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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

After a relaxing two-week vacation following the conclusion of the men’s basketball season, let’s recap what has transpired this spring for the Ohio State football squad.

The Buckeyes will conclude spring football practice with the annual Scarlet & Gray football game tomorrow at Ohio Stadium. Kickoff is scheduled for approximately 1:30 p.m. ET, and it will be televised via live web stream at BigTenNetwork.com, and it will be rebroadcasted in its’ entirety on BTN at 11 p.m. ET on Saturday, and again on Sunday at 6 p.m. ET.

The Scarlet and Gray game will consist of four, 11 minute quarters with the new clock rules in effect, including the just implemented 40-second play clock.

At the quarterback senior Todd Boeckman will play the first half for the Scarlet team and redshirt sophomore Antonio Henton to play the third and fourth quarters. Redshirt freshmen Joe Bauserman will play the third and fourth quarters for Gray.

Other notables of the Scarlet team: senior OT Alex Boone, junior C Jim Cordle, senior TE Rory Nicol, junior WR Brian Hartline, junior WR Ray Small, redshirt freshman RB Boom Herron, sophomore DE Cameron Heyward, sophomore DT Dexter Larimore, senior MLB James Laurinaitis, senior SLB Curtis Terry, junior FS Anderson Russell, and sophomore CB Chimdi Chekwa.

On the Gray squad: sophomore OT Bryant Browning, junior TE Jake Ballard, senior RB Maurice Wells, sophomore RB Brandon Saine, senior WR Brian Robiskie, sophomore WR Dane Sanzenbacher, sophomore WR Taurian Washington, junior DT Todd Denlinger, junior DE Lawrence Wilson, senior WLB Marcus Freeman, junior SS Kurt Coleman, senior CB Malcolm Jenkins, junior CB Donald Washington, senior K Ryan Pretorius, and junior K Aaron Pettrey.

Those who will not play due to injury are: 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.

Honorary captains for the Scarlet and Gray teams will be former OSU standouts Mike Tomczak and Cris Carter. The Buckeyes will also be wearing helmet decals with the initials “DS” in memory of Dianna Sharp, the school crossing guard who was killed outside a Hilliard elementary school.

Last Saturday, the offense defeated the defense 55-44 in the jersey scrimmage, using a modified scoring system that’’s conventional and unconventional as points are awarded for touchdowns, PATs and field goals, but the offense gets a point for achieving a first down as well. The defense is awarded points for a three-and-out, tackle for loss and for forcing a turnover, plus scoring touchdowns and safeties.

Boeckman threw two touchdown passes to Hartline, and Henton tossed another to sophomore walk-on wide receiver Ricky Crawford from Olentangy High School.

One other touchdown was tallied when Saine ran around the left end and scored on a 22-yard burst.

Head coach Jim Tressel on the jersey scrimmage:

We got about 125 plays in; we were looking to get in between 120 and 135 so it worked out well. I am anxious to see the film to look at how some guys are coming along. There are a few obvious things; Brandon Saine is getting more comfortable with his position and is going to be a good receiver for us as well. Boom Herron is also coming along.”

Other notes:
Ohio State will play at least two games at night, a road game vs. Wisconsin, and a home game vs. Penn State. Both will kickoff at 8:00 p.m. ET.

The last time Ohio State played in Madison Square Garden for a title, the outcome was not nearly as favorable as it was last night.

Back on November 23, the Buckeyes advanced to the finals of the NIT Season Tip-off, originally known as the Preseason NIT, losing to then 15th-ranked Texas A&M by a score of 70-47.

A lot has changed for this young OSU team since then.

Against the Aggies, Ohio State couldn’t throw a rock into the Hudson River if they were standing on a pier, shooting just 24.1 percent (14-for-58) from the field, and were outrebounded 46-30.

In that game, the Buckeyes only trailed 31-26 at halftime before getting blown out of the Garden in the second stanza.

Now fast forward more than four months later, where Ohio State found itself once again playing at “The World’s Most Famous Arena” in the heart of New York City against Massachusetts.

UMass jumped out to an early 10-2 lead two-and-a-half minutes into the game as the Minutemen used an all-out, run-and-gun style of offensive basketball to their advantage.

Ohio State, though, quickly got back into the game, fueled on three, 3-pointers, two of which came from senior Matt Terwilliger.

The lead changed hands five different times with one tie until UMass’ Ricky Harris connected on consecutive triples on two trips down the court to put the Minutemen ahead 23-19 with 11:38 remaining in the opening period.

UMass took their largest lead of the game with 3:51 left in the first half when Gary Forbes knocked down a trey, and the Minutemen headed in the locker room at intermission with a 41-36 cushion.

Facing the same deficit of five points at halftime as they did against Texas A&M more than four months ago, the Buckeyes came out with something to prove, and sent a message to the NCAA selection committee that they made a mistake by not inviting them to the “Big Dance.”

Ohio State started the second half just like UMass did to begin the game only one better, by going on a 11-2 run capped off on a three-pointer from the most unlikeliest of all Buckeye long-range shooters, Othello Hunter, which gave OSU a 47-43 lead with 17:22 to go.

The Buckeyes never trailed the rest of the way.

Ohio State took their largest lead of the game when Kosta Koufos converted a pair of free throws with 9:26 left to put the Buckeyes ahead 64-55.

UMass, who won their last three NIT Tournament games by rallying from double-digit deficits, made one last run at OSU as Harris netted one of his seven, 3-pointers of the contest that tied the game at 68-all with 6:21 to play.

But Ohio State responded as Koufos drained a three from the right baseline, and on OSU’s next trip down, he got his own rebound after a missed trey, then with authority, rattled home a two-hand jam that gave the Buckeyes a 73-70 advantage with 5:30 remaining.

Ohio State’s record was 21-0 when they’re leading with five minutes left, and as the clock ticked down past that mark, the Buckeyes were ahead.

Now that record on the season stands at 22-0 after Jamar Butler threw a touchdown pass nearly the length of the court to Hunter, who threw down monster dunk to put Ohio State up 79-75 with 3:10 to go.

UMass could not get any closer the rest of the way.

Koufos, who was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player, scored 20 of his 22 points in the second half and added nine rebounds.

Turner added 20 points on 5 of 6 shooting from the field, which included making all three of the shots he attempted from beyond the arc.

Playing in their final game as seniors, Butler, who was named to the all-tournament team, scored 19 points and dished out seven assists, while Hunter chipped in 17 points and pulled down a team-high 10 rebounds.

Though the Buckeyes committed 19 turnovers, they did shoot the ball very well, going 32-for-58 (55.2%) from the field, and were 10 of 19 from three-point land.

Defensively, Ohio State held UMass to 36.8 percent (32-for-87) shooting from the floor.

Up next, I will recap the 2007-08 basketball season, as well as look ahead as to what the 08-09 campaign may hold for the Buckeyes.

For the second straight year, Ohio State finds themselves playing in April for a tournament title, though this season’s postseason run and tonight’s outcome won’t result in a national championship if the Buckeyes prevail.

This evening at Madison Square Garden in New York, Ohio State takes on Massachusetts (25-10) with tip-off scheduled for 7:00 p.m. ET.

Both teams have taken different paths to reach the MasterCard National Invitational Tournament finals.

The Buckeyes have won each by at least double-digits, defeating UNC-Asheville 84-66, took down California 73-56, and topped in-state rival Dayton 74-63.

On Tuesday night, four Buckeyes scored in double figures as Ohio State blew out Mississippi, 81-69.

Senior Jamar Butler and freshman Evan Turner each scored 17 points, while two more first-year players, David Lighty and Kosta Koufos added 16 points each for the Buckeyes.

The game was tied at 8-all before Ohio State used a 14-0 run to separate themselves from Ole Miss after Turner scored on a layup with 11:36 left in the first half to put the Buckeyes ahead 22-8.

Ohio State led 44-20 at intermission by forcing 12 Mississippi turnovers using a full-court press while holding the Rebels to just 28.9 percent (8-for-28) shooting from the field against the Buckeyes’ stout 3-2 zone defense.

But Ole Miss settled down in the second half and finally figured out how to attack OSU’s press. It also seemed that the Buckeyes lost some of their intensity in the final 20 minutes.

After Ohio State claimed their biggest lead of the game at 47-20 just 49 seconds into the second stanza, the Rebels outscored the Buckeyes 48-28 over a span of the next 17-plus minutes.

Mississippi’s freshman point guard Chris Warren hit three treys on consecutive possessions to get the Rebels within seven at 75-68 with 1:44 remaining.

But then it appeared that Ole Miss ran out of steam.

Butler, Ohio State’s all-Big Ten guard, scored on a driving layup to help put the game away, and Koufos and Lighty each added dunks in the final minute.

Against UMass, Ohio State can ill-afford a second half letdown.

In the other semifinal game Tuesday night, the Minutemen rallied from a 10-plus point deficit for the third NIT postseason game in a row to defeat the defending NCAA national champ Florida, 78-66.

UMass has shown great resiliency over those last three NIT games, trailing by at least 10 in each game before coming back to win. The Minutemen were down by 12 to Akron in the NIT Second Round with 8:30 left, but won the game by five (68-63). UMass trailed Syracuse by 22 with 14:30 left and won by four (81-77). The Minutemen were down 10 to Florida late in the first half.

UMass is led by 6-foot-7 swingman Gary Forbes, who top the Minutemen averaging 19.5 points and 7.6 rebounds per game.

Ricky Harris, a 6-foot-2 sophomore guard is second on the UMass roster in scoring pouring in, on average, 18 points per contest.

The Minutemen’s top three-point shooter is 6-foot-7 senior forward Etienne Brower (43.2%)

UMass’ Starting Five:
F 3 Gary Forbes - 6-7, 220, Sr. (19.5 ppg, 7.6 rpg, 3.0 apg)
F 22 Etienne Brower - 6-7, 215, Sr. (12.5 ppg, 6.7 rpg, 1.6 apg)
C 20 Dante Milligan - 6-9, 215, Sr. (8.9 ppg, 5.3 rpg, 0.7 apg)
G 5 Ricky Harris - 6-2, 175, So. (18.0 ppg, 2.5 rpg, 1.7 apg)
G 14 Chris Lowe - 6-0, 160, Jr. (11.9 ppg, 3.3 rpg, 6.2 apg)

OSU’s Starting Five:
F 31 Kosta Koufos - 7-0, 265, Fr. (14.2 ppg, 6.6 rpg, 0.5 apg)
F 45 Othello Hunter - 6-8, 225, Sr. (9.7 ppg, 6.4 rpg, 0.8 apg)
C 21 Evan Turner - 6-6, 200, Fr. (8.1 ppg, 4.4 rpg, 2.6 apg)
G 23 David Lighty - 6-5, 215, So. (9.0 ppg, 3.6 rpg, 2.4 apg)
G 14 Jamar Butler - 6-1, 185, Sr. (14.9 ppg, 3.0 rpg, 5.9 apg)

Above Right: UMass’ top scorer and rebounder, Gary Forbes. UMass Photo

Ole Miss’ Starting Five:
C 44 Dwayne Curtis - 6-8, 262, Sr. (15.0 ppg, 9.5 rpg, 1.0 apg)
F 50 Kenny Williams - 6-8, 240, Sr. (8.5 ppg, 6.7 rpg, 1.0 apg)
G 14 Eniel Polynice - 6-5, 216, So. (10.8 ppg, 5.4 rpg, 4.0 apg)
G 33 David Huertas - 6-5, 197, So. (10.6 ppg, 3.8 rpg, 1.9 apg)
G 12 Chris Warren - 5-10, 170, Fr. (15.7 ppg, 2.0 rpg, 4.5 apg)

OSU’s Starting Five:
F 31 Kosta Koufos - 7-0, 265, Fr. (14.2 ppg, 6.6 rpg, 0.5 apg)
F 45 Othello Hunter - 6-8, 225, Sr. (9.7 ppg, 6.4 rpg, 0.8 apg)
C 21 Evan Turner - 6-6, 200, Fr. (7.9 ppg, 4.3 rpg, 2.5 apg)
G 23 David Lighty - 6-5, 215, So. (8.8 ppg, 3.6 rpg, 2.3 apg)
G 14 Jamar Butler - 6-1, 185, Sr. (14.8 ppg, 3.0 rpg, 6.0 apg)

Right: Mississippi’s point guard and leading scorer, Chris Warren (12).
Orlando Sentinel Photo

Mississippi comes into tonight’s semifinal match-up against Ohio State with a record of 24-10 after Ole Miss upset Virginia Tech, 81-72 last Wednesday, as the Rebels shot 49 percent in the game, paced by freshman point guard Chris Warren’s 22 points.

Warren leads the Rebels in scoring, averaging 15.7 points per game, and scored 22 against the Hokies. Warren is averaging 18.7 points in the NIT through three games.

Ole Miss advanced with an 83-68 victory over UC-Santa Barbara, then took down Nebraska, 85-75, with both games played in Oxford, Miss, before Rebels traveled to Blacksburg to take on the Hokies.

Scouting Report (from Yahoo! Sports): Sophomore G David Huertas has given the Rebels a lift with 60 points in his last three games, which has opened up the inside for C Dwayne Curtis. Curtis and Kenny Williams have combined for 63 rebounds in the last three games. The guy who makes the Rebels go, however, is freshman PG Chris Warren. He can shoot the three, though he is streaky, and is a good assist man. The bench was tested when G Eniel Polynice, the team’s top defender, couldn’t play against UC-Santa Barbara because of a sore knee. Little-used freshman Rodney Jones gave the Rebels 22 minutes of solid play, especially on the defensive end.

Keys to the Game: Kosta Koufos inside against shorter, yet more physical post players for Mississippi. He needs to play well and score in the paint.

We know that Jamar Butler will have a good game, but outside of him and Koufos, someone needs to step up. Evan Turner and Jon Diebler did that in the second half against Dayton, and it will need to happen again.

Rebound and attack the basket, especially when the three-point shots aren’t falling.

Last night, the atmosphere almost resembled high school tournament games that are played at Value City Arena.

While the majority of the fans were pro-Ohio State, a good number of Dayton fans made the trip over on I-70. Even the Flyers’ pep band joined in the fun.

Unfortunately for those Flyer fans in attendance, it was a long trip home after seeing their team get dismantled, as the Buckeyes won 74-63 in front of a sellout crowd of 19,049 at Value City Arena.

One difference between a school from one of the BCS conferences, like Ohio State, as oppose to a mid-major program, like Dayton, are the “bigs.” The Flyers had no answer for 7-foot freshman center Kosta Koufos, who scored a game-high 21 points on 9 of 11 shooting from the field, including a three-pointer.

The great equalizer for mid-major teams, though, is the three-point line. Smaller teams have to take advantage of their quickness and they have to knock down their treys. Dayton wasn’t able to do neither of those things, especially in the second half.

After the intermission, Ohio State head coach Thad Matta had to switch to a smaller line-up, mainly due to the fact that starting forward, Othello Hunter, had to ride the pine due to foul trouble.

With Hunter on the bench, freshman Jon Diebler checked in with Jamar Butler, David Lighty, and Evan Turner. All four are essentially guards, along with Koufos.

The difference in the game was the second half, and in particular, the play of Turner and Diebler, who combined for 21 points in the final period. Neither of those two scored a point in the first half.

Turner had 11 points and six rebounds, while Diebler scored 10 points on 2 of 3 shooting from three-point land in the last 20 minutes of action.

Just 37 seconds into the second half, Turner sprung free through the lane and scored on a layup to give Ohio State a 32-31 lead, and the Buckeyes never trailed the rest of the way.

But in the first half, there were six ties and four lead changes. Dayton led by as many as five points on two different occasions, and held a 31-30 advantage at the break.

I’m not sure what Matta said at halftime, but it obviously worked.

After Turner scored, both teams traded baskets on four consecutive trips down the floor.

With 15:36 left to play in the game and Ohio State clinging to a one-point lead, the Buckeyes outdistanced themselves from the Flyers by going on a 13-2 run, capped off on a three-point by Butler from the left wing that put OSU ahead 49-37 with 11:54 remaining.

During that span, Diebler connected on his two, three-pointers that proved very pivotal during the run.

Dayton could only get as close as nine points after Brian Roberts drained a deep three with 7:49 left to make the score 55-46.

On the next trip down, Butler misfired on a trey, and Dayton’s Chris Wright came down with the rebound.

With the Flyers trying to cut into the deficit, a turnover by London Warren near the scorer’s table resulted in a layup by Butler to put Ohio State ahead 57-46 with 7:17 left, and the Buckeyes led by double digits the rest of the way.

My prediction of Ohio State winning by 15 points nearly came true until Matta emptied the bench with 43 seconds remaining.

Along with Koufos, Diebler and Turner in double figures for the Buckeyes was senior Jamar Butler, who scored 12 points in his final game at Value City Arena.

Roberts led the Flyers with 20 points.

Ohio State shot a blistering 53.2 percent (25-for-47) from the field, while holding Dayton just just 40.0 percent (24-for-60).

The Buckeyes also forced 16 Dayton turnovers and scored 20 points off them while committing only nine.

While it was great for Ohio State to play an in-state foe, I seriously doubt it’s going to happen again any time soon in the regular season.

I think the biggest problem is economics. Sure, teams like Dayton, Xavier and Cincinnati would jump at the chance to play Ohio State in Columbus, but at the same time, I am sure they would also want a return trip, a home-and-home series.

With that, it boils down to facilities, which neither of those schools can match. UD Arena is the largest of the three, but only seats 13,409. The only exception might be playing either Cincinnati or Xavier at U.S. Bank Arena, which was a capacity of roughly 17,000 for basketball.

This past season, Ohio State has already played an in-state team on the road, and it might be the only time in the near future that will happen. Back on Dec. 18, the Buckeyes took on Cleveland State at Quicken Loans Arena, which seats 20,562, and it’s about the only venue in the state of Ohio that’s comparable to Value City Arena.

Up next, Ohio State will play Mississippi in the semi-finals of the MasterCard National Invitational Tournament, next Tuesday. It will be played following the Florida-Massachusetts game at Madison Square Garden, with the tip-off roughly at 9:15-9:30 p.m. ET, depending how long the first game takes.

Date: Wednesday, March 26
Time: 9:00 p.m. ET
Place: Value City Arena - capacity 19,049
TV: ESPN2 with John Saunders and Bob Valvano.
Radio: WBNS-AM 1460/WBNS-FM 97.1 in Columbus, plus WING-AM 1410 in Dayton, and 57 more stations across Buckeyeland with Paul Keels and Ron Stokes.

Series History: Depending on which information you use, Ohio State is either 5-3 (according to daytonflyers.com) or 3-2 (ohiostatebuckeyes.com) all-time against Dayton.

Last Meeting : The last time Ohio State and Dayton met on the hardwood was on Dec. 17, 1988, with Ohio State winning 104-76 at UD Arena.

UD’s Starting Five:
F 41 Kurt Huelsman - 6-10, 240, So. (5.9 ppg, 4.1 rpg, apg)
F 33 Jimmy Binnie - 6-7, 211, Sr. (6.1 ppg, 3.8 rpg, 1.4 apg)
G 32 Marcus Johnson - 6-3, 193, So. (10.1 ppg, 5.2 rpg, apg)
G 3 Andres Sandoval - 6-4, 198, Sr. (6.5 ppg, 2.8 rpg, 1.3 apg)
G 2 Brian Roberts - 6-2, 175, Sr., (18.4 ppg, 2.8 rpg, 3.5 apg)

OSU’s Starting Five:
F 31 Kosta Koufos - 7-0, 265, Fr. (14.0 ppg, 6.6 rpg, 0.5 apg)
F 45 Othello Hunter - 6-8, 225, Sr. (9.9 ppg, 6.4 rpg, 0.8 apg)
C 21 Evan Turner - 6-6, 200, Fr. (7.8 ppg, 4.2 rpg, 2.5 apg)
G 23 David Lighty - 6-5, 215, So. (8.8 ppg, 3.6 rpg, 2.3 apg)
G 14 Jamar Butler - 6-1, 185, Sr. (14.9 ppg, 3.1 rpg, 5.9 apg)

Right: Dayton’s Brian Roberts (2).
AP Photo/Skip Peterson

Dayton’s offense revolves around 6-foot-2 senior guard Brian Roberts, a First-Team, All-Atlantic 10 selection, who is averaging 18.4 points per game while knocking down 45.5 percent of his shots from beyond the arc.

The Flyers’ second leading scorer and the team’s top rebounder is 6-foot-8 freshman forward Chris Wright (10.4 ppg, 5.9 rpg), who fractured his right ankle back on Jan. 9, and made his first appearance since that injury, Monday night, in Dayton’s 55-48 win over Illinois State.

Roberts was the only Flyer to scored in double figures in Dayton’s second round NIT match-up, while Wright came off the bench to contribute nine points in 10 minutes of action against the Redbirds in Normal., Ill.

Third on the Flyers’ in scoring is 6-foot-3 sophomore guard Marcus Johnson, who averages 10.1 points per game.

Though Dayton went 10-deep against Illinois State on Monday night, those three mentioned above are the Flyers’ only real scoring threats.

Starting guard Andres Sandoval did not register a mark in the scoring column during his 23 minutes of action, while starting post players Kurt Huelsman and Jimmy Binnie combined for 13 points on 6 of 10 shooting in 49 minutes.

Keys to the Game: If Ohio State plays like they did Monday night against California, then the Buckeyes win handily. But OSU must contain Roberts just like they did with Ryan Anderson, plus Ohio State needs to dominate the inside against the smaller Dayton squad, while winning the edge in rebounds.

It was only appropriate that Bruce Springsteen was belting out his hits like, “Glory Days,” at the Schottenstein Center as Thad Matta’s basketball team played in Ohio State’s former home, St. John Arena, against California in the second round of the National Invitational Tournament, Monday night.

I’m sure Springsteen also performed his 70s classic rock anthem, “Born to Run,” too, and that’s just what the Buckeyes did against the Golden Bears.

Ohio State forced 16 turnovers and cashed those in for 20 points, with many of those coming in transition, especially when Matta switched from his half-court, 3-2 zone defense to a full-court diamond press midway through the first half.

Ohio State’s swarming defense also held the Pac-10’s leading scorer, Ryan Anderson, to just 11 points on 4-for-11 shooting from the field.

Anderson was averaging 21.4 points per game entering last night’s contest.

Meanwhile, the senior duo of forward Othello Hunter and guard Jamar Butler dominated inside and out. Butler scored a game-high 20 points on 8-for-13 shooting from the floor, and was 4 of 9 from three-point land. Hunter scored 11 points and pulled down a team-high 16 rebounds for the Buckeyes.

If only Ohio State played with the intensity and desire they showed last night against teams like Iowa, Michigan, and Minnesota earlier in the season, the Buckeyes would be playing in the other tournament.

But Matta’s cagers got off to a sluggish start offensively, as it appeared they were content on taking ill-advised shots from beyond the arc.

For the game, Ohio State was just 5-for-22 in trey tossing, with the bulk of those attempts coming in the first half when the Buckeyes chucked the rock 16 times from downtown, connecting on only four.

Cal led by as many as five points in the first half, and took a 19-18 advantage when Bears’ guard Jerome Randle swiped the ball from Butler and scored on an uncontested layup with 6:40 left in the opening stanza.

But from that point until the horn sounded to end the first half, Ohio State went on a 17-4 run to close out the period, fueled by three, three-pointers from Butler, as the Buckeyes headed into the locker room at intermission leading 35-23.

Ohio State came out in the second half to score the first seven points that padded their lead to 42-23 with 17:27 to play.

The closest the Bears got the rest of the way was 15 points on two separate occasions, while the Buckeyes biggest lead came when Jon Diebler made a pair from the charity stripe with 3:23 remaining that put OSU ahead 69-44.

Along with Butler and Hunter in double figures for the Buckeyes was freshman forward Kosta Koufos, who scored 17 points with six rebounds.

Randle led Cal with 18 points, with Anderson the only other Bear to notched double digits in the scoring column.

Ohio State was an even 50 percent (29-for-58) from the floor, while holding California to 23 of 57 from the field (40.4%).

The Buckeyes also dominated the glass, pulling down 38 total rebounds compared to 31 for the Bears. Of those 38, 14 caroms came on the offensive side with OSU scoring 17 second-chance points.

Up next, Ohio State will take on Dayton, Wednesday night. Tip-off at Value City Arena is scheduled for 9:00 p.m. ET, and it will be televised on ESPN.

Ohio State (20-13, 10-8 Big Ten) vs. California (17-15, 6-12 Pac-10)

Date: Monday, March 24
Time: 7:00 p.m. ET
Place: St. John Arena - capacity 13,276
TV: ESPN with John Saunders and Bob Valvano.
Radio: WBNS-AM 1460 and WBNS-FM 97.1 in Columbus and 57 stations across Buckeyeland with Paul Keels and Ron Stokes.

Series History: Ohio State has an all-time record of 7-9 vs. Cal, but the Buckeyes are 2-1 vs. the Golden Bears in games played in Columbus. The last time the Buckeyes and the Bears met on the hardwood here in the Capital City was on Dec. 23, 1949, with OSU winning 78-67 at the Fairgrounds Coliseum.

Last Meeting : March 19, 1960. Ohio State won 75-55 at the Cow Palace in San Francisco in the NCAA Championship game to claim that year’s national title. Sophomore forward Jerry Lucas led the Buckeyes with 16 points and 10 rebounds against Cal, and was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player. Lucas had earlier won the Big Ten Player of the Year award after averaging 26.3 points and 16.4 rebounds per game during the 1959-60 season.

Cal’s Starting Five:
F 14 Eric Vierneisel - 6-7, 210, Sr. (5.2 ppg, 2.6 rpg, 2.3 apg)
F 34 Ryan Anderson - 6-10, 240, So. (21.4 ppg, 9.9 rpg, 1.4 apg)
C 35 DeVon Hardin - 6-11, 250, Sr. (9.5 ppg, 7.4 rpg, 0.7 apg)
G 23 Patrick Christopher - 6-5, 215, So. (15.5 ppg, 3.7 rpg, 2.0 apg)
G 3 Jerome Randle - 5-10, 165, So. (11.6 ppg, 2.5 rpg, 3.8 apg)

OSU’s Starting Five:
F 31 Kosta Koufos - 7-0, 265, Fr. (13.9 ppg, 6.7 rpg, 0.5 apg)
F 45 Othello Hunter - 6-8, 225, Sr. (9.8 ppg, 6.2 rpg, 0.8 apg)
C 21 Evan Turner - 6-6, 200, Fr. (7.9 ppg, 4.2 rpg, 2.5 apg)
G 23 David Lighty - 6-5, 215, So. (8.8 ppg, 3.6 rpg, 2.2 apg)
G 14 Jamar Butler - 6-1, 185, Sr. (14.7 ppg, 3.1 rpg, 6.0 apg)

Jim Harbaugh, a former quarterback at the University of Michigan, took over as Stanford’s head coach when he was hired in December of 2006.

One of the problems Harbaugh faces at Stanford is the higher admissions standards, which reduces the amount of available recruits.

Harbaugh inherited a team that went 1-11 during the 2006 season, and guided the Cardinal to a record of 4-8, 3-6 in Pac-10 conference play, which included a 24-23 win over then-No.2 Southern California at the Coliseum in his first year at the helm.

Harbaugh was quoted as saying this to Glenn Dickey of the San Francisco Examiner, last May, about the academic standards at Stanford compared to those at his alma mater, Michigan:

Michigan is a good school and I got a good education there, but the athletic department has ways to get borderline guys in and, when they’re in, they steer them to courses in sports communications. They’re adulated when they’re playing, but when they get out, the people who adulated them won’t hire them.”

ESPN.com’s Pat Forde wrote a column last August in which he said:

All it takes to see that is a scan of the 2007 Michigan media guide. Only 30 players have listed majors, and 19 of them are pursuing degrees in something called “general studies.” That’s 20 percent of the team, and 63 percent of the players who have declared a major.”

This past week, the Ann Arbor News ran a four-part series entitled, “Academics and Athletics,” which examined the delicate balance between the two at the University of Michigan, written by Jim Carty, John Heuser and Nathan Fenno.

The AA News conducted a seven-month investigation that included interviewing 87 people and reviewing more than 3,500 pages of internal documents.

The first part of the series, that was published on Sunday, targeted a certain psychology professor.

From the Ann Arbor News:

John Hagen was, as he has been for decades, close to some of the most recognized athletes at Michigan. University records obtained by The News show that the veteran psychology professor has taught at least 294 independent studies from the fall of 2004 to the fall of 2007, and 85 percent of those courses, 251, were with athletes.

This finding isn’t exactly earth-shattering, considering that The New York Times ran a similar story about Auburn University nearly two years ago.

In an article published on July 14, 2006, Pete Themel and Adam Himmelsbach of The Times wrote that a certain professor in the sociology department at Auburn taught 18 members of the 2004 football team, and they “took a combined 97 hours of the courses during their careers. The offerings, known as directed-reading courses, resemble independent study and include core subjects like statistics, theory and methods, which normally require class instruction.”

The professor in question at Auburn was Thomas Peete, the sociology department’s highest-ranking member, who rewarded athletes with high grades who never had to attend a class.

This all came to light when Professor Gundlach, the director of the Auburn sociology department, was watching an Auburn football game on television in the fall of 2004, and a graphic during the broadcast honored a certain prominent player for his work as a sociology major.

The problem was, Gundlach never heard of him, which led to his own personal investigation as reported in the same N.Y. Times article:

So Professor Gundlach looked at the player’s academic files, which led him to the discovery that many Auburn athletes were receiving high grades from the same professor for sociology and criminology courses that required no attendance and little work.”

Eventually, Peete and James Witte, the program coordinator for Adult Education, were forced to resign at Auburn.

At Michigan, some of the findings were:

Three former athletic department employees said Hagen’s independent study courses are sometimes used by academic support staff to boost the grade point averages of athletes in danger of becoming academically ineligible to compete in sports.

At least 48 athletes have taken two or more independent study courses with Hagen; nine of those 48 have taken three or more.

Quarterback Chad Henne, wideout Mario Manningham, hockey player Chad Kolarik and softball ace Jennie Ritter are just a few of the Wolverines who have taken independent studies with Hagen, as have Jake Long and Shawn Crable, two of the captains on last season’s football team.

When asked what they learned in Hagen’s courses, some athletes described being taught how to take notes, use a day planner, make a calendar and manage their time.

Are you kidding me? While taking notes is an important skill to master in college, learning how to use a day planner? Making a calendar? Give me a break! Note: BuckeyeBanter.com tried to contact Henne and Manningham, but could only leave a message asking both, “How many days are there in the month June?”

Professor Matt’s College Tip of the Day: Use a tape or digital voice recorder and park that bad boy on your desk and hit “play” before the start of any lecture. Now before you start daydreaming of warm, spring days and the hotties sunbathing on The Oval, take written notes to go along with lecture you are recording. You don’t have to copy it verbatim, but maybe jot down an outline or the most pertinent information.

While I love to bash Michigan every chance I get, one of the comments I have heard over the years in which Jim Tressel has taken over as head coach and Ohio State dominating the rivalry since 2001, is that while the Buckeyes win on the field, Michigan is superior academically. That doesn’t appear to be the case, either.

According to the same report, the preferred major for Ohio State football players is business, with 10 student-athletes on the 2007 roster studying that discipline.

When I was a freshman at Ohio State, one of the things that struck me in my very first UVC (University College) class was that, “Ohio State has a liberal arts curriculum, so a major isn’t as important because of the broad-based education you will receive at the university.”

While at OSU, I majored in Political Science with the hopes of someday attending law school. Although that hasn’t happened yet, it’s still my plan. But if I had to do it all over again, I would of majored in something more specific.

While the circumstances at both Auburn and Michigan have been documented in the media, if it’s happening there, I’m sure similar situations like these are occurring on other campuses across the country.

In some ways, I feel that the college athlete is being exploited, but at the same time, some of these student-athletes are getting an opportunity that they might not get otherwise if they didn’t excel in a sport.

Below: Ohio State defensive end Vernon Gholston, reminding Michigan quarterback Chad Henne to add this sack to his day planner, last November. File Photo

In the title, I am not referring to the Public Broadcasting System, which is commonly known as “PBS,” or the Columbus’ affiliate for public television owned by The Ohio State University.

The “PBS” that I am referring to is Paul Brown Stadium, the home for the Cincinnati Bengals, and the venue where the Ohio State Buckeyes were supposed to play the Cincinnati Bearcats in 2012.

Back in 2003, then-Director of Athletics at OSU, Andy Geiger, reached an agreement with the University of Cincinnati on a series of games. One of which was played in 2004 with Buckeyes winning 26-7, and another was in 2006 when Ohio State down Cincinnati 37-7. Both were played at Ohio Stadium in Columbus.

Two more games are still left on that initial contract, as the Bearcats were to host the Buckeyes at PBS in 2012, and make a return trip to Columbus in 2014.

Now, both of those games will be played at Ohio Stadium, as well.

When the contracts were signed back in 2003, Cincinnati was a member of the non-BCS Conference-USA, and didn’t have the clout to negotiate a better agreement.

Now the Bearcats are a member of the Big East Conference, which is a one of the six BCS leagues, and are coming off a 10-3 season in 2007 under first-year head coach Brian Kelly.

Due to the leverage Ohio State had in that contract, the Buckeyes exercised an option and will pay UC $1 million to have the 2012 game moved to Columbus.

In reality, it’s win-win situation for both programs, as Ohio State will have eight home games that season, and Cincinnati will use that money, with payments beginning immediately, “to fund the new football initiatives at UC, such as the practice bubble and new practice fields that were included in Kelly’s contract extension.”

In an article written by Bill Koch of the Cincinnati Enquirer, UC’s athletic director Mike Thomas is quoted as saying the following:

It’s disappointing. We’d rather play the Buckeyes in our backyard. Certainly we didn’t initiate the movement of the game, but we feel - not just myself, but Coach Kelly felt - that it was important that we play the game knowing that in the future if we were going to have a relationship with Ohio State it will have to be on a more level playing field.”

While Ohio State has enjoyed an annual rivalry with Michigan in the Big Ten Conference for several decades, the Buckeyes do not have an yearly nonconference foe, like the Wolverines have with Notre Dame.

In the same article Kelly is quoted as saying:

I want to play them. My philosophy has always been that we need to play Ohio State. If they don’t want to play here, I’ll play them in a parking lot in Xenia.”

Personally, I would welcome that arrangement, though if Ohio State played a neighboring rival, I’d choose Southeastern Conference member Kentucky, as oppose to Cincinnati or West Virginia.

After delaying his decision six weeks, Terrelle Pryor is officially a Buckeye.

He arrived at Jeannette High School one hour prior to the 12:00 noon news conference, though he skipped his morning classes, as news reporters gathered in the auditorium.

Pryor sat down at a table sitting next to his grandmother and father, put on an Ohio State cap, took off his jacket to reveal an OSU T-shirt, and said the following as reported by Mike White of Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:

It’s the University of Ohio State.”

Pryor, the top-rated high school prospect according to rivals.com, also help the Buckeyes move up to No. 4 in the team recruiting rankings for the 2008 class.

Previously, Ohio State held the ninth slot before Pryor signed.

Though Ohio State has the smallest recruiting class for 2008 out of the top-five ranked teams, the Buckeyes tied with Florida landing the most five-star recruits with four. Alabama, which will bring in 32 freshman this summer, tops the team rankings list, but only signed three, five-star recruits according to Rivals.

Michigan, which signed 24 high school players, came in at No. 10 overall and second in the Big Ten, but failed to sign any five-star recruits after new head coach Rich Rodriguez was lured way from West Virginia to the Ann Arbor campus in December.

During his senior year, Pryor led the Jeannette Jayhawks by winning the PIAA Class AA state football championship, last December. Over the weekend, Pryor scored 23 points as his team won the boys’ basketball title.

In football, Pryor became the first Pennsylvania player to pass and rush for more than 4,000 yards, and in basketball, he concluded with a school-record 2,285 points, eighth all-time on the WPIAL career scoring charts.

Pryor had 1,889 yards passing during his senior season, with 23 touchdowns and only three interceptions. He added 1,899 yards rushing with 36 more scores. He ended his career with 4,250 rushing yards and 4,249 passing yards.

In the PIAA Class AA title football game against Dunmore, Pryor accounted for five of his team’s seven touchdowns. He ran for three scores, threw for one and caught another as Jeannette won 49-21. He also assumed the place-kicking and punting duties, all while serving up hot dogs and playing the trombone at halftime.

But what does this mean for the 2008 edition of the Ohio State football team? I certainly think that Pryor becomes the backup to senior Todd Boeckman.

Back in 1978, there was another highly-touted freshman quarterback that suited up for then-legendary head coach Woody Hayes by the name of Art Schlichter, who was so good, he moved senior signal-caller and returning starter, Rod Gerald, to flanker.

Gerald had started most of the 1976 and all of the 1977 season at quarterback after taking over for Cornelius Greene, who played for the Buckeyes from 1973-75 and graduated.

Now I am not suggesting that Boeckman will move to wide reciver or tight end, but I do see Pryor eventually taking about 30-40 percent of the snaps once he understands the system.

Maybe that starts with Ohio State’s season-opener against Youngstown State, or when the Buckeyes’ travel to Los Angeles to take on Southern Cal. Maybe it begins with the Big Ten opener against Minnesota in week five, but it’s going to happen eventually, and Pryor will make an impact during his freshman year.

Ohio State head coach Jim Tressel is quoted on saying this about Pryor in another article written by Mike White of Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:

The thing you need to do as a coaching staff is get people on the field who can make plays and design things for what people are ready to do. Everyone is aware that he has the kind of ability that once he understands the system and knows opposing defenses, he’s going to have a chance to show his playmaking ability.”

The odd man out appears to be redshirt sophomore Antonio Henton. While he’s just one of three scholarship quarterbacks on the roster, I tend to believe he will be moving to another position as the season wears on.

One thing I definitely don’t see is Pryor redshirting. He will be the starting quarterback for the 2009 season, and it’s always a good thing to have some experience under your belt.

Pryor is quoted as saying this in the same article:

At Ohio State, you all know Boeckman is there. But it’s a long season. There is a senior and I can learn from him. Whenever I get in there for some plays, I want to make something happen.”

I foresee the combination of Boeckman-Pryor as similar to the 2006 Florida Gators and how they used senior quarterback Chris Leak and freshman Tim Tebow.

During that season, Leak attempted 365 passes while Tebow threw just 33 times during the Gators’ run to the national title in 2006. But Tebow was the team’s second leading rusher, gaining 478 yards on 89 attempts. Both Leak and Tebow played in 14 games that year, and Tebow went on to win the Heisman Trophy in 2007.

For those of you still clinging to your No. 11 Ohio State jerseys made popular by Anthony Gonzalez, Pryor wore that number in high school, and it’s available since Rob Schoenhoft transferred to Delaware.

Ohio State, led by Jamar Butler’s 21 points and 10 assists, advanced to the second round of the 2008 MasterCard National Invitational Tournament by defeating the North Carolina-Asheville Bulldogs 84-66 in front of a paltry 7,117 fans at Value City Arena, Tuesday night.

The Buckeyes will play either California or New Mexico at St. John Arena, next Monday, due to a scheduling conflict at the Schottenstein Center.

Ah, nothing like trying to figure out where the basketball court is when the floor is setup for volleyball. And judging by Tuesday nights attendance, OSU could play at the Fairgrounds Coliseum, the Buckeyes’ former home from 1920-1956.

Granted, students are on spring break, but just a few miles to the south, 14,270 fans attended the Columbus Blue Jackets’ 3-0 win over the Calgary Flames.

I’m sure plenty of good seats are still available for Monday night’s game.

Ohio State was in control the entire game, and never trailed at any point. There were no lead changes, and UNC-Asheville tied the game only twice early in the first half.

With 12:42 left in the opening period and the game tied at 14-all, the Buckeyes went on a 13-2 run fueled by two, 3-pointers from Butler, and David Lighty contributed five points as his short jumper with 10:07 remaining put OSU ahead 27-16.

UNC-A fought back by going on scoring run of their own with 7-foot-7 junior center Kenny George capping off a 12-2 spurt on an eight-foot jumper in the lane, even though he clearly shuffled his feet before getting the ball airborne. George’s bucket trimmed OSU lead down to 29-28 with 6:43 to go in the first half.

But the Buckeyes closed out the first 20 minutes of action by outscoring the Bulldogs 16-7 and headed into the locker room at intermission leading 45-35.

The closest Asheville came in the second half was six points, trailing Ohio State 53-47 after a dunk by George with 14:36 left to play in the game.

A three-pointer by Butler with 12:03 remaining put the Buckeyes ahead 60-49, and from that point, Ohio State held a double-digit advantage the rest of the way.

The Buckeyes biggest lead of the game was at the 5:28 mark when Othello Hunter tipped-in Lighty’s miss to put OSU up 76-57.

Along with Butler’s 21, three other Buckeyes scored in double figures with Hunter chipping in 16, Kosta Koufos added 15, and Lighty scored 13 points.

Reid Augst led the Bulldogs with 20 points.

Ohio State shot a blistering 56.3 percent (36-for-64) from the field, and was 10 of 21 (47.6%) from beyond the arc.

UNC-Asheville also shot very well from the floor, connecting on 27 of 52 shots (51.9%) and was 8-for-18 (44.4%) from three-point range.

The difference in the game was that the Buckeyes forced 21 turnovers and cashed them in for 26 points, while only committing nine.

Thad Matta’s Ohio State men’s basketball squad was not one of the 65 teams to have their name called on CBS Sports “Selection Sunday” show, which meant  the Buckeyes had to wait until 9:00 p.m when the National Invitational Tournament announced their parings on ESPN2.

Turns out, Ohio State will face 7-foot-7, 360-pound junior center Kenny George and the UNC-Asheville Bulldogs in the first round of the NIT at Value City Arena, Tuesday night. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:00 p.m., and it will be televised on ESPN.

UNC-Asheville finished tied for first in the Big South Conference, but lost in the tournament final to the team they shared the regular season title with, Winthrop, 66-48.

The Bulldogs have an overall record of 23-9.

Ohio State and UNC-Asheville share two common opponents, Tennessee and North Carolina. Like the Buckeyes, the Bulldogs also lost both meetings, dropping a 86-73 decision against the Volunteers in Knoxville, and were handed a 93-81 defeat to the Tar Heels in Chapel Hill.

Leading the way for the Bulldogs is 6-foot senior guard Bryan Smithson, who averages 16.4 points per game, while 6-foot-1 senior guard K.J. Garland is second on the UNC-Asheville roster in scoring (13.4 ppg).

George is third in scoring, averaging 12.4 points per game, while leading the team in rebounds (6.9 rpg) and blocked shots (3.4 bpg). George’s size is due to an overactive pituitary gland, which makes him tire easily and he’s limited to short stretches.

In the Big South championship game, George played 27 minutes and scored 13 points with four rebounds and a blocked shot. Over the course of 27 games this season, George has only played more than 27 minutes twice, and averages 19.5 minutes per game.

So if you read the headline and you were thinking that I was writing about the two-sport star from Jeannette, Pa., I guess you can call it my April Fools Day joke a few weeks early.

But the Pryor I am talking about is junior Jason Pryor, who claimed a 5-3 win in epee on Strip 4, Sunday afternoon at Ohio State’s French Field House, that clinched the Buckeyes’ third national fencing championship and the school’s 57th national title overall.

Now since I have no clue about fencing, I will let NCAASports.com do the rest:

With the entire Ohio State fencing team cheering on Pryor beside the strip knowing the Buckeyes needed one more win to clinch the title, he lunged for the fifth and final touch against Teddy Sherrill of Harvard. The green light flashed and Pryor repeatedly jumped in the air as the entire team and head coach Vladimir Nazlymov yelled and hugged.

Notre Dame, which entered the day trailing Ohio State by only two points, had a strong start and tied the competition after about 45 minutes of competition Sunday. But the OSU men’s competitors Pryor and Sean Harder in epee, Andras Horanyi and Ben Parkins in foil and Mikhail Momtselidze and Sergey Smirnov in sabre finished strong to build a seven-point lead late in the team competition.

The Buckeyes have gone on to win the national title by nine points - 185-176.”

WAY TO GO BUCKEYES!