Scarlet Sunrise: Ohio State women's basketball off to best start in program history

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Ohio State women’s basketball off to best start in program history

Ohio State women’s basketball is still undefeated. The No. 3 Buckeyes improved to 16-0, including 5-0 in Big Ten competition, Thursday with an 83-71 win over Minnesota, marking the best start to a season in program history.

Minnesota actually entered the fourth quarter with a six-point lead. But then Ohio State scored the first 14 points of the final frame to retake its lead and close out the record-breaking victory.

Rebeka Mikulášiková tied her career high with five 3-pointers, and Rikki Harris logged a personal-best 19 points. The Buckeyes, however, were paced by leading scorer Taylor Mikesell, who went over the 20-point barrier for the fifth time this year with 22 points.

Ohio State gets Illinois next at home on Sunday at 1 p.m. The Buckeyes have won all but two of their games this season by more than six points: The exceptions are their 88-86 overtime win over South Florida in the San Diego Invitational and their 74-68 victory against Michigan State.

Five Buckeyes players included in ESPN’s top 100 college football players of 2022

ESPN released its ranking of the top 100 college football players from the 2022 season this week. Five Buckeyes players made the cut.

• QB C.J. Stroud (No. 3)
• WR Marvin Harrison Jr. (No. 9)
• LT Paris Johnson Jr. (No. 16)
• WR Emeka Egbuka (No. 32)
• LB Tommy Eichenberg (No. 71)

ESPN also came out with a top 100 ranking in the preseason, using the same methodology. From ESPN:

“Voters were presented with a series of one-on-one votes. For example, “Who was better in 2022: Jalin Hyatt or Caleb Williams?” Think of it as an Oklahoma Drill of statistical reasoning. More than 10,000 votes later, these were the results.”

Of the five Ohio State players to get the nod this time around, three of them — Harrison, Egbuka and Eichenberg — were unranked in the preseason edition.

Harrison wound up being a Biletnikoff Award finalist. Egbuka went over 1,000 receiving yards with Harrison. And Eichenberg was fifth nationally with 77 solo tackles.

Five Buckeyes with big NFL Draft decisions to make

It’s that time of the year. Not only are players making transfer portal decisions right now, but, as always, there are others who are deciding whether they should declare for the NFL Draft.

The Buckeyes have a strong NFL pipeline, so that group can be rather large, at least relatively.

Some Ohio State players, like safety Ronnie Hickman, have already declared for the draft. Others, like quarterback C.J. Stroud, are all but guarantees to depart.

But there’s another category of Buckeyes players that has a question mark next to their names. Lettermen Row came up with a list of five Ohio State NFL prospects who have big decisions to make about if they’re making the jump to the next level in 2023.

Counting down

Buckeyes vs. Indiana: 238 days

Buckeyes vs. Michigan: 322 days

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