D’Angelo Russell is an NBA All-Star

“Brooklyn’s D’Angelo Russell has been selected as Victor Oladipo’s replacement as an East reserve in the NBA All-Star game, sources tell @TheAthleticNBA @WatchStadium.”

- Shams Charania, The Athletic

Per a report from The Athletic’s Shams Charania, former Ohio State point guard D’Angelo Russell and current Brooklyn Nets star D’Angelo Russell is officially headed to his first All-Star Game. As the report indicates, Russell didn’t make the original cut, but Victor Oladipo’s injury opened up a spot.

D’Angelo, astoundingly, is the first Buckeye to make an All-Star game in 15 years. The last was Michael Redd in 2004, and before him, you’d have to go all the way back to John Havlicek in 1978 to find an Ohio State alum partaking in the festivities.

It’s certainly easy to see why DLo was selected this season. After treading water a bit through his first three years in the league, he’s really blossomed this year, thanks in large part to head coach Kenny Atkinson trusting him to lead the team. He’s averaging 19.6 points and 6.4 assists per game on 44 percent shooting from the field and 37 percent from three, all of which are career highs. In January, Russell really stepped up to another level, scoring nearly 24 points a game on 48 percent shooting, on top of more than seven assists per game.

With Russell at the helm, the Nets are sixth in the Eastern conference at 28-25, and have gone 20-8 since Dec. 7.

“Keyshawn Woods said the last two days of preparation have been as good as any point this season for the #Buckeyes. Feels the Michigan game brought the team closer together, especially the second-half incident.”

- Adam Jardy, Columbus Dispatch

While a former Buckeye thrives at the next level, the current Buckeyes are looking for answers after a 1-6 January was capped by a 16 point loss to Michigan in the Crisler Center on Tuesday night. From cold shooting to poor defense, foul trouble and turnovers, it seemed like just about everything that could’ve gone wrong for the Buckeyes in the last month did go wrong.

Despite all that, it seems as if the team isn’t giving up, and according to this quote from Adam Jardy, the team seems to see a light at the end of the tunnel.

I’m not sure how much I buy into this “best practice of the season” talk, because you hear that all the time, but I could certainly see a Chris Holtmann team turning the corner after getting punched in the mouth. The schedule is a lot easier in February, and if the team is truly closer and has some true leadership, they could fix quite a few problems and make a run at the NCAA tournament.

“The No. 4-ranked Ohio State men’s hockey team returns from its bye week with a series vs. No. 11/13 Notre Dame this weekend in Columbus. The Buckeyes (15-5-4, 8-3-3-2 B1G) and Fighting Irish (14-8-3, 7-6-2-2 B1G) will face off at 7 p.m. Friday and 8 p.m. Saturday in Value City Arena.”

- Ohio State Buckeyes dot com

Fresh off a nice bye week, the men’s hockey team is looking to make a statement this weekend, as top 25 conference foe Notre Dame comes to town for one of the biggest series of the year. Because these two sit atop the Big Ten, this weekend could go a very long way towards deciding the winner of the conference, and in a roundabout way, the postseason fate for the Buckeyes.

After sweeping Penn State two weeks ago in University Park, Ohio State has just four series left in the regular season after this one, against Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan and Michigan State. None of those teams are currently ranked in the USCHO top 20, so it should be a smooth run into the Big Ten tournament for the Buckeyes, but that starts with putting up a good showing this weekend.

Weekend schedule

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