by Brayden Laslo, Staff Writer
The following story was written by a student on the staff of The Jaguar Times as part of Hilliard Bradley High School’s Journalism Production course.
Ohio State is currently one of the best teams in the country sitting in the top five rankings and looks to make a big splash in March. They currently have a record of 18-6 and are third in the Big Ten. The Big Ten tournament starts March 10th and wraps up on the 14th. Star players such as Duane Washington and EJ Liddell are the leaders of this squad and look to take this team into March and hopefully into April. They have been on somewhat of a rough stretch dropping two games in a row to Michigan and Michigan State respectively. “Both losses are not season defining, but lessons moving forward into the tourney season” says Coach Holtman.
Ohio State shouldn’t worry and for good reason, they have been without some key players like Kyle Young and an injured Seth Towns. They wrap their regular season up with tough matchups against Iowa and Illinois. Those games are going to be won on both sides of the ball, especially defense on their star centers Luka Garza and Kofi Cockburn. They’ve beaten both teams in close games but at full strength. The real test will be to see who steps up in big moments for the squad. I got the chance to sit down with a few fellow Bradley students and get their opinion on the Buckeyes season so far.
“I think the Buckeyes have exceeded my expectations and I think I’m speaking on behalf of everyone when saying that they shocked the Big Ten and became true contenders for a national championship” noted Jacob Thomas (10). I’d have to agree with him because coming into this season we weren’t expected to make much noise, but we truly put our heads down and went to work. I also feel the Buckeyes depth is key to a solid March. “The Buckeyes are a dark horse in my opinion just by the fact they had looked really flat against extremely low opponents if they continue to play down to their opponents level they could be in big trouble in March” (Noah Kirk 10. I’d disagree with this statement because their team has faced adversity since day one of the season by everyone doubting and hating. “I love our fight and effort in every game but March is different and more challenging than the regular season.” (Nate Hubler 12). I like his point on the difference between the two gauntlets, which are the regular season and tournament season. My stance on the Buckeyes season so far is that we’ve grown and matured and are ready for the biggest test of the season, which is the tournament.
No matter how hard things get I know we will be there ready to bounce back. Once we are fully healthy, we will be in good shape for a deep run in March and hopefully April. Guys like Justice Sueing and CJ Walker are veteran players who can help right the ship while we are battling injuries and continuing our national title journey. Overall, I think we will be just fine and have nothing to worry about in the next coming months.