This weekend, head coach Bob Todd and his baseball Buckeyes travel to Duane Banks Field on the campus of the University of Iowa for a four-game series, the last on Ohio State’s Big Ten schedule.

The first game of the series is Thursday night, with first pitch scheduled for 7:00 p.m. ET. The game can be heard live in the Columbus area on WMNI-AM 820 with Frank Fraas, Marty Bannister, Brian Mannino and Bob Spears.

Ohio State enters Thursday’s contest with an overall record of 28-22, 13-13 in Big Ten play. The Buckeyes are currently in fifth-place, one full game ahead of Northwestern and Michigan State, who are both tied for sixth in the conference.

Iowa is 20-31 and 8-20, respectively, and in last place in the Big Ten.

Unlike basketball, where all 11 teams qualify for the tournament, only the top six in baseball advance. With just a slim one-game lead over two teams, every game will be critical this weekend.

Michigan has already clinched the title and will host the Big Ten baseball tournament, which will be held May 21-24 in Ann Arbor.

Probable starters, Ohio State vs. Iowa:

Thurs., 7:00pm: RHP Jake Hale (5-3, 4.60) vs. RHP Brock Alberts (4-3, 5.93)
Fri, 5:00pm: LHP Dan DeLucia (2-3, 5.06) vs. RHP Steve Turnbull (3-5, 7.30)
Fri, Game 2 of DH: RHP Dean Wolosiansky (7-2, 3.82) vs. RHP Tony Manville (1-1, 6.75)
Sat, 2:00pm: LHP J.B. Shuck (4-3, 4.50) vs. LHP Michael Jacobs (2-5, 7.02)

Ohio State is sixth in the Big Ten, batting .301 as a team. The Buckeyes are second in the conference with a 4.74 team ERA.

The Hawkeyes rank fourth in the Big Ten in hitting (.325), third in runs scored and hits, and first in stolen bases (65), but has an 8.12 team ERA, last in the conference.

Junior first baseman Justin Miller leads the Buckeyes in batting with a .400 average (75-for-175), and also tops OSU’s roster with 57 RBI. He shares the team lead with three home runs along with senior left fielder Tony Kennedy and sophomore right fielder Ryan Dew.

On Wednesday, the Buckeyes came back from an 11-0 deficit to defeat Buffalo, 14-13.

Trailing 11-0 entering the bottom of the fourth, Dew smacked a two-run homer, J.B. Shuck added a two-run triple in the fifth, and Miller connected three-run homer in the eighth to make the score 13-10.

Ohio State scored four times in the bottom of the ninth for the win as Shuck walked with the bases loaded forcing in a run, Miller hit a two-run single, and Zach Hurley reached on a error that plated Shuck with the winning run.

Eric Best (4-1, 4.60) earned his second victory in as many games by pitching a scoreless ninth.

Tags: Ohio State Baseball // Add Comment »

Right: Wide receiver James Jackson, a native of Michigan seen here at UM’s football camp, opted to go out-of-state to play for the Buckeyes. Rivals.com Photo

So far, there’s a grand total of 14 soon-to-be high school seniors from the class of 2009 who have verbally committed to head coach Jim Tressel and the Ohio State football program.

The latest, 6-foot, 175-pound wide receiver James Jackson from Grand Ledge High School in Grand Ledge, Mich., verbally committed on Monday.

Jackson, who runs a blistering 4.31 seconds in the 40-yard dash, had a slew of offers from schools like Michigan, Michigan State, Purdue, Wisconsin, and Iowa in the Big Ten, as well as from Alabama, Florida, Oregon, and UCLA.

In the end, it came down to the Buckeyes and Bruins, and though he thought UCLA had a beautiful campus, it was too far from home.

Jackson was quoted as saying this to Tim May of the Dispatch:

“I decided to commit just because (of) the feeling I had inside all along since the first time I went to the Ohio State campus in March. The feeling never really went away. I just feel like Ohio State is the place to be.”

Surprisingly, the two finalists were not his in-state schools like the Spartans and Wolverines, even though in the photo above he’s sporting an ugly winged helmet from when he attended Michigan’s football camp, which was then under the former regime.

Last season, Jackson had 337 yards on 30 rushing attempts and added another 430 yards by hauling in 31 passes.

Out of the 14 players so far who have committed, only five are listed as offensive players according to Rivals.com.

Another wide receiver in this class, Chris Fields (6-0, 181) from Harvey High School in Painesville, Ohio, issued his verbal commitment to play at OSU back in February.

During his junior year, Fields caught 51 passes for 879 yards and can also run a sub-4.4 in the 40-yard dash.

Fields is ranked as the 78th-best prospect in the country according to Rivals, while Jackson is not in the top 100.

The current headliner in the class of 2009 is Dorian Bell (right), a 6-foot-1, 215-pound outside linebacker from Gateway High School in Monroeville, Penn.

Bell is listed as a five-star recruit by Rivals and is the 22nd-best prospect in his class. He had offers from 10 other schools including Penn State, Michigan and West Virginia, but committed to Ohio State last month.

During his junior year he had 131 tackles, and among those were 25 tackles for loss and 11 sacks.

Next on the Rivals100 list is defensive back Jamie Wood from Central High School in nearby Pickerington, Ohio.

Wood, listed as a 6-foot-2, 190-pound safety, checks in as the 26th-best prospect and he also had several offers, most notably from Penn State, Illinois and Northwestern.

Playing both ways last year, Wood had 65 tackles, seven of those for loss, and an interception. He also had 25 receptions for 550 yards and eight touchdowns.

Coming in as the 29th-best prospect in the nation is 6-foot-5, 245-pound defensive end Melvin Fellows from Garfield Heights, Ohio.

Fellows originally committed to Illinois last year, but changed his mind when he came to Columbus to watch the spring game last month.

Clayton Northmont’s C.J. Barnett committed to Ohio State back in February, and is listed as a 6-foot-1, 181-pound cornerback. He’s a four-star prospect by Rivals and checks in at No. 53 of the top 100 players from the class of 2009.

One notch below Barnett at No. 54 is Jordan Whiting from Trinity High School in Louisville, Ky.

Whiting, a 6-foot, 230-pound inside linebacker, was the first commitment for this class when he gave his verbal last September.

The last of the current Buckeye commitments to crack the Rivals100 is John Simon, a 6-foot-3, 274-pound defensive tackle from Cardinal Mooney High School in Youngstown, Ohio. He verballed the day after Christmas last year.

Two players in the class of 2009 will have older brothers on the team. Zach Boren, a 6-foot-1, 245-pond linebacker form Central High School in Pickerington, is the brother of Justin Boren, who recently transferred from Michigan to Ohio State. Adam Homan, a 6-foot-2, 230-pound linebacker from Coldwater, Ohio, is the younger brother of Ross Homan.

Last season, all-purpose back Jordan Hall was a teammate of Terrelle Pryor at Jeannette High School in Jeannette, Penn. In 2009, Hall will join Pryor as a member of the Buckeyes.

While Pryor garnered all of the attention last year for Jeannette, Hall, listed at 5-foot-9 and 180-pounds, did manage to gain 891 yards on the ground with 20 rushing touchdowns, plus he added another 704 yards and nine more scores receiving the pigskin.

Rounding out the list of commitments are:

Storm Klein, a 6-foot-2, 220-pound athlete from Licking Valley High School and Corey Linsley, a 6-foot-4, 285-pound guard from Boardman High School in Youngstown, both of whom garnered four stars from Rivals.

Unranked center Jack Mewhort from St. John’s High School in Toledo issued his verbal last December.

Currently, Michigan has just seven oral commitments for the class of 2009, with three of those coming from the state of Ohio. Youngstown Liberty’s Isaiah Bell and Fitzgerald Toussaint, along with Massillon Washington’s Justin Turner are all Buckeye natives.

Bell, a 6-foot-2, 200-pound safety, was not recruited by Ohio State. Toussaint, a 5-foot-10, 185-pound running back, was recruited by OSU, but no scholarship offer was made to him.

Neither of those players are currently ranked by Rivals.

Turner, a 6-foot-2, 186-pound safety, was recruited and offered a ’ship to Ohio State, but turned down the Buckeyes.

Michigan State and Penn State have the third-most verbals for the class of 2009 with six each, while Indiana and Purdue haven’t receive one as of today.

Among those who Ohio State has made a scholarship offers to and have not made a decision as of yet are:

Jelani Jenkins, a 6-foot, 203-pound outside linebacker from Our Lady Of Good Counsel High School in Wheaton, Md, who checks in at No. 10 among the Rivals100.

Marlon Brown, a 6-foot-5, 205-pound wide receiver from Harding Academy in Memphis, Tenn., is ranked 16th.

Andre Debose, a 6-foot, 170-pound athlete from Seminole High School in Samford, Fla. who is listed as the 33rd-best prospect, has a 40-yard dash time of 4.43 seconds.

At No. 34 is Marcus Hall, a 6-foot-5, 290-pound offensive tackle from Glenville High School in Cleveland.

Currently one of the most coveted players by the Ohio State coaching staff from the class of 2009 is 5-foot-11, 185-pound running back Jaamal Berry from Palmetto High School in Miami, Fla. He’s ranked No. 37 in the Rivals100 after rushing for 1,033 yards and 14 touchdowns last season, and is considered the best running back prospect in South Florida. Berry was clocked in the 40 at 4.43 seconds.

Tags: Ohio State Football, Recruiting // Add Comment »

Right: Billy Bob Thornton as Morris Buttermaker, head coach of the Bad News Bears. Time Inc. Photo

It has been exactly 24 days since my last post, but fear not fellow readers, for I have been busy working behind-the-scenes here at the worldwide headquarters of BuckeyeBanter.com.

Finally, the conversion of switching from blog publishing platforms Blogger to WordPress is now complete, and I must say it’s now much easier to post.

In the last few days, most of you may have already noticed a new front, or landing, page when you dial up the site. This was something we had when using Blogger several months ago, but didn’t have when we first switched to WordPress.

Also, along with The Buckeye Babe, Clair Crawford, there will be several more writers added to the mix as football season approaches.

As for me, I will be blogging every weekday until football season begins, too, all while coaching my son’s first grade coach-pitch baseball league team, which is known as the Tigers. Oh the irony of there being 30 Major League Baseball teams and the one I have to coach is named after the one from Michigan.

But let’s quickly recap what has transpired in the last few weeks concerning Ohio State athletics.

Men’s Basketball:

Kosta Koufos is gone. Not really much a surprise now after he said he was going to declare for the NBA draft but not hire an agent.

If you are going to leave that’s fine, but when you are asked to make decision and withdrawl from classes, do it! With Koufos dropping his classes so late into spring quarter, that could affect the team’s APR score next year and could cost the Buckeyes a scholarship down the road.

Ohio State head coach Thad Matta had asked Koufos to withdraw from spring quarter by the early April deadline if he was going pro, because he then would have withdrawn while in good academic standing.

Matta was quoted as saying this in the Cleveland Plain Dealer:

He said, ‘No, I’m going to finish out.’ And then we got the call, and bam, it blindsided us. We met with the families last year and asked them to please honor this. And everybody was in agreement.”

Way to go, Koufos.

As reported earlier, Matta signed two junior college players, Jeremie Simmons, a 6-foot-2 point guard from Mott Community College in Flint, Mich., and Nikola Kecman, a 6-foot-9 forward from Eastern Arizona.

The only problem is, will Kecman be eligible for next season?

Kecman played on the Serbian club team, Usce Vizura, during the 2006-07 season which finished with a record of 21-5. If that team included professionals and Kecman was done with high school, he could face a suspension of up to 52 games.

But, according to Kecman’s JUCO coach at Eastern Arizona College, Tim Walsh, who was quoted as saying the quote below on Rivals.com, Kecman should be fine:

“Nikola’s a very bright kid, a really good student. He won’t have any problems in that area. He just has to take his finals and do what he’s been doing. The one question some had was whether he had any dealings with professional teams, but he hasn’t. He’s clear.”

We shall see.

Football:

Back on May 1, former Ohio State head coach John Cooper was named as part of the 2008 class for the College Football Hall of Fame.

Later that day, Cooper was also named to the Michigan Football Hall of Fame for his steller 2-10-1 record against the Wolverines during his tenure in Columbus.

At least he beat the Maize and Blue in the Rose Bowl when he was head coach at Arizona State.

Former OSU football player under Cooper, Derrick Foster, was charged with shooting two Columbus police officers, John Gillis and Anthony Garrison. Foster’s attorney, Christopher M. Cooper, was quoted in the Dayton Daily News that he thought someone was trying to rob the house in which he was playing dice.

He didn’t know they were police officers. He responded, maybe not appropriately, but he responded. We’re all praying for these officers.”

According to WCMH-TV 4 in Columbus, the shooting occurred at a suspected drug house on East Rich Street at about 9:45 p.m. on April 30, while narcotics tactical-unit officers were attempting to serve a warrant. Officers were met with gunfire after they alerted those inside that they had a search warrant.

Foster, 38, a supervisor with code enforcement with the City of Columbus Department of Development, was arrested and charged with two counts of felonious assault and two counts of attempted murder. Foster played under Cooper from 1988 to 1992.

Foster and another defendant involved in the shooting were arraigned and neither received bond. The judge said both men posed a threat to society.

Kirk Herbstreit, a teammate of Foster’s at OSU, had sent him a text message the morning after the shooting to give Foster his Columbus mailing address so he could send Herbstreit an invitation for his wedding in June.

Tags: From Matt, Ohio State Basketball, Ohio State Football // 1 Comment »

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: Ohio State Basketball, Ohio State Football // Add Comment »

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: Ohio State Basketball // 1 Comment »