JOSHUA GUNTER/PLAIN DEALERFreshman Aaron Craft is developing into one of the top point guards in the country. He and the Buckeyes will play Kentucky Friday night in a Sweet 16 matchup. COLUMBUS -- Two defenders brought pressure from his left side, forcing the quarterback off-balance. But while keeping his eyes on the play developing ahead of him, he noticed...
Freshman Aaron Craft is developing into one of the top point guards in the country. He and the Buckeyes will play Kentucky Friday night in a Sweet 16 matchup.COLUMBUS -- Two defenders brought pressure from his left side, forcing the quarterback off-balance. But while keeping his eyes on the play developing ahead of him, he noticed another defender protecting the middle move just slightly to the left, while his main target slid to an opening.
Aaron Craft fired the pass from a three-quarters arm angle, and the 14-yard completion led to a layup and a foul for Jared Sullinger, the play the most memorable of Craft's school-record 15 assists during Ohio State's NCAA Tournament win over George Mason on Sunday.
"People ask me how I got it there," said Craft, who started at quarterback for three years in high school before giving up football to focus on basketball as a senior. "And I said I just threw it as hard as I could. Sully can catch just about anything. I was reading the guy guarding Dave [Lighty], and he made a play to the middle, so I took a chance with Jared."
Yes, this is basketball, not football. But when it comes to the No. 1 Buckeyes, who face No. 4 seed Kentucky in an East Regional semifinal in Newark, N.J., on Friday, Craft is most assuredly their quarterback.
Craft's showdown with Kentucky leading scorer and freshman point guard Brandon Knight could swing the game. The Buckeyes should be OK with that.
"He played his heart out," OSU junior William Buford said after Sunday's win. "He was hustling like crazy."
There's both a physical and an emotional component to every great quarterback, an expectation to run the offense and lead the team. Playing with three seniors and a junior, Craft doesn't need to lead. That's taken care of.
"We have great leaders on the court. I didn't come in expecting to be this great leader. I know you have to be a follower before anything else," Craft said. "You have to be willing to learn from the other guys, and I think they're willing to learn from me as well, which just shows the type of team we have."
"He had no problems adjusting because he's a guy who's willing to be led," OSU senior Jon Diebler said. "He's very mature and smart for his age, so he knew what his role would be when he got here, and he's accepted that."
His role, then, is to pick other teams apart. Craft's defensive skills are well established by now -- he made the Big Ten's All-Defense team for a reason. After losing to Ohio State on Friday, Texas-San Antonio point guard Devin Gibson said of Craft, "I knew he was scrappy, but he was scrappier than I thought he would be."
But it's running the offense where Craft has grown the most, his ability to find his receivers and spread the wealth evident on Sunday. Of those 15 assists, four were to Sullinger, four to Lighty, three to Diebler, two to Buford and one each to Deshaun Thomas and Dallas Lauderdale. And they came against just two turnovers. If this were football, Craft would have completed 88 percent of his passes.
After the win, OSU coach Thad Matta whispered to a reporter that Craft could have described each and every pass he made, his brain a basketball vault, with Matta saying Craft's basketball IQ is among the highest he's ever seen.
"I think he's one of the best I ever had in terms of that," Matta said. "His mind is . . . there's probably a good chance someday if you need surgery, he'll be operating on you, because he's thinking about being a doctor or a surgeon. His mind is just amazing for as young as he is and the things he's able to see."
Over the last month, Craft has exhibited that type of surgeon's precision on the court. Since committing six turnovers against just one assist in the Buckeyes' loss at Purdue on Feb. 20, Craft has 53 assists and 11 turnovers in his last nine games. Assist-to-turnover ratio is the most important stat for a point guard, and three-to-one is excellent. For instance, Craft's 2.24 ratio on the year is seventh among players still alive in the Sweet 16. Pretty good.
But a month of a 4.8 ratio is elite.
Matta said he didn't offer Craft any reminders after the Purdue loss. The freshman just straightened himself out.
"The thing I love about Aaron is he's as hard on himself as any kid I ever coached," Matta said. "I've got great trust in him in knowing those are the type of things that drive him nuts."
The trust goes so deep that against George Mason, Matta moved Craft to small forward for a play and asked him if he knew what to do from that position.
Craft told his coach, "I know exactly what to do."
That didn't last long, though. Soon enough, the Buckeyes had their quarterback running the show again, the ball, and their hopes, in his hands.
Source: http://www.cleveland.com/sports/index.ssf/2011/03/osus_aaron_craft_is_master_poi.html
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