William Buford is one of the most maddening players that I’ve ever had on the teams that I closely follow. In some of the biggest games of his career, he has failed to rise to the occasion with some hideous shooting performances. Overshadowed by other guards and forwards throughout most of his career, the lone senior on the team is often unfairly the scapegoat for some of the Buckeyes’ less than outstanding play. But, where the frustration enters is with a performances like last night’s against Purdue. Buford had a great shooting game, scoring a career-high 29 points on 10-of-17 shooting. More than the raw numbers, it was the fact that he was practically indefensible in the second half, piling up 21 of those 29 and carrying the offense with both Jared Sullinger and Aaron Craft on the bench due to foul trouble. Often a secondary headliner, Buford was the star in Ohio State’s up-tempo seesaw 87-84 victory.
For a good chunk of the game, it looked like the takeaw...
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