Factory Lines: Kevin Love, David Blatt’s ‘Genius,’ Long-Snapping Psychology, Ezekiel Elliott, A New QB Recruit, One Dumb Oregon Penalty, Michigan Misses Rich Rodriguez and Ohio State Basketball

Sep 26, 2014; Cleveland, OH, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers forward Kevin Love (0) poses for a photo during media day at Cleveland Clinic Courts. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports

The Cavs scrimmage was so big, everybody’s still talking about it. LeBron James homecoming got all the headlines, but what about Kevin Love?

Cleveland.com’s Terry Pluto wrote a column that exclusively focused on Love, which offered up some worthwhile observations:

"“The most impressive part of Love’s performance was his knack of being in excellent rebounding position. He then delivered several superb long outlet passes. He is an excellent trigger man for the fast break.”"

• Mike Miller said David Baltt’s offense is “borderline genius.” And this held true during the Wine & Gold scrimmage, according to Ohio.com’s Jason Lloyd: “[The Cavs] moved well, spaced the floor properly and found a surprising rhythm given how little time they’ve spend together.”

Miller certainly possesses a higher basketball IQ than I ever will, but I’ll hold off on dropping “genius” bombs until after Adam Silver hands Dan Gilbert the Larry O’Brien Trophy.

Cleveland Browns

• ESPN Cleveland’s Tony Grossi wrote a really intriguing article on the psychology of long snapping.

• Please excuse the shameless plug, but the Browns should probably decide soon–probably within the next month–whether the franchise wants to extend Brian Hoyer. To me, it’s a no-brainer.

Ohio State Football

• Could Ezekiel Elliott have a breakout game and rush for 150 yards against Maryland Saturday? Tony Gerdeman at The Ozone, believes so, and he may be right, because up to this point, Maryland’s rush defense has only been a rumor, with Syracuse and Indiana combining to run for more than 500 yards.

• Bucks’ fans are awaiting 2015 five-star quarterback recruit Torrance Gibson to make an official decision, but what about 2016. After all, the recruiting trail is a road that never ends. Cleveland.com profiled Potomac, Md product Dwayne Haskins–a four-star prospect who Urban Meyer told was his No. 1 QB recruit in the 2016 class.

Found this interesting…but the dude who ran onto the field and got slammed by Anthony Schlegel last Saturday was attending OSU with help from a caddying scholarship. He’s putting up a legal fight and hasn’t lost his scholarship…yet, via Cincinnati.com

• Rooting against Oregon is like rooting against the Patriots. I love doing it and I love seeing each team lose. Even with the cool uniforms and all that Nike money, for the second straight season, the Ducks couldn’t figure out a way to defeat the mighty powerhouse, Arizona.

Actually, former WVU and Michigan coach Rich Rodriguez is working miracles with the Wildcats, and it has to make every Wolverine fan wonder why Rich Rod wasn’t successful with the Maze and Blue.

• Speaking of that Oregon, game…this might be one of the dumbest penalties of the season. With the score tied, Ducks defender Tony Washington scored a huge sack–but then ran around to the middle of the field and took a bow. Whistle, Unsportmanslike conduct, 15-yard penalty.

Talk about an easy one for the refs. Arizone kept its drive alive and scored the winning TD as a result. Lol, Oregon.

https://vine.co/v/OmUbvlmJbpx

Ohio State Basketball

Time for tipoff, well, almost. The Ohio State Buckeyes’ basketball team conducted its media day Thursday, and the headline to emerge was that returning players couldn’t stomach watching the rest of last season’s NCAA Tournament after the Bucks were eliminated by Dayton.

From senior guard Sam Thompson, via The Columbus Dispatch:

“No one here has ever lost like that in their career, We’re not used to that. We hold ourselves to a higher standard than that at Ohio State. That’s definitely been the driving force behind this whole offseason.”

The truth is that the 2013-2014 Buckeyes weren’t a a great team, or a very good team, for that matter.  There was no dynamite blue-chip recruit to replace DeShawun Thomas, as the offense finished sixth in the Big Ten.

Seniors Sam Thompson, Shannon Scott, and Amir Williams are all set to return, but shouldn’t contribute that much more than did a season ago.

That Matta will instead rely heavily on Temple transfer Marcus Lee, who can slide into the front court spot and should make a noticeable impact immediately.

New recruits should help the Bucks start the season as a Top 20 team, via Inside the Hall:

"“Ohio State also welcomes McDonald’s All-American guard D’Angelo Russell, a lefty with very good athleticism and an ability to score from both the perimeter and in transition. Two other 247 Composite top 100 recruits, Keita Bates-Diop and Jae’Sean Tate, along with the 6-foot-10 David Bell, also arrive, but are likely to be brought along more slowly as Matta is known for playing a tight rotation.”"

It’s hard to see Matta not giving his newbies a shot, because offense has got to come from somewhere.

The Buckeyes scrimmage West Virginia Oct. 25, but that’s closed to the public, per NCAA rules. OSU’s first game is Nov. 14 against Massachusetts-Lowell in Value City Arena. Here’s an early point spread for that one: Buckeyes by 50.