Every few years I think to myself, “self, I really don’t dislike Ohio State hoops that much”.
And then guys like Greg Oden, Evan Turner, Aaron Craft, and Duane Washington come through the program and give me heartburn, and my dislike for the program is revitalized.
I will say, I was going to ride them pretty hard in the tourney in 2020…
I always liked Oden. I’d say the Evan Turner shot and then into the Craft years were peak hatred of OSU basketball for me. But Beilein’s teams handled them pretty well. There was also that one game where Spike outplayed D’Angelo Russell 
I liked Oden too, but it was just fun (at the time) to poke fun at the fact he looked like he was 40. But, after seeing how his career played out, and also now being 40 myself… I do feel a teensy weensy bit guilty.
He’s eligible for a medical redshirt so yes, he could come back. It would further limit our scholarship flexibility depending on who else comes back, but we likely will make it work one way or another since we need guard depth.
IMO I think you welcome him back for sure, knowing he’s a rotational piece and not gifted the starting spot. We need a third guard (GW3 is developmental) and preferably one that can compliment either Dug or Kobe. While JL’s struggles and injury are concerns and we can dream of a better prospect, I don’t know how realistic that is when you have two returning young starters. I think you would like to have JL’s experience, his knowledge of our system/players, and his positional flexibility. Focus your portal searches on forwards.
My feelings for the Bucknut$ greatly softened after Thad Matta’s wife came up with one of the sweetest ideas in recent memory. UM and OSU BBall coaches & staff decorated the Chad Carr home for Christmas.
I liked how the Thad teams played, even with Craft. High talent level, but played with an intensity they were willing to gouge an eye out to win. Craft was annoying, but gotta respect the game.
Craft was a fantastic college guard, i assimilate his impact (not playing style) to that of an X or Yogi. But I definitely rooted against those teams. Probably to align with feeling the slight that Trey Burke felt lol.
Craft was good…but I think he was over rated. Also, I didn’t like him or OSU.
The OSU apologists here are on my list. Gross. Mike Conway was ok but he’s from Indy and Memphis—not Columbus.
I love Conley as a pro. Oden is cool in my book, a tragic figure. I’m ambivalent on Sullinger.
But Lenzelle Smith, Shannon Scott, Aaron Craft, LaQuentin Smith, David Lighty?
Those guys played hard
I gotta respect it, even if I don’t like ‘em.
Thad was a good coach.
Those were good teams and they sure did play hard. It was fun though by the time Craft was a senior and there was no talent left and him checking threes was at that point considered a relatively good idea for them.
I hate Aaron craft. Despise him. As much as any opponent player ever in any sport. Had the pic of him on the ground after missing at the end against us and a gif of him air balling a 3 in the tournament saved to my desktop.
The basketball rivalry thing is clearly MSU. After that it is Wisconsin and OSU to me because they were top of the food chain when Beilein was building up the program.
OSU has lost some of that spice but the College GameDay game was one of the biggest wins of the early Beilein era.
I really thought the Zeller/Oladipo era was going to make IU a more heated rivalry. But, I guess sustaining a winning program matters, and it turns out those were just fun games for that short duration.
DeShaun Thomas was real good
Yeah, once DeShaun Thomas left, the talent level there took a bit of a nose dive, and that final Craft year where their leading scorers were LaQuinton Ross and Lenzelle Smith, with Craft and Shannon Scott, and basically no playable center…I mean, I admired that they defended like a band of Uruk-Hai but they were a rough watch.
I will say, Craft is exactly the kind of guy I am predisposed to hate and the fact that he played for OSU made that worse, but he definitely won some grudging respect from me. In general, those Thad teams were just tough as nails. I remember watching some preseason games against good teams (even when they started to decline, they still crushed a Buzz Williams Marquette team, then-ACC Maryland, Notre Dame) and the opposition was just not at all ready for the level of physicality and intensity they had.
Shoutout my third favorite non-Michigan B1G basketball player of all time, Dangelo Russell
Thought the same. And then Tom Crean “ruined the program”
Big ten basketball its fantastic!!!
True gauntlet
