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Doing A Little Spring Cleaning
Jeff Rapp
April 27, 2011
It would be wonderful to proclaim that spring has sprung but it sure doesn’t feel like it unless you consider the wettest April on record in the Midwest as spring.
Even so, we have moved past basketball season and through spring football, which means it’s time to take a breath and catch up. And one way to do that is to go back a month or two or three and sift through the quotes that got away.
SportsRappUp.com was there for the Big Ten basketball regular season, the league tournament, the NCAA Tournament, women’s basketball and other Ohio State sports, the Jim Tressel/Tat Five scandal, and much, much more. But even in the process of providing thorough coverage, not every interesting tidbit found it’s way onto the website.
And that’s the beauty of Quote Me. So here are some of the quotes that got away recently:
Basketball walk-on and senior Eddie Days on scoring his first career point on a free throw vs. George Mason in the NCAA Tournament – “It’s just good to get it out of the way. I don’t have to think about it anymore because people have been giving me some grief about it. I was just concentrating on getting that first one down, and I was so happy I wasn’t even concerned about the second one.”
Deshaun Thomas, prior to facing Kentucky, on whether it bothered him that UK guard Brandon Knight beat him and Jared Sullinger in the McDonald’s All-American Game with a last-second shot – “Not really. We were there for the Ronald McDonald House and the kids. It was all for them and it was a good experience. That shot didn’t really bother me. We were just there for the kids.”
Purdue coach Matt Painter comparing the 2010-11 Buckeyes to the 2006-07 team that advanced all the way to the national title game – “They had good skill, obviously, with Greg Oden. Mike (Conley) was a guy who could break you down through the ball-screen action. They did more ball-screen action with that group than they do with this group, even though they do it at times. They had shooters. They had a guy in the first round come off the bench for them. That’s pretty good when you have first-rounders – in that year. Sometimes two or three years later you have a guy who’s a first-round pick, but in that year they had a guy come off the bench for them that got drafted in the first round in Daequan Cook, so it kind of says something about their talent and skill.”
William Buford on Aaron Craft’s record-tying 14-assist effort against GMU – “He gave people the ball in their hotspots. He knows where people’s hotspots are, he knows where your hands are going to be and he gets you the ball. That shows off his quarterback skills from high school.”
Buford on how many “hot spots” he has on the court – “I guess everywhere.”
Dallas Lauderdale on George Mason players woofing during a hot start (and an eventual 98-66 OSU win) – “We don’t respond by talking trash. We respond by upping our play a little bit and getting stops, and our offense took off from there. That was all the talking we had to do.”
Jon Diebler on if he feared his diploma wouldn’t arrive on time – “I’m good in that aspect. I’ve paid enough money to the transportation and parking services, so I think I’m done with that.”
OSU head coach Thad Matta on Diebler, Lauderdale and David Lighty finishing up their schoolwork at the outset of the NCAA Tournament – “The guys that I don’t have to worry about academically are the guys who usually play the best for us. These guys, honestly, tomorrow it’s a great honor to coach them knowing that they’re college graduates. It’s very, very exciting. I couldn’t be prouder of them and just who they are as people. You take the basketball side out of it, you’re proud that all three are going to graduate here in a week. It’s tremendous.”
Lauderdale on who taught him to throw down the vicious one-handed alley-oop dunk he displayed in the postseason – “God. He gave me the height and the athleticism. No on really taught me how to do that. I was just blessed with height and athleticism. When you’re up there you want to throw it in the hoop, break the rim down, something.”
Women’s coach Jim Foster when asked what the television executives wanted to do with his team’s matchup with top-ranked UConn – “TV executives? I’d be surprised if there are any TV executives out there who know that women’s basketball exists.”
Tailback Boom Herron on tying the OSU record for longest run, 89 yards, with 1942 team member Gene Fekete after his long ramble against Michigan – “That’s kind of crazy. Wearing the 1942 uniforms today and setting that record today, I’m very thankful for that. The dream is to come to Ohio State, play against Michigan and beat Michigan. Everybody wants to do that who comes here. To set records, that’s just like a plus. You can’t be happier than that.”
Tressel on the controversy surrounding the Buckeyes before they headed off to the Sugar Bowl – “There’s pluses and minuses to every situation. When we’re in that situation, I’ll think it’s the best one in the world. That’s just the way we look at things. Right now it’s not the situation and this is the best one. You remember the old quote, ‘Paradise is where I am,’ and we’re in paradise right now.”
Matta on trying to slow down guard E’Twaun Moore in a 76-63 loss at Purdue – “We cut it to four there with a few minutes left and he came off and bobbled it and still shot it in. I knew it probably wasn’t our day at that particular juncture.”
Matta on Moore ripping OSU for a career-high 38 points a week after Wisconsin’s Jordan Taylor popped for 27 including 21 in the second half – “Those were, when you think about, maybe two of the best performances in college basketball this year. And as is just my luck, I get a first-row seat to watch it.”
Lighty on former teammate Evan Turner coming back to campus over the NBA’s All-Star weekend – “He’s still the same old Evan – eating Waffle House all the time, sleeping everywhere and just chilling.”
Buford on Lighty’s presence – “He always brings energy to the team. He’s the most talkative guy on the floor. He’s the heart and soul to the team.”
Matta on Lighty’s worth to the program – “What Dave has done the last five years, I hope he goes down as one of the greatest all-time players ever to play here.”
Matta on the Buckeyes bypassing a 6 a.m. shootaround before the game at Wisconsin – “The example I gave them was, ‘Hey, the Globetrotters just show up and play and they’ve never lost before,’ and they all thought, ‘Hey, that makes a lot of sense.’ ”
Sullinger on tough love – “There’s no compassion with this team. If you all could see and look at our practices, there’s times when we argue, times when we yell at each other, cuss each other out. It’s a tough basketball team. But once we get outside that box, or that rectangle I should say, it’s a pretty good basketball team as a group.”
Matta on a pair of students a few rows behind the team bench who regularly dress up like and emulate the mannerisms of energetic assistant coach Jeff Boals – “They need to go on to the players. Having faces and dressing like the coaches, we need to go another direction there.”
Tight end Jake Stoneburner on the Buckeyes rallying to win all their November games – “Words really can’t explain how we feel. This has been our goal the whole season, winning the Big Ten championship. We wanted to win it outright, but still winning it, you can’t complain about that. Knowing six straight may never be done again, it’s great. I think we deserve it and we worked hard for it.”
Matta on Buford dealing with back spasms during the season – “I was told he was going to be fine, he’s good to go. I texted him late last night and said, ‘Shoot me straight, how do you feel?’ and he said, ‘I’m a little sore, dot, dot, dot.’ And I told him today, ‘you don’t “dot-dot-dot” me.’ So we had a long conversation.”
Foster, a native of Philadelphia, on his memories of Madison Square Garden – “When I was in high school I would jump on the train and I would go to New York for the postseason NIT, and one day I’m walking through the hallways and I ran into my science teacher, who I had for my first class the next morning. He made me very aware of the fact that I better not be late – and he drove. I took the train.”
Lighty on how often he thinks about playing football again when he watches Tressel’s Buckeyes – “Every game. I just want to score a touchdown in there and hear 100,000 people go crazy.”
Lauderdale as his career was winding down – “I honestly can’t believe I’m a senior. I still remember the first outfit I wore to my first class as a freshman. It just went by just like that. People always say cherish the college days because they go by quick and I didn’t believe it, but they were right.”
Lighty on Turner’s early adjustment to the NBA – “That’s the first thing he said, that in practices that Elton Brand is a horse and you can’t get a rebound from him. Evan had a transition coming from high school to college. He really wasn’t doing what he was doing in high school. It’s pretty much going to be the same way once you get to the next level.”
Ohio State
Jared Sullinger
Brandon Knight
Eddie Days
Evan Turner
Thad Matta
Aaron Craft
Jordan Taylor
Jon Diebler
Jim Tressel
Jim Foster
Matt Painter
Jake Stoneburner
Jeff Boals
George Mason
Dallas Lauderdale
David Lighty
William Buford
E'Twaun Moore
DeShaun Thomas
