Buckeye House Call

Plenty goes on within Ohio State athletics for us to discuss for hours upon hours. Recently we've had a few conversations break out over on our Facebook page worthy of publish - after all, it's the voice of Buckeye Nation. To that end, this is our first installment of Buckeye Nation Uncensored, a weekly wrap up of the voices that have landed over on Buckeye House Call's FB page. We've snagged two separate topics for this week. If you'd like to add your two cents, click on the topic title and it'll take you over to the conversation. Want to see the fellow Buckeye fans who are posting the comments? Click on their name below.

Former Buckeye WR Ray Small Arrested

According to Brandon Castel of The O-Zone, former Buckeye WR Ray Small - often a resident of Jim Tressel's dog house - was arrested in Meigs County Sunday with Oxycontin, marijuana, heroin and a loaded 25 caliber pistol.

Archie Griffin, Eddie George, Woody Hayes - these names will live on in Buckeye lore throughout the ages. The great triumphs of the legends of the fall, the men of the Scarlet and Gray, whose great skills brought forth glory to Ohio State will live on forever through our memories. But what of the forgotten heroes? Needless to say as long as the list is for the most famous Buckeyes of all time, there would be an equally long list (if not longer) of the men who have been left in the dust, forgotten in the shadows of more recent legends. At a place like Ohio State, with its rich history and tradition of excellence on the gridiron, it’s easy to see how this may have happened, but it is sad none the less that they may not be remembered quite as well as they should be. That is why I am taking the liberty of showcasing three Ohio State legends that have fallen by the wayside, but never the less deserve the same respect and adoration as their Buckeye brothers whom we know so well today. Join me now as I take you through this edition of the Lost Legends.

We’re officially ten days out from Selection Sunday and the panic button is still fully engaged in Columbus. The expectations were sky high for Ohio State coming into this 2011-12 college basketball season, yet here we are on March 1^st having alternated wins and losses for the last six games – dating back to a win over Purdue the first week of February.

Can the Buckeyes right the ship this late in the season and still make a run to the National Title as was expected back in November? Kemba Walker would say yes.

While improbable at this point, watching Ohio State successfully manage their way clear to New Orleans to cut down the nets would be a bit of a surprise considering their recent struggles, but crazier things have happened in March. Last season’s eventual National Champion Connecticut closed out their regular season by losing seven of their final eleven contests before winning eleven straight, against ten ranked opponents, to secure Jim Calhoun’s third national championship in twelve years.

Could Ohio State do the same? A few key factors say yes.

This isn’t really a column about a young adult novel. This is a column about a basketball team. But a title like “The Hunger Games” seems oddly fitting to the substantial challenges facing the Buckeyes in the coming weeks.

The Ohio State Buckeyes won 75-73 on Senior Night at Northwestern Wednesday. At this point in the season, that doesn’t tell us much. They beat an inferior opponent. Nice result, but they’ve done that countless times this year already. One factor distinguished Wednesday night’s win from the rest of the season: the Buckeyes’ response in crunch time.

Many of Ohio State’s wins this season have been, for lack of a better word, boring. In most, Thad Matta, who is notoriously stingy with playing time, played everyone. Not Wednesday. Northwestern pummeled the Buckeyes with a 15-3 run in the last 5 minutes, erasing a 12-point Ohio State lead. Then, the Buckeyes finally did what their fans have been begging of them for months. They gutted out a win on their final possession. With the score knotted at 73 with 7 seconds left, Lenzelle Smith, Jr. inbounded and Aaron Craft dribbled until he saw Jared Sullinger down court. After Craft connected on a beautiful pass, Sullinger kissed the ball off the backboard and in with 3 seconds remaining. In the aftermath of the game, the players said the play was designed for Sullinger. It was perfectly executed.

Soap operas should be reserved for daytime viewing, not college football.  But if one has been following the Davonte Neal story, nothing short of “soap opera” is happening.

The five-star recruit was once an Ohio State target. It would have been a good fit. Neal was a speedy playmaker in line with Percy Harvin and Urban Meyer’s spread offense needs players who have speed and quickness in space to make tacklers miss. Then signing day came and Rivals’ Mike Farrell declared that Neal wanted to sign with Ohio State but the Buckeyes rescinded their offer...

READ MORE at THE SILVER BULLET >>

I moved to Columbus, Ohio from New York in 1979 (age 13) and I knew very little about the tradition of Ohio State. It didn’t take very long for me to realize that in order to fit in, I had to become an Ohio State fan so that is exactly what I did.  It took another 8 years for me to truly learn exactly what being “a Buckeye” was all about.

In 1987, I began a friendship that has lasted until today. As I got to know Chris Stahl, I learned that his grandfather had been a “coach” at Ohio State and that he and his family were very patriotic Buckeye fans. They began inviting me to go to Football games with them and that experience was very different from the games I had attended previously. Grandpa Stahl worked the time-clock at the Horseshoe and Chris and his parents had 4 seats near the 45 yard line on B-deck. The seats were right behind Ann Hayes and Head Basketball Coaches Gary Williams and Randy Ayers and many other “VIP’s”.  I realized that Grandpa Stahl was one of those “VIP’s” and in 8 years of knowing and speaking to the man, I also learned what “being a Buckeye” truly meant.

Sometimes there are articles I look forward to writing. Unfortunately, this is not one of them. I had planned to share the excitement of senior day, discuss William Buford’s great career and summarize an exciting Buckeye victory against Bo Ryan and the Wisconsin Badgers. Today I will share my observations on Jared Sullinger’s lack of effectiveness over the past few weeks and a void in team leadership that we desperately need him to fill after losing our third game in five attempts.

Much of the criticism has fallen on the shoulders of senior Buford for his tendency to take bad shots, force passes, an inability at times to knock down the open jumper and overall lack of senior leadership. While the criticism is fair, he is not the only reason this team continues to struggle. As a team, the Buckeyes are suffering from poor shot selection, missed free throws, lazy defense and too many turnovers.