Right: Now the most hated man in the state of Michigan, Justin Boren.
Lon Horwedel/Ann Arbor News

Well, it’s official. Sophomore offensive lineman Justin Boren is a Buckeye.

Boren, who hails from Pickerington, Ohio, a suburb southeast of Columbus and attended North High School, left the Michigan football team in March, citing an erosion of “family values” since Rich Rodriguez replaced Lloyd Carr as head coach after last season.

Boren started every game last year at either left guard or center for the Wolverines. Due to NCAA transfer rules, he will have to sit out the 2008 season. Due to Big Ten transfer rules by going from one conference institution to another, he will have to pay his own way and will never be on scholarship at Ohio State.

Boren said this to Tim May of The Columbus Dispatch:

It’s exciting to be coming back home to central Ohio. I am looking forward to the chance to help the Buckeyes continue their excellence in any way I can.”

Translation: “I’m tired of getting my brains beat in by the Buckeyes every November, and now I want to play for the winning team.

Other football news:

Ohio State will host Navy next season, and will make a return trip to take on the Midshipmen in the Annapolis/Baltimore area for the 2014 campaign.

Yawn.

Other basketball news:

Freshman forward Eric Wallace is leaving the team and plans on transferring after playing in 15 of Ohio State’s 37 games this past season, and averaged 1.8 points in 4.8 minutes of action.

Wallace, who’s a tremendous athlete, just didn’t seem to possess the fundamentals or the basketball IQ that others had in his class, but would of eventually received more playing time as he developed.

This will free a scholarship for junior college transfer Nicola Kecman, a 6-foot-9 native of Belgrade, Serbia, who is considering the Buckeyes.

Kecman averaged 13.3 points, 3.5 rebounds and 1.5 blocks for Eastern Arizona College, who finished with a 30-6 record.

According to Jerry Tipton of the Lexington Herald-Leader, Kecman made an official visit to Kentucky, this past weekend. He is scheduled to make an official visit to Ohio State this weekend, and is also considering Mississippi.

Tags: Football, Men's Basketball by Matt Barker, Publisher & Editor of BuckeyeBanter.com
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Right: Koufos is entering the NBA draft, but will not hire an agent. AP Photo/Terry Gilliam

The fine publication in northeastern Ohio known as the Canton Repository is reporting that 7-foot freshman center Kosta Koufos is declaring for June’s NBA Draft.

Huh?

Koufos averaged 14.4 points and 6.7 rebounds for the Buckeyes this past season while playing some really good basketball down the stretch, particularly in the National Invitational Tournament, as he earned the Most Outstanding Player award against lesser talent and smaller centers.

But how did Koufos fare against the big boys?

Against 6-foot-9 Tyler Hansbrough and the North Carolina Tar Heels, Koufos scored a mere four points with three rebounds in a 66-55 loss.

Going toe-to-toe with Texas A&M’s 7-foot center DeAndre Jordan, Koufos had 10 points and five rebounds as the Buckeyes lost big to the Aggies, 70-47.

In two games playing against 6-foot-11 center Shaun Pruitt from Illinois, Koufos averaged 10 points and 4.5 rebounds.

Koufos, who graduated from Canton’s GlenOak High School, is quoting as saying this Canton Rep’s Mike Popovich:

I am declaring for the 2008 NBA Draft but not hiring an agent and maintaining my college eligibility.”

Whew! That’s good. Koufos better take some time to think this through because RealGM.com has him going to the Dallas Mavericks with the 24th overall pick, and is one of the few that actually puts an abbreviated scouting report along with their mock draft, and here’s what they said about Koufos:

He shoots the ball from anywhere with ease, confidence and very good form, especially for such a young 7-footer. Koufos sees the court well but he can’t physically complete some of the passes he recognizes, but that will progress in time. He takes too long to collect himself to finish a dunk, which puts the ball in danger of being blocked. He is a decent athlete and his quick to ball on offensive rebounds, but his lateral movements are unquestionably on the slow side. He easily could be a lottery pick in 2009, but clearly needs more fine-tuning.”

That last sentence says it all, and I’m left wondering why anyone would leave early when you are not even a lottery pick?

Last year, head coach Thad Matta had three freshman who left early, center Greg Oden, point guard Mike Conley Jr., and shooting guard Daequan Cook. Oden and Conley were lottery picks as the center was the No. 1 overall selection by the Portland Trail Blazers, and Conley was the fourth pick by the Memphis Grizzlies.

Cook, though, was a different story. He was picked 21st and eventually landed with the Miami Heat.

Cook played in 59 games for the Heat this past season, starting in 19 of those, and averaged 8.8 points in 24.5 minutes per game. But he was also was sent down by Miami head coach Pat Riley to the Iowa Energy of the NBA Development League.

Cook appeared in three games (all starts) for the Energy, averaging 19.3 points, 7.0 rebounds, 3.7 assists and 1.33 steals in 39.7 minutes of action.

By the way, Miami finished the season with a record of 15-67.

So what does it mean when the NBA’s worst team sends you down to the D-League? Clearly, Cook would of benefited from staying at least one more year at Ohio State.

I think staying at least one more year and working on his interior game while getting stronger should obviously benefit Koufos and improve his draft stock.

Here’s what other 2008 NBA mock drafts have Koufos projected as of press time. Please note, a good number of these mock drafts are dominated by college players in the U.S., as many of the international players have yet to be evaluated. As draft day nears, those names will be added, and could alter where Koufos is projected to be picked:

MyNBADraft.com has Koufos as the 28th overall selection by the Memphis Grizzlies. They don’t list second round picks.

NBADraft.net does not list Koufos as of yet, but does have Othello Hunter as a second round (54th overall) pick to the Houston Rockets.

DraftExpress.com has Koufos going to the Denver Nuggets as the 20th overall pick.

CollegeHoops.net does not list Koufos in the first or second rounds as of press time, but does ranked him as just a two-star pro prospect.

Tags: Men's Basketball by Matt Barker, Publisher & Editor of BuckeyeBanter.com
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Right: Wide receiver Brian Hartline had a productive day in the rain, catching six passes for 82 yards. Getty Images/Matt Sullivan

More than 76,000 fans were fed a steady diet of light rain showers as the Scarlet squad topped the Gray team, 20-7, in this year’s Spring Game at Ohio Stadium.

Nothing really statistically jumps out at you when looking them over. The leading rusher was Dan “Boom” Herron, who gained 30 yards on 10 carries.

Neither of the three quarterbacks played particularly well, though incoming freshman Terrelle Pryor was watching from the stands in street clothes and a red rain poncho.

Senior quarterback Todd Boeckman was 12-of-18 passing for 145 yards, but threw two interceptions. Granted, one was picked off by free safety Kurt Coleman, who made a tremendous play on the ball, but the other by weakside linebacker Ross Homan was a poorly-thrown pass.

Boeckman scored the game’s first points when he dove in on a quarterback sneak from the 1-yard line with 1:37 left in the first quarter to put the Scarlet squad ahead 7-0.

Two plays earlier, Boeckman hit a diving Brian Hartline on a 48-yard pass play that set-up the TD.

Probably the quarterback who had the best performance out of the three was redshirt freshman walk-on Joe Bauserman, who was 7-of-14 for 125 yards and a touchdown.

Following Homan’s interception, the Gray team took over at their own 19 yard line. Five plays later, Bauserman connected with sophomore wide receiver Taurian Washington on a 51-yard pitch and catch that tied the game at 7-all with 2:49 remaining in the second quarter.

Kicker Aaron Pettrey put the Scarlet squad ahead for good when he put the pigskin through the uprights on a 48-yard field goal as time expired in the first half, giving his team a 10-7 lead.

The Scarlet squad tacked on another score when Boom Herron banged through the “one hole” on a 1-yard touchdown run with 23 ticks left in the third quarter.

That touchdown was set-up by a 30-yard pass play from Henton to junior wide receiver Ray Small three snaps earlier.

Scarlet’s Mike Mattimoe added a 24-yard field goal with 41 seconds remaining to close out the scoring.

Henton was 6-of-12 for 73 yards playing for both teams, plus he had six yards rushing on four attempts and was sacked three times.

Neither team ran the ball particularly well, either, though Scarlet’s sophomore running back K.C. Christian and Gray’s junior running back Maurice Williams had the best averages by far. Christian had two carries for 23 yards (11.5 ypa), and Williams toted the rock three times for 20 yards (6.7 ypa).

Those who had four or more receptions were Hartline, Small (5 rec., 74 yards), and Wasington 4 rec., 71 yards).

Defensively, junior cornerback Andre Amos led both teams with eight total tackles for the Scarlet, while sophomore defensive tackle Dexter Larimore topped both squads with two sacks for the Gray.

Those who did not play due to injury were: senior P Tyson Gentry, senior wide receiver Brian Robiskie, senior OG Steve Rehring, junior running back Chris Wells, sophomore WR Garrett Hummel, sophomore LB Kyle Libby, sophomore RB Aram Olson, junior WR Dan Potakar, freshman OL Mike Adams, freshman OL Mike Brewster, redshirt freshman DB Donnie Evege, sophomore OL Josh Kerr, senior OL Ben Person, junior DL Chris Rietschlin, and junior DE Robert Rose.

Tags: Football by Matt Barker, Publisher & Editor of BuckeyeBanter.com
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