSU’s Jantel Lavender became the first freshman to be named Big Ten Player of the Year, splitting the honor with Wisconsin senior Jolene Anderson.
Lavender led the Buckeyes in scoring (17.6 ppg), and rebounding (9.9 rpg).
Men’s Basketball
Thad Matta’s basketball squad got a little redemption by winning the National Invitational Tournament championship after being snubbed by the NCAA selection committee and one year removed from advancing to the NCAA championship game.
Ohio State won five straight contests to earn the program’s second NIT crown after the Buckeyes defeated Massachusetts, 92-85, in the title game.
After downing in-state rival Dayton in the quarterfinals, the Buckeyes earned their fourth berth in the NIT round of four in school history and first since 1988. Ohio State opened with UNC-Asheville in the first-round and continued to post double-digit victories against California, Dayton and Mississippi.
The Buckeyes finished the campaign with a record of 24-13 after playing one of the more tougher schedules among the Division I participants.
In Big Ten play, Ohio State went 10-8 and placed fifth in the conference. The Buckeyes lost to Michigan State in the quarterfinals of the league’s tournament.
Senior Jamar Butler led the Buckeyes in scoring, averaging 15.0 points per game, while leading the Big Ten in assists (5.9 apg).
Football
In the past two seasons, Jim Tressel’s gridiron warriors have posted a record of 23-1 in the months of September, October, and November, only to go 0-2 in the month of January.
For the second straight year, the Buckeyes made it to the BCS title game only to be humiliated on the biggest stage.
But Ohio State was supposedly a year away from contending for a national championship last season, and the Buckeyes return 18 starters plus both their specialists for 2008.
Ohio State finished the season with a record of 11-2, 7-1 in Big Ten play after losing to Illinois 28-21 at home, and to LSU in the BCS national championship game 38-24. The Buckeyes also claimed their third straight Big Ten title and second straight outright conference crown.
Junior quarterback Todd Boeckman passed for 2,372 yards with 25 tocuhdowns and 14 interceptions, while Beanie Wells rushed for 1,609 yards and 14 more scores.
Junior linebacker James Laurinaitis recorded 121 total tackles with five sacks and 8.5 tackles for loss.
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