Today, with only 98 days left until Buckeye fans finally get their football fix, we salute Joel Penton (2002-06).  Joel Penton was a solid player at Defensive Tackle with the Buckeyes playing in a surprising 38 straight games during the course of his career.  His final season with the Buckeyes saw him backing up David Patterson on the D-line, though as we all know even the backups on the DL are of critical importance.

During that final season Penton was awarded the “Wuerffel Trophy“, sometimes known as the “Humanitarian Heisman”, for being the player that “best combines exemplary community service with athletic and academic achievement.”  Penton was only the second player ever to win the award, and to date remains the only defensive player to be selected.

Joel decided to forgo an NFL career in order to pursue a full-time career in public speaking.  Currently, he serves as the Community Director for the Central Ohio  Fellowship of Christian Athletes, and speaks often at schools around the state.  Apparently, he is one of the best public speakers to ever grace the school assembly circuit.  I’m sure his 5 rings help that quite a bit!

98 days left!

Now that we’ve discussed all of next year’s players including what positions they could theoretically play, let’s try to paste together an idea of what the starting lineup might look like next season.

Before we begin I want to point out that there is a long time before any of this actually gets set in stone.  We have no idea how certain people will play compared to how they performed last season (especially the new guys), and so the vast majority of this is guesswork.  Part of this, also, is to give an early sense of excitement for the upcoming season because there is so much talent on this team that it’s nigh disgusting.  It was rough having to choose who to play and who to sit in each lineup – Matta has to be smiling a little bit at having to deal with this particular “problem”.

“Small” Lineup

“Small”	Starters	Backups
1	Craft	Smith
2	Diebler	Sibert
3	Buford	Thomas
4	Lighty	Weatherspoon
5	Lauderdale/Sullinger	Kecman

Here’s the fun with the “Small” Lineup.  You could plug any of Thomas, Weatherspoon, Sullinger or Lauderdale in at the 5 spot and probably do pretty well for yourself considering you go small in order to push the pace and deal with a faster smaller lineup.  The advantage of Lauderdale is that he gives you experience plus good size without actually being comparatively “big”.  The biggest downfall with both Sullinger and Lauderdale is that they don’t have the speed to play the 5 spot in a small lineup.  Thomas or Weatherspoon, or even Kecman would be a better fit for the 5 spot there, but I think you don’t want to give up on the talent/experience and shot changing ability of Lauderdale and Sullinger.

“Big” Lineup

Bigs
1	Smith	Craft
2	Diebler/Buford	Buford/Diebler
3	Thomas/Weatherspoon	Lighty
4	Lauderdale	Weatherspoon/Thomas
5	Sullinger	Sarikopoulos

Take a look at the “Bigs” for a minute and tell me what you see.  First, Thomas and Weatherspoon are interchangeable at the 3 and 4 spots and I have them shift to the 4 in the backups so that Lighty can make an appearance somewhere.  Second, Big Z Sarikopoulos plays a heavier role here than anywhere else for obvious reasons.  Lastly, Buford as a backup?  This is one place that there could be a lot of play.  I place Buford as the backup primarily because Diebler’s ability’s from outside the arc would be more handy in a court of big guys than Buford’s all around ability – though Matta’s comments about working on his 3 point shot may change that come time for the season.  Also, Diebler has an inch on Buford, giving him a slight advantage for the Big spot (though an inch difference almost might as well be nonexistent).  Lighty also get’s relegated to the backups due to his lack of size and minor inconsistency from the outside.

“Traditional” Lineup

Traditional
1	Craft	Smith
2	Diebler	Sibert
3	Buford	Lighty
4	Weatherspoon	Thomas
5	Sullinger	Lauderdale

The Traditional offense is predicated on the idea of getting a balance of Big guys down low and faster, smaller, guys outside.  Given Weatherspoon’s propensity for the dunk and his ability to play down low, I give him the nod over Thomas in the traditional style offense.  Lighty would be downgraded to the “6-man” coming off the bench as a primary defensive specialist.  The hope is that Craft would provide enough defensive ability that having Lighty on the bench to start the game wouldn’t be a liability.  Lauderdale takes a seat to Sullinger based on sheer talent, though I wouldn’t be surprised if Dallas starts due to his more extensive experience.

Max Talent

Skill
1	Buford	Craft
2	Diebler	Smith
3	Lighty	Sibert
4	Thomas	Weatherspoon
5	Sullinger	Lauderdale

The last lineup I want to examine is the “Best Skill” lineup.  Obviously this lineup is based on having the best 5 players on the court to start the game.  Weatherspoon is replaced with Thomas, compared to the Traditional offense, due to Thomas’ increased versatility compared to Weatherspoon who seems to operate better in the paint.  Also, Lighty makes an appearance in the starting lineup as Buford moves up to the Point Guard position.  Smith takes a shot at the 2 spot while Sibert moves down to 3, taking advantage of some of their other skill sets.

It’s pretty obvious from inspection that the job of delegating who gets playing time at this point would not be a fun one.  If I had to wager a guess as to what lineup we might see in November for the first game might be the last one given the overall experience and talent of the lineup.  However, it might as well be a coinflip depending upon how people look in fall practice and during the exhibition games before hand.  All I know for certain is that the Buckeyes are absolutely swimming in talent right now and it’s going to be exciting to see how things turn out in the end.

In this second part of my incredibly early look at the Basketball team I will focus my attention on the Buckeyes highly regarded incoming recruiting class.  The first three new guys I feature won’t have any stats to their name as their coaches chose not to release them to the internet.  That said, High School Basketball stats always tend to be a little on the ridiculous side so make sure to take the ones I do have with a grain of salt.

I can’t wait to see these guys suit up for the Scarlet and Gray.  They all look like tremendous athletes and are going to be a joy to watch during the season.

Videos of their high school exploits are included after each player.  As per usual, I don’t get to choose the music so be careful when viewing the videos.

Aaron Craft (6-1, 170, Liberty-Benton HS, Findlay OH)

Craft is a prototypical Floor General style Point Guard.  He’s a particularly good passer and reportedly one of the best defenders in the class, suggesting that there’s a good chance we’re going to see him on the floor early and often.  His perimeter shot needs some work, though, so his production on offense will primarily be through distributing the ball to his teammates and getting into the paint.  He reads defenses well, and seems to have a knack for taking a leadership role.

Craft is a traditional PG through and through.  He’ll likely be told to work on his shooting a bit during the offseason, but don’t expect him to be a primary scoring option for the Buckeyes during his career.  Do expect him to be a big name on the defensive side of the ball early and often much like Lighty has been for much of his time in the Scarlet and Gray.

Lenzelle Smith (6-3, 215, Zion-Benton Township HS, Zion IL)

Smith and Craft are quite similar in their skill sets, though Smith isn’t likely to score off the dribble drive as well as Craft may be able to.  Smith will lead the offense from beyond the arc and is reportedly a very good passer.  The Buckeyes will find him particularly handy in getting the ball down low to Lauderdale and Sullinger during the season.  He also appears to be quite adept at the 3 ball.  He gets great arc on his deep shot, seems to follow through well and can hit a long shot even with a hand in his face.  This should give the Buckeyes another shooting dimension to compliment Buford and Diebler during the season.

Smith, like Craft, is clearly a 1 position style of player due to his ball distributing skills.  In order to see lots of time, though, Smith will have to work on his ball-handling or the Big Ten teams will simply press him into plentiful turnovers.  We may also occasionally see him at the 2 given his 3 point shooting skills.

Jordan Sibert (6-5, 180, Princeton HS, Cincinnati OH)

Sibert is coming to Columbus as a SG, probably to be the guy who will fill Jon Diebler’s shoes in the future.  He’s not as prolific a three point shooter as Diebler is (honestly, who is?), but he has developed an inside game that Diebler seemed to lack his first two seasons which should help make him a little more dangerous early in his career.  Jordan is a particularly versatile player overall, but may function better in motion away from the ball rather than leading the offense, so don’t expect him to suddenly transition to PG.

Sibert will likely play the 2 spot during his time in Columbus, but he has the size and versatility to switch to the 3.  His versatility will also be a huge advantage in those times when Matta wants to go small and play a fast paced game.

JD Weatherspoon (6-7, 190, Northland HS, Columbus OH)

Weatherspoon is not your prototypical power forward.  While he clearly plays his best game under the hoop, he’s a lot quicker than your typical PF and can surprise defenders with his speed.  His videos suggest that he’s a bit of a dunk artist, so expect to see some high-flying acts while he’s in the game.  In fact, I can hear the “Craft to Weatherspoon” or “Smith to Weatherspoon” dunk calls already!

Weatherspoon’s dribble looks a little awkward, but he seems to be able to do things while putting the ball on the ground so that may not hamper him too much.  While watching him dribble, I got the impression that it will be ripe for a steal at the college level, so we may see Matta command him to never put the ball on the deck.  Such a command certainly wouldn’t hurt his game any considering it seems to center around throwing the ball through the hoop as often as he possibly can.

Name	PPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	FGM	FGA	3PM	3PA	FTM	FTA	APG	BPG	RPG	SPG
JD Weatherspoon	13.5	0.735	0.429	0.559	119	162	6	14	52	93	1.4	0.5	6	0.6

Weatherspoon looks to be a perfect fit for the 4 position, especially since he’s already spent time working with Mr. Sullinger sitting at the 5 and has likely developed a rapport with him.  He may be able to play the 3 if the Buckeyes choose to go big with his speed, or play the 5 if the Bucks choose to go small, so there are plenty of options that can be explored with some of his skill sets.

DeShaun Thomas (6-7, 215, Bishop Luers HS, Fort Wayne IN)

Of all the players coming to Columbus this year, DeShaun Thomas has to be the one that I’m most excited to see hit the hardwood.  I spoke of previous players on the list having some versatility to their game, but DeShaun Thomas seems to perfect the word.  Scout.com lists Thomas as a Power Forward, which with his size he could easily play.  That said, though, Maxpreps.com lists Thomas as a Guard.  I want you to think about that for a moment.  He could conceivably play anywhere from the 2 to the 5, and possibly even play the 1 depending on how good he is at directing traffic.  Am I hyping a little?  Sure, but this kid seems worth it.

Thomas is a threat from anywhere on the court, including from beyond the arc (despite Scout.com’s claim that his 3 point shot is weak).  His shot does tend to be a little flat which is not conducive to a high shooting percentage, but that doesn’t mean he can’t do it – his 30.8% shooting from three suggests that quite well.  Is he going to shoot lights out from downtown?  No, but he will hit a fair amount of the time, and his 208 attempted 3 pointers (out of 583 total shots – 35.7% of his shots) suggest that he’s not afraid to take a crack at it.

Name	PPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	FGM	FGA	3PM	3PA	FTM	FTA	APG	BPG	RPG	SPG
DeShaun Thomas	30.3	0.484	0.308	0.762	282	583	64	208	189	248	2.7	2.5	15.1	1.6

I have a hard time deciding where Thomas would be best suited.  His skill sets and video suggest that he would probably best fit at the 2 or 3 spot, especially the 3 considering his size.  Ultimately, I think he’ll end up playing at the three not unlike Evan Turner did in his first two years in the program.

Jared Sullinger (6-9, 265, Northland HS, Columbus OH)

Sullinger is the guy that everyone else is most excited to see on the floor – and for good reason.  Buckeye fans have already seen him play in several games, including high school games televised on the world-wide leader and in games at Value City Arena.  So far, Sullinger has done nothing but impress with his tenacity and power down low.  He seems almost unstoppable in the paint, especially once he gets the ball in his hands.

He’s accused of being slow and of being unable to run the court effectively.  Given what I’ve seen so far of his play, I’m not certain who the experts were watching or on what basis they were evaluating his talent.  One of my favorite plays on the video linked to below is the one starting at about 33 seconds in where Sullinger picks up a pass down low for a layup and starts to move back to play defense, realizes that the opponent is pushing the ball down the court and hustles down to get the huge block without fouling.  In one play, Sullinger showed the kind of desire, hustle and self control that coaches want in a player.  Plus, being able to get down the court that quick is a bonus too.  I’m sure that knocks on his speed and ability to get down the court have a lot more to do with fast breaks down the court, but for a big man I’m not too surprised.

Name	PPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	FGM	FGA	3PM	3PA	FTM	FTA	APG	BPG	RPG	SPG
Jared Sullinger	23.1	0.756	0.385	0.723	217	287	5	13	115	159	2.1	1.7	11.6	1.3

Don’t make too much of the three pointers he takes in that video.  He only shot 13 total and made 5, so you saw almost the entirety of his mid-range to outside shooting in that one video.  Those three pointers were almost certainly a gimmick – though the fact that he can hit them on occasion is a nice way to keep defenses on their toes once in a while.

Sullinger will play the 5 spot for the Buckeyes almost without question.  I would be surprised if Matta decided to move him to the 4, even if that meant putting Lauderdale and Sullinger on the floor together.  If anything, Lauderdale may move to the 4 before Sullinger does.

Come back tomorrow for a look at what the Buckeyes depth chart might look like next year given what we know now.

I wanted to take a ludicrously early look at next year’s team and make some guesses as to what the lineup might look like.  You might think that this coming year will be easy to predict, but with only two Point Guards on the team, and both freshmen, things may not be so clear.  I’m going to start the several part discussion with the players we know well, then tomorrow discuss the new blood and finally on friday take a shot at what the depth chart might look like at the start of the season.

David Lighty (6-5, 225, SF, Senior)

I’ll keep this discussion in seniority order, meaning that the last of the Thad Five gets to go first.  It’s hard to imagine that David Lighty has been here for 5 years, and that all of his classmates were gone long ago.  Hell, it almost feels like he’s been here forever – certainly not a bad thing.  Lighty has been a consistent presence on the team and has been the defacto team leader since his junior year.  His leadership that year was readily apparent when he broke his left foot and was forced to sit out the remainder of the season.  The Buckeyes struggled the rest of the way without him and were forced to grow into new roles that helped the 2009 version of the team excel.

Speaking of that break, it was recently reported that Lighty again broke that left foot during spring practices.  The recuperation from the surgery to repair the break is expected to take about 12 weeks, which should leave plenty of time for him to bounce back before fall practices begin.

Lighty has been and almost certainly will be a Small Forward.  He plays very well in his role and has, on infrequent occasion, exploded on the score boards to the tune of 30 points.  Those sorts of games need to be more the rule and less the exception if he wants to take his game to the next level.  I think he’s poised to have a very solid year for the Buckeyes.

Jon Diebler (6-6, 210, SG, Senior)

We all know “Threebler” quite well.  The three point shooting master had some rough going in his time in the scarlet and gray through his first couple seasons, but he really took strides in this last season in building his confidence.  Shooting is all confidence so you can expect Diebler to be even more lethal next year from beyond the arc.

One key component to making Diebler a consistent scoring threat will be how hard he works in the offseason working on his dribble drive and lane penetration.  He showed flashes during the season of developing that sort of skill set which began to force defenders to back off him a tad and opened up his three point shooting.  Unfortunately, the instances of it were few and far between which allowed good defensive teams to shut him down.

There is only one position that makes sense for Diebler – at the 2 slot.  With a decent dribble drive, he could make a potent 3-guy, but he’s played the 2 for three years and will likely play the 2 in the NBA so there’s little sense in changing him around.

Dallas Lauderdale (6-8, 260, PF/C, Senior)

Towards the end of last season, we began to see a glimpse of what Lauderdale could become when he understood his role in the offense.  To that point Lauderdale had been nothing more than a Shot-blocking, (inconsistent) rebounding role-player who could score a couple of points a game.  Suddenly, however, the Buckeyes were finding ways of getting him the ball so that he could score and make a significant impact on the score board.  A couple of 10 point games later and the entire perception of Lauderdale as a player changed.

I’ve long thought that the reason Lauderdale struggles so much in scoring and rebounding is because he fits more naturally at the 4 rather than the 5.  He’d play significantly better in a role similar to Othello Hunter did in his first season playing both PF in support of Greg Oden, and C when Oden was resting.  Lauderdale is a capable 5, but it’s not his strongest position.  Given a couple years of experience in the spot, though, Lauderdale may be redefining his role.

William Buford (6-5, 200, G, Junior)

Buford is the clear heir-apparent to the mantle of “Team Star”.  He has shown flashes of brilliance and more in his 2 seasons under Matta and looks to take a big step towards becoming a consistent and powerful threat shooting the ball.  He has the sweetest shooting stroke on the team and simply makes shooting look easy and natural, no matter how challenging the shot.

He’s not as natural of a ball-handler as Evan Turner was (this is absolutely not a knock on Buford – I’ve seen very few college ball-handlers look as natural as Turner) so it’s doubtful that we will see him get plugged into the 1 position.  That said, it’s possible given the youth at that position.  Keep in mind that Matta’s philosophy depends more on getting the best talent on the floor as much as possible and less on sticking to the traditional PG, SG, SF, PF, C concepts.  If Buford can learn to dictate the offense and can bring the ball up the floor effectively we may see him in the 1.  He’s a more natural 2/3 guy, though, and it seems likely that he will find his place there during the season.

Nikola Kecman (6-8, 225, PF, Junior)

Those of you who followed the Buckeye Battle Cry through the 2009-2010 season know that I have a strong liking for Mr. Kecman as a player.  Nikola did not get many opportunities to see the floor during the season, playing almost exclusively in mop-up duty with “Big Z” Sarikopoulos, Mark “The Shark” Titus, Eddie Days and Danny Peters.  In those times, however, the 6-8 forward showed an ability to shoot the long-ball and really challenge the defense with his size and versatility.  There’s a chance we may get to see more of Kecman this season, depending on how fast the younger players develop into Matta’s system.

There’s no question in my mind that Kecman should play the 4 spot.  With his shooting range and height he will give opposing defenses a headache and open up passing lanes into the paint for the big guys.

Zisis Sarikopoulos (7-0, 265, C, Junior)

Big Z is the heir to the title of “Buckeye 7-footer” following in the footsteps of Oden, Koufos and Mullens.  Unfortunately, he hasn’t yet grown to fill the shoes of those players yet, having only played in mop-up duty thus far.  Interestingly, each of the Buckeye’s 7-footers have become progressively less of an impact on the team.  Oden was a massive impact.  Koufos started and played reasonably well despite being a “Black Hole” (ball goes in, and never comes out).  Mullens was a bench player behind Lauderdale who played decent minutes, and finally Big Z mostly rode the pine.  It leaves one to wonder if Matta is deciding that the 7-footer just isn’t his style, what with the continuous play of the 6-8 Lauderdale and the recruitment of 6-9 Jared Sullinger to play Center.

It’s also possible that Sarikopoulos just needs more time in the program before becoming an effective player, much like Kecman.  We’ll just have to wait and see if he makes a significant impact sometime in the future.

Eddie Days (6-0, 180, G, Senior)

Days was the player that almost no-one knew about from last season.  Eddie participated in walk-on tryouts last fall and managed to make the team in October after already spending 3 years at Ohio State as your typical, everyday student.  He played nothing more than mop up duty in 4 games and compiled almost no stats in his grand total 7 minutes of play.  The likelihood of Eddie seeing the court much this year is probably still low, which probably plays into his plans a little bit as it seems he wants to go into the coaching profession.

Maybe he’ll be the next voice from the OSU Bench?  You never know!

Tomorrow I’ll take a look at that ridiculous recruiting class Matta pulled in.  There are some pretty good looking players on that list, and there is more than a little to get excited about for next season.

The Gray squad led by Redshirt Freshman quarterback Kenny Guiton escaped a trap set up by the Scarlet team and managed to pull out a victory in the spring game by a score of 17-14.  The trap was set when Scarlet scored a touchdown with 5 minutes left to take a 14-10 lead and proceeded to recover an onside kick.  A key interception from Nate Oliver gave Gray the ball and the chance to move down the field for the go-ahead score on a 45 yard pass to a suddenly confident looking Taurian Washington from Guiton.

Take note that the stats should be taken with a grain of salt.  For the most part they’re vague recollections and fuzzy math.

As with other Spring Games, the Quarterbacks rotated their playingtime depending on the quarter.  Terrelle Pryor played only the first quarter for Scarlet and sat the rest as Bauserman took over for the rest of the game.  On gray, Guiton played the first quarter and the second half while Justin Siems played the 2^nd.  Pryor had a very good day passing hitting 8/12 for over 100 yards and a touchdown in his one quarter of play.  Particularly impressive was how easy he made it look despite the fact that he wasn’t allowed to run.  Also impressive on the day was Kenny Guiton’s approximately 10/18 for about 170 yards and 2 touchdowns and an interception.  Guiton had a scare late in the game as the Gray squad decided to run up the score rather than kill the clock while holding on to the slim 3 point margin.  One of the Buckeye defenders got a shoulder into Guiton’s right knee and bent it backwards slightly.  Luckily, Kenny managed to walk off the field under his own power and seemed to be ok.  Also worth mentioning was Bauserman’s rough outing, throwing 2 interceptions and 1 touchdown.  For a while he had also had more rushing yards than passing yards, but he managed to make up for that eventually.

Players from the offense that particularly stood out today were:

• Jake Stoneburner – he had several passes thrown his way and made the most of them.
• Taurian Washington – Made a couple of good plays and looked better than he did all last year.  Recall, however, that he often has good spring outings.
• Carlos Hyde had his first few carries in a Buckeye uniform and looked tough to stop.
• Zack Boren was almost impossible to bring down, including a great play where he slipped through an almost sure tackle and tight-rope walked the sidelines for a 20 yard gain.
• Chris Fields – He didn’t find himself open often, but he did make one excellent play to save an interception and turn it into a reception.
• The Offensive Line – None of the big guys in the trenches really got much love today, but the line in general seemed to pass-block fairly well.  The run blocking was ok, but not spectacular though it also seemed like the coaches were focusing more on the pass than the run.  The lack of mention of the line should be taken as a good thing, since they seemed to do their job.

The defense was generally solid all day long and it was tough to distinguish any individual effort as exceptional, however a couple of players had good outings.

• Cameron Heyward looks to be his typical self.  He did have a couple of QB hits and hurries and may have also had a sack on the day.  He may not have seen much playing time during the game.
• Donnie Evege was a blanket in coverage and didn’t have his named called much.  In fact, I only saw one pass thrown to his man all day, a testament to his coverage skills.
• Nate Oliver grabbed that interception to stop an almost certain Scarlet scoring drive and gave Gray enough time to get the ball down the field.  It was a big play exactly when his team needed it most.
• Passing coverage as a whole looked a little flaky all day, but that may have had more to do with the Buckeye receivers than any weakness from the secondary.

The Buckeyes look like they’re going to be pretty solid this season, but don’t take too much away from the Spring Game.  It’s very hard to make any kind of definitive statement about the quality of one unit versus another based on the intermixing of the first teamers with the backups, and even more difficult since the team is playing itself.  That said, there are a lot of things to be excited about, including Terrelle Pryor’s performance against a strong Gray defensive squad.

The big boss will be posting his own recap of the game with quotes and interviews a little later today.  We’ll post the link as soon as he has it up.

The Ozone is reporting that the Buckeyes have tabbed a replacement for former OSU Assistant Basketball Coach Alan Major.  Former Tulane head coach Dave Dickerson will replace Coach Major who received an offer to coach the University of North Carolina at Charlotte several weeks ago.

Dickerson played college ball for Maryland from 85-89.  He then began his coaching career as an Assistant at Gardner-Webb soon followed by the same post at James Madison.  He then spent 4 years as an assistant at Radford before claiming an Assistant spot at his alma-mater under former OSU head coach Gary Williams.  Dickerson coached with the Terapins for 9 years (1996-2005) before finally landing his own head coaching spot with the Tulane Green Wave in ‘05.

Dickerson compiled a relatively pedestrian 71-85 record with the Green Wave during his 5 years with the program, including a 31-40 record in Conference USA.  In his team’s best season they finished 17-13 and tied for 4th in the conference.

The hiring of Dickerson is a solid move for the Buckeyes given his fantastic experience as an Assistant coach including a National Title run in 2002 with the Terrapins.  It has been mentioned that he will open up recruiting along the East Coast and down south a little as well, expanding the Buckeyes sphere of recruiting influence for the future.

Welcome to Columbus Coach Dickerson!

Introduction and Summary:

Pigs will be Pigs was written by Amy Axelrod and illustrated by Sharon McGinley-Nally.   This is a story of a family of pigs who become hungry and decide that it is time to eat.  The only problem is they haven’t any money.  They turn their house upside down on a quest for loose change and some bills to have enough to go and eat.  The story is very kid friendly and the pictures are wonderful in capturing the stereotypical evidence that pigs really are pigs.  In the back of the book, it summarizes how much money the pigs did collect and shows it in a simple set of columns that the children could add together.  The book also asks about how much did their visit to the restaurant cost which would encourage some basic arithmetic.  Finally for those kids up for the challenge are encouraged to determine how much money did they have left after their dining experience.

Curriculum Connections:
This book could be used for a couple of different concepts.  It could be used for a younger audience just learning about the concept money and how money is used to buy goods and services.  It can also teach economic choices for example (I want this, but I need that to survive) economic cost.  For older groups of children it can be used to help teach addition and subtraction skills as well as also incorporating the economic cost of choices made.  The book touches on both economics and mathematics at the same time.  (VA SOL 2.8).

Additional Resources:

This website titled Peanuts and Crackerjacks combines sports trivia with economics questions.  It is geared for older kids and is a lot of fun while discussing economics.

This site includes a game called Dumptown which is all about recycling programs and managing expenses and revenue from recycling.  Teachers and parents can assist with this game until the students get the idea of it.

This site provides information that can be used to create an activity involving supply and demand or can be turned into a lesson plan on this concept.  This would be ideal for 3rd graders in their understanding of economics.

General Information:

 Book: Pigs will be Pigs
Author: Amy Axelrod
Illustrator: Sharon McGinley-Nally
Publisher: Aladdin Paperbacks
Publication Date: 1997
Pages: 31
Grade Range: 2nd – 4th grades
ISBN: 0-329-12098-0

 

Introduction and Summary:

The book Adventures in Ancient Greece was written by Linda Bailey and illustrated by Bill Slavin.  This story is about a set of twins and their younger sister who want to see the Olympic Games in the future.  They stop by Jullian T. Pettigrew’s Travel Agency and inform him of their wishes and he hands them a book.  Once they open the book, the three of them are transported back to ancient Greece.  Once there, they see all of the culture, arts, customs of Greece and of course the Olympic Games.  They have a lot of adventures in ancient Greece and all while they read from this book to get the information about what they are witnessing.

 ”Democracy in Athens – Are you at the Pnyx yet?  Pay close attention.  History is being made here!  Greece is the first place where ordinary people get to rule their own country.  The ancient Greeks call this kind of government ‘demokratia’ (’demos’ means people, and ‘kratos’ means power).  Later in history, it will be called ‘democracy’.”

 Curriculum Connections:

This story focuses on the life and culture of ancient Greece.  It shows the contributions to the world in the future as well as the advancement they have made themselves.  The book includes the study of art, architecture and construction. It also focuses on government, politics,civics, agriculture, as well as the so famous sports and competition.  (VA SOL 3.1)

Additional Resources:

 Greek Gods Word Search: This is a word search referencing the Greek Gods
Olympic Event Match Up:  This online activity tests the students’ knowledge on how well they know the sports the ancient Olympians competed in.
Time Line of Ancient Greece:  This activity, geared for older students provides eight distinct periods in Greek history and is up to the student to research what took place and create a picture in that time slot.

General Information:
Book: Adventures in Ancient Greece
Author: Linda Bailey
Illistrator: Bill Slavin
Publisher: Kids Can Press, Ltd.
Publication Date: 2002
Pages: 48
Grade Range: 3rd – 5th
ISBN: 978-0329-00072-1

 

Introduction and Summary:

The Journey of the One and Only Declaration of Independence was written by Judith St. George and was illustrated by Will Hillenbrand.  The book is a historical account of the Declaration of Independence, a powerful document used to commence this nation’s government and more importantly free the colonists from the grasp of England.  The book goes into detail about some of the signers of the document and even the person who had to draft all of the copies of the document.  From this point, the book reveals the true story of the many places this important document was housed over the past 200 plus years.  It goes as far as to describe some of the ways the document was preserved and repaired so that it could be viewed by all, even today.

“On July 4, 1777, the Declaration of Independence was one year old.  So was the United States.  Like any one year old, the nation was toddling on unsteady feet.  The war still hadn’t been won.  But it hadn’t been lost, either.  Philadelphia threw a wingding of a birthday party.  The Declaration didn’t march in the parade…or join the militia in firing a salute…or marvel at the sky-high fireworks.  But the forty-four line, one page parchment was the star of the celebration.  Huzza! Huzza! Huzza!  Now the Declaration could be placed under glass in the Pennsylvania State House for all the world to admire, Right?”

Curriculum Connections:

This book discusses one of the most important tools in our nation’s government, the law.  It stresses the importance of this document to secure America’s way of life and the ways it has been defended, protected and preserved for all time.  While the Declaration of Independence is a lesson in civics about the rights and privileges of free people, the book also provides a strong lesson of American history.  One that this books spends a lot of time discussing places and dates with regard to the Declaration of Independence.  It might not fit some of the standards for lesson planning but is a fun and insightful book for students in the third through fifth grades. (VA SOL 3.11 or CE.2)

Additional Resources:

 The Declaration of Independence: Would you sign it? – It is an activity geared for older students but can be modified for upper elementary.

13 Colonies Word Jumble Worksheet: See if you can unscramble the 13 colonies that were represented in the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

 Declaration of Independence Worksheet: Using a dictionary, define the words on the worksheet.

 General Information:

Book: The Journey of the One and Only Declaration of Independence
Author: Judith St. George
Illustrator: Will Hillenbrand
Publisher: Philomel Books
Publication Date:2005
Pages: 45
Grade Range 3-5
ISBN: 0-399-23738-0

 

Summary and Introduction:
Nine O’Clock Lullaby was written by Marilyn Singer and illustrated by Frane Lessac.  With the use of its wonderful pictures, this book takes the reader all over the world one hour at a time.  It displays with pictures and words information about each city’s culture and activities that might be unique to their area of the world.

“7:30 A.M. in India All over the village well ropes squeak, buckets splash, bracelets jingle, long braids swish.  All over the village morning music.  7:30 A.M. in India is …”

Curriculum Connections:
One suggestion to do while reading this book would be to have a globe handy so that after each page or city is read, you could show the students where that is on the globe.  This book has a lot of cross curriculum connections.  While the book certainly does a great job taking its readers all over the world and definitely captures the essence of Geography, it also has a scientific focus on the time of day as each page begins with a specific time.  In addition, it covers the idea of day and night, where it may be daytime and the sun is shining in one area of the world, but it is nighttime, dark and the moon is out in another area.  There is also an ecological element regarding the animal habitats in the various regions that book displays.  Based on its short passages and reoccurring reading patterns, this book is geared for a student in K-2nd grades. (VA SOL Geography K.4)

Additional Resources:

First Grade Map Activity:  This flash card game ties in traits from different types of communities along with the types of things that might be present in those communities.

Continents, Poles and Equator: This is a song to teach the children sung to the tune “Are you sleeping?”  The child will use body parts to describe where in the world the continents, poles and equator are.

Continent Word Search: This is a continent word search worksheet for use with first or second graders.

General Information:
Book: Nine O’ Clock Lullaby
Author/Illustrator : Marilyn Singer / Frane Lessac
Publisher: Harper Collins Publishers
Publication Date:
Pages: 30
Grade Range: K – 2nd
ISBN:0-329-13502-3

 

 

 

 

 

 

Introduction and Summary:

       The book Tornadoes was written by Gail Gibbons and provides information to students about their formation, how they are classified from one another, historical and safety information if one were to occur where they live.

“The word Tornado comes from the Spanish word tronada meaning ‘thunderstorm’.  It is raining hard, the winds are strong.  The sky is dark.  Suddenly a twisting column of moist air reaches down from a cloud and touches the ground.  It makes a loud, roaring sound.  It is a tornado!”

Curriculum Connection:

      This book can assist teachers and students on identification of cumulonimbus clouds and learning about severe weather situations.  It goes on to explain how tornadoes are formed and then goes into the classification of these storms utilizing Fujita Tornado Scale system.  It shows what the projected aftermath would be based on each storm time and provides an estimated range of wind speeds per classification.  This book also provides a lot of vocabulary terms relevant to fourth grade science.  Terms like temperature, condensation, updrafts and downdrafts are defined to name a few.  The book also provides safety tips to follow if a person was ever in a situation where a tornado was taking place.  (VA SOL 4.6 a, b, and c.)

Additional Resources:

FEMA For Kids: Intensity Scales : This website from FEMA provides information relating to the different intensity scales  Saffir Simpson Scale and the Fujita Intensity Scale.

ProTeacher: Yes Mag Projects:  Students with the materials provided will create a tornado vortex out of two liter drink bottles.

Lesson #2: Tornado Lab Report: Activity worksheets and the ability to create another type of vortex.

General Information:

Book: Tornadoes
Author: Gail Gibbons
Publisher: Holiday House Books
Publication Date: 2009
Pages: 32
Grade Range: 2nd through 5th
ISBN: 978-0-8234-2216-6

 Summary and Introduction:

Never Smile at a Monkey was written and illustrated by Steve Jenkins.   This book discusses animal adaptation and some of the defense mechanisms animals possess to protect themselves from predators and humans.  It focuses on 17 different animals including mammals, lizards and sea creatures.  The book deals with the protective aspects of these animals whether it be teeth, claws, spines or venom.  While the subject matter is serious and informative for children, the illustrations keep it kid friendly.

“And a final word of advice: NEVER smile at a monkey!  If you smile at a rhesus (ree-sus) monkey, it may interpret your show of teeth as an aggressive gesture and respond violently.  Even a small monkey can give you a serious bite with its sharp fangs.”

In the back of the book, it provides additional information about each of the animals habitat and where they are indigenous.  The section also provides an opportunity for additional reading and offers five other books to choose from.

Curriculum Connections: 

 The book provides a wealth of opportunity to study about living things in an ecosystem and how they might interact or fight with one another.  It tells the reader despite looking friendly and harmless, some creatures can be deadly to others.  One can tie the protective defenses lesson when discussing predator and prey or when discussing animal adaptations in class.  While the book is geared for younger audiences, I think that it would best fit students in 2nd, 3rd or 4th grades based on some of the subject matter.  (VA SOL 4.5a)

Additional resources:

 Animal Adaptations Worksheet  This worksheet can be completed in class or as homework and focuses on  animal adaptations and their function.

Animal Adaptation Lesson Plan  This lesson plan focuses on reptile adaptations and provides a critical thinking exercise dealing with the effects of such adaptations.

Animal Adaptation Jungle Walk  This link provides pictures and video of different animal adaptations and breaks them out by region.

Animal Adaptations (Another Evolutionary Lesson Plan!)  This lesson plan allows students to brainstorm about animal adaptation concepts.

 

General Information: 

Book: Never Smile at a Monkey
Author/Illustrator : /Steve Jenkins
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin/Harcourt
Publication Date: 2009
Pages: 30
Grade Range: K – 4th
ISBN: 978-0-618-96620-2

 

Introduction and Summary
Squirts and Spurts Science Fun with Water was written by Vicki Cobb and illustrated by Steve Haefele.  This author has written many books like this one focusing on all different areas of science.  In this particular book, Ms. Cobb, details different science experiments involving simple machines, water, air and oil to teach the reader about forces, pressure and motion.

A Balloon Water Shooter

Rubber is a material that is said to have a ‘memory.’  You can stretch a balloon and change its shape.  If you release it, the balloon snaps back to its original shape.  You stretch a balloon when you blow it up.  When you let go of the open end, the balloon shrinks, forcing out the air.  This same force can be used to shoot a jet of water.

Curriculum Connections
Due to some of the experiments complexity and the nature of the science learned, this book would be recommended for upper elementary students.  While a lot of the experiments are fun and the kids will love doing them, the actual learning about force, motion, and simple machines could be hindered if the audience is too young to understand these concepts as they relate to science.  This would result in a glorified playtime for them.  With regard to the Virginia SOLS the curriculum can be tied to 4.2 a, b, c, and d.

Additional Resources

• Newton’s Third Law of Motion Students  Students will  experiment with balloons and send their balloons across the room by using various techniques.
• Forces and Motion  Students will create different size parachutes and with an egg as its passenger.  The students will drop the egg from a distance of ten feet and hypothesize which eggs will land safely.
• Daily Doings with Simple Machines  Students will make a hypothesis as to how many simple machines they use during a day.  Using the worksheet provided in this link, students will take the sheet home and record all activities they might do during the day using a simple machine.  Then the students will write about their results as compared to their hypothesis.

General Information
Book: Squirts and Spurts Science Fun with Water
Author: Vicki Cobb
Illustrator: Steve Haefele
Publisher: The Millbrook Press
Publication Date: 2007
Pages: 48 pages
Grade Range: 3-6
ISBN: 0-7613-1572-1

There’s almost no question how this one is going to turn out, but we would be remiss not to discuss it a little bit.  It’s not like any of the other bowl games haven’t given us interesting upsets.

By the way Fresno State, how’s that working out for you?

Houston (10-3, 6-2 C-USA) vs. Air Force (7-5, 5-3 MWC)

December 31st, 2009 12:00 PM ET

Amon G. Carter Stadium, Fort Worth, Texas

History

Created in 2003, the Armed Forces Bowl was originally called the Fort Worth Bowl for unsurprising reasons.  The Bowl started under the sponsorship of PlainsCapital Bank and continued until 2005 when no corporate sponsor was available for the game.  In 2006 Bell Helicopter Textron – a Fort Worth company – took over sponsorship and renamed the game the Armed Forces Bowl that we know and love today.

The products of Bell Helicopter should be familiar to most people.  You have probably seen this unique flying machine.  Bell also produces a large number of civilian helicopters making it likely that if you see a medical or news chopper, it has likely been produced by Bell.

This game started out as a matchup between the Big 12 and the Mountain West, but the Big 12 didn’t end up sending a team until the third year of the Bowl when Kansas managed to fill the spot.  The previous two years had a WAC school and then a C-USA school replacing the Big 12.  The only year the Mountain West failed to send a team to this game was 2004 when former MAC school Marshall faced off against Cincinnati.

The most interesting matchup for the Armed Forces bowl was the very first one played.  Boise State faced off against TCU (sound familiar?) in 2003 which the Broncos walked away from with a 34-31 victory.  That was the only other time (other than last season) that these two teams have faced each other.  The Fiesta Bowl gets more exciting with every passing day!

Ok, that’s about as much enthusiasm as I can inject into that travesty of a BCS bowl selection.  Let’s get back to the game at hand.

Houston

Early on this season Houston was easily generating the most excitement from fans of the “Let Chaos Ensue” strategy of eliminating the BCS.  Two games in a row Houston was able to knock off a member of the Big 12 conference.  The first was then number 5 Oklahoma State who they beat by 10.  The second was then unranked Texas Tech by one point scored in the last seconds of the game.  After that, however, things started to go a little sour.

The next week, UTEP hung 58 on Houston en route to a 17 point beating at UTEP.  Houston recovered from this and won their next 5, though having lost much of the prestige they had earned in the first 3 games.  A 5 point loss at UCF in mid-November knocked Houston out of the minds of the average College Football fan, and that was followed a couple weeks later by a loss at East Carolina by 6.  Along the way, Houston did manage to take out up-and-comer Southern Methodist (you know them as SMU, or, better yet, those cheaters that got the death penalty) by a score of 38-15.  It’s not often you see a June Jones team get mauled by 23.  Oh, wait…almost forgot.

Houston is lead by a Quarterback who everyone has heard about in discussions of the Heisman Trophy, but probably got shafted by not being invited.  Case Keenum had a spectacular rating of 159.3 with a 71% completion percentage on 659 throws for 5449 yards, 43 touchdowns and only 9 interceptions.  Read those stats again, I’ll wait.  Those are the kinds of stats that are usually put up by “system quarterbacks”, and perhaps Keenum is one of those, but he is still very very good at what he does.  He’s certainly no Reggie Ball.

Given the quantity of passes Keenum throws, you might expect that he hits a wide variety of targets.  You would be correct as Houston as thrown to 19 different receivers, 7 of them catching at least 2 passes per game.  This makes Houston an extremely dangerous team to defend in the secondary (you’re surprised, right?).  Three receivers in particular stand out: James Cleveland with 101 receptions for 1182 yards and 14 touchdowns, Tyron Carrier with 86 receptions, 998 yards and 7 touchdowns, and Patrick Edwards with 81 catches, 985 yards and 5 touchdowns.

If any team is designed to take what you give them, Houston is that team.  Along with a proficient aerial attack, Houston still finds time to run the football often.  Bryce Beall and Charles Sims share the load with 138 and 118 carries respectively.  Sims is the more efficient of the two, gaining 5.4 yards per carry and 9 touchdowns for his efforts.  Beall “only” has 4.8 ypc and 7 touchdowns to his name this season.   Keenum, too, runs the ball occasionally with 132 yards and 4 touchdowns on 56 carries.  If your defense actually manages to seal off the receivers, you can bet Keenum will find a way to gain yardage.

Air Force

The Falcons haven’t nearly the season that Houston has.  The schedule has been particularly brutal to Air Force as they couldn’t seem to find any rhythm at all flipping back and forth between winning and losing every few weeks.  They did, however, have good showings against decent teams when they did lose.  The first four losses for the Falcons included a 7 point loss at Minnesota, a 3 point loss at Navy, a 3 point loss to then number 10 TCU (wasn’t quite as close as the score indicated), and a 7 point loss to then number 18 Utah.  Air Force held their own quite well against good competition all season.

The one sore mark on their record was a 17 point loss to Brigham Young in their last game.  The game wasn’t even as close as the score suggests as BYU started out with a 24-0 lead through the first 25 minutes of the game and then coasted to the victory.  This was mostly caused by two reasons, the first was that Air Force could not complete a single drive with points, turning the ball over twice and missing a field goal in four drives.  The second was that their defense was simply unable to keep BYU from scoring on 4 straight drives.  Often that leads you to a rough loss.

Air Force, like all of the service academies these days, is a run first offense.  In fact it’s a run second and run third offense too.  The runningback leading the attack for the Falcons is Jared Tew with 212 carries 797 yards and 7 touchdowns on the season.  Tew is your prototypical Big Ten style running back.  Punch it up the gut repeatedly and get the tough yards.  The change of pace back in this set is Asher Clark with 736 yards on only 134 carries and 5 touchdowns.  Clark is much more of a big play threat than Tew, at least as much as is possible on this Falcon’s offense.  Also running the ball is starting quarterback Tim Jefferson.  Jefferson has 217 yards on 72 carries with 3 touchdowns running the ball.

His passing stats are equally depressing with only 79 passing attempts and only 54.4% of those completions for 687 yards 5 touchdowns and 2 interceptions.  Air Force prefers instead to throw the ball with a number of different passers, and even then follow Woody’s sacred idea that the pass was nothing more than a trick play.  Consider that Air Force has thrown only 139 times this season compared to 743 rushing attempts.

Who Are We Picking?

Mali: Houston

Eric: Houston

Jeff: Houston

Jim: Houston

This is yet another battle of two offensive styles that are diametrically opposed to each other.  Air Force is going to run the ball down your throat come hell or high water and Houston is going to throw it no matter how smart running the ball seems to be.  Should be a fun game to watch as I suspect Air Force won’t be able to defend Houston, and Houston may not be able to defend Air Force.

This should be fun!