{"id":175026,"date":"2024-01-23T04:39:43","date_gmt":"2024-01-23T09:39:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=175026"},"modified":"2024-01-23T04:39:44","modified_gmt":"2024-01-23T09:39:44","slug":"random-thoughts-expansion-osu-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2024\/01\/23\/random-thoughts-expansion-osu-more\/","title":{"rendered":"Random Thoughts: expansion, OSU, more"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

SCOTT TRUXELL\/<\/strong>independent editor<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This week\u2019s installment of Random Thoughts centers around tournament expansion, a tough weekend, Ohio State, fixing a problem and a fun fact.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Decision soon?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The OHSAA Board of Directors is scheduled to meet on February 15, and a decision on expanding divisions in various sports other than football \u2013 including boys and girls basketball, volleyball, soccer and baseball and softball \u2013 could come at that meeting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From what I\u2019ve been told, it\u2019s going to happen and go in effect with the 2024-2025 school year. Assuming it does indeed happen, it could be the end of various state tournaments as we know them, meaning the state semifinals and finals won\u2019t be held at the same location. Other questions have yet to be answered, so stay turned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This weekend<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It doesn\u2019t get much tougher than this. Friday night, Van Wert will play No. 2 Ottawa-Glandorf (12-2) on the road, then will host 10-3 Coldwater Saturday night. If you\u2019re wondering about O-G\u2019s losses \u2013 they\u2019re a pair of two point losses, one to No. 3 Lima Central Catholic (56-64) and the other to Findlay (49-47), a team ranked No. 3 in Division I.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

OSU<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By now you know that Ohio State has made a big splash via the transfer portal in recent days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Quarterback Julian Sayin, defensive back Caleb Downs, center Seth McLaughlin, running back Quinshon Judkins and quarterback Will Howard are the biggest names to transfer to Ohio State via the NCAA\u2019s transfer portal. No doubt NIL (name, image, likeness) dollars had something to do with it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

This won\u2019t sit well with Buckeye fans (yes, I\u2019m a Buckeye fan too), but doesn\u2019t this sound a bit sleazy or slimy? As far as we know, everything has been done according to the rules but something still doesn\u2019t feel right about it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Be honest \u2013 if these players, or players of this caliber were flocking to places like Michigan, Alabama or Georgia, it wouldn\u2019t sit well with you. You\u2019d complain that any of those schools was trying to buy a championship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It just doesn\u2019t seem quite right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fix it<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As I\u2019ve said on more than one occasion \u2013 the NCAA needs to fix the transfer portal and NIL pronto. I\u2019m not saying do away with them, but create reasonable boundaries, rules and guidelines that would benefit all concerned. It\u2019s pretty obvious these were not well thought out additions to the NCAA handbook. They need to be fixed, now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fun fact<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yes, I know the Cleveland Browns were one and done in the playoffs. However, I\u2019d still like to point out that Cleveland was the only team to beat two conference finalists this season \u2013 Baltimore and San Francisco.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As always, if you have thoughts or comments on any of the above subjects, feel free to email me at sports@thevwindependent.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SCOTT TRUXELL\/independent editor This week\u2019s installment of Random Thoughts centers around tournament expansion, a tough weekend, Ohio State, fixing a problem and a fun fact. Decision soon? The OHSAA Board of Directors is scheduled to meet on February 15, and a decision on expanding divisions in various sports other than football \u2013 including boys and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-175026","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-30 22:58:54","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175026","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=175026"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175026\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":175028,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175026\/revisions\/175028"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=175026"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=175026"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=175026"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}