OSU Buckeyes

DAYTON, Ohio -- With less than 5 seconds left in a tied game, perhaps the best pure scorer in the country came off a pair of screens that did exactly what they were designed to do: get him open.

Deshaun Thomas called for the ball -- screamed for it, waved his hands high above the 6-foot-7 inch frame that had made him essentially unguardable for the first 39 minutes and 55 seconds of his team's second-round NCAA tournament thriller -- but the pass never came.

Instead, a 6-foot-2 point guard -- who spent most of the second half turning the ball over and missing key free throws, who was being guarded by the opposing team's tallest player, who hadn't attempted a 3-pointer all afternoon and averages just 29.3 percent from beyond the arc this season -- looked him off.

To say Aaron Craft faced pressure in the final seconds of Ohio State's 78-75 win over Iowa State Sunday is to state the incredibly obvious, but that pressure wouldn't have come solely from Buckeyes fans, who would have surely blamed him for a heartbreaking second-round upset loss. Craft would have had one unhappy teammate, too.

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Ohio State coach Thad Matta talks about the strength of the Big Ten, preparing for Victor Oladipo and Indiana, court-storming and more. Listen here .

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- The rosy-cheeked aggression is nothing new.

The difference was where Aaron Craft was channeling that famous energy.

The Ohio State junior has built his reputation largely on the strength of his relentless, pesky approach on defense. Michigan State can once again attest that nothing has changed on that end of the floor. But in something of a surprise to the No. 4 Spartans, Craft went after the rim and the lane the same way he normally would a ball-handler. He made himself just as much of a nuisance offensively in a 68-60 win at Value City Arena that offered a reminder that No. 18 Ohio State shouldn’t be written off quite yet.

“It was great to see the ball going in for him and him attacking the rim,” Buckeyes coach Thad Matta said. “I thought he was tremendous today. It definitely helps our basketball team when he’s doing that, because you know what you’re going to get on the other end.

“I mean, he’s the best defender in college basketball, there’s no question about it.”

There were some lingering doubts about how much scoring Craft could supply to complement the consistent defense, but he was certainly the most productive offensive player on the court on Sunday afternoon in one of Ohio State’s last chances to make a statement and build momentum before the postseason.

The Spartans had no answer for the dual-threat Craft, who made it look routine to get to the basket off the dribble. He rarely took a wrong step on the pick-and-roll, either finishing on his own or setting up teammates for one of his six assists. He won one-on-one matchups to get easy finishes, dropped in contested attempts in traffic, and was almost perfect from the free-throw line on the way to a game-high 21 points.

As recently as a week ago Ohio State was reeling from a blowout loss at Wisconsin and Deshaun Thomas, the Big Ten’s leading scorer, was struggling with his shot. The Buckeyes couldn't have needed Craft to be at his best offensively more than this game. Considering that his previous career high had come against Albany in the season opener, Craft might never have been better with the ball in his hands than he was against the Spartans.

“Give Craft credit, he tore us apart in the second half,” Spartans coach Tom Izzo said. “It was Aaron Craft, he beat us every way he could beat us.

“Aaron Craft was more aggressive than I’ve ever seen him as a scorer, and give him credit for that. … I couldn’t plan for something I’ve never seen before.”

The Buckeyes would obviously be more formidable if Craft had that part of his game more regularly; although his defense has already helped keep an inconsistent team, that relies heavily on Thomas, afloat.

Craft still gave Ohio State everything it has come to expect from him. He was credited with only one steal, but he helped fluster Keith Appling as Michigan State’s leading scorer hit just one of his six shots and finished with three points. Craft was a fixture on the floor as he threw his body around for loose balls -- notably securing a crucial possession late in the game in a scrum under the Ohio State basket. He pushed all the right buttons on the floor, knowing just when to push the tempo or slow it down to let his teammates regroup.

But he apparently realized that the Buckeyes needed him to add something extra to allow Ohio State to hang around in the Big Ten race a little longer.

“The biggest thing that we get from a game like this is a win against a great opponent,” Craft said. “This is big for this basketball team, the way we’ve picked ourselves up from a week ago [at Wisconsin] when we weren’t ready to go. Hopefully we can continue to build off this.

“If it takes [me scoring] -- I don’t care who is scoring, who is putting the ball in the bucket as long as we come out with more points.”

Collectively, that was the Buckeyes. And they’re clearly a more dangerous team when Craft is pacing the individuals.

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Quick-hitters with the Ohio State basketball team, which hosted its media day on Thursday ahead of the first practice of the preseason.

Back on point: Aaron Craft hadn't taken two weeks off since he was in middle school, and if it had been solely up to him, that streak would still be alive.

But surgery on his nagging ankle injury in June and the cast that was subsequently slapped on it kept the tireless Ohio State point guard off his feet and forced him to actually take a bit off time to rest his body over the summer. And while Craft recognized the value of that recovery time and admitted he came back rejuvenated, he still doesn't seem eager to take another vacation moving forward.

"I couldn’t do anything because I was in a cast, so that was very interesting and challenging for me, watching these guys work out and shoot and play," Craft said. "That was probably the toughest thing. Getting back, it was good for my entire body to take time off. I wouldn’t have done that on my own.

"I felt reenergized and ready to go when I got back, and ultimately it was probably the best thing for me."

The relentless junior has never been accused of running low on energy, and a fresher, healthier version of Craft could make life even more difficult for opponents battling the lockdown defender on the offensive end.

The Buckeyes are likely counting on him to provide a bit more scoring when they have the ball as well as they try to replace the production of Jared Sullinger and William Buford, and it certainly won't hurt if Craft doesn't have to spend much time this season limping from the pain that used to shoot through his ankle.

"The rest probably helped him," coach Thad Matta said. "He’s a guy that doesn’t like to take days off, when he’s in here he’s going 100 miles an hour. From that perspective, it’s probably good.

"I haven’t noticed [a change in his approach], what I have noticed is he doesn’t trip on his foot and then limp for the next minute. He seems to be perfectly fine."

Old hands: The Buckeyes aren't exactly loaded with seniors.

But they've got one more of those upperclassmen than they do freshmen with only one of the latter on the roster, which might actually qualify Ohio State as a veteran outfit. And that could make for a much smoother experience when the Buckeyes hit the practice court as a full unit on Friday.

"It’s very valuable," junior Deshaun Thomas said. "We all know what coach Matta wants out of us in practice, and we’ve got one freshmen, so the other guys should already know what he wants and what it takes to win.

"Coach Matta preaches toughness. Once you’re out there in a drill and you show him you’re doing it right, he’ll cut the drill short. Everybody on this team should know what he wants and give it their all. We don’t have to help a lot of freshmen pick it up and understand what to do, so everybody should know what’s expected tomorrow."

High five: Matta didn't tip his hand on a starting lineup, preferring instead to let practice play out and then go from there.

But it's no secret how he'll figure out that group when the time comes.

"I told them the other day, I’m going to start the five best defenders," Matta said. "I think from the standpoint of trying to get those guys to understand where I’m coming from, with what we have, I think we’ll have great depth this year.

"There’s a lot of quality out there, and I’m excited to see these guys compete in four-day increments as we’re getting ready to practice."

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- There is no easing into the schedule for a team aiming for another appearance in the Final Four.

Ohio State will open the season with a neutral-site game against an opponent that went to the NCAA Tournament as well last year, and taking on Marquette right off the bat sets the tone for a slate featuring plenty of potential matchups of teams headed to the postseason.

The first against the Golden Eagles is set for Nov. 9 in the Carrier Classic in Charleston, S.C., and the dates were also confirmed for showdowns at Duke (Nov. 28), at home in a rematch against Kansas (Dec. 22) and every conference game with the school releasing the full schedule on Thursday morning.

"Our team has been hard at work since our appearance in the Final Four last March," Buckeyes coach Thad Matta said in a release. "I like the mix of veteran and underclassmen on our roster. They will be challenged throughout the year as we prepare for Big Ten competition.

"Our league will be extraordinary once again, and our team will be tested both in our non-conference and conference schedule."

When combined, the action inside and outside the Big Ten will include at least 14 games against 10 teams that went to the NCAA Tournament last season and five more opponents who appeared in the NIT.

The highlights of the schedule:

• Nov. 9: Marquette in Charleston, S.C.
• Nov. 28: at Duke
• Dec. 22: Kansas
• Jan. 2: Nebraska (conference opener)
• Jan. 8: at Purdue
• Jan. 13: Michigan
• Jan. 19: at Michigan State
• Jan. 29: Wisconsin
• Feb. 5: at Michigan
• Feb. 10: Indiana
• Feb. 17: at Wisconsin
• Feb. 24: Michigan State
• March 5: at Indiana

Former Indiana coach Bob Knight is obviously known as, well, that: The legendary former Hoosiers coach with three national titles, a 1984 gold medal, 902 NCAA Division I basketball wins and, at the height of his powers -- before his eventual controversial dismissal from Indiana in 2000 -- a rigorous, discipline-based cult of personality the state of Indiana wholeheartedly embraced.

Which is exactly why the last 12 years have been so thoroughly awkward. Knight moved on -- first to Texas Tech, then to the ESPN airwaves -- without ever seeming to care one iota for the basketball program he built or the university that housed it for the previous 30 years of his life. At first, a clean split was understandable. Lately, though, despite the repeated efforts of Indiana coach Tom Crean and athletic director Fred Glass -- including and up to an IU athletics Hall of Fame ceremony honoring the coach himself -- the former coach has refused to budge.

In the meantime, Indiana fans eager to see Knight back in Assembly Hall, red sweater and all, have looked on in horror -- and by “horror” I mean “at least marginal annoyance” -- as Knight has strengthened his ties with a less well-known portion of his basketball past: His time at Ohio State.

The latest development? This weekend, OSU announced it had created a “lifetime achievement” category for OSU alums that go on to great achievement in their post-Columbus careers. Its first honoree? None other than Knight:

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