While all the hoops buzz around town the past week or so was about the Dayton Flyers — and rightfully so with that No. 18 ranking as they headed down to San Juan for three games — I’ve got to say Brad Brownell has quietly built himself quite a team this season as Wright State.
You saw signs of that Tuesday night as WSU toyed with Central Michigan before finally pushing the Chippewas aside, 69-53, at the Nutter Center.
This is as good of a Raiders team as I’ve seen around here in a long time. Although there’s no DaShaun Wood, I’d say it is better than the Raiders team who surprised everyone and made the 2007 NCAA Tournament:
Senior forward Todd Brown looks like a man on the court for the Raiders this season. He’s playing with a real confidence now, his outside shot is on the mark — he was 4 for 6 from three-point range Tuesday — and he’ll only get better with the return of Vaughn Duggins.
The junior guard — who had been out of the WSU line-up for a year — returned Tuesday with a 21-point, 5-assist., shut-down defensive effort.
Duggins being on the floor lifts the games of all his teammates.
The 3-1 Raiders are deep this year and they’re playing a stifling defense.
While there is some angst around Flyerland now after a pair of losses to good teams — No. 5 Villanova and Kansas State — the resultant fall from the Top 25 and the prospect that it will be a struggle to return to such lofty status during the next month while playing several teams with little juice when it comes to swaying pollsters, Wright State fans have to be feeling mighty good about their bunch right now.
Once the Flyers get into their A-10 schedule, I think they will acquit themselves quite well again and have a good chance to be every bit that NCAA Tournament team everyone predicted they would be just a week ago.
Even though Butler is figured to be the scourge of the Horizon League this season, don’t discount Wright State. All you need to do is beat the Bulldogs once in the league tournament and the under-manned Raiders nearly did that last season. This team is good enough to finish the task.
If things go as I think they might for both UD and WSU this season, it could be fun around here come mid March.
ANN ARBOR — Here are some images and comments I heard and saw after Ohio State topped mistake-prone Michigan 21-10 Saturday before a crowd of 110,922 at Michigan Stadium:
— In the final minutes of the game, there was as real rabid back-and-forth exchange going on between some vocal Michigan fans seated in the front row just behind the Ohio State bench and a few equally-zealous Buckeye players, most notably fireplug freshman fullback Zack Boren, whose brother Justin started his college career as a Michigan offensive lineman, then transferred to Ohio State — he’s from Pickerington — and stated at left guard for the Buckeyes Saturday.
Both the fan and Boren were red in the face from all their yelling. I can’t print what was said — I can tell you it was pretty profane and sometimes pretty funny — but I will say there were some gyrations and hand gestures to go with it. And it went on for a while.
— A much nicer scene was involved Kurt Coleman — the Buckeye safety and team captain from Northmont High who had two interceptions — spotting his family in the stands, then pulling himself up to them and crawling over the blue railing so he could hug them and tell them he loved them.
He gave his dad the rose he was holding and “Pops,” as he call his father Ron Coleman, an assistant principal at Stebbins High, gave him his scarlet newsboy cap which Kurt put on backwards and then wore proudly off the field.
“What a way to go out,” Ron Coleman said of his son. “He had two interceptions, he probably could have had four and mostly he just made us so proud…Again.”
— I walked off the field with Michigan’s sophomore running back Michael Shaw, whose prep fame came first at Alter High and then at Trotwood Madison.
He had rushed for 13 yards on 7 carries and he was in tears:
“This is a tough pill to swallow, especially being from Ohio. I hate losing to Ohio State, but they got the best of us.
“I love Michigan though/ This is where I’m supposed to be and where I’m going to be. And I think the rebuilding is over here. I honestly believe Michigan will be back next season.”
— Another Wolverine from Trotwood Madison — sophomore receiver Roy Roundtree — will play a big part of Michigan ascension. He had nine catches for 119 yards Saturday. A teammates’ injury thrust him into the starting lineup four weeks ago and he’s responded with 26 catches for 393 yards and two touchdowns since He ended the season as the Wolverines leading receiver.
Coming off the field, he accepted a few hugs from Bucks players, then spoke briefly as he made his way toward the stadium tunnel:
“It felt great being in this game —I think our team fought the full 60 minutes — but you got to give O-State credit. They got the better of us.”
— The Ohio State players all wore a white decal bearing a black “SS” on their old school throwback uniforms that were reminiscent of the look of the 1954 Buckeye team.
The SS was a remembrance of Stefanie Spielman — the charismatic 42-year old wife of former Ohio State and NFL star Chris Spielman — who died Thursday after a long and quite public battle with breast cancer.
Coaches wore the emblems, too, and Jim Tressel talked about the heartfelt tribute.
“We talked about that after the game,” the Bucks head coach said. “We thought about how excited we were, but also how — when we get back home and have a chance to reflect a little bit — we need to send some love to the Spielman family. Some vibes.
“We know what kind of Buckeye she is and Chris is and the whole family is. They are part of our family.
“What she and Chris have done for the Columbus community — the example she had given us — was extraordinary.
“Going into this we talked about how the toughest team wins this game. And we said if we could be half as tough as Stefanie, we got a chance.”
ANN ARBOR — “Great players play great in the Michigan game.”
That — according to Ohio State linebacker Austin Spitler — was Earle Bruce preaching to the Buckeyes football team this past week as they prepped for today’s game with Michigan in Ann Arbor.
“Coach Bruce said. ‘If you don’t play great in the Michigan game, you ARE NOT a great player here at Ohio State,’” said the OSU senior captain from Bellbrook High. “It’s the last game of the year, the biggest game , the most fierce game — the greatest rivalry in college football — and everybody strives to make a big play that impacts the game.”
And over the years there have been some OSU and Michigan players who have impacted games in monumental ways.
Jim Naveau, who covers Ohio State quite well for the Lima News, came up with a list in his Friday paper of the 20 players he felt had had the most memorable performances in this storied rivalry. He listed his Top 10 from Ohio State, then his Top 10 from Michigan.
I agreed with most of his choices — though I’d put a couple of other people on the list and I’d change the order of importance of a few. But that’s the fun of lists — everybody makes them up differently .
Here are my top performers from both schools, ranked — as I see it — in the order of their impact on the game. Like I said, the list is debatable:
1 — TOM HARMON (Michigan) — Michigan’s first Heisman winner was so overwhelming dominant in the 1940 game, he got standing ovation from crowd — the Ohio Stadium crowd!!! He passed for 151 yards and two touchdowns, rushed for 139 yards and two more touchdowns , intercepted a pass and returned it for a score and averaged 50 yards on punts.
2 — TROY SMITH (Ohio State) — His 2006 performance against Michigan sealed the Heisman Trophy for him, but his previous two games were just as good…..In 2004, he threw for 241 yards and two touchdowns and rushed for 145 yards and TD in 37-21 win….The next year he passed for 300 yards and a score as OSU came back from 9 down in the final minutes to win 25-21… Finally, in 2006, he threw for 316 yards and four TDs in a 42-29 victory.
3 — LES HORVATH (Ohio State) — The Buckeyes first Heisman winner, he played the entire 60 minutes of the 1944 game, running for two touchdowns, including the game-winner as No . 3 OSU edged No. 6 Michigan, 18-14 …In 1942, he ran for one TD and threw for another as OSU won 21-3.
4 — TSHIMANGA BIAKABUTUKA (Michigan) — Carried the ball 37 times for 313 yards as Michigan upset Ohio State 31-23 in 1995.
5 — CHRIS WELLS (Ohio State) — Ran for 222 yards on 39 carries and scored on a 62-yard run in 2007 …He ran for 134 yards — scoring on a 59 yard run — in 2008
6 — DESMOND HOWARD (Michigan) — He struck the Heisman pose after stunning the Bucks with a 93-yard punt return for a touchdown in the Wolverines’ 31-3 victory in 1991. He also caught a 50-yard pass that game…In 1990, he had five catches for 73 yards and a score.
7 — ARCHIE GRIFFIN (Ohio State) — The two-time Heisman winner was part of three OSU wins and a tie. He scored a TD as a freshman, ran for 163 yards as a sophomore and ran for 111 yards as a junior.
8 — BOB FERGUSON (Ohio State) — He rushed for four touchdowns and 152 yards in the Buckeyes 50-20 victory in 1961… In 1960, he scored the only touchdown in OSU’s 7-0 victory.
9 — CHARLES WOODSON ( Michigan) — He sealed his Heisman Trophy in 1997 when he returned a punt 78 yards for a score, caught a 37-yard pass and intercepted a Buckeye pass in Michigan’s 20-14 win…In 1995, he had two interceptions in Michigan’s upset of OSU.
10 — CHRIS SPIELMAN (Ohio State) — He had an unbelievable 29 tackles in a 26-24 loss in 1986. The next year he had 16 tackles and a quarterback sack in OSU’s 23-20 win.
COLUMBUS — A couple of days ago, Devin Barclay — Ohio State’s new and quite unlikely kicker, a guy who first had a career playing soccer for U.S., national teams and then five years as a pro — made a great point about the fanatical OSU and Michigan football rivalry.
Barclay
The Bucks and Wolverines will go at it Saturday in Ann Arbor in, what all Buckeye players will tell you, is “the greatest rivalry in college sports.”
They say that distinction comes from longevity of the series, the storied tradition and grand success of both programs and, of course, the intense feelings the two neighboring teams have for each other.
“I know Ohio State and Michigan hate each other, but I think it’s more from a sense of competition,” said Barclay, who may have gone to high school in Maryland, but he knows enough about this scrap to distinguish it from other forms of “hate” he’s seen in his sports career.
“I’ve played qualifying matches in Mexico and I’ve seen how American players get treated there,” he said. “I’ve witnessed what they think of us and they REALLY don’t like us. Fans are not afraid to say anything and some of it would be really offensive to people here.
Barclay as a soccer pro in Tampa
“FIFA is trying to deal with that stuff, not just there, but in some other places in the world, too, where you get the same kind of racism and racist comments. They really cross the line with some of the stuff they say. It just should never be said. But they say it and and believe it.
“Here, I know the feelings are pretty intense between Ohio State and Michigan, but I watched that documentary about Woody Hayes and Bo Schembechler and as much as they battled, at the end of the day you could see they really cared about each other. There was a respect.
“That’s the difference here.
“This ‘hate’ is based on competition, but that other is not. That other is pretty evil.”
Two of the area’s best-known college basketball figures — Dayton Flyers star Chris Wright and Miami University coach Charlie Coles — have gotten some high-profile exposure this week:
— The energetic Wright in a colorful, two-page photo spread in Sports Illustrated.
— The irascible Coles on a classic YouTube video that is getting more popular by the hour.
The Sports Illustated centerpiece
While both of the visuals come from losing efforts, neither is anything to hang one’s head about.
Quite the opposite.
The Wright photo came during UD’s second round NCAA Tournament game with Kansas last March.
The Coles video was shot during his press conference following his team’s near upset of No. 5 Kentucky Monday night at Rupp Arena. The Wildcats ended up winning 72-70 on a last-second shot.
The Wright photo — which is the centerpiece of SI’s College Basketball Preview Issue — shows his shot getting altered by 6-foot-11 Kansas behemoth Cole Aldrich. SI calls the Jayhawk’s 10-block effort that day “the most dominant defensive performance in the 2009 NCAA Tournament.”
The Coles’ comments came after his RedHawks nearly pulled off a monumental upset — Miami led by 18 in the first half — only to be done in by a hurried jump shot by Kentucky freshman John Wall. The No. 1 recruit in the nation, Wall — who sat out Kentucky’s first game due to an NCAA infraction — was making his college debut and hit his shot with just .5 of one second left.
An early November spot in the Associated Press’ Top 25 college basketball poll might fuel glittery euphoria for the recognized teams and their fans, but for some that turns out to be nothing but fool’s gold.
Over the past 20 years an average of four teams ranked in the preseason Top 25 poll ended up missing the NCAA Tournament. That bit of hoops research came from the Wall Street Journal last week and the number of ranked teams whose preseason dreams have been dashed over the years surprised me.
Eight teams ranked in the Top 25 in November of 2001 missed the Big Dance, most notably North Carolina , which started the preseason ranked No. 19 and finished the year 8-20.
Six teams ranked in the preseason missed the 1993 tournament.
Five preseason Top 25 teams— in 1990, 1997, 1998 , 2006 , 2007 and 2009 — failed to get NCAA Tournament berths.
Last year the biggest plummet was by Notre Dame, ranked No. 9 at the beginning of the season,. Two years before that, No. 5 LSU took the biggest fall. And in 2006 it was No. 7 Louisville.
So what does that mean this season — especially around here where the Dayton Flyers ranked No. 21 in the preseason have moved up to No. 18?
Well, the spot they moved into was occupied by Mississippi State, whose fans were all giddy until the Bulldogs bombed in their opener, getting trounced by Rider, 88-74, and promptly falling from the polls.
And how about No. 1 Kansas nearly getting knocked off by unranked Memphis Tuesday night?
And then there was No. 5 Kentucky needing a last-second basket to come from behind Monday night — at Rupp Arena, no less — to beat Charlie Coles’ Miami RedHawks team that got 16 points and five assists from Kenny Hayes, the senior guard from Northmont High.
A Top 25 ranking in early November guarantees you nothing — except a bull’s-eye on your back.
This is one of my favorite times of the sporting year.
College football is getting into its most meaningful games, NFL teams are beginning to position themselves for the postseason, the college hoops season has begun — not to mention the NBA and NHL — and then, as a bonus, you get a big-time prizefight like the one Saturday night in Las Vegas featuring Manny Pacquiao, a once-in-a-lifetime fighter out of the Philippines.
Manny Pacquiao
So with that in mind here are a few — strictly personal — awards from a great weekend of sports.
MOST IMPRESSIVE KNOCK-OUT:
1 — Cincinnati Bengals — Thumped the Pittsburgh Steelers for second time this season. In the 18-12 victory, the stripes defense — a bunch of cast-offs who have forged themselves into the backbone of this team — kept Ben Roethlisberger in the pocket, sacked him four times, batted down a few of his passes, held the Steelers to just three third-down conversions in 15 attempts and didn’t allow a touchdown.
2 — UD Women’s Basketball — Dominated No. 10 Michigan State the entire game Friday night, winning 77-74 in a game that wasn’t quite that close.
3 — Manny Pacquiao — Showed why he’s the best pound-for-pound fighter in boxing, throwing a whopping 780 punches and landing 336, nearly twice as many as his rugged opponen, two time world champt Miguel Cotto, who Pacquiao stopped in 12 rounds.
4 — UD Men’s Basketball —Although its 90-80 victory over Creighton was impressive, UD didn’t crack the top three only because the under-manned Blue Jays were missing their top rebounder and two key frontcourt back-ups and still managed to control the first half with a compact 2-3 zone defense. And here’s a fact not brought up around here, Creighton has now lost 25 in a row when it’s played ranked teams on the road.
And because the Flyers are a nationally ranked team now — and a very good one at that — the bar is a little higher for them.
BEST INDIVIDUAL PERFORMANCE:
1 — Bernard Scott — Bengals back-up tailback and new kick returner, scored the games only TD with a 96-yard KO return in the first quarter and then filled in admirably for Cedric Benson, who left the game in the second quarter with a hip flexor.
Devin Barclay
2 — Devin Barclay — Ohio State’s 26-year-old kicker — a former pro soccer player who is filling in for injured Buck Aaron Pettrey — booted the pressure-packed, 39-yard field goal in overtime to give OSU the 27-24 victory over Iowa and send his team to the Rose Bowl.
3 — Todd Brown — Wright State’s senior forward scored 57 points in three games and showed he’s ready to lead his team this season as the Raiders won two of three games in the Athletes in Action Tournament in Seattle.
4 — Chris Johnson — UD sophomore forward came off the bench to score 18 points and grab 15 rebounds against Creighton.
5 — Tie — UD’s Chris Wright had 25 points and eight rebounds against Creighton AND Jonathan Fanene, the Bengals defensive lineman, who sacked Roethlisberger twice. harassed him in the backfield a lot more and batted down one of his passes.
BEST COACHING JOB:
Jim Jabir
1 — Jim Jabir — UD women’s coach has rebuilt the Flyers women’s hoops program, has a team with depth and enough toughness that this weekend it showed it can contend — in back to back games, no less — with some of the best teams in the nation, MSU Friday and Louisville ( a 2-point UD loss) Sunday.
2 — Marvin Lewis — Right now he’s my pick for NFL Coach of the Year. He’s taken a team populated by other teams’ rejects, he’s turned some problem children like Bernard Scott (whose college rap sheet was as long as his stat sheet) into keeping-their-nose-clean, team-first guys and because of it, a Bengals bunch that won just 4 games last year is now 7-2 and has become the talk of the NFL.
MOST COLORFUL ENTERTAINER:
1 — Manny Pacquiao — The Filipino superstar with the massive global following is running for Congress back home, just starred in a superhero movie called “WaPakman” in which he wore a tight red and yellow suit and, after Saturday night’s victory — with his right ear bandaged, but partially hidden by a fedora — he headed to the Mandalay Bay to join his band and sing eight songs on stage.
2 — Chris Wright — UD dunk machine
3 — Chad Ochocinco — Gets a rankling on his body of work though Sunday’s two catches didn’t give him much of a stage.
BEST TEAM TO LOSE:
1 — UD Women’s Soccer — Fell for the first time in 22 games this season, a 3-1 loss to Virginia Tech in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. Speaking of another great coaching job, the Flyers Mike Tucker is one of the best in the women’s game.
Award-winning columnist Tom Archdeacon — an old-school storyteller in a brand-new venue — writes about sports, the city, southwest Ohio and anything else that catches his fancy… or yours.
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Award-winning columnist Tom Archdeacon — an old-school storyteller in a brand-new venue — writes about sports, the city, southwest Ohio and anything else that catches his fancy… or yours.
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