One down. The (relative) calm before the storm continues on as the Michigan Wolverines go through a two-week stretch as heavy favorites before running into a gauntlet of equally talented giants. Up next in this four-game slate is a trip to Columbus as the Ohio State Buckeyes will be looking for revenge after falling in Ann Arbor a couple Fridays ago.
Ohio
No. 2 Michigan at Ohio State College Basketball Preview
While some do not like the idea of two of the three two-play slots locked into rivalry games each year, sports are just more fun when the stakes are a little bit higher. Currently sitting precariously on the bubble, there is nothing Ohio State would like more than to significantly bolster its resume by knocking off its No. 2-ranked bitter rival. Michigan is the favorite here, but do not expect anything easy.
No. 2 Michigan (21-1, 11-1) at Ohio State (15-7, 7-5)
Date & Time: Sunday, Feb. 8, 1 p.m. ET
Location: Value City Arena, Columbus, OH
TV/Streaming: CBS
The first game was uncomfortably close for 30-plus minutes, with the Buckeye actually leading with 10 minutes left in the game. Michigan pulled away late and won by 12, getting 18 points (and 9 rebounds and 4 assists) from Yaxel Lendeborg, interior production from Morez Johnson and Aday Mara, and impressive defense from across the roster, particularly late.
Michigan 2PT Shooting: 62.7% (1st B1G)
Old reliable was on display against Penn State (67.6%), and just about every conference game except for the win over Michigan State has featured impressive shooting inside the arc. That was certainly the case against Ohio State last time, as the Wolverines converted a ridiculous 75.9% of their attempts. This helped offset a pretty cold 5-for-23 effort from deep, but as we have discussed before, those sort of outputs seem much more likely than the hot long-range shooting on Thursday.
Ohio State is 12th defensively in conference play, but has been the fourth-worst against two-point shooting, which is a bad combination here. Last time, Michigan took 24 of its 29 two-point shots at the rim and converted 24 of those, and even 4 of 5 jumpers went in. There is no reason to deviate from this plan, and the Buckeyes are coming off four straight games where opponents have feasted in this department (66.4%).
Michigan’s worst enemy would be the temptation to keep launching from three unnecessarily. Ohio State is decent at three prevention, while the Wolverines are very volatile. The real issue is the opportunity cost: when twos are falling at such a high clip, taking shots from deep just is not worth the trade off. Michigan still attempts plenty of threes a game, but it must lean into the mismatch down low again.
Ohio State Adj. Offense: 4th B1G (22nd overall)
The reason Ohio State is on the edge of NCAA Tournament conversation is the offense. There is not really a singular area that jumps out — each of Kenpom’s four factors rank between fifth and ninth in conference play — so really this is just an all-around solid attack. The Buckeyes do not heavily favor threes, and can move the ball well but do not rack up a ton of assists, doing all this at an average tempo.
What is working then? Definitely Bruce Thornton, who ranks 13th nationally in ORtg thanks to his 63.6% effective field goal rate. He has made 40% of his threes this year, as has John Mobley (41.2%), who is the other volume shooter from deep. In general, though, Ohio State will try to find mismatches then drive to the rim, though plenty attempts will come from the midrange too.
In Ann Arbor, this approach was simply not sufficient against the Michigan defense. Thornton scored just 10 points (after logging 20-plus in his previous three games) and the Buckeyes were merely average from two (50.0%) and three (29.7%). Nothing came easily in that game, and unless the home team is able to convert a disproportionate number of tough looks, I think history repeats itself on Sunday.
Out of prison, Indiana’s caviar king back on Ohio River to find fishing holes taken
David Cox, of English, Indiana, says once he began setting his nets again after a two-year prison sentence and a three-year ban on commercial fishing, all of his once-secret spots were taken.
Can you eat fish from the Ohio River?
In 1975, future presidential candidate Michael Dukakis, then governor of Massachusetts, bet 20 pounds of New England cod that the Red Sox would defeat the Reds in the World Series. If things went south for Boston, Ohio governor James Rhodes promised to send Dukakis 10 pounds of Lake Erie perch and 10 pounds of Ohio River catfish. The Reds ended up winning and the cod was sent to the Convalescent Home for Children, in Cincinnati.
At the time, people were still eating catfish from the Ohio without too much concern. The fish were also served at several restaurants along the river.
There were warnings in 1977
But two years later, in 1977, The Ohio River Valley Water Sanitation Commission released the results of a study of contaminants found in the tissues of Ohio River fish. They warned anglers in cities such as Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Louisville, Wheeling and Gallipolis that man-made chemicals known as PCBs, or polychlorinated biphenyls, had been discovered in the river fish. Later, high concentrations of mercury were discovered in the fish, too.
Thanks to the Clean Water Act of 1972 and the environmental regulations that followed, the river is now cleaner than it was in the seventies. And it’s still teeming with a variety of fish, including catfish, striped bass, drum and black bass, among other species.
But even though PCBs were banned by the Environmental Protection Agency in 1979, they are still found in fish, since they remain in the sediment in the bottom of the river. “Organisms live in the sediment and fish feed on them,” Rich Cogen, the executive director of the Ohio River Foundation told The Enquirer. Mercury is also a big problem, according to Cogen.
So the question is: Can you eat fish caught in the Ohio River?
The short answer is yes. But it depends on what species you are eating and where along the river you caught it.
There are also very strict limitations on how frequently you should eat them, according to the web site for the Ohio Sport Fish Consumption Advisory, part of the Ohio Department of Health.
In areas of the river between the Belleville Lock, located 204 miles downstream from the river’s origins in Pittsburgh, to the Indiana border, the advisory agency currently recommends consuming Ohio River fish no more than once a month max. That area includes Adams, Brown, Clermont, Gallia, Hamilton, Lawrence, Meigs and Scioto counties.
Here’s where to check
Recommendations change throughout the year, but you can keep up by visiting the Ohio Department of Health’s Sport Fish Consumption Advisory page, which provides updated information on when certain fish, usually bottom feeders such as carp, are deemed too dangerous to eat at all.
Here’s who should take a pass on Ohio River fish
The agency also warns that people who are more likely to have health effects from eating contaminated fish, includingchildren younger than 15 years old, pregnant women and women who are planning to become pregnant to avoid Ohio River fish altogether.
Just because you have to limit the amount of fish you eat, doesn’t mean the river is a bad place for fishing, as long as you limit your intake or do catch-and-release fishing. Just make sure you have a proper fishing license before casting your line.
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It isn’t over until it’s over. That’s the case for both the UCLA Bruins football program recruiting and for quarterback Brady Edmunds. Edmunds is currently committed to head to Ohio State but he took a visit from UCLA offensive coordinator Dean Kennedy earlier this week.
Kennedy met Edmunds on Thursday despite the fact that the quarterback has been committed to the Buckeyes since December of 2024 but could the UCLA Bruins be making a run at flipping the quarterback?
Edmunds has only had an official visit with Ohio State but could UCLA heave a heat check on the 6’5” quarterback? New UCLA head coach Bob Chesney is off to an unbelievable start to his recruiting with the Bruins and flipping a recruit of Edmunds’ caliber would be his most impressive move yet.
247 Sports has Edmunds as the No. 16 quarterback in the class, which would give UCLA a clear predecessor for Nico Iamaleava whenever the Bruins current starting quarterback decides to head to the professional level.
It’d be a full circle moment for the Bruins, as Edmunds was originally recruited to Ohio State by former UCLA head coach Chip Kelly, who bailed on UCLA to go run the Buckeyes offense. Ohio State is a great spot for a developing quarterback, as the Buckeyes produce tons of NFL talent, especially at the wide receiver position, which would help Edmunds put up some gaudy numbers in Columbus.
Chesney and the Bruins have geography on their side, Edmunds attends Huntington Beach High School in Southern California, which could potentially become a factor if Edmunds views UCLA as a program on the rise that’d be much closer to his friends and family than out in Ohio.
Time will tell if Kennedy’s visit will make a difference but UCLA’s recruiting has made waves in the first offseason under Chesney and the new regime.
A report from the Health Policy Institute of Ohio found that rural residents are 15% more likely to die before the age of 75. Allowing Advanced Practice Registered Nurses to operate more independently could be a solution to allow better access to care.
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