http://www.yardbarker.com/users/THEOhioState Recent Yardbarker Articles: THEOhioState en-us With the heat on from the Kentucky Wildcats, Florida's star Joakim Noah showed a bit of an ugly side as he hit the floor next to the Kentucky cheerleaders, got up, and swiped at one of them. To be fair it seems like the cheerleader was goading the Gator, but it is still pretty inexcusable. Tue, 13 Feb 2007 04:06:10 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/9947 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/9947 The Golden Bears went into Pullman with an offensive strategy in mind: run down the shot clock so as to limit the number of posessions Washington St. would get. It worked decently enough- the Bears held the Cougars to 39% shooting in the second half and allowed only 59 points, but the tactic worked against them. The Bears would run down the clock, but then struggle to find a decent shot with the limited clock time left. The loss to WSU is Cal's sixth straight loss. The Bears now stand at 12-12 and 4-8 in Pac-10 play. It seems like the NIT is the only post-season shot Cal has, and even that might be a longshot after Cal plays four ranked teams within their last six games. Sun, 11 Feb 2007 23:36:42 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/9888 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/9888 Coming out of high school, Cal's Ryan Anderson flew below the radar at Oak Ridge High in El Dorado Hills. But now, even before his freshman campaign is over, Anderson is being dropped in draft talk as a potential late first-rounder. Anderson is currently the front runner for the rookie-of-the-year award in the toughest conference in the nation, the Pac 10. He is the only freshman to be ranked in the top-5 for both points (16.9 ppg) and rebounds (8.3 rpg). Scouts say Anderson needs to improve his lateral quickness, and it is for that reason that he will stick around at Cal for at least another season. Sun, 11 Feb 2007 02:55:35 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/9861 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/9861 With the score tied between Orlando and San Antonio at 104, the Magic's Dwight Howard leaped high to turn a long inbounds pass from Hedo Turkoglu into a winning slam dunk. Final score: Magic 106, Spurs 104. That Dwight Howard is quite the beast. Sun, 11 Feb 2007 02:42:23 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/9860 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/9860 At times it must suck to be Matt Terwilliger. He always backed up Terence Dials, and now he plays behind Greg Oden. But Terwilliger knows he can still do things neither Dials nor Oden could ever do, he can shoot while away from the basket. Where Dials and Oden were strong post-presence players, Terwilliger can spread out a defense and take shots from all over the court. With his size, 6'8" and 250 lbs, he can play the post and grab some boards, but he normally leaves that to Oden. Instead, he loves to come in and just spread out opposing defenses. Sat, 10 Feb 2007 00:30:35 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/9824 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/9824 In a display of shooting that can only be equated to an artillery shelling, Butler scored a record 20 3-pointers in their game against Cleveland St. Ranked at No.10, higher than ever before, Butler showed its steel, and may have given all of us a little preview of their offensive ability come tournament time. Pete Campbell led the way with 8 3-pointers, 6 in the first half. Whats even more insane is that Campbell only attempted 11 shots from beyond the arc. Sat, 10 Feb 2007 00:24:57 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/9823 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/9823 This season seems to be the year for freshman. We have Oden at Ohio St., Durant at Texas, the Lopez twins at Stanford, and now Jarvis Crittenton at Georgia Tech. On Saturday, the freshman recorded an unbelievable 26 point, 6 assist, 5 rebound 7 steal game. To prove it wasn't a fluke, Crittenton's stat line after a comeback win against NC State last night was 21 points, 2 rebounds, 7 assists and 3 steals. Baller. That is all I have to say. Wed, 07 Feb 2007 20:05:08 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/9694 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/9694 While there appears to a power sturggle at the top of the Big 10 between Ohio State and Wisconsin, there seems to be a battle of similar magnitude at the bottom. Penn State (1-7) and Northwestern (1-8) lead the charge to be last with Minnesota (3-6) catching up. Minnesota may have shot itself in the foot by winning three straight conference games, but looking at the rest of their record, they could be back in it, especially if Penn St. and Northwestern decide to start winning. Wed, 07 Feb 2007 19:57:42 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/9691 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/9691 Believe it or not, but the Virginia Cavaliers are at the top of the ACC. They earned their spot with a 69-65 win over Maryland, putting them at a 8-2 conference record, better than even UNC (6-2 conference record). The Cavaliers have now won 7 games in a row and somehow do not play a ranked team the rest of the season. Virginia has a good chance of keeping their #1 ranking, but I wouldn't be surprised to see the Cavaliers falter along the way and have UNC on top going into the ACC tournament. Wed, 07 Feb 2007 19:46:05 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/9690 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/9690 Jack Keefer, the high school coach of Greg Oden and Mike Conley Jr., made a statement about the pair that proved true last night. He said that his team was able to win at times when Oden was on the bench, but he knew his team was in trouble when Conley left the floor. Oden receives a lot of the hype, but it is freshman point guard Mike Conley Jr. that makes his teams win, both in high school and in college. Last night against Michigan, Oden was in foul trouble and was forced to miss over 6 minutes in the second half. The score was close, and Conley decided to show the Buckeye Nation how life can be good even without Oden. Conley slashed and diced the Wolverine defense for 23 points and 6 assists. Of course it helps to have Oden, who scored 15 and recorded 9 rebounds and 6 blocked shots. Wed, 07 Feb 2007 19:36:39 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/9689 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/9689 No. 23 Stanford got some retribution last night in Berkeley after Cal beat the Cardinal earlier this season. Led by the the Lopez twins, a pair of 7-footers that will likely dominate the Pac-10 in years to come, Stanford crushed the Bears 90-71. Cal was simply dominated on a physical level. Stanford clogged the middle, and while Cal's outside shots fell in the first half, poor shots and a lack of penetration doomed the Bears. Sun, 04 Feb 2007 23:15:43 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/9523 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/9523 Senior Ron Lewis has had a hard time meshing with the rest of his team this season. He has appeared out of rhythm and sporadic in his scoring. What is worse is that he was getting frustrated over it. Then Thad Matta had a talk with him and told him to just take it easy, and that is exactly what Lewis did against Michigan State. With around 10 minutes left in the second half and Ohio State up 42-41 over the Spartans, Lewis scored seven straight points to give the Buckeyes a cushion that would carry them to a 63-54 victory. Sun, 04 Feb 2007 23:01:53 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/9522 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/9522 After Lebron's flagrant foul against Dwayne Wade yesterday, the big question is whether Lebron will be suspended for a game just as Kobe was. Kobe was suspended because David Stern said that his arm motion was "unnatural" when he hit Manu Ginobbli. Well there certainly wasn't anything natural about the way James clotheslined Wade, and while ordinarily James shouldn't be suspended, Stern may have to do just that to his poster boy. Of course Stern could grow a sack, admit he was wrong, and not suspend two players unjustly, but I feel like that is wishful thinking. Sat, 03 Feb 2007 00:34:23 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/9458 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/9458 The Wooden Award watchlist was cut down from 50 to 30, and three Florida players made the cut. Three! Florida represents one tenth of the nominees. They are Taurean Green (leads team in scoring and assits with 13.7 ppg and 3.9 apg), Noah Joakim (12.6 ppg, 8.4 rebounds, and leads team in blocked shots with 39), and Corey Brewer (12.7 ppg and leads team with 34 steals). Thats incredible, and a testament to their power this year. Thu, 01 Feb 2007 00:50:23 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/9330 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/9330 Saying that Sheldon Williams was dominant at Duke is an understatement. He is the Blue Devils' career leader in rebounding and blocked shots, and holds the single season record for blocked shots. He is also 12th on the Duke's all-time scoring list and 5th in field goal percentage. He was also named to the first team AP All-America teal last year, and was the National Defensive Player of the Year in 2005 and 2006. And, if you consider that Williams is mentioned in the same breadth as other Duke greats such as Christian Laettner, Grant Hill, and Dick Groat, it should come as no surprise that Williams' #23 jersey was retired last night. Tue, 30 Jan 2007 19:10:39 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/9233 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/9233