You know the saying “It was fun while it lasted”? Well, it most certainly was not fun with the 2021-22 Buckeyes. Am I being too cynical after watching them lose a game they easily could have won? Sure, but you could say that for every loss down the stretch. I suppose the game yesterday against Villanova was a bit backwards. Normally we get off to a decent start and then blow it in the second half. The Buckeyes said screw that we will spot you ten points from the jump. Playing from behind and Buckeye basketball is kind of like crippling social anxiety and talking to the hot girl at the bar, not gonna happen. That glimmer of hope did appear for about a five-minute stretch in the second half. We didn’t pass the ball to the other team. We made easy layups. Played good defense and even got rebounds. Hell, we even hit a couple threes. That team for those five minutes deserved to go to the sweet sixteen. The team that didn’t make a field goal the last five minutes of the game doesn’t deserve the basic necessities to live.

I can’t remember a single game I enjoyed watching this team play in the last two months. You are probably saying “But… But… But… Woody! What about when they went to Illinois and won at that hostile crowd in an upset?” Even that game was not enjoyable to watch. Sure, it was fun when we were up 20 but that lead, like every other lead we had late in the season, evaporated and we got lucky to hold on and win that game. After every game I would stand up from the couch and see a sweat stain of the shape of my ass in the fabric. I may be a little more animated than the normal everyday fan, but I shouldn’t feel like I just got done with a five round UFC title fight with Connor McGregor. Well, I guess that analogy doesn’t make sense anymore since McGregor is a bum. I’d whoop him now a days.

With out looking at any recruiting or information at all about next year, I can say with certainty that it will be a down year. Liddell and Branham are both gone being first round picks in the draft and I have to imagine, since we haven’t adopted the one and done mentality like all other B1G Ten schools, we don’t have a big influx of young five star talent coming in. Speaking of five star talent. The Ohio State Football spring game is only four weeks away and then we can forget that the basketball team even exists until they win a big game next February.

-Woody