Buckeye Bits: Ohio State’s NFL Draft sleepers, Ryan Day preaches accountability, and more

These last couple weeks have certainly been tough as we do our best to try and stop the spread of the coronavirus, but today is an especially difficult day around the sports world. Not only should we be preparing for tonight’s Sweet Sixteen action in the NCAA Tournament, but today would have been opening day of the MLB regular season. The loss of baseball games today is especially hard to swallow with the weather in Cincinnati and Cleveland being a lot better than we would normally get around this time of year.

Even though we are dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic, that doesn’t mean that news about Ohio State sports, as well as around the world, has been put on hold. We’ve put together the best of what’s out there to help you occupy a little bit of time as most of us are stuck at home....sans baseball.

From around Land-Grant Holy Land...

• Looking at how transfers and departures will change the look of Ohio State’s men’s basketball team next year

The last few days have been a whirlwind for the Ohio State’s men’s basketball team. D.J. Carton and Alonzo Gaffney both announced they are leaving the program, while Harvard guard Seth Towns chose the Buckeyes over Duke as his transfer destination. Ohio State will also lose at least one Wesson brother, as Andre has exhausted his NCAA eligibility. Even more changes could be in store for the Buckeyes, as Kaleb Wesson will have to decide if he is declaring for the NBA Draft, or returning to Columbus for his senior season.

• The Sweet 16 matchups of the WR and D/ST regions of the Buckeye Bracket are now live

Not the March Madness we were all hoping for, but it is the best we got this year. Our own Gene Ross put together a fun bracket of the best football plays of the last decade. Today features some juicy matchups, with plays like the Noah Brown catch against Oklahoma and Steve Miller’s pick-6 against Alabama, looking to move on to the Elite 8.

• Celebrate an Ohio State championship, even if it isn’t an official championship

Last week the Washington Post crowned Ohio State as the champion of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament after they ran a simulation of the bracket. Why not return to public in style once “shelter at home” orders are lifted and we return to life that isn’t ruled by social distancing? Pick up the shirt that we created with our friends at Breaking T!

From around the gridiron...

• Ohio State will likely have two players taken in the first five picks of next month’s NFL Draft, but what about some of the guys who might have to wait until day three to hear their name called? Pro Football Focus took a look at some of the sleepers of this year’s draft, which includes a couple of key members of the Ohio State offense in 2019.
• With spring practices cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Ryan Day is preaching accountability while players are away from school. NCAA rules are helping the Buckeyes by allowing for items like protein shakes and frozen meals to be shipped to players to try and help keep their nutrition on track.
• Even though the weight room at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center is closed, that hasn’t stopped Mickey Marotti and his strength and conditioning staff from getting creative with workout plans for players to use while they are stuck at home.
• Garrett Wilson was the Ohio State wide receiver from the 2019 recruiting class to get the most attention, but Jameson Williams turned some heads with the speed he displayed when he got onto the field. Expect the speedster from St. Louis to make even more noise in his sophomore season.

From around the hardwood...

Had the COVID-19 pandemic not put the world on hold, we might be getting ready to watch Ohio State in the Sweet Sixteen either tonight or tomorrow. With the NCAA Tournament cancelled this year, Bucknuts took a look back at Ohio State’s best wins in the NCAA Tournament

It was tough for Seth Towns to pass up the opportunity to play for Duke and head coach Mike Krzyzewski, who he considers “the greatest coach of all time”, but the lure of playing at home for the school he has dreamed of playing for since he was a little kid was just too much for the transfer guard from Harvard to pass up.

Olympic update

The postponement of the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic has dealt a blow to many current and former Ohio State athletes, who had been training for years to earn a spot to compete on the world’s grandest stage this summer in Japan.

STICK TO SPORTS

• Ohio’s coronavirus update reveals more than 150 positive tests, five deaths, and more than 180,000 applying for unemployment.
• The coronavirus update has resulted in the Department of Homeland Security pushing the Real ID deadline back a year to October 1st, 2021.
• COTA and Donatos teamed up to recognize transit workers who are continuing to work to provide necessary transit services for many around Central Ohio.
• Britney Spears claims she bested Usain Bolt’s 100m record by almost four seconds.
• 25 years after its release, the director of ‘Tommy Boy’ thought the film was going to be a disaster.