Aaron Craft’s sixth-starter status serves Buckeyes well

By: Mike DeCourcy (SportingNews.com) -

CLEVELAND—Some say he is the best sixth man in college basketball, and if Aaron Craft were a sixth man, that likely would be true. A sixth man? He is as much a starter as anyone who has his name called by the public address announcer prior to the game and walks on the floor for the opening tip.

It is a curious little dance the Ohio State Buckeyes perform at the start of every game. Big senior Dallas Lauderdale—a useful player, but no longer one of the Buckeyes’ five best—is presented with the starters, does what he can to make a contribution in the first several minutes, and Craft is summoned from his seat by coach Thad Matta and sent in to replace him.

Then, circumstances permitting and/or demanding, Craft does what every other Buckeyes starter does: He stays on the floor the rest of the game.

Sunday in the 2011 NCAA Tournament at the Quicken Loans Arena, Craft still was in there with 4 minutes left and the Buckeyes ahead by 34 points in their utter destruction of George Mason. Craft had 15 assists by then, a career best, and so many were of the did-you-see-that variety he could release his own mix tape today…..

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